Social Experiment

One of Them (Rodney)

I watch the crowd react. Some faces go vampire white, some go tomato red. A few shouts echo, and one person faints.

One thing I cannot stand is secrets. I hate keeping them; I hate it when other people keep them. So as you can imagine, listening to Hailey let this one out has been a relief.

By the look on the African girl from Group 4's face, we have topped what she thought to be the biggest news. Her and the German kid (I know we're all the same age, but he's a bit short, what can I say?) must be thinking wild thoughts right about now.

I take one look at Hailey's expression and take a step forward. I clear my throat. "We did find some identification on this dead man." I say causally, "Ted Barth; Researcher at the International Society of Secret Experiments."

"He's one of Them!" An extremely irritating girl in my group named Grace yells.

Shrieks ring out once again.
I sigh. "That's one way to cause a panic."

"Ted Barth?" I turn my head to find the African girl from Group 4.

"That's what his name tag says."

"The initials on the scroll are TB." Oh joy. The German kid.

"I'm Rod." I introduce.

The German kid gives me a cold look. "Westin."

The girl is more polite, and shakes my hand. "Dameeka."

"So you think our nice friend Ted wrote the letter?" I ask.

"It would make perfect sense." Westin says, "And that might explain why he's dead."

I must look like a dumbfounded bafoon, because he rolls his eyes, adding: "Apparently They didn't want us to find the journal... or even know about it."

"But then why wouldn't They take the note out while we were unconscious?"

A spark seems to go off in Dameeka's head, "What if They did try to, but they didn't know what chamber it was in."

Westin nods, putting it together, "And maybe they were trying to get information from him on where the scroll was when they killed him."

"That leaves one loose end- where's the journal?"

"Chamber 13." I reason aloud, "That's why it collapsed. They didn't want us to find whatever's in there, and I think that's the journal."

Westin shakes his head "If they knew where the journal was, why wouldn't they just take that?"

"Maybe They knew how long we'd be knocked out. After They killed Ted, there wasn't enough time to get to the journal, and us seeing Them would ruin Their experiment."

"We have to tell Abbi." Dameeka concludes.

The three of us turn to find her and realize that everyone is gone. "Maybe they went to sleep." Westin suggests.
We head down to Abbi's room and, sure enough, she's there.

"Dameeka! What are you doing here?"

I answer for her, "I think we've figured out the connection between Ted, the scroll, and Them."

"Let's here it."

We explain how this could all fit together, where the journal might be.
"Of course, this is all theoretical." Dameeka finishes.

"It's a theory that makes sense. Tomorrow we'll pitch it to the others, see what they think."

We leave and head to our rooms. I toss and turn, dreaming of Them and what could possibly be in that journal that's worth killing a man for.