One of Nine

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 9

I regretted throwing the party. The nausea of stupidity overwhelmed me. I felt responsible for making everyone else feel like idiots. 

    Then I remembered I didn't care and I got over it. Because for a while, I had helped everyone forget the circumstances we were in, and allowed them to let loose, even if it had only lasted an hour. 

    A part of me wished that no one had seen the letter until the next day. Or at least until the party was over. But I guess Eli always had to ruin things. 

    The mood in the house had shifted. It felt gray and hopeless, even more so than it already had. With that one, small piece of paper we were reminded that we were here for a reason, and we should never try to get comfortable again. 

    Asher spent the entire day after the party studying the paper, with Eli breathing down his neck the whole time, demanding answers. He went outside and held it up to the sun. He put another piece of paper over it, covering the second paper entirely with a pencil to see if any etches had been made. He borrowed my lighter and held the paper above the flame, he submerged it in water. He did everything he could think of. Still, it revealed nothing. He crumpled the paper out of frustration and threw it on the floor of the dining room as he left. 

    I followed Asher up to his room, thinking that maybe I could cheer him up. But as we neared his room, he slammed the door in my face. 

    Frowning, I knocked. 

    "Go away Junius." His voice sounded from inside the room. 

    I turned the doorknob and walked in. 

    "Rule number four. Don't go into someone else's room without-"

    "Shut up," I interrupted him.

    "Can you leave? Please?" His back was turned towards me. 

    "Can you say it to my face?" I pestered,

    He swiveled around in his desk chair and glared at me. "Out!" 

    I scoffed and left, slamming the door behind me. What an ass. All I wanted to do was help.
    Jonah was leaving his room just as I exited Asher's. 

    "What?" I said threateningly, annoyed that he was staring at me. 

    He shrugged, and then cocked his head to the side. "Want a drink?" 

    "Absolutely."

    As we walked through the foyer I saw that someone had taken the paper from the envelope, uncrumpled it and tacked it up next to the rules. I assumed Eli was the one that did it. We sat in the kitchen, with a glass of whiskey for me and a glass of whiskey for him. 

    "Are you okay?" he asked me. 

    I chuckled deeply, not finding anything funny. "Clearly I'm not since you're even asking me that."

    "Fair," he said, downing the drink in a single swallow. He pours another and downs that too. 

    "Are you okay?" I ask. 

    Jonah smiles a very unconvincing smile. "Are any of us?"

    Half an hour passed and Rhody joined us. 

    She lifted her glass to her lips and stared at me. 

    "Is there something on my face?" I asked her. "You're staring." 

    "No." She shot a glance at Jonah. "It's just that some of us have been talking."

    "Who is some of us?'" I asked.