Among Us

Chapter 14

We stayed at the table the entire day.

Nobody ate. We went to the restroom at the same time. 

I was now the last girl on the ship. 

I was innocent. And one of the people in front of me was guilty of killing at least two people.

I ran the list over in my head.

Arron and Dean always had an Alibi: They were together. 

It was a good Alibi, but not good enough. They could easily be lying and covering for each other. A duo of killers. But, try as I might, I could never imagine them killing someone. They were the comic relief of the group. The clowns. The exited, extroverted pranksters. But, of course, I would have never thought anyone would murder someone on this trip. (Except for Barracks, but he was innocent for obvious reasons.) 

Cain was a real piece of work. He wasn't as lonely as Barracks, but Arron and Dean had each other, and I had Jacks. He had nobody. He never had an alibi.

And Jacks.

I swallowed das I looked at him. He caught me looking at him and smiled. I smiled back, but I knew he could see my gears turning. His eyes widened, saddening. He looked away. I guess he felt offended I would even consider him. 

I felt the guilt rising and quickly pushed it down. This was a survival situation. I had to analyze everyone, even if one of the suspects was my boyfriend. (Boyfriend? I mean, we had kissed a lot, because we were madly in love and usually alone. Yep. I guess that makes him my boyfriend.)

Ari had confessed to Kate's murder, so Jacls was clear of that one. (Unless Ari had been lying about killing Kate, but why on earth would she do that?) But he had not been with me during Barrack's death. And Sam's cot was right next to Jack's.

But I replayed last night in my head. He had been joking with me about chess. I was losing to him (I ended up winning because of course I did.). And then he picked up Sam's water bottle.

"Oops! Must have made a mistake." He had gotten up, grabbing Sam's water. "Let me clean it, I'll be right back." 

My heart froze.

No.

Nonononononono. I refused to believe he would do such a thing. Murder Sam?

I looked at him again. He caught me staring and this time he held my gaze.

For the first time, it was cold. calculating. I could see the gears turning in his head. 

I got up suddenly, my chair scraping the floor with a loud screech. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy. "We have to do tasks now. Let's continue at dinner. Think about this while you work."

Everyone separated without a word. 

And by that, I mean Cain split from Aron and Dean as they split from us.

I walked silently to navigation, but was suddenly pulled into electric by Jack's strong, firm hand.

"Get off me!" I yelled. I yanked free but the door was locked, and Jacks held the passcode on the device on his screen. He saw me eying it and sighed.

"I'm not going to kill you, Em." He said.

"Just like you didn't kill Sam?" I spat. 

I know. That was stupid of me. When someone says "Oh I know you killed them" in a movie, I always think: Why? If they had acted like they hadn't known, then they would be safe until they could think of a way to escape. But I couldn't help myself. 

"I didn't kill her, Em." He said.

"Then why did you lock me in here?"

"I didn't want you going around gossiping about untrue things. We are panicked people. They would vote me out just because they need someone to blame."

I stopped. It made sense. But still, his presence was overpowering. He leaned closer to me and I felt my heart beating. He was certainly showing dominance, which I hated. I stood taller, frowning.

"You don't scare me, Jacks." I said, voice calm and controlled. But my mind was racing, and my heart was beating so fast I was sure he could hear it. All I could hear was his breathing and the thump of my heart as it pounded in my ears.

A few seconds later, All I could feel was his soft lips against mine.

I gave in. I kissed him back, shoving him against the wall. He grabbed my hair and I grabbed his hands, his shirt, his bare back.

I was kissing a likely murderer.

And I didn't care.