SOTF Archive/SOTF Classic

Blake looked at Cheri with a raised eyebrow.

“Can’t own it if you didn’t do it.” he said, “Way to take sides.”

Aditi then said something he didn’t catch and he turned his head to make eye contact with her.

Only to get a fist in his gut instead.

Grunting in pain, Blake collapsed to his knees with one hand holding his gut.

He struggled to keep his eyes open as he fought to keep his food down...

Oh, uh, okay. So much for calming down.

But after Blake was all mouthy like that, Cheri didn't feel half as bad as she outwardly reacted to Aditi socking him. Sakurako and Adele came in, great timing on their part, and the subtle amusement in that the former came in wearing the same exact expression that she herself was wearing was enough to mask the sharp spike in tension from having other people suddenly show up without her really expecting it. It would probably come to her later, that she should have considered herself fortunate it wasn't anybody dangerous.

Though this was pretty funny. Cheri was discovering a silent malice for Blake growing as this joke of a situation played out, and she tried to remember what this was called in one of her literature classes. It was kind of like 'fake'...

She didn't say anything yet. It was best, she decided, to let this play out for the time being, but if things got too crazy... well, somebody else could step in.

Aditi had never attacked someone the way she did just then.

Physical violence was uncouth, especially when words would do. Aditi was primed with her words, but never with her fists, because she knew that the moment someone resorted to physical violence during a heated discussion, they had automatically lost the discussion. She'd known that and seen examples of that all throughout her senior year, from many of Ivy's various social losses to a variety of happenings at Swiftball, and she'd done her best to never let her own anger get the best of her. But when Blake started going on about his achievements as though they actually meant something, or spoke to his character in that moment, she'd lost the battle within herself and let the anger take over.

She couldn't let that happen again.

But for now, she could take advantage of the outcome.

She heard Adele and Sakurako show up, with the best and worst of timing, but she wasn't focused on them now, she was focused on Blake nearly keeled over on the ground beneath her. She squatted down, her leg creaking anxiously within her own mind as she did so, grabbed the back of Blake's hair, and yanked his face up so that her eyes bore into his again.

"Here's how this works, Blake. We may be all on the same team, but that doesn't mean I'm ever going to trust you around my stuff again. You were caught red-handed and tried so, so badly to get out of responsibility for your painfully, painfully inept actions, so I suggest if you're not ready to own up to that now, you file it away for later because sooner or later it will get you killed. So either own up to your own bad intentions now-"

Aditi gripped her fingers tighter into Blake's scalp.

"-or get out."

With that, she released him and turned around to face the other three girls. Aditi knew how bad she looked in this moment, but she couldn't let it stop her moving forward. Maybe she could spin this her way again.

"...I do not like people stealing my belongings when I only own scarcely few things in this world anymore."

It wasn't much, but it would have to do.

It was a battle, but Blake somehow managed to stop himself from regurgitating his lunch all over the floor. He barely had time to recover from that when Aditi grabbed his hair and gave him a choice, either admit to being a thief or get kicked out.

When she let go, he didn't say anything. With a punch like that, how could he? Sure, he was punched before, but never did it feel like...this. Still feeling winded from the punch, he waited to make sure he wasn't feeling too bad. After checking his stomach, which already was showing some redness, he slowly rose to his feet.

Putting some pressure on left and right feet respectively, he was surprised that he only felt some pain and discomfort. Wasn't it supposed to hurt more? Make him fall back down?

Those questions faded away when he saw the aggressor with her back turned. The girl who caught him.

The girl who accused him in front of another.

The girl who punched him and was talking to the others as if she didn't do anything.

Anger was the only thing coursing through his veins. What, she thought she's going to get away with that without expecting some sort of consequence? Try to make it out as if he deserved it?

To hell with that.

Scowling, Blake walked over to Aditi and, clenching his right fist tightly, he swung at the side of her head as hard as he could.

"Don't fucking touch me!"

Oh.

That was the only thing floating through Aditi's head as she was flung against the floor from the punch reverberating through her head. There were other thoughts bouncing around, trying to register just how badly she'd been hit and the like, but the one constant was the surprise. Just 'oh'. Aditi had never been hit that badly before, but then again she'd never hit someone as badly as she hit Blake. She probably should have been expecting it, but it was still a shock anyway.

She felt herself collapse to the floor, skidding slightly against the varnished wood. Within seconds, she was scrambling upwards expecting another punch. But none came. With the moment of reprieve, she put her hand to her waistline and pulled out the gun that had made an imprint upon her skin the moment she landed and aimed it at Blake.

Aditi had not figured out how to use the gun yet. She didn't even know if she'd loaded it properly. But it was still a gun, still capable in the right hands, and it was currently in Aditi's and aimed at Blake's chest.

"Get out."

She said it once, because it was all she needed. She had been proven right, and Blake was not on her team, or Adele's team, or Sakurako's team, or Cheridene's team.

"Now."

Her voice unexpectedly shook in her throat as the words escaped and Aditi couldn't tell how much of it was real.

There was a certain point in life when you couldn't retrace your steps and go a different way.

Apparently Blake had tried to take Aditi's stuff, which made sense but didn't. He picked about the worst target for theft possible, but more than that, it was only the second day. How long did he plan on being here? Was he just along to try to take advantage with them this whole time?

Did he want to try to escape at all?

As unfortunately attractive as it was when Aditi threatened him and pulled his hair, Blake wanting to get a lick in was fair. It was naive to expect it to be left at that, a fact that was clear as day when a gun was drawn. It had probably happened just like this so many times on this island, a base being built only to find that something had been missing, a fatal flaw.

"Don't shoot him, Aditi!"

Her voice was naturally low, but now it was quivering in a pitch she never thought she could reach.

"It doesn't have to go down like this."

The fear that seemed to be absent with earlier gun threats was very real now. Seeing a dead body had been enough, she didn't want to watch anyone die, even if they did have sticky fingers. No harm done, no foul... but the reality was Blake had done a harm here that she couldn't put words or a joke to.

If hunger was his real concern, she could have shared.

But it wasn't worth pulling a bullet to him and ending his life.

Girl could breathe, girl could stay calm, could stay cool.

A girl could keep her composure, even when it seemed every single little thing was falling to pieces whether it be from uppity bishes or trashy white boys she had no time for, gun in the air and now pointed at a dumbass's head, and she could've screamed, would've screamed, should've screamed, one moment in and then out.

A girl could keep it all inside, but in exchange, Adele let the branch fall from her hands, crackle on the floor just a bit louder than the punches. Voice cracked a little too, when she opened her mouth, tightroping but not falling. Not yet.

"For the love of God, you can all shut the fuck up."

They could all shut up, every single last one of them, because they were all acting like children and Adele was not the Messiah, not a promised child even meant to help bishes through the red red sea. Wasn't even someone with a badge, even a high school graduate. Just a girl who wanted to make it right, and that was going to start now.

Her gaze felt like it was shaking looking at Blake, blonde hair and blue eyes meaning that even in engaging in just a little larceny he was gonna get out fine, even from this. Scuffed up, sure, but home free. Skin darker, hair kinkier, different story, but no. Justice was meant to be blind, meant to protect all, but it didn't, that much was true.

The next words that came out of her mouth were true, if only to her, voice rumbling low. "Leave this place."

Justice wasn't blind, but she could be.

"Leave, before we make you."

From the moment the gun came out, it's all Cheri saw. Shit, Aditi was packing? She thought nobody had a weapon. In fact, maybe she was recalling wrong, but didn't everybody clear the air that they didn't have weapons? Well, that was a fucking lie, at least on Aditi's end. Girl can't be blamed - Cheri hadn't mentioned her own 'weapon', and wouldn't have brought up the barest of mentions of it whether she had a toothpick or a shotgun because ain't nobody else needing to know until the time comes. So no, she didn't need to know, especially because she wasn't the dumbass it was pointed at. Nonetheless, its sudden appearance made for quite a scare.

'Put the gun down, girl,' Cheridene thought, but Sakurako had that covered.

'Man, just leave so nobody gets hurt,' Cheridene thought, but Adele had THAT covered.

That just left her, just... scootin' off to the side so the gun was nowhere near her.

"Maybe, uhm," Cheri mumbled, throwing her neck to the two who joined the party late, "clear the doorway. An' let him out that way. Yeah."

Blake tensed up the second Aditi pulled the gun out. He expected her to either try to punch him back or stay down, but aiming a gun at his chest? She shouldn't act all surprised. What was she expecting, that he just take that punch? That he would do a complete one-eighty and admit to being guilty?

I thought she were competent, but I couldn't be more wrong.

Unsurprisingly, the other girls reacted poorly to his act of retaliation. Sakurako was trying to calm things down which was understandable, but what pissed him off was how Adele and Cheri were demanding that he leave. Didn't they see him on the ground, obviously not well? Cheri wasn't going to say anything? She's not going to mention that he got punched? She fucking saw it!

Most of all, why was Adele immediately taking Aditi's side?! Did they have a talk earlier and suddenly become besties?! Hell, at least Cheri was suspicious of him, why was Adele rallying against him when she only has Aditi's word...

...

...Oh.

"I can't believe this shit." Blake said to Adele, glaring at her, "You saw me get punched and you didn't say anything, but when I hit her back-" He pointed towards Aditi, "-all of a sudden, you freak out? Great to see that there's still double standards in a death game."

Not waiting to hear what any of them have to say, Blake backed up to the cart and picked up his bag. He made sure to show them his bag number for a second so they wouldn't freak out again. Slinging the bag over his shoulder, he eyed Aditi's gun as he walked towards the doorway.

Another thought came to Blake's mind and he slowed to a halt. Looking mainly at Sakurako and occasionally towards Cheri, he spoke again.

"Cheri and Sakurako, you have to be careful of who you trust. Especially now. I wish the two of you luck."

And with that, he closed the door behind him. Just as quickly as he closed the door, he was outside the house. After walking for a few seconds away from it, he stopped to look back. Thoughts about what he could've done differently quickly filled his mind. Just as fast, he shook those thoughts from his head and kept walking towards an unknown destination.

They didn't need him and he didn't need them.

That was perfectly clear.

((Blake Davis continued in Malice Aforethought))

Aditi's gun remained steady and true the moment Blake began on his inane rant. She didn't know him back at school, but based on his overtly pompous sense of superiority over her based on nothing in particular, given that she actually was somebody back at school and he was less than nothing, his turn to accusing the four girls of being sexist against him was to be expected.

And soon, he was gone, and Aditi lowered her gun. Her gaze remained to the outside of the doorway for a few moments, before her eyes flickered to the side. She was becoming astutely aware of how much her head hurt from the punch. Without saying anything, she sat herself down on the bed, and remained silent.

It was just the four of them now. The four of them were now in the same room, and that was the pre-specified conditions she'd been spouting for her to establish her plan to them, to get them off of this island, or at least make a large step towards it. But there was a strange feeling bubbling inside Aditi's stomach, as though it had suddenly become weightless while she herself was still strapped to earth. She thought it was Blake, but it lingered.

She swallowed, nothing in particular except her own saliva.

"I..."

Aditi paused her own sentence.

"...I am going to need a minute."

She was worried about her own emotions again.

It was over so fast you could be forgiven for missing it, if this was your entertainment and you left the room for popcorn. But no one died, right?

Right?

Wasn't that what mattered in the end?

The important thing?

Blake's accusation of sexism hadn't stung, seemed silly in the face of what they had been planning, but... he was right about trusting people even if he couldn't be trusted. It was just like that instruction book to surviving here.

Ha. They'd all been surviving right as rain before this trip, even if what had happened so far here made it seem like the class had been one bad day from a call not to go to school. Speaking of- Sakurako dug through her bag, pulled out the pen and paper she'd found and sat it by Aditi on the bed. Passing a note to a cheerleader back at school would get the tongues wagging, but the paper was as empty as her hands now.

"For when you're ready."

The pen was supposed to be mightier than the sword, but it clearly didn't hold a candle to the gun.

Something about that was so damn sad.

Dwelling on it would be the path to hell, but laughing it off entirely would be fake. Tiring. She wasn't smart enough to get them off the island, and she wasn't funny enough to help them feel better about how much their class sucked, and that left few options.

Her feet felt like bricks as she tugged both her bags over to a space on the floor that looked comfy enough to sit, then she gracelessly flopped down beside them.

"If any of you guys want I can plait your hair back. Most of my hair stuff is for mutts like- excuse me, mixed race girls like me, but I don't think it would make your hair fall out or anything. And if it did, you'd all still be cute."

Then Sakurako was quiet, except for singing to herself, sounding as if that mockery she'd made of Celine Dion had been an entirely preventable farce.

"Is there anything that's worth more than peace and love on the planet Earth..."

Blake had gotten up in her face, glared at her, swore, all the things that she was sure he'd been hiding within since the very minute they had woken up in this foreaken place, and so Adele felt no need to say anything back. Just basked in her righteousness, let it flow through.

By way of looking him directly in the eyes, saying nothing back. No need to. Not when he'd proven her right. Still, no one else found the moment as sorta joyous, which did make a lot of sense, so she just breathed, let it rest. Let 'Rako's surprisingly dulcet tones wash over the whole group. Maybe she should've joined in, did something, but now didn't exactly seem like the type to join in a song, and besides, at least from what she knew, 'Rako seemed like the kind of person to enjoy the sound of her own voice.

Adele turned to the rest of the group then, breathing in, breathing out.

"Don't know what else we can do now, but first thing tomorrow?"

She pointed at the gun.

"I am teaching y'all how to use that thing, 'cause we can't get caught out like this again."

Blake was gone. Hopes for seeing him integrated back into the group were slim. From Cheri's experience, when you had a fight like that with somebody in a high school social environment, that connection can go weeks or months without being patched up, if ever. Blake had been doing them wrong and hurting their potential chances for survival. That was more serious an offense than... just off the cuff, whispering something slightly incriminating at a locker.

But they didn't have months, and they didn't have weeks. In the best of circumstances, they only had a few days. It was possible that some of the girls in this room had just a couple, or even less. Cheridene didn't wish to dwell but it had to be acknowledged; they could die at any time.

Adele must have been on the same wavelength though, because she was actually taking the initiative to work on correcting that. And with her and Sakurako, Aditi would more than likely calm down and the remainder of the group could stay calm and collected.

"You know how to use it?" Cheri found herself asking Adele. She didn't like, know her real well and all, so she had no idea where Adele got that kind of knowledge. Sure they were from Tennessee, it's not a huge surprise that somebody knows how to use a gun, but was Adele's dad a cop or something? "Sor... yeah uh, it wasn't supposed to come out like that. I mean it's good, you knowing how to use it, if you can show us and all."

That gun could very well be the key to Cheridene's survival, she realized.




Specifically hers.

She wasn't being given her minute.

They were all standing around, talking as if nothing had happened. It didn't hurt Aditi, or harm her in any way, but it did make her feel uncomfortable, like she'd completely lost control of the situation. She looked down at the pen and paper Sakurako had placed beside her, and took them in her hands, examining them both.

She placed her hand at the site of her recent injury. It could have been worse. Blake could have gone for the knee, which he could have known about had he seen the brace. He could have had something in his hands when he went for her head, and Aditi could have been splattered across the wallpaper. But it wasn't worst, it just was what it was.

Aditi got to her feet, throwing eyes to her three remaining group members.

"Sure. I'll let you have it. Tomorrow."

And with that, Aditi left for the other bedroom.

Minutes passed, then hours, then night fell and the sun rose. The rain pounded out a steady white noise to accompany the seemingly endless drone of the announcements.

Fifteen dead, if she counted it right...

Better to think of the chicken instead.

-

An hour later, Sakurako found herself dressed and doing push-ups in the living room. Her outfit wasn't really suitable for the crummy weather, but damned if she wasn't going to live cute for as long as she could. Her Nikes were fresh as ever, the galaxy print on her skirt could be considered camo at night if she really reached, and her black shirt... well, it was super thin, but it had a hood! As far as she was considered, she was as ready for action as she'd ever be.

Which was the problem, wasn't it?

Ever since she had heard about what Caroline did, she couldn't shake feeling like the plan was dead in the water, that they weren't even trying. What were they doing that had to wait until after a bunch of classmates had died? Did Aditi have any more clue than she did?

Maybe it was time to consider the worst case scenario.

But not just yet.

In contrast to her thoughts, her voice was cheery enough when she heard people moving around.

"Hisashiburi, mornin'."