27th October

Eryk

Eryk had no way of knowing what the next game was. The first thing he saw when he entered the game room for the fifth time was the stage covered by a red curtain hanging from one end of the platform to the other.

The room was lit with three small red bulbs attached to one side of the wall. He had never noticed those particular ones before, and although they were dim, they looked new. The chairs allocated to the housemates were covered with fabric and decorated with red bows at their backs. It seemed more grand than the previous ones, and with seven of them still remaining, it made no sense.

Eryk moved on to sit down, not without noticing the now usual silence of the housemates. Since the incident with the girls and the kitchen, every conversation was held in quiet whispers and gestures.

They all saw how Chiara started the argument and shoved his roommate off her body before screaming the kitchen into flames. If he hadn't seen it, he wouldn't have believed the girl started the smoke without a match or lighter.

Within seconds, the kitchen was filled with smoke and he saw Ingrid faint possibly from the inhalation. However, what shocked him more was Mareike's reaction. She simply touched Chiara and closed her eyes, and immediately the smoke was gone leaving only the soot behind.

"Hi. How's she?" Someone beside Eryk asked, pulling him out of his thoughts.

He nodded his head, not bothering to feign ignorance. "She's better now, and she explained everything. Chiara shouldn't have said that, you know."

Priya looked down and shrugged, "I told her that, but the deed was done. Is Mareike still angry at me?" She asked, now looking into Eryk's eyes.

He saw sadness in her eyes when they locked with his, and a thump came from his chest area. Eryk ignored it and nodded his head at her question.

A part of him felt like drawing her close to comfort her, but he held back. Yesterday's events brought the roommates closer as friends, and though he couldn't explain it, he knew he and Mareike had a connection.

Maybe it was from their shared dreams and callings to a strange place. As far as he knew, only the both of them were having those dreams and he didn't feel like telling anyone else.

He broke the stare and cleared his throat. "Mr. Han is here, let's focus on the games for now. I'm sure everything will be resolved."

From his side eye, he saw her give a small nod and focus on the stage as well, where Mr. Han was sitting beside a miniature tower made of small blocks.

"Good afternoon Housemates. I trust you're all doing well today. As you know, today is dedicated to the fifth game but, before that, I'll address the elephant in the room. The organizers witnessed the unfortunate accident yesterday, and remodelling is currently underway.

However, you all have evolved from strangers into acquaintances and friends so there should be less quarrels and more anger management. This is the second time this is happening, caused by the same parties as before thus a punishment has been issued to them." Mr. Han stopped to bring out a sheet of paper from his coat pocket.

He unfolded it and continued, reading directly from it. "Mareike and Chiara, for impulsive behaviour and improper conduct, you have received a strike. This prevents you from participating in the AHOH games which will be conducted in the evening of October 27th. Also, you both are to do all the chores assigned by the incoming AHOH and give the other housemates a day off. Hopefully, this will help in settling any differences and bridging the gap." The man finished and folded the paper back.

"Orders from above, I'm afraid. Now, let's settle into the game for today. Giant Jenga." Mr. Han said, pointing at the tower beside him.

Femi

From the game room setting to the announcement of issued strikes to the explanation of Giant Jenga as Mr. Han called it, it all seemed foreign to Femi. The only thing that mattered to him was sleep, and a bit of peace.

He ran his hands through his spiky dreads and continued to yawn as Mr. Han explained the rules of the game. They were supposed to draw out a block from the tower and add it to the top pile without making the tower crumble. The game would be played in pairs of two, and every housemate timed until the tower crumbled during their turn. Unlike before, the person with the shortest time would be disqualified.

He studied the tower, failing to understand how much of the games' outcome were pivotal to their progress in the house. They were all easy and mostly involved luck, rather than physical or intellectual skill. The cash prize was beginning to sound more like a sham, or maybe it was his sleep-deprived brain talking.

Even caffeine and Engineering physics couldn't make him this tired, but something could. The voices–as he liked to call them–refused to leave him alone, rather deciding to whisper-chat whenever he tried to sleep or focus on an important task. At first, he overdosed on painkillers and tried ignoring them but now, Femi accepted them as a side effect of the growing link between him and his look-alike. Even now, the voices were busy at work trying to make themselves useful.

"Compel to pair you with one of girls, not strong."
"Take blocks in middle, edges own hold tower together."
"Game is stupid, walk out and go sleep."

Femi bent his head and muttered under his breath. "Shut up and calm down. I know what to do, and no, I'm not going to sleep."

"Did you say something?" Ace asked beside him.

He turned to the guy. "Nah, nothing. Just trying to understand the game."

The exercise instructor seemed to buy the excuse and switched his focus back to the stage. For maximum effect, he hit the right side of his forehead twice and tried to relax. Maybe what he needed was a haircut.

He considered it a miracle to frequently understand what the voices said. They knew nothing about pronouns and the word "the" wasn't in the dictionary they possessed. Sometimes, if they were excited, they talked over one another all struggling to be heard.

Luckily for him, he felt their presence around him lessen so he straightened his back and tried to focus on Mr. Han's demonstration with one of the masked men. When the game ended with Mr. Han losing, he turned to them and spread his hands smiling. "Hope everyone understands now."

Femi joined the others to give an affirmative answer, eager to put this game behind him and ask for some sleeping pills. When the first two names were called, he settled in his chair and closed his eyes drowning out everything around him.

A part of him wanted instant elimination, if it meant leaving the visions and voices behind. But the more sensible part of him knew it was just a constant reminder that his life was now forever changed.

Priya

Priya felt torn. Between her loyalties to Chiara and Mareike and her attraction to Eryk, she had no idea how to reconcile her friends.

She spent the whole night trying to get Mareike to talk, but it was fruitless. She managed to get one sentence out of her–"You made your choice."–before she was abandoned in the lounge. When she tried to follow Mareike into the room, Eryk stopped her by shaking his head.

Not even words. She huffed and folded her arms, quickly unfolding them again to play her turn.

Even the baby steps towards a relationship between both of them was beginning to crumble and the person responsible for all this drama was happily playing the game like she owned it.

She was tempted to shake Ingrid or blow a breeze towards the tower, but it would affect her too so she settled on glaring at her as they silently removed and replaced the sticks on the Jenga tower.

"Why did you faint yesterday?" Priya asked suddenly, unable to contain her frustration any longer.

Ingrid made a face that caused her brows to knit together, as she carefully replaced a stick on the irregular shaped tower.

"What do you mean? The kitchen accident?"

Priya nodded. "You started the whole drama, and then fainted when it blew over."

She drew a block out of the tower's right column and observed its slight sway, adding the block to its top left. It stabilized and remained standing.

She switched her focus to Ingrid who gave her a shrug, still staring at the tower. "How do you know what happened? You weren't even there."

Priya's mouth opened but no sound came out. How could she explain that she witnessed everything by simply touching Chiara after the accident?

All she did was walk up to her friend and take her hand, causing the electricity crackles she saw on them to travel up her skin and give her a glimpse of what happened in the kitchen after she left.

Saying it out loud wasn't an option. "She told me everything. You started talking to Mareike, and drew her attention away from the food. You knew she wasn't skilled in cooking so she couldn't tell it was burning, but Chiara easily could. Why did you do that?"

Ingrid frowned and slowly drew out another block, turning it over in her hands as she raised her head to look at Priya.

"I simply wanted to share a piece of information with her, and we got carried away but Chiara noticed before it could get worse. Besides you're supposed to be sympathizing with me, I fainted from her outburst." She placed the block on the top and shifted forward, lowering her voice.

"So both of them have superpowers or what? Do you have one as well?" She asked Priya who scoffed and drew back.

"I don't believe you. You advised Mareike to hug her too." She said, dodging the question and taking out a horizontally placed block.

"Was that a crime as well? Or I knew something that should have stopped me from saying that? Please stop the accusations Priya, and focus on the game." She said, pointing to the tower.

Ingrid slowed her pace and thought for a while before taking out another block. "Besides why do you even care? Both of them are angry at you, and even your lover is taking sides against you." She replaced the block and spread her arms, smiling as the tower stood still.

Priya stared at the tower, alternating between it and the opponent sitting few feet away from her. The answer she asked for was now obvious; it was all for fun and to see the housemates' reactions to the carefully planned out accident. But that left her with another one, how did Ingrid know what would happen?

"I care because they're my friends, and I know we'll scale through this. Together. But you won't." She said and pointed at the timer beside them.

Priya sucked in a breath when the girl turned away and released it towards the tower, watching as it crumbled block by block till a pile of long blocks sat on the table. It was the ten-second wait after Ingrid's move.

*****
THE FIFTH GAME IS UNDERWAY. WHO DO YOU THINK WILL BE ELIMINATED? LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS IN THE COMMENT SECTION.