Walking Amongst Them (Among Us, Book 2)

lessons

I gave up trying to eavesdrop on them after a while. I couldn't make out any real information beyond snippets that just made me angry. It didn't help that the two younger girls had started murmuring among themselves.

They were mostly reassuring each other. It seemed like the long-haired girl had rescued the short haired girl, and they'd bonded over whatever that experience had been. My mind surprised me as I thought of Trish. The food began to settle in my stomach, and I settled down a bit more comfortably in my spot.

I hadn't yet figured out what I wanted to do when the blue eyed girl appeared once more. She offered me a wet piece of cloth and I used it to clean my hands while she sat down next to me. Her movements were slow, and when I finished with my hands she accepted the cloth without moving away.

I swallowed, my mouth finally feeling close to normal, and my belly being full. The girl spoke first.

"I know this is all a lot, and you're probably just thinking about escaping." My body went tense, but she didn't seem to notice as she kept her eyes ahead, focused on the four men around the campfire. "This situation is a lot more complicated than it seems."

I waited for her to continue, but she didn't expand any further. I spared a side glance at her, catching the color of her eyes in the sunlight, feeling a familiarity. She turned to meet my eyes, and raised an eyebrow in a sort of question. I pulled back a bit, the expression, the challenge to sort things out for myself- it was too familiar.

A memory surface deep in my mind, a name I thought I'd never attach to a face.

She smiled as if she knew where my mind was going, and my eyes slid away from her to focus on Cody by the fire. Somehow he felt my gaze this time, his eyes lifting off of the flames to meet my own. Even from this distance I could tell that the fire remained in his eyes, even as he looked away from the crackling logs. He raised an eyebrow at me, the same look that his sister Stephanie had given me only a moment before.

I looked to her, but she was looking at her brother. Some sort of silent conversation went between them, and then she abruptly turned towards me and stuck out her hand.

"Stephanie, pleased to make your acquaintance."

I didn't have to ask and confirm my thoughts, her smile was enough. I reached out and shook her hand, feeling a weight settle on my shoulders as I did so.

"This situation is complicated by my presence."

She tilted her hand, allowing my hand to fall away from her own while she pondered my statement. Her eyes flickered to her brother, causing me to wonder what kind of complication she thought I'd meant. It was clear that either Cody didn't tell her, or didn't actually know the familial relationships in this group, beyond his sister and himself.

Another of the girls, the strawberry haired one, sat down on my other side. She gave a sigh and spread her legs out straight in front of herself. She allowed her head to fallback, flakes of dirt floating from her mane of hair to the ground as she watched the sun continue to rise in the sky.

"This is such shit."

Stephanie didn't seem inclined to disagree. She only nodded and threw the wet rag I'd washed my hands towards the tents. In the pause of our conversations I could hear what the guys were saying again. It didn't make out at first, but when I rested my forehead against my knees and tilted my ear their way, it worked well enough.

"...around noon or so."

There was a burp.

"Now that we have four to trade, do you think they'll throw in some booze?"