warning: manipulation goes meta
Snickers And Elbow Sandwiches
The relatively short silence was broken by the sudden snickering of one Zart-the-farmer-boy. Like I said, some clearly just want to rot away inside a glorified scout campsite. He was soon joined in the endeavour by Winston, the one that everyone pretended to care about. The laughing couldn't possibly faze me when it sounded like an amateur pig impression done by a troupe of circus chickens. I rolled up the sleeves of my navy flannel shirt and covered my mouth with my hand in thought.
"Y'know, Nick would've gone ballistic if he caught you giggling at a potential way to escape" I made sure to turn my head away to get the full effect. You could have pinpointed the millisecond that both of their immediate quietnesses shattered the group. I swore I could have heard the buzzing of familiar silences past.
"I'm sorry, what?" Winston's cracking voice pierced the admittedly awkward atmosphere.
"I said, Nick would've gone absolutely ballistic if he caught you pricks laughing at me." A smug grin crept across my face. At this point there was no way I could hide my amusement. Quickly, I scanned the group - Alby was breathing heavily and focusing on the floor; Newt was, weirdly enough, pretty calm aside from the whole 'staring into the void' thing he had going on; Gally had been looking absent-mindedly at the clouds until he had registered what I'd said, so was currently gaping gormlessly at me like a drowning salmon. All in all, exactly the reaction I could revel in.
"There's no way she's telling the truth. There's no way!" The bitchy blond snapped back into reality, complete with the wild gesticulations of his stubby hands.
"If only you had believed me and I wouldn't have had to bring it up." I bounced up on my toes and clasped my hands behind my back. I was enjoying this way too much.
"Nick's death has nothing to do with you! Stay out of our business!"
"In all fairness, it's hard to stay out of your business when you are all being extensively analysed over CCTV footage right…. now." Of all the ways to reply to this, I chose the wrong one. One of my sleeves had become unravelled as I took a larger step backward than I expected and tumbled onto the ground, sandwiching my elbow in a wonky position between my back and the dirt.
Author's Note: Wow, so things actually happened this chapter. Or, at least I think it did considering I wrote this almost a year ago. Back to the present day, I'm doing a bit better this week - I've decided that I don't actually give a shit about some things and that's taken a bit of the pressure off. I don't recommend that anyone do that, but I guess that works. Well, hope you enjoyed, have a fantastic day, week, month and year :)