Rani

I can't believe I did that.

It's been my goal since I saw Dr. Jansen's house. I've been running through all the possible scenarios in my head for hours upon hours, but after it's done, I can't quite believe I did it.

And I can't believe that Jude and Lana undid it.

I'm sitting between them in the hospital hallway. We're all nervous; none of us know how this is going to work. We checked him in as a John Doe we found. We don't know him, no ma'am we most definitely do not, but we'd like to stick around to see if he's okay.

Check out is going to be hell.

"You should've let him die," I say, low enough so no passerby hear my ill-intentions for the guy we 'helped.'

"What proof do you have that he killed Jansen?" Lana asks.

Without my prompting, Jude takes the photo I gave him out of his pocket and reaches over me to give it to Lana. She takes it and blinks, lips parting with surprise.

"That's not all," I say.

I take out my pager, boot up Dr. Jansen's video, and plug in earphones. I give one to Jude and one to Lana, and I stay between them, watching them as they watch the video. They have reactions identical to mine: confusion at first, and then horror draws their eyes wide. When it ends, Lana presses the replay button, and they watch it again, just like I did.

I hate to see their hearts break, but they have to believe me.

"He entrusted me with your safety," I say. "I didn't want to become a murderer, but I had to do it. Please understand that."

Jude takes out the earphone. "I believe you," he mumbles. "Don't worry. I'm not mad at you."

Lana hesitates, but then she carefully puts a hand on my knee. "Me neither," she says. "It's just that...I don't understand why he hasn't killed us by now. He's had the chance several times over."

"I assumed he wanted to get us all together," I say, "but I don't know for sure."

"We'll find out." Jude stands to stretch his legs. "We'll find out."

"About that," I say quickly, "let's promise to talk to him together. If he gets one of us alone, who knows what he'll say or do. Can we agree on that?"

Jude shrugs. "Of course."

"Agreed." Lana nods.

"I do need to use the bathroom, though," Jude says, backpedaling down the hallway. "Be right back."

When he's gone, Lana leans forward on her knees, sighing. "I never thought this shit would be so complicated," she mutters.

I find it in myself to laugh. "I never got to introduce myself," I say. "I'm Rani."

"I figured," she jokes. "How was Wyoming?"

"Nice. How's Georgia?"

"Peachy."

I laugh. This is the sweet, light conversation I dreamed all four of us would have when we met each other for the first time. We'd talk about the states we grew up in and the ones Jansen sent us to, and then we'd travel together, saving the country and the world as a team. We'd bond over the people and the lives we lost in our accidents, and we would have our fights and our ups and downs but through it all, we'd become lifelong friends.

It was supposed to be dream come true.