Children's Games: A Story of Modern Consequence

Chapter 44

~Emilia~

George's death was Emilia's fault. She was the one to find the fake information about The Games, clearly placed for someone of authority to find and punish. She watched his face as he suffocated. He had paled, his skin turning the colour of the dried clay that he blessed her with. Whoever was framing him would probably now never be found in their five remaining days, and George died for it.

Emilia decided that she needed to get out of there, but it was impossible. The party was still crowded, the soft delicate music was loud, and she could feel the other people in the team watching her closely.

"One more round, then you can all get out of here," Sally informed them with a hand on her hip, clearly displeased that they had disappeared for a few minutes. "If anything goes missing, I'll know where to look," she warned as they made their final round, offering bourbon and whisky this time.

Before they left the kitchen, the doorman ushered Sally to the corner, where they whispered secretly. They were halfway through stuffing left over foods and drinks into a large backpack... She wasn't sure if they were stealing, but Sally caught her eye and Emilia ran out of the kitchen before they could get yelled at again.

She was feeling anxious, even more so in front of the silver fox that she had figured was on their side. He probably knew what they were doing, and probably ensured that no one ventured back to George's rooms. Does he know that the accusations were false? She had no clue as he took a glass and shook it slightly to produce a melody of clinks of the ice cubes as he told a story to his crowd of friends. A small thought crossed her mind at the idea that whoever was framing had access to his email and computer... She wondered if he was close to George.

She had one glass left, and tried to keep it as long as possible, trying to figure out what she could do next. She felt sick of feeling like this all the time. The death of that man was sickening and made her want to release all her energy over a very tall building because of the part she had to play in it. She felt weak for how little she did to stop the act. She was always just going along with things, letting them happen. She had to leave, and she had to leave now.

She found a quiet corner and took deep breaths. Emilia looked down at her wrist, the place where Dominik had squeezed one too many times. It didn't look any different, perhaps just a little red. When he had done it, he had looked at her with a weird expression and she felt something course through her head... No, I'm making that up, she dismissed. Her wrist looked fine.

She needed to grab Calico and slip out before anyone noticed. Just on cue, he appeared at her feet.

"What've you got?" she mumbled, crouching down to see what was in the kitten's mouth.

He had been snatching small amounts of food for her, but the item in question was way bigger than what he had brought so far. She pulled out a warm and slimy chain with a large pendant of a four-leaved clover on the end.

"Oh, Calico this isn't food, silly. Use your nose," she chuckled quietly, tapping him on the nose. How will I find a way to put this back before we leave?

"If you give it back to him, he'll return it himself."

Joshua's shiny shoes stood in front of her, and she looked up at the young man. Just as always, his dark eyes shone with the reflections of the lights in the room. His hair was tied into a bun at the base of his neck. It was meant to be neat, but he had clearly been running his fingers through it, resulting in a fuzzy mess. She stood up to see his kind smile better.

"I saw you teaching him how to get food, so I showed him how to find other things around here."

Emilia looked down at the chain in her fingers, then back up at the cleverest person she had ever met. Her smile only made his grow.