Hell is Other People

[MK Kilmarnock]

It was worth a shot.

"That was... yeah, that's fair." Justin said, not wanting to force the issue and make things more tense than they were. Come to think of it, Camilla was awfully tense. It was impossible to know anything he'd done today. It did nothing to stop that feeling crawling along his back that she was, defying all logic, somehow aware. Or... she was aware of something else. Like Benedict.

"You seem- um, sorry. Like, tense? Freaked out." The water was all gone. He held it at his waist, relaxing that arm so at least one of them could be relaxed. "Luh-... lack, like, lack of sleep, right?"

Or something else. Like you know something. Maybe Camilla was never going to relax. But they were alone at least. Nobody else around.

[BlizzardeyeWonder]

Deep breaths, deep breaths- they became shallower by the moment.

"Yeah... Sleep... That's it," she lied, with a nod and a lopsided smile.

Camilla was many things, but a good liar she was not. At least she didn't think so. Then again she rarely lied- well, that would do it, wouldn't it?

Something had to give. She couldn't pretend things were just peachy save sleep deprivation because Justin seemed spawned from the nightmares that took that in the first place. Oh sure he looked perfectly innocent and amicable but- well, he was a murderer! And Camilla had no reason to assume he wouldn't murder her first chance he got.

The first chance she came too close to that... Whatever it was. The weapon.

"You know..."

She quickly stood up, slinging her bag over her shoulder. Rest be damned. Kinda wanting to die anyway be damned. Those two little voices could shut the fuck up.

"I should go," she muttered as she made her way to the door out.

[MK Kilmarnock]

When she stood up with her bag, Justin knew what came next. The crackling noise of plastic from the water bottle in his hand that he crushed squeaked in his ear. He discarded the trash on the floor, dropping his own bags. Everything dropped, except the tire iron.

"You shouldn't," Justin responded flatly.

She was going to leave. And if she left, he wouldn't get this opportunity again. But he didn't move. Not yet. She'd have to get closer to the door. At some point, she'd break into a run, make a go for it, turn away. When she wasn't looking at him... when he couldn't see those goddamn eyes.

[BlizzardeyeWonder]

Camilla fancied herself a rather independent person, yet the moment she heard what Justin said she froze, as she raised her hand towards the door.

So this is what it was like to be nearly deafened by the sound of your own heartbeat.

"...what do you want?" she asked, yet the assertiveness she wanted slipped through her grasp.

[MK Kilmarnock]

She was at the door. So close to the door. So close to outside. Outside, out there, in the open, probably unarmed. Other people were out there, other people with guns and bows... Meka had a bow, so maybe there were more weapons that were like guns, but not guns. Things that could kill from a distance, things that left him and his pipe at a disadvantage. And some of those people might want to help Camilla. More importantly, some of these people would want to kill him for what he did.

"Is this Benny!?" Justin suddenly blurted. It was the only thing he could think of to keep Camilla from opening that door in the moment.

"I mean... is... ab- is this about Ben... ABOUT Benny? Benedict? Wuh-whatever you called him."

The tire iron felt hot.

[BlizzardeyeWonder]

In hindsight, she was pretty obvious about it.

What was she even supposed to say in that moment?

If she said it wasn't, she doubted he would back down.

If she said it was, Justin definitely would not back down.

Camilla narrowed her eyes at him.

"Yes. Yes it is."

She braced herself.

"Is that all?"

[MK Kilmarnock]

Of course it was. But Justin had convinced Meka and Mackenzie. The events of that day, just a few days ago, were already starting to fade. They weren't vanishing and becoming forgotten, but they were losing vibrancy and definition. Justin could no longer remember the taste in his mouth when the pipe connected against Benedict's head. He couldn't remember the noise, or the way his hand shook and the force that shot up his arm. He could approximate these things but couldn't feel, hear, taste them anymore. And he supposed that came with time, but it also came with other experiences being laid over it, mixed with the simple fact he didn't want to relive that anymore.

His expression could only be described as scornful.

"I w-... ngh... I won't say it was an accident. It wasn't." The skin on his knuckles stretched tight. "But I fre... I panicked. I freaked out, I flu-... flipped." He trembled at the knees, and did not know why. "I'm so tired... sick and tired of explaining this. To people. I didn't- I wasn't there when he died. We already le...ft, went separate ways like..."

His jaw clenched.

"Like it was done. He wasn't supposed..." Deep breath. "But he wasn't supposed- like, it wasn't an accident, but it was!"

An urge welled up. His arm shook now.

"Right? A-A-A-A-A.... A-A-And like, how the fuck would you know if it was... I don't know, self defense, or it wasn't, you can't just trust tha-a-a-at stupid voice!"

Hot. So hot.

"They don't have reason to li-... to NOT to lie to us, right!?"

[BlizzardeyeWonder]

Justin seemed to scowl at her, and the hand holding the weapon shook.

Maybe he was right. Maybe it was an accident, or self-defense, and he was right that there was no reason for the announcements to not twist events- Camilla knew it had been done with Nick, at least at first.

But there was a difference between assuming someone you could not see killed in self defense, and seeing that person just raring to do it all again.

What was she supposed to do?

Was this really the end?

"D-don't... don't come any closer!" she yelped as she took another step to the door, but kept facing Justin.

The moment she let her guard down, it would be over.

[MK Kilmarnock]

He had to do it now. Before somebody interrupted again.

He pulled his arm away from his chest, the one that held the tire iron.

Despite the thoughts screaming at him not to do this, he knew that once he hesitated, the chorus telling him to go would start back up. And he needed this period of decision-making to come to an end one way or the next. He took the two steps needed to get within range to hit Camilla and he swung for the head.

"FUCK YOU!"

[BlizzardeyeWonder]

A swift step to the side- the sound of the weapon hitting the wall, combined with a gasp from Camilla's lips.

Further from the door out- closer to the door further in. Without thinking, Camilla dashed that way, and pushed the door open.

The moment she was in, she pulled it shut- and held it shut, pressing herself against it.

She couldn't breathe. No, she could breathe- she was hyperventilating, all too much. But then why did it feel the same as suffocating?

[MK Kilmarnock]

Now Justin remembered what it felt. It came back to him: the shock of the pipe bouncing off of and cracking Benedict's skull, the iron smashing against the tree trunk as he raged to Aliya. Those feelings came back, awakened when he struck the wall. Justin tried to urge his body to swing again, but his bones were still tingling from the shock, that thing that nobody really thinks about when they watch baseball players do their stuff, or watch movies where somebody's got a bat or a pipe. It takes time and effort to get swinging again, and it was enough time and effort for Camilla to get away...

But instead of running outside, she instead went through the other door. The one with blood on it, the one with bodies deeper in, from what they said. It was more than likely there'd be some second exit. Justin swore under his breath and jogged to the door, trying to pull it open. It budged, but only a little bit. It felt like somebody was holding it.

"Camilla! Cam- ... Camilla!?" Justin shouted, pulling at the door with his left arm, with the tire iron at the read in his right. "I-I'm sorry, I'm o- I'm freaking out right now, c-can't you just come out here!?"

[BlizzardeyeWonder]

"Dearlordpleasegivemestrength-" a panicked breath in. "-tocarryonandresiliencein-"

The door shook. Justin said a few things, urging Camilla to let her guard down. Camilla's hands trembled, and she wished they'd stay a little more still. She tried to breathe deeply- there were knots in her lungs.

"-inmypathamendearlordpleasegivemestrength-" she hoarsely continued.

A simple prayer. She remembered her mother saying this, for reasons she did not know at the time.

She did not let go of the door.

[MK Kilmarnock]

Camilla was pulling on that door with more strength than Justin had bargained for. Like her life depended on it. But she couldn't stay here forever. And there might be another way in.

Justin fell quiet and waited, ceasing all tension on the door. He didn't think it would work, Camilla could probably keep a vicegrip on that door for an hour if she wanted to. She might attempt to wait him out, and it would become a match of who was more patient. If Justin and Camilla were the only two kids left on the island, it was an unwinnable situation for Camilla. She could hold onto that door and get tired, where he only had to try it every so often. The problem was, they weren't alone, and Justin couldn't afford to pay attention to a door to the exclusion of everything else.

So... backup plan.

Trying to keep his footfalls as quiet as possible, he went back to the mattress. Leaving his bags on it, he dragged it over to the door. There was no way to make the act silent. Now, Justin was substituting it for speed. Smashing the mattress up against the door, still laying on the floor, should have done nicely in delaying the opening of that door. Now Camilla was probably set on looking for a way out. He'd have to find the way IN before she did that. Justin scooped up his bags and made a break for the exit door of the reception area, headed around to the side of the building.

[BlizzardeyeWonder]

"Dear lord... give me strength..." she continued, between gasps for air. It was never enough.

At some point, the door stopped shaking. Had Justin left? It couldn't be, surely he was still around, maybe waiting for her to open the door thinking he was gone and-

Something hit the door.

Camilla tried to open it, and realized she couldn't. Oh how the tables had turned.

She looked to the window. It couldn't be that easy, could it?

There wasn't much time to lose- she ran to the window, and opened it, and looked out before she would climb out. That was the plan anyway.

Her eyes widened. Of course it wouldn't be that easy.

[MK Kilmarnock]

Justin felt as if somebody had stuck a red-hot hand into his chest and that hand was scratching his lungs. There was no mirror to look into; he hadn't seen anything resembling a mirror since waking up on the island, perhaps there was one there in that forest of sculptures and art pieces. His face burned, and he bet that if he could look in a mirror right now it'd be beet red. This was a waste of time and energy.

A waste.

But if he couldn't get her now... she'd run off and tell somebody else, and things would get even harder until the next morning, when it was all over and his status as a true killer would be set in stone. If only she'd listened to him. Things could have been a lot easier for the both of them.

Justin huffed and puffed, but he made it to a window and turned to look in. He and Camilla set eyes on each other for a moment and he lashed out just out of instinct, even if it was a long shot, even if all she had to do was lean back and then run through the building. But then he'd have to come in through the window, get to her before she got to a door.