She turned to Ellis. “Do you remember the video Jax filmed of the school fire?”
Ellis nodded. Of course he remembered. How could he not? Jax’s silent footage of horrific waves of flame engulfing screaming bleachers full of students had been posted on every news feed. Jax’s face was constantly on the screen as he’d staggered backwards through the gym—pushing through the desperate crowds trying to escape. His handsome, distraught expression lent the film a slightly remote, movie-like quality, as though he was an actor and none of it had been real. It was a winning mix of gruesome-but-safe, easy to watch without having to feel too much, and yet sick enough to scratch a perverse itch.
Ellis had only watched the video one time. That had been enough.
“Jade, please don’t. C’mon, babe. I didn’t do anything wrong. I was just filming stuff. That’s what I do. It wasn’t a big deal.” Jax was sweating now.
“Oh my god, are you serious?” Jade turned on him. “You were going to post the whole video,unedited. I was the one who stopped you. I made you delete the audio before you shared it. I saved you, Jax. If anyone had heard the uncut version, being canceled would be the least of your worries!”
“It wasn’t like that, Jade. It wasn’t that bad. I don’t do well under pressure, y’know? Filming stuff makes me feel better. People would have understood…”
“Oh, right—because social media is so forgiving. I get trolled for posting a beach shot with the teeniest bit of cellulite. You honestly think ignoring Maia Walsh screaming for help would go down well? She called out your name, Jax. She begged you to do something, to help her. Youliterallystepped over her and walked away because you were too busy filming yourself. Big fucking hero!”
Ellis was mentally filing everything away for later, just in case. This was better than Netflix.
“What could I have done?” Jax’s voice sounded small. “I’m not a firefighter…or a doctor. I couldn’t help her or anyone.”
“How do you know that, Jax? You didn’t eventry. Maybe you could have put the flames out, wrapped her in something. I don’t know. Something.Anything. Shedied, Jax—and you did nothing.You filmed her!Are you going to film me next? Are you going to film me die? Because you’d damn well better lose the fucking audio again.”
“Babe, please…I’m not… I would never let you get hurt.Never.” Jax’s green eyes welled up with tears. He ran his fingers through his shiny hair. “I love you, babe. We’re not going to… Fuck, this can’t really be happening. I can’t do this, Jade. I can’t.”
“You don’t get to choose,” Jade said; her voice dropped, her tone softened. “Look, Jax, you can’t just stare at your phone and pretend this isn’t happening. Not this time. It’s real.I’mreal. I need you, Jax. More than ever. I love you andI need you.” Jade had started crying too; streaks of mascara tracked down her face. She reached out and took Jax’s hand. “I can’t do this alone.”
“Babe…” Jax pulled Jade closer. She fell into his arms, her face pressed against his chest. “You’re not alone, babe. I love you too.” They snuffled into each other, lip gloss and hair products slathering into their golden sweat as they kissed desperately.
Ellis sighed. Sometimes he was astounded by the lies straight couples fed each other, covering the blatant cracks with the catch-all Band-Aid:I love you.Even if he survived the Balloon Game, he would never say that to anyone again. Ever.
Enough. He shook his hands out. He’d enjoyed the little show up to now, but needed to draw a line under things before they went too far. The clock was ticking.
“All right, look, neither of you has anything to worry about. The death machine is just an insurance policy. Just in case.” Ellis gestured at the rusted tractor. “I didn’t build it for us.”Yet, he added silently.
“What do you mean, Ellis?” Jade said, reluctantly pulling away from Jax.
Ellis grinned.
“I mean…we don’t have to lose the vote.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a quarter. “Heads or tails?”
Jade scrunched up her button nose in confusion.
“I mean, like, heads, I guess?”
Ellis flipped the coin in the air and caught it easily in his closed fist, then slapped his hand on top of the other. He walked up to her and lifted the top hand. Heads.
“Jax? You want to call it?”
“Tails,” Jax said, walking over to watch, his emotional outburst forgotten.
Ellis flipped the coin, revealing tails. They tried it a few more times. Every time, it matched the call. He let them inspect the coin—no tricks, an ordinary, everyday quarter.
“That’s brilliant.” Jax laughed. “How do you do that, Ellis?”
“A magician never tells.” Ellis smiled mysteriously. It was satisfying showing off his favorite party trick. It never failed to get attention. He just hadn’t thought he’d be using it to kill someone.
“When it comes to the vote, we all vote the same. It’ll be our three votes against theirs. It’ll come down to a coin toss, which we will win. Next round, we’re three against two. We win again.” Ellis stopped there. No need to take it further and have them thinking about what would happen after the last of the others went. That’s when it all broke down. No more coin tossing then.
Jade took a dramatic yoga breath, in and out.
“Seriously, I was like so scared. Ellis…you’re a genius.”
