Fatal Order

Part 5: Slaughtering Solidarity - 5

*GOOD MORNING, PRISONERS.*

That was the jarring, ear-grating sound Alex heard as he jumped awake at just 7:03 am.

Fate wasted no time, and commenced an announcement to be held in the auditorium.

So that he could get it over with, Alex quickly slouched out of his room with his clothes messily slipped onto his body.

As he walked outside of his room, he saw Dante, Adam, and Nathan moving straight ahead to the auditorium.

Alex glanced opposite his door, however, and saw Olivia, sitting against her door with her head on her knees.

Of course, she still wouldn't be feeling great after the tragedy that occurred yesterday, where Jobari was unfairly killed by Fate.

There was no way she'd be able to recover from something so tragic like that in just one night, especially given how close they had become.

That would be like Alex losing Dante, or Adam, or Maria... he would never be able to mentally recover from seeing any of their corpses.

And so, when he considered that tragic possibility, he began to understand why Olivia had lost her spark, energy, and overall motivation.

Looking down at his wristwatch, he noticed only a minute had passed since Fate instructed them to go to the auditorium.

Knowing this, he firmly nodded to himself and went to go sit beside Olivia, as he believed he would be able to spare a moment to speak with her.

"Hey," he began as he sat down. "Are you holding up okay?"

"H-how could I be?" She sniffled. "Jobari... my- best friend... he's-"

"I know. I know."

"When the fuck are we going to get out of here...?" She defeatedly asked.

"Soon. Absolutely soon. I promise," he said, sounding rather certain, despite himself almost doubting the fact.

"J-Joba made me so happy..." she cried. "So much of my life has been spent bullied, made fun of- because I tend to overshare and I love to al-always talk about the stuff I love..."

"Well, that's fine," Alex assured. "Everyone loves talking about their interests! Those people were just jealous that you had things to be passionate about and they didn't."

"N-no..." she sniffled, "it's because it was *all* I talked about. My whole life... I spent it almost- trapping myself in fictional worlds, lying about who I was... I never knew what people wanted from me."

"You don't owe anybody anything."

"I know- but..." she sneezed, "I just- Jobari was different. I could sit there and be... y'know, a weirdo!... share all my weird interests with him and he- he liked me for it! We were a match made in heaven!"

"Hm..."

"I pretended to be a celebrity, or whatever," she admitted. "That was all my little charade, it's because I want to feel important... I want to be acknowledged... want to feel like I'm not just the weird girl who likes all the weird stuff..."

*ALEX. OLIVIA. AUDITORIUM, NOW.*

Fate made their demands clear, as they were getting impatient waiting for the two of them.

"C'mon, we gotta move," he said, offering his hand to help her up.

"Th-thanks..." she smiled. "Did I- say too much there? I feel like I just dumped a load on you..."

"Don't sweat it," he chuckled. "It makes you interesting because you've got lots of stuff to talk about!"

"I-if you say so..." she sniffled with a smile, "c'mon, then. Let's go."