House of Trap

17 | Q&A (Part 1)

How many times had those words been repeated? How often were they agreed on? How frequently did it still fail? And yet, she tried again, because Maddie knew the Game Master designed the games to separate them.

"Are you serious?" Jay was the first one to voice out his opinion. He cocked his head to Ashlyn, refusing to look her in the eye. "I am not working together with a murderer. She might kill me next."

Maddie groaned at the response, knowing the plan was already failing before it was set into full motion.

"You are right about that. I know you'd like to join Natasha in death," Ashlyn uttered recklessly, completely no disregard to anyone else's emotion.

The words aggravated Jay who immediately got up on his feet, bonking his fist on the table. He used to be the peaceful one who spent his time comforting his now deceased friend. But after being trapped for so long and witnessing the true filthiness of humanity, he had enough.

"Shut up! You are nothing but a murderer! You should've jumped into the fire to reunite with Steve back then!" He shouted.

This made Ashlyn flinch, staring at him as if he had spoken taboo words. She soon raised from her seat, joining him in a silent assault of threatening eye contact shared between them.

"Guys! Please, we need to work together!" Maddie interrupted their tension, slamming her hands on the table to gain their attention. "The Game Master is trying to separate us. We can't let that happen."

The others stared at her like she was crazy.

"How do you know all this?" Bree questioned.

It was too late for Maddie to realize she had said too much before thinking of a good backup excuse. The longer her silence extended, the more suspicions it would trigger.

"It's quite obvious. Anyone can sense it," Damon suddenly spoke. He met Maddie's grateful eyes, but did not let his coldness falter. "I want to win the game and get the hell out of here."

He got up from his seat, nudging Ethan by the shoulder. "Lead us to the next playroom."

A playroom, that was what it was. In a sense, the entire house of trap was like a huge playroom they were forced to play this deadly game in. But they were almost done. Just two more games, and they could escape.

"Are we playing now?" Ethan questioned.

"I don't see the point in delaying my victory. Up," Damon commanded, and the younger boy obeyed when he rose to his feet.

They all silently trailed after Ethan who guided them as he followed the map indicated on the mission card.

"Hey," Bree suddenly neared Ginny who was being awfully quiet the entire time. She jerked the younger girl's arm a little. "Are you okay? You haven't said anything."

Ginny looked up, watching her friend's mouth move. She tried to read her lips, but was never exposed to possess those skills. She had no idea what was being asked from her, nor did she know what to reply. She glanced at Damon who seemed to be watching, and yet didn't interrupt or aid her.

"Yes," Ginny then replied, flashing a convincing smile. She gave out the most common answer that should supposedly work with any question. Bree's face looked at her weirdly, so she quickly added, "I'm fine."

And that seemed to do the trick as Bree smiled back at her in relief, uttering more words she could not hear.

Ethan held the key in his hand, and kept stealing glances at the girl beside him instead of looking at the map. "You know something about the Game Master, don't you?" He asked, his tone curious and friendly at the same time.