You Were Not Spared

[CondorTalon]

Nina slid the key into the lock of the front door. She turned it, unlocking the door. She pulled the key out, at the same time pushing open the door. She quickly took off her shoes, ran upstairs to her bed, and jumped face first onto the pillow. She turned uncomfortably, staring at the ceiling. This was not a kind of day she wanted.

She wasn't supposed to come home this early. She'd told her parents she'd be home at 7 in the evening. She turned her head, looking at the clock on her desk. "3:57" read the digital display.

This wasn't supposed to happen. She was supposed to be bowling with her friends. This was supposed to be a fun day. A distraction from... from...

She'd heard the news. She'd heard what had happened to the senior trip of Aurora. She counted herself lucky that Miriam hadn't gone. She counted her family lucky.

Her friends wouldn't stop talking about it. She didn't want them to, but they did. She'd heard it all already. She was sick of hearing about SotF this and SotF that... She screamed at them, telling them to fuck off, before she stormed out, slamming her bowling shoes on the counter as she left.

She slowly sat up from her bed. She made her way over to her sister's room. She knocked twice. No answer.

"Miriam?" she said to the door. Still no response.

"Miriam, please..." she whimpered.

"Go away," said a voice from the other side of the door.

Nina sniffled, making her way back to her room and closing the door.

She thought their family would be spared the pain of having lost a family member to this twisted game. She was wrong.

Miriam hadn't left her room for two days.

[CondorTalon]

She heard a knock at the door.

"I told you to go away," she said to the door.

"It's dinner time..." said a voice on the other side.

Miriam looked at the door for a few seconds. After what seemed like an eternity, she slowly stood up and took a few shaky, pained steps to the entrance to her room. She opened it to find Nina standing there, holding a plate and a glass. She took them from her, and set them on the table she'd placed next to the door. She was about to close the door again, a routine that had developed throughout these last two days. She paused when she saw how red Nina's face was.

"What is it?" she asked, but it barely came out as a question.

"Miriam... you can't keep doing this. You can't! Please!" Nina unloaded on her, the tears that had stained her face a few minutes ago had threatened to show themselves again.

"I'm... I'm sorry, Nina," Miriam responded before closing the door on her sister's face.

She took the food back to her desk, her eyes going back to the computer screen. Over the next hour, she ate the food, in small bites, as she kept her eyes glued to the live stream of the island.

She needed to make sure her friends were alive. She couldn't keep her attention off of them for a second.