Panic Room

Chapter 6: 'Juno's Plan'

Silence hung in the room once again.

Shortly after Kira had disappeared with Axel, Ari had quietly sat down next to Juno, who'd hardly glanced at her before putting the book he'd been holding back, relaxing in his chair again.

Claire remained standing where she was, shifting her weight repeatedly as her heels had begun to really hurt her feet, regretting not sitting down earlier.

"Who do you thinks going next? You or me doll?" Juno asked Claire, Ari jumping in her seat a bit before turning to look at her as well.

"I don't know, and don't call me doll. Uh, please." She said quietly, her face turning pink a bit, she covered her face though as she was still a bit nervous around him because of what happened earlier.

Juno gave a Cheshire cat like grin, leaning forward and resting his arms on his knees. "Alright sweetheart."

Claire side eyed him, scowling a bit as he just chuckled at her.

"Not like you're gonna stop me." He shrugged, leaning his head against one hand as Claire sighed loudly, Ari watching quietly from her seat.

"No but you could at least have the decency to respect my wishes." Claire grumbled, stomping her foot a bit, to which Juno smirked at.

"Wow you're annoying huh? Well, too bad for you, darling, the things I do tend not live up to standard decency levels."

"I'm not sure if anyone here has standard decently levels at this point." Ari muttered, both Claire and Juno looking at her in shock.

She glanced up, realizing they were both staring at her, her face quickly flushing a bright red.

"O-oh! Oh my goodness did I say that out loud I-" Ari cut herself off, looking to see Juno laughing quite loudly next to her.

Her and Claire both stayed quiet as Juno finished laughing, wiping his eyes a bit as he calmed down.

"Wow! Wow I like this girl." He said, looking at Claire with what seemed to be a genuine smile as he pointed at Ari.

"I, uh, t-thank you?" Ari replied nervously, fidgeting in her seat as she tried to calm her racing heart for what felt like the hundredth time that night.

"But she's right you know. Seeing as were all suspects for a murder, I'm pretty sure were all a bit messed up. Then again, who isn't?" Juno told the two girls, who merely glanced at each other before nodding slowly.

"Let me lay it straight out for you two. People, are the worst. This world kinda sucks, one of us is literally going to be arrested for murder. One of us will go to prison if they did the deed or not. And who are the ones deciding that?"

He paused, standing up and leaning down next to Claire a bit.

"Right there." He shrugged, flicking his hand in the direction of the police officers. He looked to see the singers reaction as both her and Ari looked to where he motioned.

The officers were all standing around, maybe five of them total. Three seemed to be talking and relaxing while officer Sachhi and a guy were flipping through notes.

"All our fates rely on them. I call bullshit."

Juno took a step forward before whirling around, keeping his gaze low as he looked at both girls.

"I have a plan." He said, a smile growing on his face as Claire looked at him with a deadpan gaze.

"Do you, really?"

She questioned, Juno holding his finger up, still smiling.

"I have part of a plan."

Claire sighed and groaned quietly, crossing her arms as she stared at him.

"Right, no. Not happening, I didn't murder anyone and I'm not risking jail time just because you have 'part of a plan'." She mockingly used air quotes, Juno's smile faltering as Ari piped up.

"I didn't either, but maybe we should hear him out?" Her quiet voice said meekly, Claire looking at her with an astonished gaze.

"What? How could you seriously trust him?"

Claire nearly yelled, pointing at Juno accusingly.

"Rude."

Juno grumbled under his breath as Ari kept talking.

"Well, its either trust him, or those officers. And from my experience, the officers aren't much help, somehow." She muttered the last bit, glancing down at the floor before back up at Juno.

"I'm in." She told him, determination and fear swirling inside her.

"Okay, so, you're both crazy. Noted." Claire said with a nod, looking back and forth between the two before sighing and turning away.

"Fine." Juno said, tearing his gaze away from Claire as he turned to Ari, taking his seat again.

"Just us then. So, here's what I'm thinking." He took a deep breath, his eyes flickering up to the officers before he leaned in closer to Ari.

"So right now Axel and the detective are out of the room, if its the same thing that went down with you then it should be around another twenty minutes before they both come back."

He whispered, Ari fretting the officers would look over and get suspicious.

"Hey, chill. You'll be okay." He told her, his voice going surprising soft as he saw the panic in Ari's eyes.

"I know you didn't kill him, your too innocent looking. If everything goes how it seems, it'll be that damned writer in the prison cell, not you, me, or even that annoying singer."

"D-did you..?" Ari asked, her voice barely above a whisper as fear slowly over took her panic.

She scooted back in her chair, Juno shaking his head slowly, grinning a bit.

"Nah, I didn't kill the dude. Had no problems with him actually. Not even sure if Axel did it or not, but like I said, if this plan works, it'll be him behind bars."

"What do you have against Axel?" Ari asked after she found her voice again, questioningly looking at Juno, who glanced behind her at the officers again.

"Nothing that concerns you sugar. But back to my plan, before they come back."

Juno said lowly, looking up to see Ari's reaction before continuing.

She took a deep breath before nodding again, looking at him with intent, taking the risk to trust him.

He glanced at the door for a second, before quietly pulling something out of his pocket.

Ari covered her mouth, eyes going wide as she tried to contain her loud gasp.

It was a bottle of poison.

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Unedited

Word Count: 1114 

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