"Do these people ever die?" Annie asked incredulously.
"Eventually, once it had been, earned!" I said in a spooky voice.
"Well Britta, it looks like you're barking up the wrong tree," Jeff said.
I could tell by Jeff's tone of voice that he was referring to something other than a good scary story. Judging by the way Britta was acting and the way she wanted to assess "individual reactions," someone's tests results, from the anonymous survey she had us take, proved one of us was mentally ill.
"Yeah, you want to hear a scary story? I've got a scary story," Annie interjected.
I didn't listen in because I knew that Annie's story was most likely about vampires and werewolves, based on the amount of Twilight she read, an that because of her secretly devious nature she would add in a twist. Instead I played out the scenario of what happened in the rest of my story.
An hour later...
"Kiss me?" Anastasia said.
"No, we must guard ourselves against the escaped serial killer," Richard replied.
They were still standing back to back holding knives, but Ana was getting restless.
"Please, if only but for a moment?"
Rich sighed. "Alright, but we must still hold the knives. And if we keep our eyes open and look over each others shoulders, then we can remain safe. On the count of three. One, two, three!"
They turned quickly, and Ana kept one arm around Rich and the other pointing forward, while Rich did the same. Ana started to kiss Rich, but couldn't help her eyes from closing. She dropped the knife and embraced him fully.
"How could you..." he said when she pulled away.
"What?" she said in a dazed voice.
He fell to the ground, and revealed a deranged looking man who was holding a bloody knife.
"OH NOOOOO!" she cried.
Then he stabbed her because she was frozen by fear and shock.
I finished my story in time to hear the end of Annie's, which ended in a twist.
"...to his own partially digested flesh, in her own stomach," Annie finished. "See, there was a twist."
"Wow Annie, I didn't know you were such a fan of gore," Jeff said uncomfortably.
"It's Halloween. If you're gonna tell a scary story, give it some texture," She shot back.
"Wasn't that great," Troy said with a grimace.
"But your texture was so discompassionately macabre, as without the slightest regard for human life." Britta threw a concerned look at Jeff, who had been nodding.
"That's enough. Stop pinning ribbons to her." Troy was getting frustrated. "Why does Annie get to be good at everything? Do you guys wanna hear a real, legit scary story?"
From listening in on all the stories, and commentary by Britta, I was able to determine that she thought one of us was homicidal. At that point I simply acted my part until my predictions came true. Someone took a look at the test results and found out that Britta messed up somehow. Then we all retook the test.
The results were laid out on the table, with six being full of red markings, and one not.
"So we're all insane," Pierce said.
"Well, except for this person," said Annie, pointing to the regular one.
"Is that one mine?" Jeff asked.
"We should probably figure it out right?" Troy said. "If one of us isn't crazy it's only fair the rest of us know who they are."
"Or," Shirley said, "we could hold on to the comforting notion that any one of us might be sane."
The group agreed. But deep down, it made me feel really good inside knowing mine was the cleanest one. I could tell by the way I bubble things in. I wasn't scared though. Even though the six of them were homicidal, it felt good knowing that in some small way I was making them feel better by not revealing my identity. They were my friends, and that's all I've ever wanted.
Just a little thought I had after watching this episode. Everyone else finished their story, why not Abed? I love him. He's my favorite. Anyway, thoughts? Questions? Reviews? Eh?
Thanks a bundle of roses to my beta reader, you rock Valerie!