The Love Among Us

Chapter 11: This isn't Freedom.

As I sat in my car, I tried to process the already long days events.

So I sat trying to catch up my mind to what had happened in the past few hours.

"The doors opened!" Mallery and Shae said together.

I jumped up after them. We all met in the cafeteria and stared at the open doors.

Mallery and Shae were asleep in the cafe when the doors made a loud flanking noise and when they looked they were all open.

Shae checked and the employees were already gone.

Adam was the first to get close to the doors, "Is it really over?"

Nobody answered, but Emma started walking until she went fully through the doors.

She turned around, "It's not a trap."

Timidly, we all walked through the doors.

We all stuck together and found our way back to where we were given our suits.

I went into the changing room and grabbed my stuff from the locker.

As much as I loved the dress I was wearing, I missed pants.

I checked my phone, but it was dead.

I folded the dress nestly and carried it out, where Millie, Opal, Julie, Olive, Jillian, Jack, Thalia, Tom, Chad, and Daniel stood, waiting.
That left Emma, Vallerie, Mallery, Shae, Adam, Will, Nick, Owen, Dawn, Mike and Sue.

Slowly they each walked out.

Once everyone was gathered, I asked, "Is anyone's phone charged?"

I heard a chorus of "no"

Emma led us out to the lobby, where the lights were out, and nobody was there.

I ran over to the door and tasted the sweet outdoor air.

Despite feeling free...I didn't truly feel... Freedom.

My mind was still tethered to the game, and all that had happened. .

I looked at Adam.

His shaggy, dirty blonde hair fell roguishly over his face.

He was kind, gentle, and gorgeous.

But my heart didn't want him.

My gaze was drawn to Owen.

Owen was starkly different from Adam.

Where Adam was gentle... Owen was rough. Where Adam was bright, Owen was dark, and where Adam was kind, Owen had betrayed me.
But I found myself falling for Owen still.
His old school black hair made his overall look send me to another world.

I knew I was drawn to Owen, and I wanted to get to know him.

I felt that separating from my new friends was the wrong choice, and that I needed to be near Owen.

But I needed to regroup.

So while Vallerie had us a write down our phone numbers, my thoughts ran in circles.

I've always heard about finding "the one" in stories, I never thought I'd find anyone close.

I decided to give my brain a break and stop thinking while I ran to my car (Dawn told me earlier she'd go home with Thalia).

I jumped in the driver seat and rested my head on the steering wheel.

I sat up, finally caught up to the moment and took a deep, grounding breath.