Oscar looked over to the unconscious boy on the ground, for the first time realizing the scars under his closed eyes. As the genre of the book started to slowly shift from thriller to comedy, he found his eyes meeting Hannah and Emma's in the glass room behind him. Although that room had plants that lined the walls and vines that wrapped all the way to the ceiling, he could still see their faces clearly. Hannah looked bored, while Emma was focused on her hands, trying to untie the ropes.
From the ground, 309 stirred, opening his eyes and looking up at Oscar. Oscar sat there, waiting for him to say something or react in some way, but 309 didn't. Instead, he curled up into a ball, letting his bangs fall over his eyes. They were brown in one eye and green in another.
"That guy's insane! You never know what he's up to," Will shouted from his spot at the door frame, pointing his finger at Oscar. All eyes were on him, and Oscar froze up momentarily, before realizing that there was no need to defend himself. He looked back down again, then back at the girls in the back room.
"Aren't you more insane?" the tall man – Oscar learned his name was Ansel, asked. "You killed Rachael, after all. I saw it with my own eyes, and so did Leah." He pointed to the brunette girl, who was still standing up with her arms on her hips. Will laughed, loosening up, leaning on the doorframe. Perhaps Oscar beat him too hard.
"You got it all wrong, sir," Will replied, crossing his arms and shaking his head. "Let's start simple. If 307 is such a traitor as you had described, why didn't he say anything when I oh so brutally killed your friend?" Ansel opened his mouth to respond, but closed it, instead looking back at Oscar. Oscar hadn't realized this until Will called his name, instead looking at the flowers in the dull orange pot beside him. In his mind, he wondered if Ren, Willow, and Scarlett were lost. They were taking awfully long to arrive.
"Oscar, at a loss of words?" Will mocked. Oscar looked up at him, curling a stem around his pointer finger.
"She tried to attack me, Will. I couldn't fight back." Perhaps Will had gotten his message wrong – Oscar wasn't good at expressing his thoughts anyway. Originally, he had intended to betray to the other team, mislead them, and then murder the protectee when one of them let it slip. Perhaps Will was being too competitive. Perhaps Oscar himself had been carried away with anger, and he had given Will permanent brian damage, demoting his intelligence from above average to average.
"Hey, hear that, tall guy? See, I was only looking out for my dear companion. I had no ill intent."
"Question," a girl who had stayed silent the whole time, hiding in the pile of pots, piped up, raising her hand. Will looked surprised, previously unaware of her existence. "How can we trust what you say?" Will laughed.
"Well, that's easy. 307 claimed that your friend attacked him, so my reaction is only reasonable, is it not? Unless," he narrowed his eyes. "You don't trust him either?" Oscar finally understood. Will seemed to be enjoying the situation.
"And how can you prove that you had no other malicious intent? And the fact that you may not be perfectly reasonable?" Ansel questioned.
"Ah- see, sir. You only base my unreasonable-ness on the fact that I killed your friend in cold blood, is it not? But, now I, along with your very trustworthy friend 307, have essentially confirmed my action to be perfectly reasonable. The only evidence of your claim has been torn down, and therefore it is in vain and I am perfectly reasonable unless stated otherwise. To answer your first question, if you don't trust my words, why do I bother saying them in the first place?"
"What about last night?" Oscar was enjoying the situation as well. From the ground, 309 stirred again, crawling to sit in the corner and put his head in his knees.
"Care to elaborate?" Will smiled. Oscar shrugged.
"I do not. Do so yourself." Will was doing a surprisingly good job so far at bullshitting his way though. At this point, Emma had gotten herself untied, quietly unraveling Hannah's binds. Despite this, they still sat silently, listening to the conversation. Emma seemed curious about what had happened – she didn't know either. Hannah glanced at Noah, who was littered in bruises, and their eyes met briefly.
"Alright then." Will took a deep breath, then placed his hand on his head dramatically. "Oh, it was such an awful night. I was so ridden with fear." As he said this, his vision unfocused, holding the door frame tighter and shaking his head. "You see… 307 remorselessly gave away his poor teammates' rooms, just for his own convenience." He perked up suddenly. "Ah- That girl, Rachael, right? That's why she attacked him: since he killed her brother."
All eyes turned on Oscar, as he prayed that Ren would come quicker.
"Ask Axel's dead body, and he'll say Will did it."
"Ask Rachael's dead body and she'll say you did it," Will replied.
"Because you made it up, and she wasn't thinking clearly," Oscar responded. Ansel sighed, motioning for them to calm down.
"Let's focus on living people, please." He looked at Will. "Hey, you're taking this game too lightly. Do you think we're all stupid?" He raised a hand, and pliers from behind him were at his neck once more. "We could kill you right now."
"Well, perhaps you should blame 307 for this."
"Of course not. I have evidence you did so, and you do not." Will laughed.
"Who said I have no evidence? Would I come into this serious game without any evidence?" Emma knew nothing, neither did 309. Oscar looked at Hannah, who had a conflicted and confused expression on her face. They had all driven themselves in a corner with this argument – Hannah was the only evidence, and whatever she said, one would be slaughtered.
Will cleared his throat. "Hey, Ansel. Why would Oscar betray my team? He doesn't get any advantages. If we lose, he loses too." Oscar already thought of an answer to that.
"I've given up," he replied. Heads turned towards him again as he looked down at his feet, the white concrete. "I guess… in the state we're in, there's no way we'll win. My years are far above fifty five, so I'll be eliminated. The protectee… we can't kill him anyways."
Oscar looked up, waiting for somebody to flinch.