Dodge Mason // Mystery Boy

20

Honk Honk

—

"I have a plan," Nat tells me on the phone.

"What?" I ask from the comfort of my bed.

"To get Heather and Bishop talking again."

"Does it happen to be the same plan we used to get you and Heather talking again?" The line is silent for a bit.

"Okay when you put it like that—" she laughs with frustration. "Anyway, Heather will be here in a bit and I will text you to get Bishop here to drive us to the next challenge," she schemes.

"Sounds good," I respond. "See you soon." We hang up and I go to call Bishop. He answers and I ask him to pick up me and Nat to take us to the next challenge.

"What's in it for me?" He asks.

"Uhhhh a cheeseburger?" I offer.

"Aight just text me when," he accepts surprisingly fast.

"Got it, thank you again," I laugh.

—

As we pull in I text Nat that we are here, but I get no answer. We decide to just go in knowing she is probably taking a while to get ready and head upstairs to find her and Heather in her room. "Heyyyy," I say trying to break the tension in the air. There is a smothering silence.

"You know what I love?" Nat asks. "The fact that we can all be in the same room without feeling the need to talk... at all... for a week," she says flatly. "So... this should be fun," she sighs grabbing her bag as we leave Bishop and Heather to head downstairs.

—

We arrive at the Graybill house and as soon as Bishop pulls in, Natalie and I look at each other signaling to leave the car. The entire ride was silence so we were dying to get out. "Good talk," she says as we get out.

"I hope this works," I say looking at her as we walk away.

"Me too. I hate when any of us fight," she admits.

"Me too." I make my way over to Dodge who I told about our plan. He looks over at the car and sees Heather and Bishop still in the car talking.

"How did it go?" he asks grabbing my hand to comfort me.

"I have no idea yet. They didn't talk the entire car ride," I worry.

"I'm sure it'll be fine. You can worry after this challenge—" Honk Honk. We look over and see Ray honking at Heather and Bishop yelling for them to move. Bishop opens Heather's door from the inside and, by the looks of it, kicks her out. She come over and joins us so Diggins can start telling us about the challenge.

—

As we're all gathered into a semi-circle, Diggins takes the front with Summer who is now, essentially, his co-host. All eyes are on them for the rules. "Congratulations to all of you for completing the challenge of Spurlock's Ranch. Up until now, you've been competitors, but tonight, you become enemies," he starts.

"It is Panic tradition to screw each other at the Graybill House challenge," Summer intervenes.

"And we all came for that reason," Ray inputs getting a few laughs.

Diggins continues, "The rules are simple. You guys stay inside, until we come and get ya. Players' points will be deducted when you submit proof of them being scared shitless. For tonight and tonight only, keep those cameras on."

Summer adds on, "Sabotage is highly encouraged. As a reminder, Heather is still in the lead with 200 points. Dodge and Delilah are closing up the gap with 175, and everyone else is holding up at 150." I take Dodge's hand while summer is talking as a little acknowledgment of our points. "And last but not least, there is a 50-point bonus for whoever can solve the riddles in the blood," she finishes. A few people murmur questions about the blood and she adds one last comment, "blood always tells." I look around at Nat and Heather and finally Dodge to gage how they feel. I think we're all feeling unsettled.

"Good luck, players" Diggins ends. The crowd disperses as we all make our way to the house.

"Okay let's get this over with," Natalie sighs. We all nod in agreement as we follow Dodge into the house.