Rita Young
I felt my eyes open slowly. Where was I? I could tell I was lying on something soft. Something heavy was laid on top of me. It was… a blanket?
My eyes shot open and I sat up. I looked around. There was a window nearby, through which I saw a tree with whippoorwills chirping away. Across from me, a chair where a blonde haired woman was reading a book.
Why was I in my own dorm room?
“Rita!” the woman said cheerily. “You’re up! I’m so glad!”
“Amanda?” I asked, not believing my eyes. “Is that you?”
“Of course, it’s me!” Amanda said, smiling. “Did you have a good sleep?”
Was it all a dream? It couldn’t have been. It was all too real. The sounds of Marie screaming as she disappeared into the abyss. The sight of Skids’ head in the pot. The smell of Norman’s disintegrated ashes. It couldn’t have been a dream.
“What day is it, Amanda?” I asked.
“June 2nd,” Amanda said. “Did you forget about a final exam or something? Maybe a track meet?’
So, I had woken up in my own bed, the day after we had entered the mausoleum. What was going on?
“Are you feeling okay, Rita?”
“I’m… I’m fine.”
Was I dead? Is this what happens when you die in the temple? Do you come back somewhere else? I had absolutely no idea what was going on.
“Amanda, what happened last night?”
“I don’t know. You went to that funeral and I didn’t see you again for a long time. But you’ve been sleeping a lot. I mean, it’s already 1 PM! Are you sure you’re okay?”
I got out of bed and stood up. I was wearing the same black clothes I was wearing to the funeral. So that part must have been real. But… but then…
I took a second to stare out the window and collect my thoughts. Everything was so peaceful. I couldn’t explain why or how I got here, but I was, I guess, grateful I was here.
“Oh, by the way, someone stopped by this morning and left a note for you. He told me to give it to you when you woke up,” Amanda said.
“What did he look like?” I asked abruptly.
Amanda seemed taken aback by my intensity. She closed her book and put it on her desk, then opened a drawer to pull out an envelope. “Uh, white guy, average height, brown hair, I guess? Older. Definitely older than anyone going to university here.”
“Did he have an Irish accent that kind of went in and out?”
Amanda shrugged. “Now that you mention it, I guess you could say that, but we didn’t talk long so-”
I snatched the note out of Amanda’s hands and ran out of the room into the dormitory hallway.
“Rita!” Amanda yelled.
I wish I could tell her more, but now was not the time. I needed answers. And this… if Finn had by some miracle dropped off a note for me this morning… this could be what I needed.
I opened the envelope, which had my name printed neatly on the outside, and read the letter on the inside.
Rita –
It was either me or you and I chose you.
-Finn
I felt my whole body tremble.
Did Finn… did Finn kill me?
No. Finn told me he killed Leo to keep the two of us out of danger. He wouldn’t have done that if he was intending to kill me too. And furthermore, why he would leave a note? I already knew he could kill without remorse. Leaving a signed envelope and, I assume, dropping me off inside my own dorm room… this isn’t what he would do to me if he really killed me.
I turned the note over.
I’m trusting you to handle this one.
Go to the mausoleum tonight.
Don’t go alone.
So it was real.
Every single thing was real.
Did Finn…
“Finn found a way out,” I said, my heart racing. I felt my whole body shake and tears rolled down my face as I realized the implications of this. I found myself collapsing to my knees. I knew people were walking past, but I didn’t even care. I still had so many questions. So, so many questions. But one thing was absolutely clear to me.
“Finn found a way out and used it to let me escape.”
I heard a voice behind me. It was Amanda.
“Rita, you’re crying… are you… is everything okay? You can tell me. Please, tell me.”
I stood to my feet and faced Amanda, streaks of my tears still staining my face.
“What are you doing tonight, Amanda?”
Alive (Ranking)
- Minh
- Agnes
- Zoey
- Jenny
- Pete
- Ursula
- Preston
- Calvin
- Wendy
- Yorick
- Akachi
- Mark
- Silas
- Finn
- Roland
- Sefina
Eliminated
June 13th: RITA, woke up alive in Arkham
June 12th: LEO, shot dead by Finn in the South Room
June 11th: REX, torn apart by byakhee in the North Room
June 10th: MARIE, fell into the chasm in the South Room
June 9th: CAROLYN, head smashed by Lola in the Button Room
June 8th: JOE, shot himself in the Lust Room
June 7th: SKIDS, dismembered in the Greed Room
June 6th: JIM, possessed by Ambrose in the Lust Room
June 5th: DIANA, possessed in the Lust Room
June 4th: MATEO, drowned in the Sloth Room
June 3rd: DAISY, shot dead by Roland in the Gluttony Room
June 2nd: NORMAN, disintegrated in the Envy Room
June 1st: LOLA, abandoned in the Button Room
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Rite of Seeking 