Tag, You're It

Chapter 10

I didn't want to follow Trisha. Everything in me said no. Anytime I'd allowed myself to follow Trisha I ended up getting hurt in one way or another. Frankly, I was tired both mentally and physically because of her, and other reasons, but mostly her.

"Austen! We have to go now or we won't make it." Trisha hisses. My hand is losing all feeling from her tight grip. I go to respond when I feel something clasp around my ankle. My body starts spinning and I cradle my head in my hands so that my shoulders take the blows on the wall but I am absolutely spent by the time it's over.

I'm almost hoping for the next elimination to come quickly.

"Austen, if you-" The lights come on and Trisha shuts up. I try to control my breathing but it's not working. The light fades out and Trisha snatches my hand. "If you won't come willingly, I'll drag you." She sounds determined and I scramble to my feet to avoid an excessive amount of pain. My body is threatening to release my guts onto the floor and just when I think I've got the handle on it, my feet are locked in.

I can't hold it back this time, and I end up hurling on the floor when I'm released. Trisha is swearing and she goes to bend over to pull me up when the lights come on. I hear her low swear and the light stays on for a much longer time. My body is too weak to even think about moving. When the light clicks off I look at Trisha and shake my head. She frowns but grabs Marisa's hand and they disappear into the wall just as I stand up to have my feet locked in.

I see the panic on the other girls faces but no one spins yet. We're all utterly exhausted and bruised. Many of the girls were breaking down into sobs. Makayla's eyes catch mine and I don't say anything but we both know each other are on their last string.

Suddenly, the light comes on and remains blaring me in the face. My body can't move so I remain standing, slowly blinding myself. It's torture, standing there, not knowing if you were going to die because you blinked.

There was a sudden clang. I felt my feet get released as a long, horrid scream filled my ears. Then there was a solid thunk and all was silent again. The light faded and I rushed forward, not caring now about my own insides about to spill out.

The floor had dropped out in front of me and a girl was laying, her arms at awkward angles, at the bottom of a twenty foot drop. Her blood seeped from her sides and seemed to soak into the concrete. No one even made it out of our hallway and yet two girls had died. Suddenly, the floor shut back up again and I saw her circle, the metal clasps opened, waiting as if for her to return.

I looked at the metal clasps for a long time, staring hard because something was wrong. Trisha stood beside me, but I couldn't look away from that cold metal. She shook me gently, probably thinking I was losing my mind. "Austen." She snaps. I clench my jaw but remain set on looking at the clasps. "Austen. It's okay." Trisha says, but her words are a low hum in my ear.

I finally move my eyes to look at the clasps on every other circle, noticing how they were all in a straight line, except for hers. My jaw clenches and I reached forward, trying to move the clasps and seeing that I couldn't.

He moved them.

The reality sank in. Alec moved the clasps which made the lights see her movement, and she died because he moved her. It wasn't even her fault. If that wasn't proof that he was choosing girls, then I didn't know what was.

I scrambled away from the circles, from the horrible hallway, from the claustrophobic feeling I was getting. I went to the hallway where I knew the library was and I sat down in front of the door, staring at it, waiting for it to tell me it's secrets. My body was spent, but I was too afraid to fall asleep with those deaths as fresh in my mind as they were. So, I stared.