Author's Note: We're back to Yao and Ju again. They are still trying to get out of the house. Ju still has her issues with the choice that she had to make. I wrote most of this on Sunday. I was surprised at how much kept coming out. It's just mostly them arguing back and forth in a stressful situation. It keeps going in circles just like any other arugment does. Overall, this turned out to be an interesting trip to read. What did Ju choose? Honestly, I am working on that. Meanwhile, I already know what I am going to work on next week. Let's just say, there is going to be so much drama and angst for a certain favorite ship in the fandom. For now, enjoy this week's match.
Match Five: Monitor, Maze, and Trap:
-Ju-
"What the fuck is all of this?" Yao asked. We stood watching everything going on on the monitors. My jaw hit the floor. He was spying on us. That bastard. I shouldn't have been surprised how much he had changed but this was low even for him. My fists were trembling by my sides. Yao put his hand on my shoulder. I turned my head. I could tell what he was thinking just by the look on his face.
"Why are they showing us this?" was all that I could ask. Yao didn't have an answer. We watched our friends try to navigate their way out of this house. We should have been doing the same thing. I wanted to go home. I wanted to hold Jing to my chest and never let him go. Yao tugged on my arm.
"Come on, let's go," he whispered. I didn't speak or take my eyes off of the screen as he pulled me along.
The sound was down with each of the images. The monitors stretched the whole length of the wall. We could see our friends on either side of us. I tried not to look.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"We just have to keep going," Yao said.
"You don't know, do you?" I asked.
"That doesn't matter," he said. "We have to get out of here and go home. Stay with me and don't look at the monitors." That last part was easier said than done. At least I couldn't hear what was going on. Meanwhile, Yao kept walking.
He did have a point. We did need to get out of this house. Knowing Yao, that wasn't the only thing on his mind. We both had questions. What the hell was Feliciano doing? Why was he doing this? Yao wanted to track him down and scream in his face. (Honestly, I wanted to do the same thing too.)
Yao kept his eyes open as we walked. The silence felt tense around us. The alternative was to talk about… that. He was probably sick of it just like I was. Still, I had a feeling that he was going to bring it up again. What was there to talk about?
My thoughts were interrupted by a question from my husband.
"Huh? What did you say?" I asked.
"Did you see that?" Yao asked.
"See what?" I asked. He pointed forward.
"There!" Yao said. "There was something around the corner." I looked over at what he was talking about.
"What are you talking about? I don't see anything," I said. Yao turned to me and frowned. He wanted to say something.
"Look, can we please go?" I asked. "This place is creeping me out."
"Okay, okay," Yao said. "Let's get out of here."
"Thank you," I said. We started walking again.
Not much changed as we kept walking. It started to look all the same. Meanwhile, Yao kept looking around every corner. He thinks that there is something following us. (I felt it too. But this wasn't the time to get distracted.) He's insisted that he saw something.
"Why are you hoping to see it again?" I asked.
"I'm not," he said. "I just want to be ready in case we get attacked."
"Right…" I muttered. I believe him, but I am just sick of this. He's probably sick of all of this too.
"There!" Yao shouted. I about jumped when he shouted.
"What?" I asked.
"There!" he yelled. "There it is! That's what I saw! Look!" I rolled my eyes and looked up. However, I froze.
A pale face peeked around the corner. There were two irises in each eye. It had no nose but had two small black holes just above the mouth. That grin made me shiver. How could it be possible for teeth to be that white against black lips? The more I stared, the more my stomach turned.
"What is that? What the hell is that?!" I asked. The face quickly ducked around the corner. We should not go chasing it. I looked at my husband's back. I started praying in my head.
Please don't go after it. Please don't go after it. Please don't go after it. Please don't go after it. Please don't go after it.
And guess what happened? Yeah.
Yao chased after that face. It was like he forgot that he was holding my hand.
"Yao!" I screamed. "What the hell?! Slow down!" I might as well have been yelling at a brick wall. The best I could do was hold on. My yelling was pointless.
"Yao!" I shouted. We didn't stop running until we got around the corner. Just as I predicted, there was nothing there. I let out a loud huff.
"What was the point of that?" I asked. "There is nothing here." Yao didn't answer. Instead, he pointed in front of him.
"What?" I asked. I turned and saw what he was talking about. I looked so confused. Where did this big orange door come from? Yao put a finger to his lips. I didn't know why he did that. We walked up to the door. He reached forward and opened it.
"I don't think we're going the right way," I said. We went through the door anyway.
"Where the hell are we?" I asked. Now, we were on a dirt road. A dirt road in the middle of a pumpkin path. No. This was a cornfield. A cornfield with glowing jack-o-lanterns. Yao and I looked at each other.
"We're seeing this, right?" I asked. "This is real, right? I'm not going crazy, am I?"
"No," Yao said, shaking his head. I pinched myself in the cheek. Yeah, we were on a path in a cornfield in autumn.
"It's winter, right?" I asked.
"Yes," my husband said.
"Close to Christmas?"
"Yes."
I looked around us. "So…"
"Why are we in a cornfield in autumn?"
"Yes."
"I don't know."
I frowned. That's when another question ran through my mind. "Does Italy even have cornfields?"
"I don't know."
I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "Whatever. Can we just get out of here?"
"Right," my husband said. We started walking again. It's quiet in here. Too quiet. I don't like it. There should at least be some birds singing or something.
"How did we even get outside?" I asked.
"I don't know," he said. Why was expecting any different? This was turning into a headache. Could this get any worse?
I happened to look over to my right. Wait… What is that? I thought I saw someone or something peeking out from behind one of the pumpkins. They were quick to duck down. This again? We don't have time to do this. The feeling of being watched and followed was getting annoying.
"You see them too, right?" Yao asked. I lifted my head. My husband was looking over his shoulder at me.
"No," I lied.
"Liar," he muttered. I pressed my lips together. I tried not to look on either side of me.
My mind went back to that subject that I thought I had already buried. I see what they are trying to do here. I will not play their game. I'm going to have to flip the whole damn board to save my son.
"I want the world to burn."
I noticed that Yao was staring at me with an unnerved look. I froze. I didn't know why I said that out loud. Shit.
"Honey… are you sure you're okay?" he asked.
"No," I growled. Yao closed his mouth and let the subject die. I took a breath. My head went back to that place again. I am not a villain. I am just a mother. I love my son. He's not some chosen one for some fantasy bullshit. Jing is just a baby. Thinking about it makes me mad.
"We really do need to get out of here," I said.
"I know," Yao said. Why does he not stop me from talking my thoughts out loud? If he asks if I am okay again I'm going to flip. I hate being in my head like this.
"How long is this path?" I asked.
"I don't know," Yao said. It doesn't help that everything is starting to look the same. The pumpkins were starting to look rotten on the path. Same with the corn. I could hear flies but I couldn't see them. That didn't stop me from waving them out of my face.
"Can you please talk to me?" I asked.
"Huh?" he asked as he looked over his shoulder. I pressed my lips together.
"I don't want to be in my head," I said. "Can you please talk to me?"
"About what?" he asked. I shrugged.
"I don't know. Something. Anything. I just can't stand the silence."
"Okay. What did you mean you want to burn the world? Do you really mean that?"
I cursed myself. I walked into that one, didn't I? Right. Here we go. Might as well get this over with.
"I don't know," I said. "I am just mad they pulled Jing into this shit."
"I know how you feel," he said. I lifted my chin.
"Do you?" I asked. I shouldn't have asked that. He is Jing's father. He's just as worried about him as I am. I lowered my eyes.
"I'm sorry," I said.
"For what?" Yao asked.
"I haven't been thinking about you this whole time," I said. "You're Jing's parent too." I sighed. There it was. They were trying to make me the villain already. Well, I am going to stop this right now.
"We'll talk about this later," Yao said. "We need to try and get out of here first."
"Right," I said. We started walking again. I didn't try to start another conversation with him. But then I stopped in my tracks. That's when something else caught my attention.
"Yao," I said.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Do you hear that?" I asked. Yao stared at me. At first, I thought he was going to say that I was crazy for some reason. But he paused and took a listen. My husband made a face.
"I don't hear anything," he said.
"Exactly," I said. Yao was about to ask me what I was talking about when something else distracted him.
"What?" I asked.
"When did it get so dark in here?" he asked. I tried to respond before I looked around. Everything started getting darker around us. The air started getting colder around us. So cold that I jumped with a yelp. Yao squeezed my hand.
"Are you alright? What happened?" he asked. I quickly shook my head.
"I… I don't know!" I said. I turned my head when I heard a low moaning. My blood ran cold. Yao and I were standing on a lonely road. A tunnel of dead trees was right in front of us. I took a step back as I trembled.
"What is this?" I asked. Yao didn't answer. I turned and looked behind me. There was nothing back there. Seriously? There was only one way forward. I ended up saying it again.
"I want the world to burn."
This time, Yao didn't ask if I was okay. He squeezed my hand.
"Let's go home," he muttered. I didn't have to say a word. We began the walk down this empty road.
The silence came back. Was this their attempt to break me down? I gave them my answer. What more do they want? I will not play their game. I will not play their game. I lifted my chin.
We don't even know where we are going.
"How big is this house?" I asked. I already knew what the answer was. I mouthed to myself.
"I don't know."
Of course, he doesn't. None of us do. I felt like I was going to scream. I looked at my husband's back.
"Yao," I said.
"Yeah?" he asked.
"Can I scream right now?" I asked. There was a pause.
"Fine," he said. I took a breath and started screaming. Not like anyone else was going to hear us in the house. (If we were in the house. Were we in the house? Were we on the planet anymore? I stopped caring at this point.) Yao let go of my hand and backed up.
"Better?" he asked when I was finished. I paused to catch my breath.
"A little," I said. But then, Yao looked over to his right. Oh, not this again. I was about to speak when he shushed me. I drew my mouth closed. I already knew the drill. He and I took a listen around us. I held my breath at one point.
That's when I heard it.
There was someone else in the woods. One. Two. Three. Four.
My husband and I looked at each other. There was only one thought in our minds. He squeezed my hand.
Nope.
We ran down the dark road as fast as could. The footsteps were running after us around us. I didn't bother to look back.
"Where the hell are we going?!" I shouted.
"I don't know!" Yao shouted. I got sick of hearing him say that.
"Know something!" I yelled. He pulled me along as we kept running. I shut my eyes as I tried to keep up.
"There!" Yao shouted. I opened my eyes but saw nothing. All I felt was a cold breeze on my face and then…
Everything stopped.
When I looked around, there was light around us again.
"What just happened? Where are we?" I asked. Yao once again didn't have an answer. He shrugged and shook his head. I looked up at the ceiling. The light overhead was so bright that I had to shield my eyes. I think I might have been smiling on the inside.
We managed to get a better look around our new location. It looked like some sort of an empty room. Not a single piece of decoration and furniture in sight. I couldn't see any particles of dust flying around. The walls looked like a dull white. It didn't look like we were back where we started. We weren't in a cornfield or a road in the middle of the creepy woods. But how do we get out of this room and out of this house?
"Look!" Yao shouted. I turned my head. He pointed over to a large monitor against the wall. I walked over as I started to feel numb. So here we were back in the same condition that we left from. Only we weren't in the hall. Apparently, they wanted us to keep watching.
I didn't say anything as I stood next to Yao. They want us to keep watching and play along? Fine. We will play their stupid game for now. First chance we get, we are going to get the fuck out of here.