WhiteFish

WhiteFish - Part 4

I sit on the toilet for a few minutes, startled. He knocks again. "Nova?" I don't reply, slowly putting my pants back on and preparing myself to open the door. I stand with my hand on the knob for another minute before finally deciding to get it over with. I must act normal. My eyes begin wandering and watching the rainfall through the small, bathroom window, watching the droplets form streams as they stream downwards. I open the door and in front of me stands Jesse.

"Hey, I want to show you something." I immediately understand this to be a hint at going to the wash house again. We leave the bar, I don't see anyone downstairs or outside, they must be upstairs or continuing their search for Quin outside. But it's raining, so they should be back soon.

Jesse and I walk to a building that mostly burnt, only one outer wall stands and two inner walls, creating a small room. We walk into it and stairs to a cellar appear. Jesse grabs my hand and leads me inside, closing the door behind us. I immediately notice a rancid smell. It's pitch dark until he flicks his lighter and lights a long candlestick. For a moment, I'm taken back into daydream land, imaging the people who first built this village and what their lifestyles looked like. Jesse's face is illuminated for a second, then he leans to put the candlestick on a table against one of the walls.

I wait for him to give direction or information as to why we are here.

"Look." He faces me before turning and pointing behind him, there is just enough light to illuminate something in the corner of the room. I don't dare to walk closer to it, it's the reason this room smells, I've never smelt something like this before in my life. Jesse walks behind me and softly nudges me, forcing my feet forward, one by one. Once I am in close enough distance, I can make out that it is a human body.

I lurch backwards and run into Jesse's chest, who puts his hands on both my arms. I'm screaming nonsense, panting hard, the entire world went blurry for a long time.

I wake up in front of the fire, Angel, Savanna, Jesse, and Josie sitting among me. I shake my head back and forth to forget what I saw before I passed out.

"You okay?" Savanna asks, I gently nod at her and give a slight shrug of the shoulders. Jesse, sitting next to me, leans his arm around and begins cuddling me. Savanna's face had an obvious change which she did not try to hide. "Buddy." She says, Angel has a 'deer in headlights' look stuck to his face.

"What?" Jesse replies.

"Jesse, we've been together since I moved to WhiteFish with you." When Savanna says this, my body tenses, "Angel tried telling me yesterday that something was going on and I told him that I could trust you." Her voice trembles. Savanna's face is beat red, tears begin streaming, and she begins running back toward the bar.

"Savanna!" Jesse yells, "come back, let's talk, please."

Savanna is young, naïve, she doesn't hesitate to turn back and sit back down in between Angel and Josie.

"You guys can figure this out, I'm a bit too tired." Josie grabs her bag and walks from the fire.

"Alright, let's play a game." Jesse announces, to which all three of us reply, "sorry, what?"

"For every point your team gets, Angel, Nova, and Savanna, I will tell you one truth. For each point I get, I get the same in return." Before any of us can disagree with the idea, Jesse pulls a revolver from his belt. We all freeze. Jesse loads one bullet into it and spins. He hands it to Savanna first.

"Ladies first."

"Jesse. I'm not doing this."

"Fine, fine. Nova?" I shake my head, no.

"You're insane, Jesse, what's gotten into you?" Angel questions, afterwards he is handed the gun. Angel lets out a big sigh, positioning the barrel into his mouth, and pulling the trigger.

Nothing happens. Each of us lets out a nervous giggle, knowing what is to come next. We look to Jesse, who throws his hand up and tips his head downwards. Savanna grabs the gun next. She goes to position it in her mouth, before Angel reminds her of how to use it. He pulls the safety back and spins it again, taking a sharp breath in as he hands it back to her.

Savanna sits, staring at the gun until Jesse yells, "hurry it up! We haven't got all night." She begins sobbing uncontrollably, bringing the barrel to her mouth, positioning her finger on the trigger. Jesse yells again, as he does, Savanna makes a small noise and quickly pulls, nothing again.

I shake, thinking it's my turn next. Jesse stands and rips the gun from Savanna's hands, spinning it again and positioning it in mouth confidently. It goes off. Jesse's body drops. Savanna and Angel both scream, I sit there in silence, in shock. Savanna races to grab the gun and holds it precariously in her trembling hands.

"Savanna, give it to me, now." Angel says sternly but not angrily. I stare at both of my friends, all of this seeming like a very, very long dream. She hands the gun to Angel, who properly checks it for any remaining bullets, and then he begins to take it apart. I slowly begin pulling my feet and walking back toward the bar, trying to pretend that none of this was happening. Angel and Savanna follow me, all pulling our feet and staring wide-eyed at the ground as we walk. As we stand in front of the bar, I turn back to face Angel.

"You tell me, did you know Jesse before he came here? How did he know about this place?" I confront Angel, wondering if he is now a threat. Angel raises both of his hands in the air.

"No, I didn't know him before he showed up here. This village really isn't unknown, tons of people know of it, just no one comes to visit it since it's so rundown now. You'll get the odd tourist maybe once a year, once every few years." He clears his throat and looks around himself quickly.

"Look,when Jesse first arrived, he took control of this place and there was nothing Icould do to stop it. WhiteFish is a purposeful name to mock me, I had originallybeen calling this place Ki'Naskis, but when Jesse came, he immediately claimedleadership. I just went with it to avoid any type of issues." Angel keeps hishands up, but he breaks eye contact with me and hangs his head to the ground beforelooking back at me, "we need to find Josie and get out of here."