Caught Between Hope and Despair

Chapter 5: Number 17

A/N- almost the end of school, oh hell yea

~

No word was said after the trial. Four people are dead and gone already and it's already been like what, only the end of the second day on this island? At this rate, we probably won't even last two weeks if Monogram keeps on pushing us with these stupid motives.

I stayed up late, because I obviously couldn't sleep. I still had my device with me, but it was running low on battery. I can't even connect to the Internet either. So that means I can't tell him why I've gone missing.

I sighed to myself and put the device on my nightstand, leaving me awake. Staring at the ceiling and zoning out, and having no idea what Monogram has in store for us tomorrow morning.

~

"Good morning Demetania Islands! We sure had a wonderful trial yesterday! Now, are we going to have a wonderful, despairing day or what?" Mono said over the speaker.

I groaned as I dragged myself out of bed.

"Hey Ash." Lauren said, walking inside my hut.

"Hey Lauren." I replied.

"What a day, huh?" I said.

"You said it." I muttered.

Lauren sat down next to me. "Do you think we're ever going to get out of here? Make it through every trial Mono throws at us?"

"I just accepted it. With all this stuff that Monogram is throwing at us, well we can't get through all of them. So if we're going to die, at least we're going to die together." I replied.

Lauren sighed. "Y-Yeah. That's how it all works, I guess."

"But hey, let's just make every minute we have alive fun while it lasts. What do you say?" I suggested.

Lauren smiled. "Sure. We can do that." She said.

"Good, now-" I started to say something when Katy ran into my hut.

"Katy?"

"Ashley, Erin and Tara found this girl, that maybe shouldn't even be here." Katy explained.

"What do you mean?" I asked, standing up.

"Erin told me to tell you about it. Now come on, I'll show you who it is." Katy said, running out of the hut.

Lauren stood up and shrugged, and we both ran out of my hut.

~

Katy led us to an empty hut that nobody stayed in. Or at least, we thought nobody stayed in there.

"What's going on?" I said, walking inside.

"What's with all the visitors? It's no big deal." I heard somebody say from the back of the room.

"Uh, yes it is." Erin said.

"Well uh, Saeko, this is Ashley, and this is Lauren." Tara introduced, gesturing towards us.

"Um, hi." Lauren said, slightly waving.

"Hi..." The girl said as I walked towards the back of the room, seeing the girl.

"So you said this girls name was what now?" I asked Tara.

"Saeko." Tara replied.

"Oh."

"Again, why the heck is me being here such a big deal, Erin?!" Saeko asked, sighing as she laid down onto her bed.

"I'm pretty sure there are supposed to be only 16 here. Plus, you just appeared out of nowhere!" Erin replied.

"Oh yeah? What else makes you think that?" Saeko shot back.

"Ladies, ladies, I think this short girl would like a believable explanation from me instead." Monogram said, appearing on a metal plate located in a corner.

"Who the flip is that?" Saeko asked, pointing at Monogram.

"A charming hologram made entirely of the absence of hope, shortie." Monogram replied, chuckling a little.

"You do know I have a name, correct?" Saeko said awkwardly.

"How about I call you, Number 17?" Monogram said jokingly?

"So you're seriously suddenly going to name us numbers all of the sudden?" I heard Lauren mutter.

"Do you even know my actual name, Mister Hologram Guy?" Saeko said.

"Yes, you're apparently named Saeko, correct? Well it's a pleasure to meet you by the way, please, call me Monogram, or at least Mono short." Monogram introduced, smirking.

"Okay, okay, pleasure to meet you too..." Saeko muttered, lying down on her bed.

"Now, what should I do to you? I do wish to get rid of you straightaway, but, I'll let you live for now. Besides, the more people I get to play with, the more fun and despairing time I get to have! Yippee!" Monogram said cheerfully.

I simply just rolled my eyes.

"Well you're weird..." Saeko muttered.

"Thank you, I get that a lot." Monogram chuckled.

"Yeah, we obviously know..." Tara said.

"I'm leaving all five of you people to tell Saeko over here what's supposed to happen on this island. I expect her to know everything by the time another event comes along. Mono out!" Monogram said, disappearing.

"So uh, Saeko, do you think you're comfortable telling us why you're here?" Katy said, standing next to Erin.

"Do you seriously want to know?" Saeko replied, sighing.

"Well isn't it kinda obvious here?" Lauren said.

"Fine. Basically I was in the multi-purpose room, or auditorium, something like that, and I blacked out. I woke up to find everyone gone. I was going to go outside when somebody jumped onto me and made me black out again. Then I woke up in a hut, and I apparently came late to the party." Saeko explained.

"Well. This is going to take a lot of thinking to figure out the reason why somebody would just suddenly bring Saeko here when this game has already started." Erin said, shrugging.

"Well, this is all I can say. Now, aren't you guys supposed to tell me some things about what's going on?" Saeko asked.

"Well, okay." I said, sitting down onto the bed, starting off with a simple "beginning of story" cliche.