His Game

Chapter 9

Angel and I waited up for Nia to return. It was weird sitting in a room of complete silence. There was no outside everyday noises that was to expect or noises from the next door neighbors. We were just listening to the normal, steady breaths of each other. I hadn't filled Angel in on the plan I came up with either. I wanted all of us to be together, so I can tell them both at the same time.

I don't know how much longer we had to wait for Nia. Durst didn't grace us with a clock or a calendar to keep up with the time or the days. Although it couldn't have been more than a couple of days past since we were kidnapped.  

About five minutes later the doorknob jiggled and out poured Nia. She fell on the floor as the door slammed shut behind her. I sat frozen on the bed shocked at first of the sudden outburst while Angel rushed by her side. After I snapped myself out of the trance I was in, I rose to help Angel help Nia up.

Angel was pounding her with questions and inspecting her like she was a drill sergeant.

"Let's get her settled down first before we ask anymore questions," I offered gently guiding Nia to her bed.

Angel didn't say anything. I went into the bathroom to grab a small towel. I poured a little water on it and returned to see Angel sitting next to Nia rubbing her shoulders. I sat on the opposite of Nia and handed her the towel. She wiped her own face and held it covering her face for a couple of seconds, before holding it in her hands.

"We don't expect you to tell us what happened right now," I shot a look at Angel's eager face to emphasize my point before I turned to Nia again. "You can tell us whenever you're ready."

Angel began to protest and I raised my hand to stop her.

"Y'all gave me time. It's only fair to give each other time. Plus, you haven't told us anything about your time with Durst so stop pushing it please."

That made her shut up instantly. We all sat in silence after that. I couldn't hide the fact that I didn't like Angel. If I would have met her before, I probably wouldn't have been her friend. She had this prestigious type of attitude like she knew everything and that she was better than everyone. Silvia wouldn't have liked her either. I had to hide the smile that almost formed at the thought of my best friend. We enjoyed talking about and making fun of people like Angel.

I forgot Nia and Angel were sitting besides me and I blinked realizing they've been asking me questions.

I shook my head. "What was that?"

"Angel said you had a plan," Nia slowly said. "What is it?"

"Oh, yeah," I nodded. "Each morning, I think we should venture out as far as we can to figure out how big the land is. When we reach the fence, we can find a gate or something that will help us to escape then we can figure out how to unlock it. We can leave checkpoints by making something to leave, so each time we pass it we can know and won't get lost or mixed up."

"How would we make the checkpoints?" Angel asked.

I stood and walked to the desk. I opened the drawer that held plenty of paper and pencils.

"There's a stack of papers in this drawer. In total, there's no more than like fifty pieces of paper," I took a piece of paper out. "We won't need the whole piece of paper, so we can tear it into a small size where we can use the rest of it for the same purpose."

"There's a lot of land to cover though," Nia said.

"There is. Each day we cover though, we would only go the same direction each time. If we choose to go different ways each time, it would take too much time and it would only cause us to not find the fence that's holding us in."

Angel held up a finger. "Okay, okay. Let's say one of us finds the fence first, what happens then?"

I returned the paper back to it's spot and sat on Angel's bed facing them. "Let's say that Nia finds it. Nia would tell us, but you and I would still continue looking until we find it as well. Nia would look for one of the gates because there has to be more than one gate to enter from."

"If there's only one, we would know and we would find ways to escape by unlocking the gate," I quickly added.

Angel frowned. "Couldn't we just climb the fence?"

I shook my head. "I've seen the fence and there's nothing on the fence that would help us to climb it."

"We could break it? Make a hole in it, maybe?" Nia suggested.

"We don't have anything to be able to do that," I said.

I paused allowing them to run over everything that I proposed. I hoped they would agree with me, but they had no other choice to disagree. For now it was something and something was better than nothing. We could have the upper foot in escaping. 

Nia was the first to agree.

Angel hesitated. "What about Durst?"

"What about him?" I shrugged.

"He only gives us a couple minutes each morning to be outside. How would we be able to go as far as we can, get our breakfast, and get back in time before he comes out to get us?" 

I paused. "We would have to be willing to accept whatever he makes us do if we get caught out past time."

"He also said he would time the other times too." I said after letting my words sink in. "We would know how much time we would have. On the way back after making our checkpoint, we can pick up the things we need."

Angel shook her head. "I don't know, guys. I don't think I'd be able to do this."

I grabbed Angel's hands and squeezed it. "Angel we will need as many help as we can get. It's only three of us."

"I-I can't," She continued to shake her head. "I can't do it, Celia. I'm not as strong as you are."

"Don't you want to get out of here?" I asked her ignoring what she said about me. "He can't hold us here forever. We have to do something."

"She's right, Angel," Nia squeezed her shoulder. "We have to get out of here. After all, we still don't know what happened to the other girl."

We all shuddered at the thought of the mystery girl. We gave Angel a little time to think. During that I squeezed her hands reassuringly every now and then while Nia rubbed her back. Finally, Angel nodded her head.

"Okay," She said quietly. 

I grinned. "Good. We'll start tomorrow. The sooner the better."

I got to my feet and stretched. "No word of this to Durst at any time that we're here. Okay?"

Nia nodded and we turned to wait for Angel's answer.

Again, on her time she finally nodded.

Nia yawned. "We should get some rest."

I walked over to my bed and sat down on it. I kicked off my shoes before lying on my side and getting comfortable with what I had. I felt differently now going to bed. I felt more alive and better about the situation we were in. I didn't feel hopeless like I was at first. I definitely didn't feel like I was weak and what Durst said all about me. I felt strong. I felt renewed and glad that I had support behind me. I fell asleep with hope in my heart that everything was going to be okay. For the first time since we've been here, I fell asleep with a smile on my face.