“I’ve got you. Wrap your arms around my neck,” I yell. She wraps her arms around me, then I haul her up the rest of the way until she’s lying on top of me. Both of us resting on the walkway.
She stays on me for a few seconds before we carefully climb to our feet. I keep a hand on her. “How’s your shoulder?”
“Hurts,” she admits. “But it’s okay.”
Her mother’s voice screeches through the air again as I tell her, “Don’t listen. It’s just us here.” I guide her the rest of the way. Thankfully, after a few steady steps and her lack of reaction, the recording or whatever the fuck it is shuts off. I don’t even know if it continued while she was dangling off the rig. Because everything around me went away.
We take the last few steps and get back on the main platform. I wrap my arms around her and pull her securely against me. I’ve never in my life felt the fear I just did thinking she was going to die. My world is solely dependent on her existence.
61
IVY
I can’t stop shaking. Adrenaline, maybe? Nearly falling wasn’t the worst part. It was the shrieks of her voice. It sounded so much like her.
“How’s the shoulder?” Luca asks.
“Good.” It’s better than it was. Thankfully I was able to do most with my left arm, but I still had to put more pressure on my injury than I should’ve. “Thanks for not letting me fall.”
He keeps a hand on my side, like he needs the connection as he says, “Thanks for not letting go.”
I lean back, resting slightly against him. “Do you really think it was fake? Would they really go to that length just to screw with us?”
“Yes, they would.”
Another chill crawls up my spine. His hands rub up my arms as he says, “It’s almost over.”
But it’s not yet. Because we’re watching Brooke and Micah. And they’ve just made it to the end and are now heading back. It’s like a horror movie. I don’t want to watch but I can’t look away.
They think the worst is over but it’s not. When we walked back over to the group, Decider made sure we didn’t sayanything about what happened. All Luca did was curse and threaten to kill whoever’s idea this dare was before Decider threatened to leave us here if he didn’t shut his mouth and fall back into line while the others have their turn.
Clearly there’s something that Brooke is hearing because she stoops down, her knees to her chest as she curls up into a ball and presses her hands over her ears. Micah crouches in front of her, appearing to talk to her. We can’t hear any of it. Whatever is echoing under them, disturbing her, is for them only. It’s unsettling the lengths that the game makers are willing to go through to torture us.
She’s clearly crying as they stay in place for a few minutes. Finally, Micah gets her on her feet. Once they start walking again, she has her hands over her ears until they get off the catwalk. Micah is shouting at her while she cries as they rejoin us.
Brooke ignores him as she tells me, “I hate this fucking game.”
“Same.” I debate for a few seconds before I ask, “What did you hear?”
Her horrid expression tells me that she had the same excruciating experience. “Nothing.”
Micah is still pissed as he yells, “Nothing sounded a lot like your goddamn father.”
Her arms fold over her chest as she says, “It was fake.”
“Was it?” Micah asks.
The bruises I’ve seen tells me it wasn’t. I already know the answer but ask her directly, “Does he hit you, Brooke?”
There’re additional tears trailing down her cheek as she swipes them away with the back of her hand. “No.”
“I’m gonna murder the bastard,” Micah shouts and I’m on his side for a change.
“No, it’ll make it worse for my mom. Please don’t.” They argue for a few minutes before Micah storms off.
“It was my mom screaming,” I tell her. “I don’t understand who would do that. It’s sick.”
“Agreed.” Brooke keeps swiping at her cheeks. “It’s like they’re in our heads. And we’re supposed to walk away, never talk about it, and pretend it never happened when Mercy is over. Now I understand why. Who would sign up for this shit willingly?”
