Page 38 of You Were Warned: Part One

When I stop walking, everything hurts. Not enough that I’m concerned there is anything seriously wrong with me, but with an ache that reminds me what happened yesterday. My shoulders burn from having my arms tied behind me, my ribs are tender, and there is an extremely nasty bruise on my stomach where most of the paintballs repeatedly hit.

The shower last night helped a lot, but my sleep could have been better—I barely got any. Rue told me it would probably be the safest night’s sleep I’d have since arriving here, and technically he was right. With the Jester locked inside the zone with Vesper, it meant he couldn’t break into her house and kill me in my sleep. It should have been enough comfort to get a good night’s rest, yet I spent half the time staring at the ceiling wondering if Vesper had murdered him. Then I wondered if he would murder her, but I remembered she was the one with the knife and he was insane enough to be turned on by that fact. If anyone needed my concern, it certainly wasn’t Vesper.

Rue told me to meet him outside at seven, and according to my phone, it is almost that time. I’m still surprised they let me keep my phone since I’m technically a prisoner—or was. Who even knows at this point? Is it terrible that I kind of like being a prisoner? The thought excites me, so long as possibly being murdered isn’t involved.

Ares’s Bar generally doesn’t open until seven thirty, but Kayla caught me pacing and took me inside. She told me to make the coffee and to keep myself busy. I have spent enough time drinking caffeine to know my way around a coffee machine.

Vesper’s is black. I have watched her drink enough to know that is how she prefers it. Rue takes his black as well—Kayla told me as much—but with a small amount of sugar, barely enough to even bother, but who am I to judge? The Jester’s cup is also black because I have no fucking idea how he takes his, and asking someone how their murderer-to-be takes his coffee feels like a line I don’t want to cross. From what I know about him, if Vesper likes something a certain way, so does he. I make it another twenty feet before I see Rue heading my way. He has his hands shoved into the pockets of his hoodie, and his eyes go straight to the tray in my hand.

“You made coffee?” he asks, with a quirked brow.

I nod and hand him his.

“Vesper will allow you to live another day.”

“The plan was that the Jester would, but either way, another day is a win for me.”

Rue takes a sip of his coffee and doesn’t comment on whether it’s right, but he takes a second sip, so I call it a win. Rue may not be the scariest-looking man on the island, but he is massive, and I believe he could crack my skull open between his biceps if he tried.

The island seems to have three personalities. One during the day, filled with lighthearted screams, and children having fun. Another at night, when it becomes a certain kind of chaos. Vesper explained it after Nixie made me sign an NDA, and my mind was blown and a little intrigued on what it would be like to be chased and fucked knowingly. Then there is the early morning, when residents are awake and starting their day. It’s quiet and peaceful, almost, as there’s a body hanging from a tree to my left; it’s one hundred percent fake, I checked yesterday, since I wasn’t taking any chances that I would be next.

“You get used to the props after a while,” Rue says, noticing the way I look at the eerily accurate dangling corpse.

I scoff. “I don’t know if I would.”

He laughs and keeps walking. My body complains with every step, but I ignore it.

Rue glances at me. “You look like shit this morning.”

“Considering I was used as a human paintball target last night, I would say that looking like shit is to be expected.”

Rue gives me a once-over, and something about it makes my stomach tighten. It’s stupid, he’s just looking at me, and I’m becoming paranoid about everyone on this fucking island, despite knowing I am safer here, statistically speaking. Besides, Rue doesn’t seem like the type who would hurt me unless he had to, but something Vesper said earlier stuck with me: that she hates Vero but if anyone else came for him, she would have no issues ending them. I presume the same stands for everyone on the island, and I’m an outsider to them all.

For now, since I have the drive and the Jester doesn’t, I’m alive. The only complication is that I still don’t know what he’s planning to do with me while he waits, especially if last night was an example. I thought being around Vesper would make me untouchable, but apparently it only made him more creative.

The drive is still where it has been for weeks, hidden inside the lining of my jacket where no one has found it. I led the first men following me on wild goose chases, making them believe I was hiding it elsewhere.

“So, did you poison his coffee?” Rue asks me, breaking the silence.

I glance over at him and see that he is completely serious. “Before seven in the morning?”

Rue smirks. “Is there a better time?”

If I’m completely honest, the thought didn’t cross my mind until now. Where would I even get poison on this island? It would require me leaving.

“I won’t poison him.”

“Probably smart—Vesper would be mad. And that crazy bastard would probably enjoy it.”

He has a point, the Jester is a man who is unreasonably unbothered by everything, except Vesper. It bothers him a lot that she doesn’t openly like him back, though I suspect she might actually like him but probably doesn’t even know it herself.

“I’m beginning to think there is no effective way to threaten that man.”

“There isn’t.”

“You people are fucking insane.”

“You’re still here.”