Dead Or Alive
"Omg omg. What the hell did we just do?!" Illinois squealed.
"Is she even breathing?" Olivia said as emotionless as usual; whilst poking Emma, who was lying on the ground, with a stick.
"Stop that, okay! We need to get out of here before anyone sees us." Emilie shouts.
"But what are we gonna do with her?! We can't just leave her here!" Illinois spits, shamelessly afraid; cartoonishly putting both hands over her mouth as if she hadn't meant to say anything.
"Look. This is all your fault anyway, Illinois. You were supposed to help Emma out of the water while Emilie and I went to go change." Olivia started, staring daggers into Illinois soul. She inches closer in between every other word, closing the space between them. "But no, your tini tiny marshmallow for a brain decided to lay down on the pavement and play with ants. Now we're here, having dragged Emma all the way into the middle of some random forest we found, Not knowing if she's alive or not. So how about you calm down and shut up." She concluded, just inches away from Illinois's face, sounding as cold and emotionless as humanly possible, but with a slight twinge of fury.
A scared Illinois took a couple steps back, eventually tripping and falling to the ground, into a big pile of mud.
She let out a loud scream, as if that were that last straw.
"Oh my god, shut up, would you?! Do you want to draw attention?!" Emilie scolded.
"I'm so sick of this! And I'm so sick you you guys bullying me! I'm out!" Illinois hissed as she stormed off angrily in her mud soaked clothes.
"Yeah, well good luck getting anywhere without us, tot head." Olivia shouted after her.
"Now… What to do with…" Emilie paused for a second; not knowing how to address the situation.
"…With this? It.? Her?. Emma?." Emilie said, trying to get it right.
"Maybe we should check for a pulse." Olivia suggested.
"Yeah. Yeah, good idea." Emilie said, shaking her head, letting it register.
Olivia bent down and took the drenched towel off of a soaked Emma, revealing her polka-dot yellow bathing suit, as she turned her onto her back.
"She's so cold." Olivia documented.
"And pale." Emilie added, sadly.
"She's so stiff, but so loose. Is that how death feels?" Olivia said, strangely.
"Just check her pulse before we come to any rash conclusions." Emilie replied weirded out by such a genuinely curious question.
Olivia put her ear to Emma's nose and her hand on her stomach. There were no breaths nor movements. Just stillness.
"Move, you're doing it all wrong." Emilie said unnervingly.
Olivia scooted over and allowed Emilie to take the wheel.
Emilie took two fingers and placed them on Emma's neck, searching for a pulse. A beat; that just had to be there. It just had to be.
If it wasn't, well… They knew what that meant for them if it wasn't; and they weren't prepared for that.
Had the dumb secrets game been true? And if it was… Who'd be next? Had everyone voted for Emma? What were the secrets of all their friends? What would to become of them? And who would survive 'till the end?