Children's Games: A Story of Modern Consequence

Chapter 49

~Joshua~

Ivan's body slumped to the ground in a heap of unfinished apologies. His final words hung in the air, a putrid smell that poisoned them all. Everyone was frozen in shock, and the only thing moving was Dominik's chest breathing heavily over his murdered friend. Matthew, for once, was completely still.

Dominik whipped around, his face twisted, and his mouth wet with saliva. It was exactly how he had looked after he murdered Maria, and Joshua felt the same stabbing in his chest at the reminder.

Dominik growled, spitting as he spoke lowly. "Everyone, get upstairs. Go to bed... I said, get upstairs and go to bed! Go to sleep and think about that has just happened! I don't want to see any of you until the sun is in the sky!"

His last part was yelled to the whole group, not just to Anna who had tried to approach him softly. Dominik then quickly mumbled something along the lines of 'this didn't happen' as he turned away to look at the pinboard above the desk, collaged with every scrap of his perfect plan to win at this game. He dropped to his knees, not looking at his friend but reaching out to hold his cold hand.

Joshua snapped into action, rounding everyone up and making sure that they all did exactly what they were told. He turned around and realised that Emilia wasn't moving yet, her dark eyebrows still high on her forehead as she stared at the dead man who had hoped that she had been the one to end up dead.

He grabbed her hand and dragged her away. There wasn't enough time to be gentle. Because Dominik's state of mind was murderous, and he was probably just as likely to blame Emilia more than himself for Ivan's demise.

He saw Yelena do the same thing with Matthew as they climbed the stairs throughout the house. Joshua knew that this was the night to escape, and he finally had the arguments he needed to persuade the other's into joining them. He didn't have much time. Their train out of here left just before sunrise tomorrow morning...

As they stepped up the last step, Joshua felt Emilia tug at his hand. He had been afraid to look back at her but was relieved to find that she just wanted to see her kitten. She opened the bathroom door and Calico raced out and jumped on her leg, using his claws to climb up her pants. Joshua hadn't thought about how he would factor in her pet into their escape.

Emilia took out a small snap-lock bag from her pocket and offered Calico a few crumbs of Dmitri's dog food, and Joshua smiled at the thought that he had been the one to encourage her to steal things in the house. The cat devoured the food energetically, just like how he had last night before he scampered off to steal necklaces. The kitten then jumped down and scampered off, running downstairs to retrieve its prize to earn more of its favourite treat.

"Katerina, stop fucking around!" Anna growled, shoving Emilia's shoulder down the hallway. Her face no longer wore the mask of guilt she had displayed downstairs.

They all piled into the bedroom, keeping the lights off. A frightened tension ran through each of them. "In bed," Florence ordered gravely, standing strongly next to Yelena who crossed her arms over her chest.

Joshua made his way over to the corner, where he shared the bed with Ivan. His book was left on the bedside table, and there was a small black comb that was stuffed between its pages. There was a half-eaten muesli bar on top of the small stack that had been opened that morning and abandoned. He got in and smelled Ivan's aftershave. The sheets were cold, and he felt uncomfortable with his big boots still on under the covers but didn't want to make a whole lot of noise in order to remove them. Yelena and Florence had started pacing the room, and he knew it wouldn't be too long before some of them would start to conspire together to leave and return to their captain and their fallen soldier.