Flicker: Part 3 (Reedsy Cast)

Author’s Note:

Hey everyone! I hope you’ve had an AMAZING summer! Here’s Part 3 to my Reedsy cast! Now that school is starting for most people (and myself, although mine starts a lot longer down the line) I probably won’t post too often, but crossing my fingers I’ll be able to put some time into this!

Anyways, I hope you enjoy it! And feedback is always appreciated!

~~~

-Chris-

“Who are you?” I asked. My eyes turned into a deep orange, symbolizing my suspicion.

“Not a threat to you, obviously,” Isla said, grinning.

“How do we know that? You’ve been hiding all this time!” Maddie said, eyebrow raised in suspicion.

“I’ve been hiding because I’m trying not to die!”

B sighed. “And what about you?” She turned to Cora.

“I-I’m just trying to lay low, sorry-” she seemed to shrink under B’s glare.

“And why would you have to lay low?”

“I-”

“B, calm down,” said Camryn, glancing her way, “Let’s not jump to conclusions, they were trying to hide from all of this.”

“Isn’t that a conclusion?” asked Ellie.

“This isn’t going well...” I muttered. My feelings shifted to annoyance, which probably meant my eyes turned to a dark grey.

“Honestly, I think Cleo is a little suspicious,” said Camryn, “She seemed a little nervous this morning.”

“What-how- Wait, why were you watching me?” she asked, confused.

“I was watching everyone! You know, to make sure no one was suspicious. And nice subject change there, don’t act like I hadn’t noticed it.”

“Jeez, rude much? And I wasn’t nervous!”

“Uh, you kind of were.”

“Guys, chill!” said Ellie, “And are you positive Cleo’s suspicious because she was nerv-”

“Wait,” Cleo said, and grabbed a piece of paper. “I wrote down all the roles, and there are eight.”

“Ok… so what does that have to do with whether you’re good or evil?” said Ashlyn.

“It has nothing to do with that. Well, including Cora and Isla, that makes ten of us.”

“So what are you saying?” asked Camryn.

“I’m saying, either two people don’t have a role. Or...”

“There’s two secret roles.” I whispered. Even though my voice was quiet, everyone heard.

“Ding ding ding!” the TV turned back on. “I was wondering when you’d figure that out. If I’m being honest, it took a lot quicker than I suspected. You’ve got a sharp eye, Cleo.” The figure seemed to grin.

“I-”

“No more time to waste! It’s time to vote! Grab your journals and write a name to cast yours!”

I grabbed mine out of my pocket and hesitated. Anyone could be good or evil, and as much as Maddie and Camryn seemed to believe, none of them were that suspicious. But…

I looked back on a page to the name I wrote last night. I was the Good Mind Reader, so maybe I found someone evil.

Ellie: Evil

Well, I found my vote. But how to let the others know?

I couldn’t let them know now, they’d find it suspicious and the Evil team would know I was either Detective or Mind Reader for Good, which meant an automatic death for me. I decided to let everyone know at a better time, and with a better cover story, and wrote down Ellie’s name.

~~~

“Everyone has voted! Time to see who’s the first to get booted off!” The figure on the TV said cheerfully. “Are you ready?”

“Not like we have a choice…” B muttered.

“The person voted off tonight is...” I held my breath.

“Cleo.”

“WHAT?!” she shrieked, as she started to fade away. “WHAT’S HAPPENING TO ME?!”

“Nothing you won’t survive.”

“HELP!” she shrieked again.

Maybe Camryn didn’t really think Cleo was evil.

Or maybe he changed his mind.

Either way, he was the first to try and grab her hand, but his went straight through hers.

“CLEO!” yelled Isla, but we were all too late.

Cleo was gone.

~~~

“Her journal is on the table, along with Aiden’s, go check it out if you want.” The figure said, before the TV clicked off.

“She’s gone,” said B. Not a question, but a fact.

“Well, let’s see if we were right...” muttered Ellie, and grabbed Aiden’s journal and read it out loud.

“I’m just going to get straight to the point. I'm in Good team, the Doctor role. I healed Camryn tonight, but I don’t know if it’ll even work. Murderer would probably go after him, since he’s pretty suspicious. But it’s hard to say.”

“The journal entry ends there,” Ellie said, and picked up Cleo’s.

“Well, this feels weird, I never really wrote in a diary growing up. Or, did I? It all feels… familiar somehow. Everyone’s voices. Their personalities. Did we all know each other before? I can’t tell, maybe I’m going crazy. That seems more likely.”

“If you’re reading this, that probably means I died or got voted out (If so, then it’s chill, I don’t really mind). I just want to say, I am (was?) Mage. And I hate it. I don’t want to be evil! I don’t want to hurt people I may or may have not met before! That isn’t me… but I guess it is for now. Or was- this is so confusing- what’s the right tense? I blocked Ellie’s power, or whatever she can do, so yeah. I’m really sorry.”

“Yours truly, Cleo.”

~~~

“Hey.”

I turned to see Isla, gently sitting down next to me. Everyone else had gone to sleep early, but I couldn’t seem to do it.

“Hi,” I muttered, fidgeting with my hands. What if she was the murderer? What if she was going to kill me right now? Should I run? Or should I-

“So… can’t sleep?” she asked. A sad smile crept onto her lips as I nodded, “Me neither.”

Awkward silence.

“This may seem like a weird question, but why do your eyes keep changing colors?” she asked.

“Oh, uh, they change with my emotions, nothing too-”

“That’s so cool!” She smiled, “Was it something you were born with?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“Lucky, that sounds amazing.”

“You mean every time you lie, your eyes turn green to give you away?”

“I mean, unless you’ve lied about something bad-”

“How do I know, I don’t remember anything.”

“True, true,” she seemed to hesitate before she added, “But… I don’t think you’re the type to lie.”

“Why? Do I seem like a bad boy to you?” I teased.

She burst out laughing, “No, not at all!”

“I mean, I totally could be if I tried,” I mimicked the typical bad boy facial expression, and crossed my arms.

She giggled, “You’re ridiculous, you know that?”

“I know, I try,” I winked, and she turned away.

“Did I do something wro-”

“No! It’s just...”

“What is it?”

She seemed nervous as she asked me, “You’re not, you’re not evil, are you?”

I froze, then snorted out an ugly fit of giggles.

“What’s so funny?” she asked.

“I’m not evil!” I kept laughing, “Oh God, Why would you think that?”

“I didn’t think you were, I just...”

“Just..?”

“I kinda hoped you wouldn’t be, I guess. It’s nice to have at least one friend, considering what’s going on.”

“I’m your friend?”

Isla turned away again, “I mean, if you want to be...”

“Uh, sure-” I stammered. Why was this so hard? How did I know if she was evil or not? She totally could be, and she could be trying to stab me in the back. What if...

“You’re not evil either, right?” I asked her, bracing myself for the worst.

She sighed, “I guess that’s a fair question. No, I’m not.”

I nodded, unable to speak.

“I’m just trying to think of the good things from this, like-”

“What good things? Our memories were erased and we’re about to be murdered.”

“I mean the silver linings. Like how we’re getting to know people we may have never met before. Or-”

“From what Cleo’s journal said, we may already.”

“Well, true, but in case she was wrong. We’re learning to trust each other, and we may not have before. ”

“Maybe...”

“Well, I guess I can trust you, so that’s one good thing from this.”

“Same here.”

It wasn’t a lie.

“I guess I can tell you this then...”

“What?” She raised her eyebrow in suspicion.

“I think… I think Ellie is evil.”

Isla gasped, then quickly covered her mouth and looked around, “Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

I swallowed, reminding myself that the only way out of here was by eliminating evil, and that they already killed Aiden, so it was only fair.

But did Ellie do that? She seems so kind, I feel kind of bad-

“Your eyes are turning to a lime-ish green, are you lying?”

“No! My eyes turn a lime yellow when I feel guilty, and dark green when I lie.”

“Well, now your eyes are a dark grey, what does that mean?”

“It means I’m irritated with your question,” I smirked.

“Fair enough. So, what do we do now?”

“I-I don’t know. We need to find out who’s good, or somehow catch Ellie doing something suspicious.”

“What if you drop a note that says Ellie’s evil? Signed, whatever role you are?”

“That… might actually work! You’re a genius!”

She blushed, and I felt my cheeks warm.

“So, you have a piece of paper?” I asked her.

She nodded, and pulled out her journal. She ripped a page out and handed it to me. I grabbed my pencil from my pocket, and wrote down the note.

Ellie is evil - Mind Reader, Good

“I feel kind of bad, she’s so kind and sweet...” Isla tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

“That could all be an act,” I pointed out.

“Maybe. I guess we’ll have to see...”

I sent the note on the table.

Silence.

“I… guess I’ll head to bed. Good night, Chris.”

“‘Night.”

She glanced at me one more time, and left without a sound. I quickly went into my room, and laid on the bed. Isla seemed nice enough. Maybe she was a detective, or maybe Mole for Good… then again, why didn’t she tell me her role? She seemed nice, and she was a little pretty…

A scream echoed from another room, sending shivers down my spine.

I quickly shut my eyes, and tried to sleep, hoping that I was right...

~~~

Thank you to everyone who participated in my first Reedsy Cast!

Cleo/Cookie Carla: https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/author/cookie-carla/

Camryn/Chase Dova: https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/author/chase-dova/

B/B.W: 

https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/author/b-w/

Maddie/Abigail Cross: https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/author/edbcba/

Ashlyn/Wolf Warrior: https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/author/wolf-warrior-e4a694/

Chris/Celeste:

https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/author/0466a8/

Ellie/Anonymous:

(You know who you are ;) )

Isla/Sia Sharma:

https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/author/42b041/

Cora/Sienna:

https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/author/a97cef/

Word Count: 1829 words