The Wheel

42. David

Kate moved confidently toward us and with a wide smile.

"What?" I asked, surprised. "How did you do it?"

"It's easy," she replied, "you just have to tell them everything they need!"

My anger toward that bitch that liked constantly humiliating everyone was quickly growing.

"It's unfair!" I insisted. "You set it up somehow!"

"Hey," Chris pointed out that I was hurting his 'girlfriend's' feelings, "none of us set up anything. I guess we're a part of an experiment."

Kate went aside, leaned back on the wall and was scrolling through something on her phone.

Why nobody put up a show with her like they did with Mike?! I was looking forward to her sitting on that chair and suffering, but it all ended so quickly!

What if some rich maniac is behind all of this, and he just likes to see people suffer, especially men? Maybe he was a crybaby in the past and other boys were mocking him and girls showed their support? It would explain why Kate got through this 'session' of talking with Ayama so quickly and painlessly. But there is no logic in this case: why did he kidnap her, Veronica, and Emma in the first place? This hypothetical maniac would kidnap only us, guys. I'm dying to know why we are here! The half of the people, including me, have already went through their fair share of suffering, so it means the answers are very close...or not? Enough, stop thinking about it! Too many questions.

"Honey, what do you think," Veronica asked Sam, sitting in his arms, "what is this happening for? So that we would understand that people have skeletons in their cupboards?"

"I don't know, sweetie," he replied. "I guess it's too obvious. In my opinion, there's a deep meaning in all of it."

"Maybe we are trapped here so that we would understand that some of those skeletons are, in fact, not that scary?" I suggested.

"I think all this shit is happening only to make us realize that nobody has a perfect life," Mike added, "and that we all have a reason for our behaving like we do; and it's hard to guess it."

So, four people left: Sam, Veronica, Emma, and Chris – who is next?

"Well," Ayama declared, "let's take a little break. Is anyone hungry?"

My group mates exchanged wondering looks, waiting for what would happen next. Ten square screens diverged on the ceiling and a big table, made in buffet-style, with the abundance of drinks and food was slowly lowering down. We moved toward it.

"Bon appétit," Ayama said. "While you're having a break, think who of you could be involved in  organizing this 'meeting'".

We all stopped halfway. Is one f us to blame for us being trapped here? My group mates started looking at each other suspiciously.