Event #5 Madness [Tag : losers]

[Tara Macfly]

Tara woke up feeling dizzy. It was now becoming a familiar routine. She opened her eyes and saw that she had returned in the entrance hall. Where hell began for her. Others people were also here. She tried to get up, with some difficulty, wanting to check how they all were. Her left arm and her legs was aching like it had been tied up.

Tied up…

Then everything came back like a flash. The last events. The body made with Polaris and another girl. Jamie’s skull being drilled by sigvard before he died. All this images were now impregnated in her retinas and would never leave.

She screamed. An horrible shriek, that she didn’t recognize as her voice. She had found it again after having been so silent when these horribles things happened. She was hyperventilating, her breath hard to find.

« We will all die here » Her mind kept repeating « It will kill us all ».

She curled up on herself like a terrified animal and took refuge in a corner of the room, far from the others.

The knife who was still on her skirt's pocket fell. She jumped at the sound of the metllical object. She pulled back from it. It was dangerous. It could kill. Like Sigvard killed Jamie.

But it was Snooty’s. The last object she had from her dear friend. The last memory. She needed it. And also, her rational part thought, it could also protect from any attacks. If Jamie had the knife maybe she could have defend herself from Sig. Maybe she would still be alive if she had some weapon. She took the handle of the knife. Oddly it had a soothing effect on her. Maybe snooty’s aura still on it, or the feeling of security and force it gave her.
With it she wasn't weak and helpless anymore. 

She placed it on her skirt’s pocket again, and sat down trying to become calm. She needed to survive. For chris, for her parents, for the students with her. She needed to protect them.

Regularly she kept touching her pocket where the knife was in. It helped her to calm down.

[Esmeralda Ortiz]

Esme woke up back in the entrance hall. Her arms were stiff. Stiff from being forced in a position from being tied up for too long. Even a few debts from the ropes were staring to show. It hurt like heck. But it didn’t hurt as much as the horrible memory of what had happens earlier.

The first thing she did was check her pockets. Her blood spattered vest still had the small box of pain pills resting inside. Good. People needed some. Once she met up with whoever was with her.

Each blackout divided them. People would meet up and get thrown around. Esme ran through who she had spoken with. A thought hit her. Most people being attacked or tied up had been part of the unpopular clique.

Esme pulled out the clue she found before the tea party from hell. The “gaming club” list. Herself, Chris, Amanda, Ryan, Polaris and Tara had all written their names. She was scrutinizing it, when one of the people on that list came into view.

“Tara! Thank God you’re okay!”

Sprinting like a track star, Esme dashed to the brunette. Relief was flooding over her. Tara was okay. Tara was okay! She was tempted to hug her but paused. Tara was holding a knife. Not threateningly, but...consolingly.

[Misha Charisse Quinn]

[Takes place after Misha’s TTW with Alex]

A high-pitched, terrified screech made her jump from her kneeling position on the ground to a startled half-standing one. Her heart was beating loudly in her chest, as she frantically looked around the room, searching for any source of incoming danger. After what happened with Jamie, she was ready to expect about anything, and if something did come for her, she wouldn’t be caught unprepared. If they didn’t want retaliation, they shouldn’t have untied her.

Her startled eyes landed on a girl’s curled up, shaky form, hiding in the farther side of the room, away from everyone. Yet, she didn’t seem to be protecting herself from any enemy in particular, only trying to keep to herself… and after a further look, she understood why. This was Tara, one of the participants of their card game, and one who had a particularly good view of the macabre show. It was no surprise that she would be… shaken. Misha had been too.

Now feeling a little more calm after her conversation with her best friend, Misha forced herself to get up, her tired members still sore from the ropes. As discreetly as she could, she ran the palm of her hands over her eyes, trying to hide any sign of shed tears to have a semblance of authority; with some “luck”, the blood still on her face would take care of hiding it for her.
Jamie’s blood.
She felt like throwing up.
Listing “find whatever to wash your face” at the top of her priorities, she carefully took a few steps towards the girl, hoping that her bloody appearance wouldn’t startle her further. Another woman, apparently beside herself with joy at the sight of her, was also rushing in her direction… before coming to a stop at the same time as Misha.
Tara had a knife in her hands.

Instinctively, she backed away.

She didn’t know what she was planning to do with it, but considering all that happened, in the past few days, and knowing Emery’s past actions… she wasn’t sure if she could trust her fellow classmates as much as she would like to anymore, and she preferred to keep a safe distance between herself and any weapons.
Thankfully, she seemed to slowly come back to her senses and calm down, putting the knife away in her pocket. Good, so she didn’t seem to want to attack anyone so far, that was great news. Another great news was that now, Misha wouldn’t be caught off guard if she was to ever brandish it against her; if she knew she was armed, then she could know to be wary around her. Poor girl seemed anything but mentally stable at the moment.

 – Are you okay? – she asked her carefully, her voice soft and attitude as unthreatening as she could muster, still staying at a distance. She glanced at the side, where the other woman was, one whose name she couldn’t place; but she recognized her from the event. She had seen the same horrors as them… but seemed well enough. – What about you? I’m Misha, by the way.

At the same time, she kept a wary eye on the other unconscious people around her, in case any of them decided to wake up with an AK-47 in their back-pocket. At this point, it wouldn’t even surprise her.

[Tara Macfly]

“Tara! Thank God you’re okay!” This made Tara leave her little trance. She raised her head and saw raven haired hairs. It took her some minutes to come back to reality and to recognize Esme. The girl approached her, and was about to hug her.


Tara tensed. In normal times she would have accepted the hug gladly, but right now… She didn’t want to be touched by anyone. She wasn’t ready. She still had images of Sig approaching Jamie to drill her head. She kept touching frenetically the knife in her pocket. Ready to use it at the slightest threat.


She stopped herself, regaining her senses. Of course after what she learned from Thalia and Naomi about Nancy and Mrs Truman, and what she saw with Sig, she knew that everyone could become dangerous. Even nice people like Esme. But she refused to threaten everyone with her knife, like a frightened animal. Right now Esme was still normal, and just wanted to help her. She didn’t deserve to have a knife pointed at her.


And Tara refused to become the dangerous person. She will not let their tormentor change her.

She move her hand away from her pocket and was about to tell Esme to not hugh er. But before she could tell anything, the girl stopped looking intensely at Tara’s pocket.


‘’Oh’’ Tara thought simply. She had seen the knife. Well, this wasn’t


‘’Are you okay?’’ Tara turned her head to saw Misha. Despite her neutral tone, Tara could see that the red head was wary of her. It made Tara want to laugh. In all her life, she never expected that someone could see her as a threat. It saddened her to know she didn’t have her camrads' trust, but in the same time… She had never felt this powerful.


She shook her head, she should be ashamed feeling like this. Weapons were dangerous. The knife was just a self-defense item, not a way to gain power.


‘’Not really’’ she answered sincerely ‘’But I guess none of us are after what happened in the auditorium’’ She sighed heavily, rubbing her hands on her eyes, trying to supress the hurtful memories.


‘’ I guess you both have seen the knife’’ She laughed a little awkwardly ‘’I understand that you don’t feel confortable with me, having this with everything that happened. I promise I’m not a threat, it’s just to defend myself and others, if anything happen’’ She looked at the two girls, will they trust her ? ‘’Anyway, I will not approach you, if it can reassures you’’ she gave them a sad smile.


Wanting to change the knife's subject Tara decided to talk about their situation and what they should do now.


‘’So is there only the three of us here ?’’ she asked after looking at the room. No other people. No Chris. He hadn’t been hurt during the last event, she really hoped he was still safe. ‘’Does anyone has a plan for what we should do ?’’


Because Tara, didn’t know anymore. It seems like no matter what they did, it was useless. Everytime they will faint and wake up in another room with others people. And sometimes assist at some atrocities.


She wanted to survive. To find Chris and her family. But it was hard to still have hope.

[Esmeralda Ortiz]

Esme could take a hint. Tara flinched away. Given someone was horribly killed, it would make sense that no one wanted to be touched. There could be far worse things than the knife. Just thinking of a knife put her on edge; no pun intended. She was alive, as was Tara and Chris. But she had a suspicion something was not right. Not right at all. Who in their right mind found stitching two freshman together was an amazing prank? Well Esme was not laughing.

Are you okay?

A strange came around the bend. Esme breathed in relief. It was another student. A redhead with a look of grim determination written on her face. Esme has to give credit where credit was due; it was good to see someone else matching her determination to protect and come out okay. Older people were coming in which had been scaring her. Mint had been a detective. Now where was he now? At the mercy of whatever the weird robot voices were?

The robot voices...they were in the tea party from hell with them. Esme closed her eyes. She hadn’t seen the carnage, but she had heard it. The robots had taunted her when she refused to stab Madonna. The older lady stabbed herself. No more...

‘’’I understand that you don’t feel comfortable with me, having this with everything that happened. I promise I’m not a threat, it’s just to defend myself and others, if anything happen. Anyway, I will not approach you, if it can reassure you’’

Tara’s comment calmed Esme down. It would make sense that she was absolutely terrified. They all were, and everyone was coping differently. This did have Esme asking herself a few questions. Tara said she wouldn't approach. Did this mean other people were getting hurt? Did whoever mess up Sig or whatever force people to do it? That made people dangerous, so perhaps distance was the best thing. “Take your time chica. I think we all need some time to relax.”

The redhead asked about her own mental state. Esme twirled her black hair. Her fingers were stained with dried blood. Too much of it. The smell was no longer there, thank god. “Besides trying tin block out what happened, I’m fine. Pissed off, but not insane.” The redhead introduced herself as Misha. Esme gave a wry smile. An entryway after a brutal murder was an odd place for introductions, but it would do.

“Esme. Have to say, kind of wish introductions were happening not after...that. Oh well, can’t always get what we want.”

”So is there only the three of us here?” Tara asked.

"If there are others, they’re probably somewhere on this floor,” Esme said reassuringly, glancing at the darkened windows.

[Misha Charisse Quinn]

‘’Not really. But I guess none of us are after what happened in the auditorium’’
Misha winced. All three of them had been at the “tea party”, and all three of them were handling it differently. For the first time since… Jamie’s last moments, she wondered who had the Star that could have prevented the death. Was it Tara? Or this other woman?
At this point, did it matter?
As Tara promised that her use of the knife would only be in self-defense, Misha frowned. She wasn’t partisan of citizens being allowed weapons; there were too many crazyheads in this world, and the mental sanity of her comrades seemed to be rapidly diminishing. However, she couldn’t deny that right about now… having something to defend herself could truly be useful.

Except that, unless Tara had just now found this laying on the floor, chances had she had that knife before the game, and still couldn’t do anything. What was one to do, when your captor could knock you out at any given time and tie up into submission?

“Esme. Have to say, kind of wish introductions were happening not after...that. Oh well, can’t always get what we want.”
Misha nodded silently. This was anything but the ideal presentation spot or situation; all three of them had witnessed a brutal death and still had blood on their bodies to prove it. But at this point, they couldn’t afford to wait for “normal” conditions to act or talk. Nothing was normal anymore. Or rather, what had become normal was… torture and loss. They would have to deal with it. At least, Esme seemed to be doing better than Tara was.

"If there are others, they’re probably somewhere on this floor.”

 – There’s people on the other side of that wall over there – she signaled the place where she’d just spoken to her friend. – There is Alex at least. He doesn’t know if there’s a way to reach us, so we could try to figure that out. Apart from this… – she sighed – I don’t know what exactly we can do. I feel like we’re running out of options.

She hated to be the pessimist one, but… the reality was that she had tried everything she could think of, to no avail. Nothing ever worked, nothing ever got her anywhere, and even less closer to freedom. Her only viable option now would be… find their captor and confront them…
… and possibly get herself killed?

[Tara Macfly]

“Take your time chica. I think we all need some time to relax.”

Tara smiled sweetly at Esme. She was really a kind person. Tara would have really wanted to become her friend. But now, even if they survived this hell, she doubted it would happen. She couldn't live the normal teenager life, having fun, making friends, after everything that happened. She barely could do it before.

"If there are others, they’re probably somewhere on this floor" Esme answered her.

"There’s people on the other side of that wall over there" Misha told them "There is Alex at least. He doesn’t know if there’s a way to reach us, so we could try to figure that out. Apart from this…"

Alex. She hadn't heard this name since a long time. Tara was always glad to see or hear that another classmate was safe.

"But for how long will we be safe ?" She couldn't help but thought.

"I don’t know what exactly we can do. I feel like we’re running out of options." So Tara wasn't the only one being helpless. Wasn't the most reassuring thought. That tara was starting to lose hope it wasn't surprising. She was weak and useless. But Misha... she seemed so strong.

"Maybe we could try to find him but..." Tara began "We risk to be all separated soon so..."

She sighed. How many times did she have with esme and Misha ? Where will she be after that ? With who ? Will there be another tea party ?

The thought petrified her. She would not support another thing like this.

She shook her head. Being afraid of what will happen will not help. She didn't have a lot of hope about their survival, but she didn't want to be a burdain for her group. She wanted to be useful.

"Hmm. I don't think the first time we were here we found all the useful items. We could try to look for more" she said stuttering a little, still not very comfortable with the girls. She got up and began searching in the room for anything useful.

[Tara made a perception check]

[Esmeralda Ortiz]

There’s people on the other side of that wall over there. There is Alex at least. He doesn’t know if there’s a way to reach us, so we could try to figure that out. Apart from this…"

Well, Alex was one of the few who was wandering around. Esme looked again at her "gaming list". She didn't like the idea of messing up potential clues, but this was a lead. There was nothing for her to write with, so she sufficed by lightly scratching the names of the people she knew were alive and kicking on the backside of the sheet. Herself, Tara, Misha, Chris, Peyton, Dawn, now Alex.

"I ran into some other people, too. Apparently the walls thinned."

"Maybe we could try and find him,but we risk being seperated."

"We're separated by the blackouts, no matter what," Esme pointed out. Tara started looking around and Esme still stared at the paper. "Okay, so, myself, you guys, Alex, DeeDee...and the others who had been with us are all still around...who else have you guys run into?"

[Administrator]

Dice result: 1D10 => 5
Failure; you didn't find anything useful.

[Misha Charisse Quinn]

A certain atmosphere of defeat seemed to float around the room, none of the three women concerting apparently knowing what to do next. It had become such a repeating circle of waking up, talking with your companions for a couple hours, searching the rooms with little results, and then starting it all over again, that hope was starting to grow scarce; something that they couldn’t afford at such a crucial time, but that… also made too much sense.

 – I don’t really see anything in here of more use than last time. – she glanced around the room, trying to avoid looking into the hole where she had last seen Andrei fall. Was he still in there now? Esme’s question forced back into the conversation. – Well… apart from those you’ve seen at the… “meeting”, I’ve heard from Peyton that Emery and Naya were with her and doing… not so good. I don’t think they’re hurt, but… you know. Also, the principal is dead. – she blurted out. Better get the bad news out of the way as fast as possible. – Apart from that… it’s hard to know where the people prior to that are doing now. – She closed her mouth, hating that feeling of uncertainty. She liked being in control, knowing what she was going to do. This had become impossible now.

[Tara Macfly]

"I don’t really see anything in here of more use than last time." Misha pointed out when Tara started her searches, but the brunette ignored her. It was the only useful thing she could do in this freacking place. 

And... nothing ! Tara searched every corner in the hall but nothing. Not any healtcare items,, some clue to explain what was happening, nothing. She sat down, feeling totally depressed. Even if the result was to be expected, Misha even prevented her, it was disapointing. 

"Okay, so, myself, you guys, Alex, DeeDee...and the others who had been with us are all still around...who else have you guys run into?" Esme asked sudenly.  She was looking intensely at some piece of paper. Tara wondered what was so interesting in it.

"Well… apart from those you’ve seen at the… “meeting”" Tara twitched at this, It was an interesting term to describe this evenment where they had witnessed the death of four of their classmates. But where there really a word who could describe this ?

" I’ve heard from Peyton that Emery and Naya were with her and doing… not so good. I don’t think they’re hurt, but… you know." Misha continued. Yeah Tara know very well how the two girls could not be fine. Seriously who was doing well in this hell ? 

"Also, the principal is dead." Misha blurted out. Tara wasn't really surprised. After what Naomi told her about the woman stabbing herself, chances she survived this were low. It still do something to her, a little pang of sadness to know that another person died, Mrs Truman, a great principal and woman that Tara respected. But she was also resignated. Amanda, Ellie, Kairi, Andrei, Lizzie, Snooty, Polaris, this unknown girl tied with her, Jamie, Sigvard. And now Mrs Truman. The names of the dead. Some of them Tara was close to. Some she wasn't. They didn't deserved to die. But they did. And there would be others. Tara was sure of it. And they couldn't do anything about it. It hurted but Tara was slowly accepting this hard truth. 

"Apart from that… it’s hard to know where the people prior to that are doing now." Misha finished, she seemed unconfortable. She was as lost as Tara. Tara wondered if their tormentor was laughing his ass off, watching how desperate they were. She still had a hard time to understand what tortured mind could like to do this.

"Well I met a lot of people during the different change of rooms" Tara also finally answered Esme. "Naomi, Cameron, Thalia, Philip, a tech girl I don't remember the name" she listed the voice dranied of energy. But suddenly she hesitated a moment. Should she talk about Snooty to the girls ? No. It had already been hard to talk about it to Chris, she wasn't this close to the girls. And it wouldn't probably be an useful information to them "And I talked to chris through the wall before... the meeting" she used reluctanctly Misha's expression. "But like Misha said, now we can't know if they're doing well. They could be through another of this horrific events and we wouldn't know !" She said angrier. Chris and the others could be hurt and she didn't know and could do nothing about it. She was useless.

The situation was so frustrating. She was so angry, against their tormentor, against her. She wanted to hit something. She touched her pocket where the knife was to calm herself. It was almost scarring the soothing effect, this weapong had on her. She had to accept it. She didn't know how her friend was. She could do nothing about it. End. 

"Can I ask you what is the paper you're holding, Esme ?" Tara asked after a moment of silence. Tara was really curious why Esme was still staring at it. Something who could help them ? It wasn't likely the raven haired would have said it, but Tara could still hope a little. She will never totally learn that hope only bring disapointment. 

[Esmeralda Ortiz]

"Let's be honest here, no one is truly doing 'that good'. You'd have to be real sicko if you were going through this all sunshine and lollipops," Esme pointed out.

She had already added Peyton and her crew to the small list. Oh, the desire to get a pen and write all this down was too great. There was something going on and she wanted to figure out what. Damn it, too many people were dying and she was tired of being blacked out and tied up and everything in between. Yet in her rage, she knew she had to keep a level head. Lashing out and punching people like she did in the past was not going to get them answers.

"Also the principal is dead"

Esme nearly dropped the paper. She looked at Misha, her mouth opening and closing in the best imitation of a fish gasping for breath. Madonna was dead? Questions weighed on her mind? How did Madonna die? She remembered the principal stabbing herself and that fended off the weird Matrix demon or whatever. Madonna had been doing to protect them. Esme remembered trying to make a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. Naomi had been helping her and then there had been a blackout. The one time she had tried to save someone and they ended up dying anyways. It wasn't fair.

"Damn it..." she muttered, looking away. "DAMN IT!" She punched a wall. With Madonna gone, this thing would be fully unleashed. Who knew where it was now, and who it was targeting next? She shut her eyes and her hand slightly crumpled.

"Can I ask you what is the paper you're holding, Esme ?" Tara asked.

Esme lifted her head. Despite the knife, a small part of her trusted Tara. The girl was close to Amanda, and she had been determined to look after her. Looking after a friend was the best she could do until they found her. Something about Misha indicated possible trust as well. Her lips pursed and finally, she flipped it over. Amanda's handwriting was still there. She touched the small heart over a dotted eye carefully.

"I found this in the cafeteria. It's a "gaming club" list. Both our names are on here. I remember signing this before the club. Before you, me and...Amanda...snuck out for tea. Something tells me this list was more than just a gimmick for people to join clubs..."

[Misha Charisse Quinn]

Tara took the loss of their principal with quiet acceptance; Esme, however, was a different story. The woman seemed enraged by the news, going as far as to punch the wall, and Misha wondered how familiar she was with all the tragic events. Sadly, and for as tragic as Jamie’s death had been, Misha had seen two dead bodies on her very first day down here, and she could feel her brain adapting to the pattern. Stopping herself from touching the blood on her cheeks, she asked herself how long it would take for her to become desensitized to all of this. She never wanted to become used to such horrors, yet… it would make things that much easier.

She silently took in the list of names. All of it was good, but none of it was useful to her. Selfish, yes; but what she wanted to know now more than ever was more about her friends’ state. Jamie was gone, Alex and Emery were apparently on the verge of a crisis, Naya might be going bonkers and Peyton was probably traumatized. As for others such as Nancy, she hadn’t even heard of her in ages.

"Can I ask you what is the paper you're holding, Esme ?" Uh? Misha glanced at Esme’s hands. She had been too busy wondering about her friends’ “well”-being and that she didn’t like how Tara kept lovingly stroking that knife to pay it any mind, but the woman WAS holding a piece of paper. It truly wasn’t the most unusual thing she’d seen in this place, but now that it had been brought to her attention, she couldn’t help but feel a certain interest.
Her interest vanished as soon as she realized what it was: just a silly piece of papers filled with names. She didn’t know why Esme even kept it; all it held was who were lucky members of Amanda’s never-to-be game cl—
Amanda.
Amanda’s game club.
Amanda, who was back from the dead.
They had been tasked to do things. Things to amuse someone.
The wheels turned slowly in her head.

Trying to keep her cool, she glanced at both women around her. What… was she supposed to tell them?

 – … okay, this is going to sound crazy. And it is. And I haven’t witnessed a thing myself, so don’t ask me for details. But apparently Amanda… might not be as dead as we thought she was. – silently, she glanced at Tara. She remembered the girl’s sorrow when she’d woken up in this very place, how affected she was by her death. Apparently, Esme was a friend of hers too. This was truly NOT the appropriate crowd for this. – Some people have seen her walking around and apparently she’s not… right in the head. Downright dangerous. And I’m not sure how relevant this is – she pointed at the paper sheet – but you might actually be right about this thing being more important than it seems.
Except if this is all related to her stupid game club… I didn’t sign it. Alex didn’t sign it.
Why are we here?

Her eyes darted around the room, as if it would reveal to her the answer. She hadn’t done anything warranting to be punished. And she hadn’t joined any torture club. Then why… why her? Why this?

[OOC: Misha did a perception. ‘TIL THE LAST SECOND]

[Tara Macfly]

"Damn it...DAMN IT!" Cried Esme before punching the wall. This was so unexpected that it made Tara jump. She left her lethargy for a moment. It seemed that Esme was more touched by the principal's death than her.

"Esme..." Tara began getting up to console the latina girl but she stopped.

What could she say ? "It's alright ?" No it isn't another person died damn it ! "It will be okay ?" She didn't trust this anymore. Not after this horrible tea party.

What could she do ? Hugging the girl ? She didn't feel safe with Tara, because of the knife. Hugging her would just make things worse.

So she just retreat in her place. "Sorry." She stuttered to the girl.

After the raven haired calm down, she thought about Tara's ask and probably if she trusted her or not. Finally she show the paper, revealing names. Tara saw her's next to Esme. She recognized almost imediatly what was the paper and Esme confirmed it.

"I found this in the cafeteria. It's a "gaming club" list. Both our names are on here. I remember signing this before the club. Before you, me and...Amanda...snuck out for tea."

Tara closed her eyes, living the memory again. Tara on her own waiting for miss kishi, Amanda being late, the game boards falling, the cute red head proposing the club, Tara excited and signing it before going to the tea party with Esme and Mandie. She smiled a little. It seemed like it had been an eternity since then. Maybe it was. She didn't have time notion anymore. She had almost forget about this gaming club's story. Her smile faded. Now Mandie wasn't even alive anymore. She killed herself. Like snooty.

"Am I cursed that all the girls I like killed themselves ?" She thought darkly.

"Something tells me this list was more than just a gimmick for people to join clubs..." Esme finished.

Tara raised an eyebrow at this. Uncomprehension showing on her face. what does esme mean by this.

"okay, this is going to sound crazy." Misha reacted first "And it is. And I haven’t witnessed a thing myself, so don’t ask me for details. But apparently Amanda… might not be as dead as we thought she was."

So Misha had heard about this too. Tara had still some difficulties to trust this. Cute, nice and anxious Mandie, a living dead monster ? Impossible. But in the same time... she remembered Thalia's fear in her voice when she told her this. It wasn't fake. She wasn't lying.

"Some people have seen her walking around and apparently she’s not… right in the head. Downright dangerous. And I’m not sure how relevant this is... but you might actually be right about this thing being more important than it seems." She continued pointing the paper in Esme's hand.

Tara's eyes grew at Misha's words. What does she mean ?

"Are you... Are yousaying that all of this was planned by Amanda ? And that the gaming club was a part of her plan ?
Tara stuttered still shocked by what the read head implied "But... it was just an innocent idea. She just wanted to be accepted by the others. How could you think that about her ?" She almost shouted.

Tara was surprised by her outburst. Maybe she still hadn't totally accepted the Amanda Backer's death, unlike what she thought. She breathed a little calming herself before continuing. "Sorry. I already heard about Amanda being bring back from the dead and killing people. But... she can't be doing this on her own will. She was so gentle, so nervous everytime about everything, so..." she smiled a little remembering the girl's nervous smile. But it was remplaced fastly by her lifeless smile.
"She must have been forced by our true tormentor. I refuse to believe that she is the one behind this hell" she said firmly. .

But was she right to be this sure ? After all, if Tara liked the girl a lot and would have liked to be her friend they weren't really close. Could she have been lured by these cute smiles ? Could Amanda really have been a cold murderer planning the torture of her classmates ? Was she just in denial ?

She put her head in her hands, not wanting to think about this anymore. But of course it was the only thing on her mind now.

[Esmeralda Ortiz]

"Slow down!" Esme held up her hands after Tara cried out a defense.

She wasn't sure who to side with. Because in truth, she believed either case. For Tara, Amanda had not seemed like a cold blooded killer. The one thing the redhead had said that rang loud and clear to the Latina, and the very thing she was going with, was that the tea party had been a set up. Text messages threatening to hurt people, a set up...it was making sense. A presence Madonna wanted to keep away from the student body? That made sense, too. It was free now, stalking people and using Amanda's innocent motion to fit in, by playing games, and twisting it into a nightmare.

For Misha, people were slowly descending into madness. Someone that had been shy and timid and said nothing during the drama club meeting could be turning into killers. A desparation to get out made people reveal their true colors; they could push their best friend to the dogs to survive or choose to die together. Misha admitted she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, but if more than one person was talking about it, it was worth thinking of it.

"The question is, though, who is the one true tormentor? If what Misha says is true, that she's walking around like a zombie, then there's something a lot darker on the line. Amanda said that the tea party Tara and I attended was a set up as well. So if that's true, someone behind the scenes is somewhere here..."

It sounded so weird saying it out loud. Zombies, gruesome murders, and a school seemingly frozen in time. This was stuff that happened in horror movies, not real life.

"Madonna's dead..I tried to save her when she stabbed herself, but blacked out while checking on her and ended up somewhere else. She was one of the few things keeping a robotic voice from making people go mad. Now that she's dead, it's got no one to stop it except us. We've got to keep on our toes." She held up her phone. "I'm going to assume it's the one behind the perverted texts, too. I refused to follow its instruction and left with a migraine for a while. It only went away when I found the list."