Yaz, wearing plaid pants and a black bralette, lounged near the stove. "Is this really what you called all of us here for? To convince us to vote for Betinia? Because you don't like her?"

Gmie cleared her throat, fiery annoyance shading her features. "I know all those years of growing up in poverty and inhaling city pollution may have eliminated some of your brain cells, so I'll repeat myself. No—"

"You better watch your mouth, hoe," Yaz said, cutting her off, fist clenched tight.

Demo moved from the wall, standing behind Gmie like a tiny bodyguard, glowering at Yaz. "Or what?"

Gmie smirked a bit before continuing. "No, I didn't bring you here for that. I'm not here to convince you of anything because all of you already know that Betinia is a threat. She's been figuring out shit—"

"Which is good," Rucker said near the swinging door, arms hanging at his side. "Her Nancy Drewing shit helped clear my name. She saved my fucking life."

"Okay?" Gmie placed her hands on her hips. "Woohoo, so what? You guys want to go home, right? We need to get rid of the strongest, and she's it."

Rucker let out a frustrated breath. "So we get rid of the strong and keep the weak like Layla? Look what she did to Betinia in that last challenge? What if we get another group challenge, and I get her? Fuck that."

"We'll get rid of Layla next," Gmie said. "We need to get rid of Betinia right now."

"On what basis?" Sebastian asked from the island seat. His bright blonde hair was wet like he just got out of the shower, soft strand sticking to his forehead and behind his ears. "Cause she's a threat? Everyone's a threat. Look at Fee. Can any of you beat him in a fight?"

No one responded.

Fee who was standing near the fridge just grunted and shrugged.

Gmie glared at Sebastian. "That's a totally different thing."

Khan gazed at her, face blank. "How? If you don't mind me asking? You said Betinia was a threat, right? So is Fee. What's the difference between them?"

"There's a big difference," Gmie screamed, cheeks shuddering. "Do I really have to go through the reasons why she needs to go?"

Yaz pushed her plastic glasses closer to her nose. "Yup."

Several people murmured in agreement.

"Fine. First off, she's fucking nuts. We can all agree on that, right?" Gmie swerved her head around at the group. "She had fun dissecting a fucking corpse."

Everyone stayed silent.

"She licked blood and acted like she wanted to fuck a goddamn brain. A brain, ladies and gentlemen." Gmie squinted. "Who the hell wants to live with someone like that? She'll probably slit our throats as we sleep and try to win the whole game."

Demo placed her hand on Gmie's shoulder while staring at everyone else. "Betinia is not trustworthy."

"She's a fucking lunatic," Gmie said, face getting irritated. "I don't even understand how I have to explain myself. You guys all heard her backstory. She's been crazy since she was a child. She spent years in a psych ward."

None of the contestants said anything, an uncomfortable silence cloaking the already heated atmosphere.

"It wasn't years. It was a year. Get your facts straight, bitch," I said to myself, wanting to throttle her. The tips of my nails tunneled into my palm. I wasn't crazy. I wasn't.

Everything in me wanted to launch across that kitchen and just drag her ass along the lit stove, making sure the flames penetrated that smooth skin of hers.

"And secondly," Gmie started like she was giving a professional presentation, "she's probably a spy for the show. How else would she know those things about us?"

"And she's way too close to Jookie," Aries said, standing on the other side of the swinging kitchen door. "You guys saw that interview. They were close."

"Close is a little too elementary." Chi snickered, her pink furry heels scraping on the floor. "They need to fuck asap because their sexual energy was off the charts. I'd probably get an orgasm by just being near them."

My cheeks warmed. They had to be exaggerating. It wasn't like that, right?

"We all know Jookie's creepy," Gmie said scrunching up her face. "Only someone as insane as him would want to fuck him."

Chi shrugged. "He's hot. I'd fuck'em."

Gmie gave Chi a look that could freeze Niagara Falls. "Still. Betinia's probably working with them. Like she said herself, 'it would be smart for them to put a spy among us' so who would be better than her?"

"Oh, I don't know... you, maybe?" Yaz crossed her arms over her chest. "The person currently trying to tell us what to do."

Gmie bared her teeth. "I'm not telling you what to do. I'm trying to give you advice so that you can maybe leave this place one day."

"Oh really?" Yaz slow clapped. "Thank you for thinking of us, Gmie. Thank you so much for trying to save my low-income ass."

Gmie grinned. "You're welcome."

"Instead of looking at it your way, let me spin it my way." Yaz smiled. "The spy is supposed to be someone who helps make sure the game runs smoothly, correct? Someone who can influence us to go a specific way if the game doesn't go the way the creators want, right?"

"Yeah? So?" Gmie said.

Yaz licked her lips. "So, wouldn't the person who's telling us how to vote at the moment be the perfect spy?"

A few people murmured in agreement.

Gmie let out a sarcastic laugh. "Seriously? You think I'm a spy? I'm fucking rich. Why the fuck would I subject myself to this type of torture? For money? I have more than any of you will ever see in your lifetime," she said before letting out another laugh. "I'll admit it. I hate Betinia. Seeing her prance around with her false logic and fake quietness really chaps my fucking ass. But that doesn't make me a spy."

"Any of us could be the spy," Aries said waving his hands around.

"But Betinia getting all booed up with Jookie doesn't look good either," Demo said, arms folded.

"Forget all that," Gmie said, shaking her head. "Let's just look at our options. Yes, Layla is a weak bitch, but that's the best reason to keep her here. It'll be one less spot in the bottom three next challenge. And we need Aries here. He's strong and resourceful."

"And he worships a fucking alien race that doesn't exist," Yaz said, rolling her eyes.

Aries sucked on his teeth, giving Yaz the death glare. "My god does exist, and I can't wait until he smites you."

Yaz snorted. "Smite me? Yeah, right."

Aries stuck his finger at her. "He will! He'll turn you to ashes and piss on them before sending them into the universe to burn like the bitchy wench you are."

Gmie sighed, shaking her head. "Look. Aries has some... wonky beliefs, and Layla's weak. But Betinia is a major wild card. None of us know much about her, yet she knows so much about us. She knew about Tiran. Rucker. Me. Demo. She's dangerous."

"And she's weird as fuck," Aries said. "I'm not the only who saw her change in that cannibalism challenge. She came into that room one way, and then changed into this—"

"Psychotic bitch," Chi finished, nodding. "When we started that challenge, she was weirded out like the rest of us and then she changed." She snapped her fingers. "Just like that. And became this whole other person." Chi stared at Yaz. "You have to admit that at least. Betinia changed. Quickly. There's something off about her. You feel it too."

Yaz turned away, not saying anything.

"For someone to switch like that, that's craziness. It's not normal," Gmie said, milking the situation. "Do you trust someone like that around you? Yeah, we're all a threat to each other. But you all saw how excited she got while dissecting Tiran. That behavior represents a killer with no remorse. That her true nature right there. That environment brought it out of her."

No one countered her statements.

"And look how she almost killed Layla without a second thought, and she saved her how many times? Is that how you treat a friend? Yeah, Layla fucked up, but she turned on that bitch fast. Too fast," Gmie said, staring at everyone. "Yes. I don't like her. But it's not like I'm making all of this up. These are all facts. Betinia is a loose cannon that could explode on any one of us at any time."

"Think of it this way," Demo said. "Yes, we're all here to kill each other. But after being around each other, we know each other's limits and weaknesses and strengths. What do we really know about her? Nothing. Which means, can you really trust her? Can you trust her to not sneak attack you when you're going to the common room?"

"Or going to the kitchen to get something to eat?" Chi said.

"Or going to the gym to workout?" Aries said.

"Or just walking the halls?" Gmie said with a shrug. "Yes, we're all here to win. And that means killing each other maybe and winning challenges. But over the last few weeks, we've kind of dissolved into this invisible truce. We don't attack each other, and we just hangout and keep our noses down and do the challenges. We can't trust Betinia to follow that concept with us. She's unstable."

No one in the room said anything after that. No one defended me. No one said, "she's not crazy or unstable" or "she's not weird" or "she wouldn't do that" or just a simple "you guys are exaggerating." But, how could they? I was everything that Gmie and her squad said I was.

Several pieces of myself crumbled inside my mind, falling like broken glass into a black pit, scraping the sides on the way down, never hitting the bottom.

This was exactly why I hid myself away. The looks of and or or that some people had when I came around. I hated it.

Everything that I fought so hard to hide had become front and center for everyone to see like a display in a department store, open for scrutiny and opinions. And like I thought, no one rescued me. No one stood up for me. No one came to my aid or defended me.

So much for friends, right? For allies?

Without even thinking, my hands lowered my blade heels to the floor, slipping them back on before I grabbed the tall, cluttered shelf near me, smashing it to the floor, food spilling everywhere.

I trotted away, heels clicking on the wooden floor.

After hearing the commotion I created, multiple footsteps echoed around me as I left the pantry, stomping toward my room. I heard the kitchen door swing open, hitting the wall with a loud bang, and I felt eyes on my back. Multiple eyes.

Good. I wanted them to hear me. To see me. To know that I heard them talking shit, and that I knew what they all really thought of me.

Opening the door to my room, I slammed it shut behind me, not bothering to turn on the light. Blackness layered everything, blinding all my senses, consuming everything.

My knees sunk to the hard floor, body curling into a ball. All my earlier confidence and strength left me, only self-loathing and insecurity remaining, spreading into my bloodstream, infecting every cell like HIV.

Through the blackness, my mind drifted to my reality, realizing that I was going to die in five days.

Gmie literally flipped everyone against me, and it wasn't even hard. I was weird. I did dissect that body like it was something normal like it was something people did every day.

This was why Tini hid away. No one understood her. No one got her. This was why I was created so that I could be that normalcy that society accepted, the piece of her that fit in with everyone else.

I spent years perfecting this self so that Tini wouldn't have to subject herself to this ridicule — to this judgment. But I failed.

The sound of hard knocks at my door interrupted me from my loathing session, but I soon tuned it out, returning to my dark state, letting my thoughts overpower everything else.

They drifted back to my interview with Jookie, thinking about what he said about Angie and how she set my room on fire.

I learned to block out that fateful night, but my memories returned full-force. Waking up to the intense heat and high flames, watching the orangish glow eat at my soft comforter and toys.

Our parents were still alive then. It was midnight when I awoke to the flames surrounding my room. I tried to open the door, but it was locked.

The lining of my throat felt like raw soggy lunchmeat as I screamed for help, using all the strength that a five-year-old could muster, scratching at the white-painted walls that slowly began to turn gray from the angry smoke.

I escaped, eventually. I was hospitalized for about a week for smoke inhalation.

This incident was the reason why Angie started seeing a therapist, court-ordered.

My iPad pinged several times, so many that it broke me from my daze. It stayed lit across the room, the white light breaking the darkness.

I crawled over, seeing that I had over twenty messages. One of them was from Layla. It read:

then hear in heaven and act and judge

your servants, condemning the wicked by bringing his way on his own head and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness

I jerked back. This message made no sense.

The other eighteen messages were from her too. More verses and messages about purity, righteousness, innocence and killing those who sin, and killing the devil's minions.

These must be bible verses, but they made no sense.

Besides Layla's messages, the one remaining message was from Jookie.

He said, "Want a big clue on what's coming next for you and the others? Solve this riddle: Some people fear me, especially on Fridays. What am I?

♟♙♟