¶Playing with water¶

Mareike

Mareike fell in love with the game room immediately she entered. There was water everywhere in the room, and she could hear the rush of the water running down speedily from its source. The water was pouring down into a large glass tank painted with murals depicting the ocean; surfing boards, plants and flowers, sea creatures and even realistic ripples and waves. It felt like she had just stepped into her favourite place.

She smiled and bounced towards where their seats were arranged, but her movements abruptly stopped. She stared into the glass tank again and frowned; it became quite obvious that today's game would involve going into that glass cage and suddenly, she didn't feel too happy and bouncy anymore. She loved water that she did not have to drink or go into, she was content to just stare at it and wonder the secrets that it held.

Mareike sat down and turned sideways to glance at her reflection in the glass wall beside her. She always hated how she looked in clothes but today's outfit made her nauseous. The organizers had provided wears to use in playing the game; blue and white track suits which had matching swim suits and briefs. While the other girls looked snug and sexy in theirs, all she saw staring back at her was an overblown pufferfish. Hers were extra tight around the arms but the bottoms were worse around her waist, there was no breathing space and all her thigh fat clogged up in the small space provided. The only thing that made her remotely like the outfit was its colour. Still, it felt like her original suit and bottoms were misplaced or mismatched but there was no time to change nor a spare.

As usual, Mr. Han entered last with the masked men who immediately spread out and positioned themselves around the game room. Someone near her shouted.

"Hear, hear. The Head of House is about to address us."

Everyone laughed at the joke, even if it wasn't all that funny. Mareike laughed because she wanted to ease her nerves.

The man moved to stand in front of them and smiled. "Good afternoon to you too. As you can see, today's game centres around a water course. The goal is to reach that red ball at the edge," He turned back and pointed at it. "in less than ten minutes using any method you deem fit to escape the obstacles set before you. Is that clear enough?" He asked.

Mareike nodded along with everyone else and when Mr. Han brought out a black glass bowl, she followed her housemates forward to pick a number. Number five.

Mareike sighed and made her way back to her seat, watching as Ace went forward. By the time it got to her turn, she had already become familiar with the methods for dodging the obstacles so in less than three minutes, she was done.

Immediately Mareike stepped out of the water, her skin started acting up. She dashed for her seat at the far back, avoiding eye contact with everyone as she settled down to scratch herself thoroughly. She looked up after some seconds and caught Marcello's eyes looking at her curiously before turning away to whisper something to Femi.

She didn't know what to make of that, so she shrugged back into her track suit leaving the bottoms still perched on the edge of her chair till the itching had stopped.

"I like your tattoo." The person beside her whispered and touched her arm.

Mareike turned to her side and saw Priya pointing at her thigh. She ran the edges of a chewed fingernail down her face and used the track bottoms to cover it up.

"Oh, that is nothing."

She frowned. "It's not nothing. It's pretty and unique, never seen one like it. Did you get it back home? Can I see it?"

"Umm, yes I did." She cautiously removed the bottoms, bending down to scratch around the area. "Thanks, I guess. It was just a moment of defiance."

Priya winked at her and smiled. "I like your moment of defiance, it's nice to have one."

Mareike had no words for that, so she kept quiet and focused on watching the game. Lola was currently in the water, still at the second stage.

"By the way, I don't know if I should say this but," Priya spoke up again, this time directly into Mareike's ears. A faint trace of orange blossom floated around her, no doubt coming from the girl.

"I don't think these track wears belong to you. I saw that troublemaker, what's her name again? Lola, yes. I saw her exchange two pieces this morning after the exercise, and now looking at yours and hers I think she exchanged both of them. That's incredibly rude of her, everyone knows it's better to wear bigger tracksuits than smaller ones." Priya said, all in a rush. She twisted around hair band around her ponytail and turned her face towards the game, frowning at the player.

Mareike's face turned purple with rage. She narrowed her eyes at the scene in front of her and muttered strings of profanities and abuse words. Her mother would be mortified if she heard the things coming out of her perfect daughter's mouth.

Suddenly, there was a shout and Mr. Han got up from his sitting position. Someone was flailing about in the water.

Chiara

Chiara was mentally preparing herself to go into the scary world in front of her when she heard a shout.

"She's drowning. Someone help her."

She looked closer into the water and saw her roommate, Lola, waving her hands and legs frantically in the water. Her oxygen mask was floating in the water, a few feet away from her while her eyes widened and her mouth fell open. She was screaming for help, obviously, but Chiara could only see bubbles coming out of her mouth.

One of the masked men climbed into the tank and immediately dragged her out, pressing down on her chest to expel the water. Chiara rushed to her side, along with the other housemates but Mr. Han held up a hand.

"Please step back, she needs to get air." He said, further gesturing with his hands.  She looked into her roommate's unresponding face and went pale. Lola's face was beginning to turn blue and her mouth still remained open. Her body looked bloated, hadn't it only been a few seconds she was in the water before rescue came? Chiara couldn't look away from the scene, no matter how much she disliked the girl, she didn't want her to get hurt or die.

It seemed like a very long time before Lola coughed out, water spewing from her mouth and nostrils. Marcello had volunteered to give mouth-to-mouth action and it worked. Now she sat up and pushed Marcello away, glancing around frantically.

Her eyes were still wide with fright. "What happened in there?" She asked.

Chiara looked at the girl in wonder, they were supposed to be the ones asking her not the other way round. Everything seemed fine till the shout came.

"Something dragged me down and knocked the mask off my face. I couldn't breathe nor move." She gestured rapidly, her hands darting between herself and the glass tank. She moved farther away from it and folded her arms, shivering.

As Mr. Han asked Lola to explain what happened, Chiara turned back to search for Lola's track suits. She glanced between the chairs and stopped short, Mareike was still sitting down on one of the chairs staring at Lola on the ground. Even as she walked over, her friend took no notice of her movements, instead she remained still glancing at the small crowd which had gotten thinner.

Chiara tapped her shoulder. "Mareike, are you alright?"

The girl jumped with a start and looked up at her. "I did not mean to...cause it. I do not know how what happened, I...I was just angry and muttering curses." Tears fell down her cheeks and she covered her face.

Chiara's face went pale again, but she quickly covered it up and bent down. Precious time couldn't be wasted. She dropped Mareike's hands from her face, and whispered.

"Listen, we'll talk about this later. Now, stop crying and stand up so we can look for Lola's track suit. Don't look guilty, nothing that happened there is your fault."

She cleaned the tears and stood up. "Don't make anyone suspicious. You don't know what happened, it's not your fault. Do you hear me?"

Mareike nodded and stood up as well, walking over to the other side to pick up a neatly folded track suit and bottom. Chiara heard her muttering, but she ignored it and took the clothes from her.

"If anyone asks, not that they will, we came to look for Lola's tracksuits. Alright?"

Her friend absently nodded again, her sapphire eyes reflecting the water she stared at. Her mind was clearly elsewhere so Chiara took her hand, directing her towards where Lola, Mr. Han and some of the other housemates stood. As they walked, she noticed how Mr. Han looked at the girl beside her. She clutched Mareike's hand tighter, no one was going to blame her for anything. Not if she could help it.

Eryk

Eventually, the games went on. The lady who nearly drowned was in no position to play again, she had to be escorted out by one of the masked men, but that didn't mean it was over. Eryk had been anticipating his turn since the games started, and he wasn't willing to go without experiencing it. After all, he came to get some him time and, so far, it was going well.

The rest of them that remained did the underwater course and completed it without any hiccups. All in good time, and even less than the time Lola had going before she drowned. She would be leaving today, without a doubt.

Mr. Han appeared thoughtful when he addressed them, he kept a straight face and tucked his hands into his suit pockets.

"A very unfortunate incident  happened today to one of the housemates, and she has requested to be sent back home for full recovery."

Eryk noticed how he stared towards Chiara and Mareike again. Were they somehow responsible for what happened? First, it was Femi and now these girls. They looked too innocent, but then looks could be deceiving. He himself had foolishly fallen for the innocent looks of his child's mother.

Mr. Han continued. "This means that the housemates still eligible for the $100,000 prize are the eight of you. I wish you success in the next games, which as usual, will be in two days from now. Goodnight and goodluck."

Eryk walked out of the game room first, so he was the only one who saw as Mr. Han and one of the masked men helped Lola move upstairs with her bag. He felt sorry for her, being that close to death had to be traumatizing for anyone.

That night, he saw mixed expressions of relief and pity on everyone's faces. Everyone huddled closely and talked in whispers, even Priya sat quietly at the end of the dining table seemingly lost in thought. Though he never spoke to the lady directly, his roommates filled him in with stories so he understood the mood in the air. The housemates were glad to be rid of the rude and arrogant lady, but nearly dying in a manner like that was something else entirely.

If she had died and the news made the headlines, what would it read?

Contestant of the Crystal House games loses her life during the underwater  course game. Playing with water taken a step further?

Eryk made the sign of the Cross. "All thanks be to God." He muttered.

*****

ARE YOU HAPPY LOLA IS OUT OF THE HOUSE? ANY THOUGHTS ON CHIARA'S REACTION? LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK IN THE COMMENT SECTION. XOXO

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top