Are You The Complete Player?

1/2 ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK?

CHAPTER FOUR: ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK?

Carmella and Krystupas were both sitting on top of her bed, cross-legged and facing each other, whispering quietly about their strategy plans. They had decided to always stick together as a team, no matter what and now they were working on making up some kind of nonverbal signal that they could use to communicate with each other silently while the others were around.

“What about if we blink a certain way?” Carmella suggested.

Krystupas thought about it, then shook his head.

“No, that could be easily misinterpreted. What if you just got an eyelash stuck in your eye and I read it as yes or no? That sort of mistake could get us killed.”

“Good point,” she said frowning.

“How about we arch eyebrows like this for yes,” he said, raising his eyebrows as high as he could in demonstration, “and then raise them twice for no?” he raised and lowered his eyebrows up and down twice.

At the other end of the room, Nika, Selene and Lucija were watching them talk, each with curious looks on their faces.

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Selene asked her friends.

“It looks like he’s flirting with her,” Lucija responded, watching as Krystupas raised his eyebrows up and down at Carmella. It reminded her of some lame come-on gestures guys had used on her before. “Ow!” she exclaimed suddenly, as Selene poked her side with her elbow. “What the hell was that for?”

“He’s not flirting with her,” said Selene, trying to hide the bitterness in her tone. She had always thought Krystupas was hot and had a crush on him for years, but he’d never so much as shot a glance in her direction. Whenever she tried to talk to him, he would pretend he was listening to music too loudly on his Airpods and couldn’t hear her. It hurt her more than she cared to admit, but she wasn’t about to tell that to her friends. “I mean, it’s not like we’re at a party or something. This isn’t really the kind of place to make a love connection at,” she added.

“How do you know they haven’t already made a love connection?” Nika asked. “They seemed cosy enough on the plane. I’m pretty sure I saw him hold her hand.”

Selene had seen that too and the memory of it made her cheeks burn with jealousy.

“We’re not on the plane anymore and if they were really holding hands, she was probably the one to take his. She looks like the easy type,” Selene spat.

“Even so, we need to figure out how to get her on our team,” Lucija said.

Over at the bed, Carmella was nodding in agreement to Krystupas’ suggestion about the eyebrows. He had added another signal for when one of them needed help, which was to move the eyebrows rapidly, many times, up and down.

“Yeah, I think that will work, though we should probably also come up with some kind of verbal code too, just in case—” Carmella started to say, but was suddenly interrupted by a loud scream and some general commotion. The two exchanged a glance and then got down from Carmella’s bunk to see what was going on. A crowd had gathered in another corner near some bunks, and they ran over.

Once they arrived, Carmella gasped at what she saw and covered her mouth with her hands. Adam Evans had climbed up to the top of a bunk and used a bedsheet to make a noose, which he had tied around his neck. He was hanging from a light fixture on the ceiling, swinging his legs wildly and clutching at his throat.

“Jeez,” Krystupas whispered, frowning. There were horrified gasps and screams all around.

“Someone, do something, quick! He’s going to die!” shouted Joanna Kaminska. There were tears streaming down her face. They’d lost so many players already. She couldn’t bear anymore death.

Astro was already hurrying up the bunk to untie his friend. He was getting tired of having to save him but couldn’t let him die just like that.

“I don’t know why we don’t just let him die, it’s not like he’s useful,” said Charlotte.

“Stop it, Charlotte. He’s a human being,” said Joanna.

“I’m just saying, he’s probably going to end up dead thanks to him never doing anything to try and win, so why prolong it?” Charlotte responded. Joanna threw her a distasteful glare.

“The knot is too tight; someone lift him up a bit, so he doesn’t choke!” Astro shouted as he hurriedly worked on getting the knot untied.

“Here, give me a boost,” said Estere to the tallest player in the room, a Serbian guy named Dragan who was nicknamed “The Dragon” by his fans due to his massive height.

Maxim scoffed. “But you’re a girl, how are you going to lift him?”

“I’m a professional athlete,” Estere answered, shooting him a dirty look and flexing her well-defined biceps. Dragan carefully lifted her onto his shoulders, and she grabbed Adam’s legs, pushing him up to ease the tension on his neck. He was gasping for breath, his face already turning purple from choking.

It took a few minutes, but Astro finally got the knot untied and Adam went crashing onto the ground, sobbing hard at his failed suicide attempt.

“Dude,” Astro said, panting hard from the exertion. “You have to stop doing this. I’m serious.”

“I don’t want to live anymore; I have no more will to live. Please just stop saving me,” Adam sobbed.

Astro shook his head, thinking about how next time he just might, but instead of voicing that out, he helped his friend up and back to his bed, not bothering to give him his sheets back.

“Wow, that was quite the close call…” boomed the voice that seemed to come out of nowhere. Carmella jumped at the sound and hugged herself for comfort. What did it want now? Nothing good ever came from that voice.

“For your next game, I’m going to ask you to all to divide into groups of five. You have two minutes. Choose wisely.”

Carmella and Krystupas exchanged a glance, assuring each other that they were part of each other’s team. On the big screen, the timer had appeared counting down from two minutes. She turned to him.

“So, who else do you think would make a good ally?” she asked. Before he could respond to her question, Nika, Selene, Lucija and Lucija’s boyfriend Pietro were there at their side.

“Carmella,” Lucija said, beaming as if they were old friends. “Isn’t this perfect? A group of five! It’s almost like fate.”

Carmella glanced at Krystupas awkwardly, not knowing what to say. She never really agreed to be allies with these people but was never the kind that was good with confrontations. Especially if it was with strangers.

“We’re already partnered together,” he said, and Carmella instantly felt grateful. “So, I think all of us together would make six, not five, sorry.”

“Okay, so just me, Pietro and –” Lucija began.

“And me!” said Selene, pushing herself to the front and smiling at Krystupas.

“What?” said Nika angrily. “You’re just going to leave me on my own?”

“Not to sound sexist,” said Borysko Adamovich, a player from the Ukraine who Carmella thought looked more like the typical nerd from an American teen movie. He was thin for an athlete, quite lanky and not too muscular at all. He wore glasses and when he smiled, his teeth appeared a little too big for his mouth. “But maybe your team needs at least one more guy. You don’t want girls to outnumber the guys just in case the game has to do with physical strength.”

“Um, that IS super sexist,” Selene said in an annoyed tone. “Go away, nerd. Our team has been formed.”

Nika glared at her friends incredulously and then glanced at the timer. Forty-five seconds left. Realising she had no time for pouting, she simply accepted her fate and ran off to find a different team to join.

“I agree with you, man. Physical strength might play into this next challenge so we should have more guys than girls on the team, just in case,” Krystupas said to Borysko, eyeing Lucija and Selene. He had known Borysko for quite a long time now. Borysko was several years older than he was, but was one of the first players who befriended him on tour. He was also Will Cortez’s friend.

“I’m not leaving,” said Selene, stubbornly.

“Well, I’m not leaving my boyfriend,” Lucija shot back, holding Pietro’s hand tightly. “So, if he’s on this team it makes better sense for you to be the one to leave.”

“You can’t be serious,” Selene replied, glaring at her friend in the same way Nika had done.

Krystupas looked at Carmella as if silently asking her if she was okay with this arrangement. She arched her eyebrows to signal yes, which made him smile. Selene caught a glimpse at it and crossed her arms, annoyed.

“FIFTEEN SECONDS LEFT ON THE TIMER,” boomed the mysterious voice.

“You better go find Nika, maybe she still has a spot left on her team,” Lucija said, with just a hint of sympathy in her voice.

Selene shot Lucija one last angry look, then a jealous look at Carmella and ran off joining a random group that was shouting about needing one member. The timer buzzed just as she joined them, indicating that time was up. Everyone seemed to have made it to their teams on time.

“Good job, everyone. You’ve all formed yourselves into teams on time. And now, go to your beds. It is time to sleep. Goodnight, sweet dreams, everyone,” said the voice.

“Wait, seriously?” shouted Daniela Perez. “You made us rush to form teams all so we could go to bed? What the hell?”

“Perhaps it means we’ll need rest for whatever challenge is to come,” suggested one of her teammates, Basil Andino. “Stop complaining and go to bed,” he added. He was tired. They all were. It had been a physically and emotionally exhausting day for them all. Sleep would be a much welcome break from the reality of the hell they were living in.

Carmella exchanged another look with Krystupas as they headed back to their bunks.

“Do you really think WIC is just being kind and letting us sleep before the next challenge, or…?” she trailed off. She didn’t trust this group or whatever they were to do anything that would benefit them.

“My gut tells me that the same group that is giving us less meals and bathroom breaks than actual criminals get in prison does not care for our well-being one bit,” he replied. “I don’t trust this is for our benefit at all.”

This worried Carmella, but she knew she had to do what they said. She had no choice. She turned to the ladder to get to her bunk, but he grabbed her arm, turning her to towards him. He leaned in slightly. She felt shocked, thinking for a moment that he was going to kiss her but instead, he whispered in her ear.

“Chimaera.”

“What?” she asked, confused. What the heck was a chimaera?

“Before we got interrupted you were saying something about us having a verbal code in case the other needs help or something, I agree. Let’s use the word chimaera. It’s obscure, no one else would be using it,” Krystupas said.

“I’ll say,” Carmella replied. “I don’t even know what it is.”

He chuckled at that. “It’s a mythical beast, part lion, part goat, part snake. They’re pretty badass, and so will we be as a team,” he winked. Carmella shot him a tiny smile, nodded and continued up to her bunk.

“Goodnight, Krys,” she said.

“Goodnight, Carmella,” he answered back.

Carmella was physically exhausted but didn’t remember feeling all too sleepy. It was like so much adrenalin had been pumping through her veins all day that it was keeping her awake. Yet it seemed like shortly after the lights were turned off, she couldn’t fight her sleepiness anymore. Her eyes closed automatically, and she fell into a deep slumber in which she dreamt of seeing Will again for the first time in a decade. In the dream, she had tearfully embraced her brother so tight while he whispered in her ear.

“I told you I’d be back again someday, sis.”