Chapter 25

Amanda walked back into John's room. She widened her eyes. John was holding onto Lynn's hand.

No, no, no, no! She screamed in her head.

"We're fine, Amanda." John said. "We don't need you." Amanda's breathing became uneven again.

"I said we're fine." He repeated.

Amanda stormed back out of the room. She walked around, confused and lost.

"In my desk…in the center drawer. An envelope, with your name on it." She remembered John telling her. She opened the drawer and there it was. A yellow envelope, her name neatly written on it.

Something's wrong here. She thought. Something's very wrong. She thought about not opening until Lynn's game was over, but curiosity got the best of her. She opened the envelope. She flipped through a few papers until she found a handwritten note. She recognized it as Hoffman's writing. It read:

Amanda,

You were with Cecil the night Jill lost Gideon. You killed their child. You know it, and I know it, so do exactly as I say. Kill Lynn Denlon, or I will tell John what you did.

Amanda read over it multiple times, hoping her eyes were lying. Each time she read it, it said the same thing. Her breathing became heavy and uneven. Her heart pumped faster and she felt dizzy.

No, no, no, no, this can't be happening! She thought. He wouldn't do this. He cares about me.

"You know how I feel about you right?" What if that was his way of telling her he didn't care about her anymore.

First John, now Mark? I can't do this….I can't. He mind was screaming to her. But what if he tells John? How did he even find out?

Amanda thought about what she had to do. She could kill Lynn, and lose John. Or she could keep Lynn alive and lose John and Hoffman. She didn't want to lose either of them, but there was no in between. What did she have to live for now anyway? Hoffman didn't want her anymore. And John….she didn't know yet.

Finally she decided what she was going to do. She walked into John's room. She was smiling, but crying inside.

I'm so sorry, John. She thought.

"He's completed the third test." She informed him.

"Congratulations, Lynn." John said. "You're free to go." Lynn looked surprised and relieved.

"Yeah, but he's not all the way out yet." Amanda said.

"Undo her collar, Amanda, and let her go." John ordered.

"No, he's not finished. He's not all the way." Amanda argued.

"Amanda, Lynn is more important than you know. Unlock her collar, and let her go."

"I said no." Amanda calked her gun.

"Amanda, there are rules-"

"I said no!" Amanda yelled. "She doesn't deserve to go free!"

"You promised!" Lynn defended herself.

"I didn't promise you shit!" Amanda told her.

"Amanda, even with that gun, it is Lynn, who holds your fate, in her hands." John said.

"Fuck you." Amanda said to John. "You give her control over me? Fuck you!" She kept her gun pointing at Lynn.

"I won't tell anyone, I promise I won't!" Lynn said, she squirmed uncomfortably. "Please! I have a family!"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Amanda screamed at her. "And stop fucking moving around!"

"And what about the other test subjects that we left alive?" John asked.

"What about them?"

"Is that how you felt about them?" John asked. "Is that how you felt about Erik Matthews?"

Erik Matthews, the fucking bastard who had put her into prison. The one who'd framed her. He deserved to die.

"Erik Matthews? I'll tell you how I felt about Erik Matthews." Amanda said. "Erik Matthews learned nothing from your test. He was the same person he was, when he framed me! When he took me down!" Amanda remembered when he'd found her in the hallway outside the bathroom. She remembered how he'd repeatedly beat her against the cement wall. She still remembered his voice echoing through the halls as she walked away.

"You're not Jigsaw, bitch!"

"That's right," She finally said. "I'm a murderer. He took my life from me, so I just returned the fuckin' favor!"

"No, Amanda, that's what you thought." John said. "But I know different, you left him for dead, didn't you?"

"Stop fucking with me!" Amanda whimpered.

"But I cleaned up your mistakes," John continued. "I forgave you for them." Lynn continued to beg for her life.

"What you do is no different than murder." Amanda countered. "You torture people. You watch them die. And now you're begging me not to kill this worthless bitch, on the grounds of some game?"

"You're walking us towards the precipice, Amanda. Step back." John told her.

"It's bullshit." She said. "Nobody changes. It's all a lie."

"If you fail in this we all fail, succeed and we all succeed."

"It's a lie!" Amanda cried. "I'll tell you, she hasn't changed. Cause nobody fucking changes! Nobody is reborn! It's all bullshit! It's all a fucking lie! And I'm just a pawn in your stupid games." Amanda took a deep breath before saying her next words.

"I don't mean anything to you!"

"No, you mean everything to me."

"Fuck you!" Amanda yelled.

"Our fates are linked." John said calmly. "I've tried to help you, Amanda."

"So help me! Fix me!" She screamed. "Fix me motherfucker!" She was crying. "I'm standin' right here!"

"Why is she so important to you?" Amanda asked.

"She's not important to me." John said honestly. "She important to you."

"She's not important to me." Amanda said.

"I beg you, to reconsider that." John said. His eyes were pleading her. Amanda shook her head. John sighed.

"This is your last chance, Amanda." He said.

"She's nothing." Amanda told him. Lynn had tears rolling down her cheeks, and Amanda felt sorry for her. But only a little.

"Time's running out." John told her. "Now you think about what you're doing. Think about everything that you've done. Think about what you promised me. Think about our dreams. Think about tomorrow." Amanda raised her gun.

"Lynn?"

"Jeff?"

Amanda pulled the trigger. The gunshot rang in her ears as she cried about what she'd just done.

John, forgive me. She thought. Lynn fell out the door and into Jeff's arms.

"You just destroyed four lives," John said. "You just murdered Jeff's wife." Amanda widened her eyes. She looked at Jeff who had his gun pointed at her. Before she could react his bullet hit her neck. She fell against the counter behind her. She pulled her hand from her neck, it was covered in blood. She clutched her neck again as she sunk to the ground. John reached his hand out to her.

"Amanda. It's okay." John told her. "This was your test. Your game."

He knew. Amanda had finally figured it out. He told Mark to write that note. Amanda started crying.

"I was testing you." John continued. "I took you in."

"You will give everything to me. Every cell in your body."

"I selected you, for the honor of carrying on my life's work." John said. "But you didn't."

"That's right. I'm a murderer."

"You didn't test anyone's will to live." John told her.

"Game over."

"Instead you took away their only chance. Your games were unwinnable. Your subjects merely victims.

"There is no turning back, do you understand that?"

"In my desperation, I decided to give you one last chance." John explained. "So I put everything in place."

"You chose her cause she's the best, right?"

"That's one reason I chose her."

"You didn't know that Lynn and Jeff were, husband and wife." John said. "I had to keep that from you, for the purposes of my game. I had to leave out the ruined marriage. The cheating wife. The vengeful husband. The neglected daughter. And I let you, make your own choices. I wanted you to succeed."

"Amanda, put it away. Trust me."

"Even with that gun, it is Lynn, who holds your life, in her hands."

"She's not important to me."

"I beg you to reconsider that."

"Unlock her collar, and let her go."

"I said no!"

"The rules of our game have been made very clear, you need to abide by those rules."

"But you couldn't." He finished. Amanda leaned forward, reaching out to John as blood dripped from her mouth.

"Mark…."She tried to gasp. "I…love…..you….."