Chapter Four

You woke up on your own and sat up in your bed. You probably weren't asleep for very long, but if you really were here for an eternity, it didn't really matter either way you supposed. You stood up an walked out your room, maybe finding some others would be nice right now. You opened your door and scrunched your face up in confusion. How did you open up to the kitchen instead of the hallway? That's... not right. In your sleepy state, you decided to question it later and get a glass of water. Your throat felt unbearably itchy for some reason. It was getting painful now, actually. Tears welled up as you began to cough, can dead people get sick? I guess if it has to do with making the afterlife more comforting somehow? This is pretty lame though, you thought as you coughed violently into your fist. It felt like something was lodged in your throat and it wouldn't move. You began to panic and cry at the pain. What the fuck is wrong with me?

It finally felt like whatever was there was moving; the relief was small but still welcomed. You grabbed a napkin and grossly hacked into it to see a mass of small spiders flying from your throat. What the fuck What the fuck What the fuck Spiders began crawling all over your arm, and although you had coughed them all up, you could feel some crawling on your face. You screamed in a panic and clawed at your face to get them off. You turned on the facet and stuck your spider covered arms under the water. The panic was locking all your muscles as you desperately tried to get the rest of them off. You were going into hysteria right when you looked around and realized you weren't in the kitchen anymore. And, more importantly, there weren't spiders anymore. You were in the living room What the hell was that? You took a breath of relief. However, the relief was gone just as soon as it came as you felt your body sinking into the floor beneath you. You screamed, "Help! Someone, come help me!! Jason, Suki!! Quince?!" You began crying again, "SOMEONE GET ME OUT OF HERE!" you were waist deep into the floor when suddenly it all went completely dark.

"(y/n)? (y/n), wake up." Quince called out. He was shaking your shoulder lightly and you opened your eyes quickly. You took several deep breaths. "You were crying in your sleep. Are you alright?" He pushed away some of your tears. Your lip trembled.

"I just had a scary dream, I guess," You were pretty embarrassed, but in your vulnerable state you latched onto the boy in front of you and buried your tears in his shirt. He tensed at first, but quickly shifted and wrapped his arms around you.

"I... I'm sorry, (y/n). I should've mentioned the nightmares. Most people have trouble sleeping at first."

You pulled away and sniffled, "Thanks for waking me up. What time is it?" You asked without thinking.

Quince ruffled your hair a little, "Doesn't really matter, sweetheart."

"Sweetheart?"

"Is it ok to call you pet names?"

"Yeah," you thought about it for a moment, "I'm not used to it, but I don't mind them."

Quince stood up. "Such a good girl," He said quietly. That caused the blood to rush to your face, so you just decided to ignore the comment.

"What's everyone else doing?"

"Jason is reading, Don and Jenna are still in their rooms I believe, and Suki, Dianna, and Ryo are playing cards."

"Oh," you thought about this for a moment. "What are you going to do?"

"Probably read. It's been a while since I sat down and read something."

"Can I ask you something, Quince?"

He smiled, "Of course, what's bothering you?"

You waited for a moment. You were nervous to ask, honestly. "Do I get to know how I died?" The smile left his face and he grew solemn.

"I can't tell you now, but I promise you can now eventually. I know the curiosity must be difficult, but everything will come to you in time," He answered. Not a very satisfying answer, but at least he was kind.

You smiled at him, "I think I'd like to play cards with the others if that's ok with you?" You weren't sure why you were asking him for permission, but you felt like you should.

"Certainly," he nodded. "Playing cards with Dianna is a losing game, but I'll lead you to them." He held an arm out for you.

"Thank you," You smiled and wrapped your arm in his.

-:x x x x x:-

Quince brought you to a room you didn't quite recognize. It seemed to be a sitting room. It could almost be a dining room if the table was a bit bigger. Dianna did seem to be enjoying herself in a muted way. Her face was almost expressionless other than the lightness in her eyes and the occasional upwards curl of her lips. Suki seemed to be definitely losing, but she also didn't seem to mind too much as she was laughing and chatting in a one-sided conversation with Ryo. Ryo, like Dianna, seemed to take this game very seriously. You wanted to sit with them, but you couldn't help the nervousness you felt. Ryo and Dianna, the two people who made you the most nervous. You looked to Quince who raised an eyebrow at you as if to say "Well? Here we are?" You looked back at the group and took a breath. You would have to face them eventually, anyway.

"Thanks, Quince," you smiled.

"No problem," He nodded before exiting. You walked closer to the table which quickly got their attention. You waved nervously.

"Hi, I was hoping I could sit with you guys," you stuttered a little and avoided eye contact.

"Why are you so nervous, kitten? Come sit by me!!" came Suki's sweet voice. You smiled and pulled a chair to her side. She showed you her cards and you chuckled a little. She was losing. "Hey! Don't laugh! I could still win," she stuck her tongue out at you. "Now that I have my lucky charm you two are going down!"

Ryo looked even more bored than usual as he let his eyes graze across your form, "Why are you here?"

"I just wanted to be with you guys," you muttered. That guy was pretty cruel, seriously!

Dianna smirked, "I don't mind your presence. In fact, would prefer it if you sat by me."

"Well, I am pretty close. This is a small table," you giggled.

"Which is why I think you shouldn't invade our space," Ryo groaned.

"Ryo, shut your trap! This is my fucking wife you're talking about!" Suki exclaimed jokingly while throwing an arm around you. Suki was really silly.

"Your wife?" Dianna didn't seem to understand the joking tone. "I didn't realize you were married, Suki."

"Oh, absolutely. In fact, we are going to go have our honeymoon—right now!" Suki stood up and lifted you like a sack of potatoes and ran.

"Hey! Put me down!" you were trying to scold her but all you could do was laugh.

"No way, doll face! I can't let you be around such mean people!" Suki laughed. Since you could see behind her, you saw Ryo running out of the room after you both.

"Suki, Stop! We need to finish that card game!" He shouted. Well, that's more emotion than I've seen out him so far. This actually made Suki slow down and turn around. You were feeling very awkward, so you wiggled and tried to get down. Suki ignored your struggles and walked back to the room.

"You have a point, Grease man. Let us return to the cards."

"So.... (y/n) is not your wife?" Dianna asked as you entered. You blushed a little since you were the center of attention again. Suki plopped your body into one of the chairs.

"Not yet!" Suki laughed. "Don't go stealing her away from me, ok Dianna?"

Dianna smirked at the news and let her golden eyes settle on you, "No promises." Her gaze was almost shark-like and it made shivers go down your spine.

"Can we just play the fucking game," Ryo complained again.

"Of course, Ryo," Dianna's grin only grew. "It's my turn and I am playing these three cards. I'm out."

"Doesn't mean you won."

"So, let's count points then," Dianna still seemed confident as she looked at all her played cards and calculated the values. Ryo looked like he could easily have just as many points as her. Suki, on the other hand, was definitely in the negatives. She puffed out her cheeks a little.

"This game is dumb anyway. There's no stakes! So, it's no fun. We gotta add risk!" Suki's eyes sparkled.

"What are you talking about," Ryo narrowed his eyes.

"I'm talking about strip poker, dumbass!"

"I have 125 points," Dianna spoke.

"No," Ryo responded. "No, you fucking don't Dianna, recount."

"Oh, would you like me to, Ryo? You wanna count them for me? How much do you have?" She taunted smugly.

Suki laughed at this, and you tried to not be concerned at the tension. Just as you thought it was truly going to get ugly, Ryo smiled and sighed. "I have 120 points." The other three laughed heartily, but you were caught off guard. Was Ryo being playful? You really haven't known him for long, but this seemed a bit contradictory of every single interaction you've had with him. Seeing all their happy faces made you smile anyway, though.

"Good game," Dianna held her right hand out for Ryo to shake, and he did.

"For Christ's sake, you both take this game too seriously. It's mostly based on chance anyway," Suki rolled her eyes.

"I suppose it's just chance that you lose every time then?" Dianna teased.

"Yes!" Suki exclaimed exasperatedly. "Now can we play something actually fun for once?" Before anyone could respond, Jason burst in. His eyes settled on you and he seemed to visibly relax at the sight of you.

"There you are (y/n)," He walked closer.

"You were looking for me?"

"Well, yeah. What are you doing in here?"

"None of your biz, fucker!" Suki shouted. "We're gonna play strip poker so sit your ass down!"

"Excuse me?"

"We never agreed on that," Ryo reminded her.

"Who cares!" Suki pouted, "You want to play, right (y/n)?" she looked to you expectantly.

"I don't know about that," You chuckled nervously and scratched the back of your neck. Jason seemed to consider the situation for a moment before pulling up a chair.

"Ok, let's play," he spoke assuredly.

"Woah, woah, woah, wait a minute," Suki gaped at him. "You actually want to play?"

"Is that a problem?"

"It's just not like you, man!" Suki laughed. "You probably just want to see (y/n) with her top off." You and Jason both blushed but Suki just kept laughing. "Well? Ryo, Dianna? Are you in?"

"No way," Ryo stood up.

"What, are you afraid of losing?" Dianna spoke boldly, and Ryo stopped in his tracks. He turned around slowly and looked Dianna dead in the eyes, but her face remained neutral, if a little smug.

"You know better than to accuse me of such things, Dianna," He spat and made his way back to his seat. You giggled lightly at the banter which did not go unnoticed by Ryo. You thought you saw his gaze soften for a moment when he glanced at you, but that wasn't really likely.

"I don't know how to play," you spoke.

"Yeah, me neither. Just take off your clothes when you mess up, ok?" Suki shuffled the deck. Her words didn't calm you down much.

"Maybe we should play something else?" You suggested, trying a different angle.

"(y/n), are you scared?" Suki asked softly with a smile on her face.

"Maybe... I'm just nervous, I barely know you guys!" you justified yourself. You felt guilty as the whole room seemed a little deflated. "You can play without me! I can just go... read or something?" Strip poker didn't seem like something you could watch idly.

"Don't worry about it, but you owe me a game in the future, (y/n)!" Suki grinned. Jason pouted slightly while Ryo and Dianna just seemed bored. Suki told you not to worry, but you still felt guilty.

"What do you guys normally do for fun?" you asked.

"I don't know. Just stuff I guess," Suki replied. "I feel like things might be more fun with you here, though," she grinned.

"You're just being ridiculous," you blushed.

"(y/n), can I talk to you privately for a minute?" Jason spoke up. You nodded and stood up, and your stomach sank. Shit, did I do something?