The Tenth Night

Nathan Chance

Nathan hated nothing more than he hated being the last to know important information. He had spent half of his life being left out of conversations by Robyn, her authoritative ‘I am your older sister and will tell you if you need to know’ attitude keeping him out of anything that happened in their tiny family. She had eased off as they had grown older, but Nathan had noticed that the second she had stopped doing it, everyone else had started. As a result, Nathan had spent most of his adult life expecting to hear important goings-on from the people around him as a last resort.

He had naturally been one of the last people to learn that Eriko, after going missing, had officially been placed as suspect number one in leaking the plan to the police (at least on Veronica’s list) and effectively endangering every single member of the group, Nathan included. The police still didn’t know anything, but they were now alerted to at least one of the targets of this year’s killings. Who was to say that they wouldn’t find out the rest and put them all behind bars for good? Nathan wouldn’t last a day in prison.

Then again, he had his doubts. Even if Eriko had the chance to hand everyone else in, if she was the one that had endangered the group, she had also endangered her sister. Considering how close the pair were, Nathan didn’t think that she would risk putting her sister in that much danger. However, he was pretty sure that he was — for once — the only person thinking rationally. The entire group had gone into panic mode and Eriko had been pushed into the spotlight as a scapegoat for the frustrations of the group.

It had been those thoughts that had been keeping Nathan awake, swathed in blankets and staring aimlessly at the ceiling. He hadn’t been able to sleep properly for the past few nights due to the nerves that recent incidents had brought up. He didn’t like the thought of Veronica being pissed off, much like most of the other members of the group. God knows the woman was dangerous at the best of times and with her temper riled up like it was now, there was no telling what she would do.

Swallowing slowly, Nathan groaned and swung his legs off of the edge of the bed. He needed a glass of water, and he needed one now. His throat was practically sticking together and he imagined that if he had to talk, he would have a voice that closely resembled that of Chad Kroeger. Robyn would be asleep anyway, so there was no chance of her noticing his elevated sense of agitation. Besides, a quick walk would do him good.

Nathan lazily grabbed his phone, pressing a button to make the screen light up. In the darkness, it almost blinded him and he had to bite his lip to stop himself from cursing. fumbling for his bedside lamp, he turned it on, flooding the room with natural light. Everything looked eerie at this time of night, especially when he looked at the shadows of the street lamps through the stupid curtains that Robyn had insisted on hanging everywhere in the apartment. Nathan knew himself that his mind was just overclocking the eerie part, but he still had to peek around the curtains just to make sure that he wasn’t being watched.

There was a message waiting for Nathan when he looked back at his phone, the tiny envelope glowing softly on the screen. He didn’t even have to consider the possibility that it would be anything other than an urgent message from the group, so he opened it immediately. Scowling, he noticed that Veronica had sent it. The woman was getting unbearable.

Meeting, tomorrow, 7 AM, usual place. Don’t be late.

The tiny printed letters conveyed no sense of human emotion whatsoever, but they instilled a fear that chilled Nathan to the very bone. With the way things had been going lately, an emergency meeting being held that early in the morning couldn’t be anything but bad news. Sinking himself back into bed, Nathan’s mind raced into action, rendering him with little chance of ever getting any sleep.

He was so preoccupied that he didn’t even notice that he had forgotten to get himself a glass of water.