Not Him

“They really punched him real bad,” Arlette said, biting into her food.

“Yeah, he looks weird and scary,” Mia said.

“That is going to happen to us if we get caught,” Gissell said.

“Bro you always talk about escaping,” Alijah said.

“I agree, talk about something else,” Amy agreed.

“If you keep talking about it and if someone overhears us we will get in trouble. On top of that it is boring just talking about that,” Arlette said.

“Fine, I'll stop talking about it,” Gissell said.

“Gissell is right though. If we get caught we are going to be punished just like Keon but worse,” Mia said.

They all looked at Keon seeing his beat-up face. He had cuts all over his face with bruises. The black eye on his eye had cut too. His parted cut lips were still bleeding although he got punished 2 hours ago. Despite his lips, his nose looked like he was in more pain. It was all blue and purple. It was swelled up with red stains under his eyes. I’m guessing that is blood from constant bleeding. He was wearing jeans and a hoodie. Although he was all covered I can tell he was punched multiple times in his body due to the fact of how he walks. I noticed that he grabbed his plate and sat alone.

“Why is he sitting alone,” I asked.

“He was only friends with us because he made us,” Arlette said.

“He would threaten us a lot since he is friends with the devil,” Alijah said.

“Oh,” is all I said.

“Everyone here hates him,” Amy said.

“Wait, how do you guys know each other if we all arrived on the same day,” I asked.

“We were all kicked in a staircase at the entrance. Whoever was knocked out will be knocked out for a week. Whoever wasn’t will be placed in a room full of people until they got their dorm numbers. We met in the room where we were waiting for our dorm numbers,” Mia said.

“Wait, so I was knocked out for a week,” I said in shock.

“Yes,” Alijah said.

After that conversation, we were just talking about ourselves that we never knew about each other. The bell finally rang and we went to Alijah’s dorm again.

“What’s going to be the escape plan since we can finally talk about it,” Alijah asked Gissell.

“Well I need some days to figure it out since somebody told someone our plan,” Gissell said, giving a glare to Amy.

“Sorry,” Amy said apologizing for the 100th time.

“I just know that we have to escape before the time machine tasks start,” Arlette said.

“Why,” Mia asked.

“Well if we do it when the time machine starts they are going to notice that we are gone. They take attendance every day,” Gissell said.

“This whole thing is boring, it is just like school,” I said.

“I know,” Alijah said, agreeing.

“How many days do we have left to plan things out,” Mia asked.

“We have about 12 days,” Gissell said.

“Why do we have 12 days left when we only have 6 sins left,” I asked.

“After every sin, they gave us a free day. Since we had a fire alarm in the first sin that was a free day. We will have a free day after the day where we complete the sin Greed which is tomorrow,” Gissell said.

“I’m grateful we have to come up with another plan because I do not want to go up the vents,” Arlette said.

“I’m grateful too. I am scared of the vents,” Alijah said.

“Wait really,” Mia said.

“Yes, I’m scared of tight places,” Alijah said.

“That was the only escape I could think of,” Gissell said.

“Well think harder,” Arlette said.

“I’m trying,” Gissell said.

“This is off topic but what does the sin Greed mean,” Mia asked.

“It is basically being too needy or wanting things without being grateful. It's on the booklet,” I

said.

“Alright, we just have to be careful not to be needy in the next task,” Arlette said.

“That is impossible,” Alijah said.

“Why,” I asked.

“I don’t know, I always like to be needy for no reason,” Alijah said.

“No wonder you have a lot of guys giving you money,” Mia said.

“Yeah, that is where I get all the expensive stuff,” Alijah said.

“So, do you have any tips because I need some money,” I said jokingly.

“Oh yeah, just download Instagram and post pictures of yourself and add people who offer to give you money. I could give you their @,” Alijah said.

“Um, I was just kidding,” I said.

“Have your parents not told you about talking to strangers,” Gissell said laughing.

“Yeah, that is a very dangerous thing to do,” Arlette said.

“ I know but I haven't actually met them in real life,” Alijah said.

“Fair enough,” Mia said.

We have been chatting for about an hour until we all got bored and went our separate ways. I was just exploring again even though I know the whole place. I just got bored and had nothing to do. I was casually walking until I saw a door open. It was weird since it was one of the staff’s room and it was never opened. I took a quick peck and saw that Caleb was inside. This was the perfect time to confront him if he was Elijah.

I don’t want to find out if it’s really him since we have been friends with each other since we were kids. I would feel betrayed but it's not even his fault. The real Devil is probably traumatizing and torturing him. On the other side if it’s not him I might get punished and called crazy.

I took a deep breath and silently walked into the room. I closed the door behind me making the door make a noise catching his attention. He raised a brow at me and I went to sit down on a chair he has in front of his desk.

“Can you explain why you are here,” Caleb said, dropping the papers he had on his hands on the table.

“I need to talk about something to you,” I said.

“What exactly do you want to talk about,” he said.

“Are you Elijah,” I asked with a shaky voice since he can kill me at any instance.

He looked at me with a confused expression. That is when I knew I was wrong and had to run for my life. I carefully took 2 steps back unaware of what he is going to do. He stood up and somehow locked the door with his mind. I looked at him with a blank expression on my face. I for sure knew something bad was going to happen. I just have to accept the consequences for doing something dumb like that.

“Sit down,” he demanded.

I listened to him and sat down quickly to prevent anything bad from happening.

“I am not who you think I am. Never say that type of stuff again or else. You have no proof of it being whoever you think I am. You already know my name is Caleb and I do not know who Elijah is,” he said.

“I overheard your conversation in the hallway that you are him,” I said.

“Oh, so you're in my business now,” He asked, staring at me with anger.

“No, I was just heading to the cafeteria when I overheard that,” I said.

“You are lying,” Caleb said, raising his voice.

“Elijah, I know it’s you. You don’t have to hide, we can get out of here together,” I said.

“You want to escape now,” He said, raising his voice even more.

“No I don’t but I know you do,” I said.

“That’s enough,” He said, raising his hand. He then slapped me in my face leaving a red mark on my face. It was stinging like when a jellyfish stings your leg.

“Get out,” He said.

Without hesitation, I left the room. After all, he isn’t Elijah. Why would I even confront him if I don’t have any evidence at all that it was him? I guess I am dumb after all.

When I left the room, Alijah and Gissell were outside. They looked at me with an angry face which I guess they thought I snitched or something. That all changed when they saw the red mark on my cheek. When they saw it Gissell started laughing, earning a glare from Alijah.

“Gissell be nice,” Alijah said.

“I'm sorry it just looks funny,” Gissell said, still laughing.

“Be quiet at least she didn’t get slapped in front of everybody,” Alijah said, holding a laugh while memorizing what happened.

“True,” I said laughing along.

“It’s not funny,” Gissell said.

“Yes, it is,” Alijah said.

“What is up with him slapping people,” I asked.

“I don’t know it’s like an addiction or something,” Alijah responded.

“Yeah, it is,” Gissell said.

“Well bye guys I know it is early but I'm going to head off and sleep,” Alijah said.

“Bye,” me and Gissell said.