21
Ana
08:39
A handful of coasters were stacked near the bus, a faded image on the front—a pink rose over a dated photograph of the motel in its former glory. The reception area, the shiny road sign, the pool filled with water—umbrellas and sun loungers lining its side. A different time. Holidays and sunshine. Who would have imagined what this place would become, what horrors would unfold here?
Next to the coasters was a pile of used pens from the reception desk. Ready for the vote.
All seven of them stood in a silent circle like a western showdown, guns at the ready. One person wouldn’t walk away from this, one person was going across the line. Ana could picture Benny, the look on his face when the shot rang out, falling—eyes open.
Was this really happening?Were they actually going to vote someone to their death? It felt remote somehow. Unreal. Should she even writea name? Wouldn’t that make her a party to murder, an accessory? A murderer, even?
But as she looked around at the ring of faces, she knew the answer. There was no choice. She had to do this, because if she didn’t, then she’d be throwing away her vote. A vote that might save Raya or Alex from crossing the line.
“So, like, how do we do this?” Jade was shuffling slightly. She kept pushing her hair back; her perfect make-up was running at the edges, making her face oddly blurry, as though she was melting. “We just write a name?” Ana narrowed her eyes. Jade was acting strangely. She kept looking at Ellis. The two of them were up to something. Which would mean, thethreeof them were up to something since Jax would do whatever Jade told him to do.
“Yes. We all get one vote. The person with the most votes must leave the circle. If there’s a tie, we toss a coin.” Ellis’s voice was calm. “You all heard the rules of the game. I think it’s pretty clear how we choose. We start with the guilty.” Ellis looked pointedly at Caden, then Alex—his expression dark.
Everyone knew what he meant. Or almost everyone. Caden seemed abnormally unconcerned, partly because he was swaying on the spot grinning and humming to himself, clearly off his face.
“No,” Ana blurted out. “We’re all guilty. The message said it. We all did something a year ago. All of us, even if we don’t know.”
“Are you volunteering? Is there something you’d like to confess to the group?” Ellis said.
Ana kicked herself. She’d played right into his hands. If she confessed to save Alex, then Ellis would get both of them voted out. She fell silent.
Nodding to himself, Ellis turned away dismissively and faced the others.
“Listen, I know this is fucking hard, but it’s not our fault. Whatever happens here is not on us. It’s on Bates. Got that? He’s making us do this.We have no choice.” Ellis cast his pale eyes around at the anxious circle of faces.
No one moved, no one spoke. The windmill spun wildly in a sudden gust of wind, clacking loudly into the air. They could all feel it; time was moving away, escaping beyond them, out of reach.
Ellis stepped forward and picked the first coaster off the top of the pile.
“It’s time to vote. My advice, for what it’s worth…vote with your conscience.” He took a pen; his hand was steady. He knew he had no skin in the game. He was safe, for now.
“Ana?” Alex looked at her, worried. Raya moved closer to them, her eyes round with fear.
“What should we do?” Raya whispered. “I don’t know if I can…”
“I know,” Ana said, keeping her voice low. “But we don’t have a choice. If we stick together, the three of us, we’ll be okay. We just have to stick together.” She walked up to the steps and picked up her coaster. One by one, the others stepped forward; even Caden, going through the motions, though he clearly had no idea what was going on.
It was obvious what they needed to do. If the three of them voted for Caden, they would just need one of the others to vote for him too. Caden wouldn’t vote for himself. So that left Ellis, Jade, and Jax. They’d vote for Caden, of course. Alex was their friend. It would be a sure thing.
But as Ana looked around at the ring of faces, something didn’t feel right. She couldn’t put her finger on it.
Ellis was standing loosely, pen in hand, Jade and Jax on either side of him. His wingmen. He wrote something and threw his coaster down on the ground. The first vote was cast.
Jax followed, casually chucking his coaster on top.
They were running out of time. Hands shaking, with a queasy feeling in her stomach, Ana printed a name. Raising her chin almost imperceptibly, she held out the coaster angled to the right so that Alex and Raya could read the name. Raya gulped nervously but nodded.
Jade took longer. She was clearly struggling and kept pausing to push her hair behind her ears. Finally, she placed her coaster down next to the others. There were tears in her eyes. Why was she so upset? She didn’t even know Caden. Ana frowned. She hadn’t thought Jade would care so much as long as she knew she’d be safe. Maybe she’d underestimated her.
One by one, they all placed their coasters face down on the ground. Even Caden managed to somehow scribble something and drop his card on the floor.
When all the votes were in, Raya walked over to the pile of votes. She had lost the toss and it was her job to count the votes. Ana was relieved it wasn’t her; her hands were shaking too much.
