Kidnapped

“Everyone just find a spot, set down your sleeping bag, and make yourself comfortable, okay?” Brian called out.

The seven of them exchanged curious looks but did as they were told. None of them knew what was going on – after dinner, when they had all retired to their own rooms, Brian had slipped identical memos under their doors: ‘Emergency meeting in my room. Bring sleeping bags.’

And surprisingly, all of them did. Brian was the person everyone respected. He was obviously the most mature one in the group, not only in terms of age but also psychologically; at times when they suddenly felt overwhelmed by fear and uncertainty, they would go to Brian. Unlike the others, who all had their moments these past few days (the most memorable of them all – Lauren going into a crying jag in the middle of a game of Marco Polo, screaming, between hiccups, what appeared to be a guy's name - her voice was too choked for anyone to be sure - before vomiting into the pool; it had gradually become an unspoken rule that no one is to even mention the incidents afterwards), Brian never came close to breaking down. He would not shut up about how much he missed home, but unlike the others, he refused to put on a tough act, and somehow seemed to have fully embraced his fear. And for that reason, his presence calmed them. Of course, he also made all the meals. God only knows what they’ll be living on if it weren’t for Brian.

When everyone had settled down, Brian looked down at them from his bed and didn’t say a word. Alexis cleared her throat uncomfortably.

Lance never had much tolerance for silences. “So what’s this emergency about?”

Brian smiled; clearly, he had been waiting for someone to ask that obvious question. “Well, we’ve been here for a week already…”

“Yeah, so?” Jake asked.

“And I don’t know, sometimes I feel like…we still aren’t really friends yet. And there are just so many things we keep avoiding…” Brian hopped off his bed so that he was at eye level with all of them.

“Wait, I have a question,” Luke raised his hand. “Why is your room bigger than mine? And the lighting’s better too.”

“It’s not, I just don’t have as much junk as you do,” Brian pointed out. “And I actually scrubbed the chandelier so that I could read better; it was really originally dim like yours.”

“Cool, can you do mine too?” Luke brightened.

“Aw, go do it yourself. I may cook the food but I’m not your goddamn maid.” Brian rolled his eyes. Luke scowled.

“Anyway,” Brian continued, ignoring Luke, “if we’re really going to be friends I think it’s about time we get to know more about each other.”

“What are you talking about? We’re perfectly friendly to each other…we like each other a lot. Well, I mean, at least I like you guys a lot,” Natalie said quickly.

“We love you too, Nat,” Adrianna assured her. Natalie smiled.

“I’m not saying that you guys aren’t anything but friendly to each other. But the thing is – haven’t you noticed how none of us ever talks about ourselves? We’re almost acting like we’re criminals or something, and now we’ve escaped to another town and are trying to hide our identity from these new people we’ve met –“

“God, Brian, you read too many crime novels.” Alexis said.

“But we’re here now,” Lance retorted. “Why does it even matter? I mean, I think I deserve a little privacy…”

“Of course you don’t have to share with others things that you aren’t comfortable with sharing. But there’s no denying that there’s a lot on our minds. Like the time you went crazy, drinking all the alcohol in the fridge, yelling out ‘I’m a waste of space!’…”

“Everyone acts crazy when they’re drunk,” Lance said defensively.

“Yeah, but why drink so much in the first place?” Brian fired back.

“Can you just get to the point here?” Natalie said. “I really don’t see where this is going.”

“We don’t know how long we’re going to be stuck here for. And we really don’t have anything else except each other. So I think it’s time we be honest.”