Redemption

"So that's how it is." The man said as he nodded his head. Both of them had come to an understanding after talking to each other and realizing that the entire time the answer was always in front of them.

Literally any button would have let them pass onto the next round and the only way to fail was not to press a button at all, "They were testing to see if we could make last-minute decisions no matter the circumstance." Jonathan said his theory out loud getting a nod from the guy on the other side.

"Yeah, that seems to be the case. I think that's my least favorite game so far. There was no clear objective and I'm sure many thought they were doing right by not pressing the button like the people in the first hallway." The man said agreeing with Jonathan,

Now that they had spoken with each other more they had come to a sort of understanding with each other seeing that they were both somewhat intelligent.

"What's your name by the way?" Jonathan asked since he had no idea what the man's name was nor his other friend that had been knocked out by Derek the day before.

"My name's Kyle." Kyle said introducing himself for the first time. The original hesitation and nervousness between the two had completely disappeared at this point showing that they were both willing to work together so they could both make it to the next round.

When Kyle introduced himself Jonathan glanced at the clock to check how much time they had and was happy to see that there were still over 6 minutes left before the timer ran out and they had to make their decision.

"I have a few questions if you don't mind." Jonathan said trying to steer the conversation in a new direction that way he wouldn't waste any time that was given on the clock. When Kyle heard Jonathan his head perked up as he began listening to the questions Jonathan had to say.

"I don't mind go right ahead." Kyle said in response.

Once Jonathan got Kyle's agreement he decided to dig deeper into some questions he had been having since the day before, "Why did you follow John, and what was your plan?" Jonathan asked Kyle wanting to know his motive for why he did all the things the day before.

Jonathan was pretty confident in his ability to see the difference between a truth and a lie so he made sure to stare at Kyle intently trying to pry the truth from him.

When Kyle heard what Jonathan said he sighed obviously expecting this kind of question when Jonathan began questioning him but he answered nonetheless, "I originally followed John because I thought we could get really far as a group of 5. With 5 people we could control even more people and take a place of power in the group while in the games. Things such as the cabin and any other things that may pop up would be given to us due to the threat that we had." Kyle said honestly making Jonathan's anger rise with every passing moment making him question if he should just go ahead and hit the kill button.

"Is there anything else you would like to add?" Jonathan said barely concealing the amount of anger he felt inside of him. Jonathan felt like there were a thousand little needles prickling every part of his brain as he tried to talk with Kyle.

Every time he considered forgiving him or even trying to work with him the picture of Derek and what Kyle's friends did to him plays over and over again in his mind making him change his mind but at the same time, Jonathan had to be calm if he wanted to save himself as well.

"Yes, there is more. What they did in that cabin yesterday was terrible. Even though I wanted a place of power and definitely couldn't be considered the best guy in the world I still had no intention of touching some girl much less killing someone. We're all stuck here and all want to survive so I don't think it's fair to take another's life just because things don't go as we planned." Kyle explained making Jonathan calm down slightly.

Before Jonathan could speak Kyle continued, "While I may not be able to bring your friend Derek back to life I would like to apologize on behalf of all of those that I was with for doing this to you and your friends. It was never my intention for things to go this far or even be a part of something as extreme as that. I can only hope you will forgive me and let me prove myself from now on." Kyle said as he bowed toward Jonathan with a slight tear in his eye.

When Jonathan saw the way Kyle was acting he couldn't help but slightly consider what Kyle was talking about. What he said seemed to be true since Jonathan didn't detect any lies in what he said. In addition to that he never even participated in the terrible acts that John and the others did since he wasn't allowed in the cabin.

As Jonathan was following the cabin train of thought he realized that if all 5 people in John's group made it to the end first then there would not have been anyone else in the cabin which would have meant Kylie would never have gotten hurt and Derek wouldn't have died.

'If only I knew.' Jonathan thought with regret. However, he knew he couldn't live in the past and needed to stay in the present.

"If you promise to do nothing like what your friends did then I have no problem working with you. Just make sure that from now on you make better friends that don't kill people." Jonathan said giving his last line to Kyle to work with him throughout the games.