Flicker: Part 2 (Reedsy Cast)

Author’s Note:

Hey everyone! I hope you’ve had an AMAZING summer so far! Here’s Part 2 to my Reedsy cast! I am NOT taking any more applications, and the form is closed as well! Also, from this point, I’m going to have to start killing characters off, so PLEASE don’t get offended if I do so, I’ll have to take off certain roles for the plot! Thank you again to everyone who applied!

Now onto Part 2! <3

~~~

-Aiden-

I woke up, shaking in cold sweat. Something felt off tonight, but not as strange as the game we were all forced to play. I held my doctor kit nearby, in case the murderer decided to come after me. I could only heal one person per night, and of course I decided to heal someone else instead of myself. I started to curse at myself for making the stupid decision.

My door burst open, and a cloaked figure stepped towards me. I tried to not focus on the object they were holding, but I allowed myself a quick glance at the sharpened knife.

“W-who are you?” I stammered.

The figure smirked, amused. “Hello, Aiden.”

I groan, and clutch my forehead. Memories came flowing into my head.

I remembered everything.

“You don’t want to do this,” I said, finally knowing who brought us here.

“Trust me, I do.”

A primal scream escaped my mouth. The last thing I saw was their smirk as they walked toward me, holding the knife out. I blacked out, and the world went cold.

~~~

-Ashlyn-

I woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs, and immediately my eyes popped open. I quickly propped myself up, not recognizing the area around myself.

Then the flashbacks came in.

The game, my role, everything.

I shivered, remembering my role.

Mind Reader.

Not for good.

I opened my journal, and quickly flipped to the page where it had asked me to choose someone’s role to read. I decided to read Camryn’s role, since he seemed super calm during the whole ordeal.

Camryn: Good.

I bit my lip. What was I supposed to do with this information? Give it to the murderer? I didn’t even know who they were! And pOoF, now I’m pretty much the only person to figure out who’s on my team?

Then again, Good Mind Reader would have to deal with that as well.

My guilt faded away, but then came back as I mentally smacked myself for being so selfish. I shut my eyes, clearing my thoughts, before I opened my bedroom door and stepped into the small living space.

Cleo, Camryn, Chris, and Ellie were sitting on the couch in silence. Talk about awkward…

“Uh, good morning?” I said nervously. Camryn gave a small wave.

“Good morning! How’[d you sleep?” asked Ellie. For someone who was playing a deadly game, she seemed pretty relaxed.

“As well as someone can when they’re in the constant fear of being murdered...” I joked with half a smile. They all laughed.

B entered the room, looking exhausted. She had dark circles under her eyes, and her hair was a mess, as if she couldn’t get any sleep.

“Did anyone else hear that scream last night?” she asked, looking pale.

Cleo shuddered, “Yeah, I wonder who...”

Her voice petered to silence, and we all didn’t know exactly what to say to that. Maddie stepped out of her room, and cautiously looked around.

“Is it safe?” she asked, eyeing everyone.

“Think so,” said Chris.

Maddie let out the breath she’d been holding. “Where’s Aiden?”

Everyone froze.

“I-I’ll go check-” B stammered, slamming Aiden’s door open. We all crowded behind her, as she let out a small gasp and covered her lips with her hand.

I took a quick glance at the body, and ran back to the living room, sitting down. Bile rose in my throat, and my tongue felt dry. I could barely let the word’s out, “He’s dead.”

Ellie teared up, sitting to my right. She wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and clung onto me as if I was the only one keeping her together.

Camryn sat down to my left, covering his face with his hands. Everyone else sat down near the couch, pale and trembling. The only people who seemed calm was B and Maddie, although to be fair they were always calm.

The TV clicked on, and the figure spoke once again. “Oh my! It seems someone has already died! Poor guy, he lasted long enough. Well, you all have six hours until you need to vote off someone. You can discuss with everyone else, but no revealing roles or reading journals.”

“Wait-” Chris said, “What’s that in the corner of the screen?” We all looked, and saw a symbol similar to an X with a T going through it. The figure seemed to frown, and the TV shut down. I quickly grabbed my journal and sketched the symbol down.

“What does it mean?” asked Cleo, leaning close to my journal. I ripped out the page, and hid my journal in my pocket. I left the page in the center of the circle we all formed.

“Is it a logo?” I thought out-loud, “Or a code for something?”

“A code for what?” asked B.

“Maybe it represents the round we’re in for the game?” Ellie wondered.

“I don’t think it’s a code,” said Camryn, “I think it might be a symbol representing whoever trapped us here.”

“But who?” asked Maddie.

“This is leading us nowhere,” Chris muttered, “I think we should start trying to figure out who’s evil.”

“Well, is anyone sus?” asked Ellie.

“You sound like someone who plays Among Us,” growled B.

“Doesn’t everyone?”

“Back to the point,” said Camryn, “I find it a little strange how calm Maddie was when we saw Aiden’s body.”

“You’re accusing me of killing him?!” Maddie yelled.

“Not accusing! More like, pointing a small, insignificant detail out?”

Maddie practically growled. “If anyone’s suspicious, it’d be you. You’re acting super quiet when something bad happens, and you’re always trying to move discussions along to make the game quicker.”

“That- that is pretty suspicious...” I muttered. I bit the inside of my cheek, the taste of my blood stopping me from shouting, HE’S GOOD! VOTE ME, I’M THE EVIL ONE!

The TV turned back on (the symbol being noticeably missing), and the figure spoke again. “A majority already? I should’ve known, you all jump to conclusions oh so easily.”

“What does that mean?” asked Cleo.

“Nothing you remember,” the figure sneered, “But you aren’t taking a few people into consideration, they’ve been hiding this whole time!”

“WHO?” We all shouted at the same time. 

“Come on out, you two!” said the figure. Two doors opened up. One girl with brown hair and blue streaks came out of the first one, fidgeting. The other girl had bright blue hair, and deep orange eyes. The lights started to flicker, and everything went dark.

“Meet Isla and Cora.”

~~~

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 ;) )

Aiden/Me:

*cough* you know how to find my profile lol

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: 1278 words