The Wheel

69. Emma

Sam won't kill me, I know it! He won't kill you, Emma! He'd better shoot Chris, he deserved it! He could be the reason all the terrible secrets of our friends and relatives would be spread out all over the Internet!

On one of the walls there was an alternation of different recordings where we in turns greet the 'virewers' on camera.

"Hi everyone, my name is Emma Wilson," I say on camera and slightly wave my hand.

"Hello, my name is Miguel Keep."

"Hello, my name is David Prone."

"I'm Michael High."

Have I ever shot in that video? We're wearing the same formal clothes there as we're here! Had it been several hours ago somewhere here before we woke up? I see shock and surprise in the guys' eyes: one more thing nobody remembers!

"I hate my younger brother and I can't fight back when he hurts me," Mike laughs in the video, "when he's around it's like I'm a different person: I still have no idea why I behave this way. You know, I was so scared when I pushed Jasper down the stairs; it was the first time in my life when I was shocked. And I can't even begin to describe what I felt when that 'angelic creature' stabbed himself in the leg, saying: "Why did you do it, Mike?!". I think that kind of things don't go unnoticed."

"Do you know my family was killed by a bunch of thugs? I remember I didn't know what was going to happen to me," Miguel said calmly and with a smile. "I thought I would starve to death, catch an incurable disease, that the thugs would find me and kill me. Nevertheless, someone 'from above' helped me," he raised his head like he was watching at the sky, "because I met people who brought me to a resort city, gave me an opportunity to make a living and eventually I got new parents. Isn't it a miracle? Yes, I behave like a five-year-old because all of this, but it helps me to truly enjoy my life. I don't wanna be serious, I don't like it."

"I like manipulating people, it's cool," Kate said with an inspiration on her face, "my kind of a boyfriend Chris takes me to restaurants and buys me different things that I like: it's the only reason I 'date' him. Yeah, I learned how to manipulate from my dead sister who I pretend to be: for example, I use one of my group mates Emma to help with studying. And I love hamburgers! I love them! It's a pity I need to keep fit, so I can't eat them very often. I used to be different: kind, nice, and friendly – sometimes some things change us."

"Honestly, I dream about being an architect," David said calmly, "I regret I chose a different direction, but I guess I can change it next year. It's so strange I realized what I want when it's too late."

"Helping people is very important for me," now there is a video with my 'interview', "I try to accept people the way they are. Yeah, sometimes I'm angry with some of them, but I believe we are kind and good deep down."

"My life is perfect," Chris said, smiling widely, "my mother and I have great relationship and an amazing son Christopher. I have a happy family, a lot of friends, money, a beautiful body, a big house. What else do you need to be happy? I think I'm the happiest person in the world. Of course, I need to lie, but it's fine. I'm happy! Happy! I'm very-very happy!"

"And I'm just an ordinary girl," Veronica laughed in the video, "Sometimes people ask me whether or not I have some quirks, and I don't know what to say. Well, I get hysterical sometimes, but I don't think it's very-very strange: I'm a girl after all. And you know I don't think there are a lot of strange people in the world, really. Let's take the guys I study with: they are ordinary people, except it's very easy to make Mike angry; Emma is deep in that religious stuff; Kate sometimes behaves like a bitch. Miguel behaves like a six-year-old; David is a little bit closed-off – but I think it's not a big deal. It's more of personal traits of character."