Hung Jury

Sephora's eyes look at you, taking measure of you, as she asks her question. "Do you have any answer to that claim? That you laughed at the app's influence, that you broke a wall after assaulting one of us? That you screamed like a lunatic? I can confirm that last one, but I thought at the time that it was just some release of stress after experiencing... all of this."

Sephora tips her hand, and you can't help but follow onto it. "Truthfully, I just think this place has got us all on edge. We're like prisoners here, and nothing can be trusted. Well, not nothing. We can only trust in each other. I laughed when my future role was brought up. None of us can run from that, gallows humor was my answer. A bad answer in a long line of bad answers. But I ask... Have I ever attacked any of you? Yes, I shoved Rebecca to the bed, but that was because I... I felt guilty about doing something else to her. About putting her life as she knows it at risk. I didn't think I deserved her caring, her love in that moment." To the others it's a story, but to Rebecca, she sees it for what it is. A half-truth, as she is still suspicious about the ****, hiding a fuller, more full truth than she'd ever seen. A confession, not criminal, but romantic.

"I never wanted to hurt her. I didn't think I had in the moment, until I saw her hurt eyes. Those eyes broke my heart. So if what you need to sleep easily at night is to lock me away, well, I won't so much as knock. It might be hard to sleep on a bench press or a treadmill, but I'll learn how to do it, and you won't hear so much as a knock from the front door."

"So, am I eating my dinner off of a stairmaster? It's sort of getting cold. Which is a shame, because it smells delicious." Sephora smiles at you, the first breaking of her impartiality, while Olivia only seems to hate you even more. If looks could kill, you'd be hung, drawn and quartered, flayed, dragged behind horses, and then hung again. It really impresses upon you the new reality. Erica is now not the main threat. Olivia is now the dominant in the house, and that means a whole new dynamic.

Sephora asks the question that will decide your fate. "So, Rebecca, what do you think? Do you feel safe with him in the house?"

Rebecca looks at you, a slight blush to her cheeks. "Yes. I... I don't think he meant it. I don't think he'll do it again. I... I'll talk to him later, in private about this."

Sephora looks at you. "Well, I guess that's case adjourned." She smiles, a big goofy smile. "No charges to be pressed, unless the wall happens to grow sentience."

Olivia stands up suddenly. She yells, her fists on the table. "No vote?! But he... He is the one responsible for all of this, I know it! This shitty demon app is trying to make us into little cookie cutter soldiers, and if you step out of line, it makes you into little walking sex toys. Erica's already told me all of her punishments, and I..."

Her hand goes to the collar around her neck. She opens a shirt button, so we can see the front of it. There is a light pink heart on it's surface, the led working now, unlike last night. "This thing makes a little pink heart that turns red when I... when his devilish little flowers do their work. Also, am I the only one who gets suspicious about how he brought up the flowers and the milk this afternoon? It's almost like he expected them, was looking for them! How did he even find the flowers, they're hidden in dark out of the way places? Or at least that's based on the locations we've found them so far. I found them in the space beneath our dresser, and Erica saw them in the black room. She didn't see them in the gym, but they are hard to find. She can't exactly move exercise equipment around."

Her finger points to Sephora. "AND YOU. You're not even pre-law or whatever, you just joke that somehow you're above us all, that you get to be the judge. And you didn't even get rid of your flowers. When Erica cleaned your room, she said that she saw you put yours in a vase. So excuse me, while I doubt the legitimacy of your judgment. How do I know you're not helping him?!"

Sephora takes this revelation like it is nothing. "You yourself said that you can't be sure you got them all. I took those from my drawer, they actually all snapped off when I opened it while looking. They're dead, they can't make any more of that weird nectar right? And also, whatever chemical properties it has, my cute little friend likes rubbing his cheek on them and chewing at the edges of the petals. And they're pretty, black on the outside, pink on the inside, I sort of thought you'd feel the same way Ms. Punk Rock. And if you want, we'll have a vote. All those who think Rex should be exiled to beyond the door, say Aye."

Olivia almost screams Aye, while Erica squeaks it. Sephora and Rebecca say Nay, while you hazard to also say Nay. Sephora laughs. "I don't think you get to vote, Rex. Still, that leaves us with a hung jury. Torn between two outcomes, I think that the one that has the less obvious harm to it should be favored. Rex would be punished for breaking the rule. So if you're really worried, shove a dresser in front of your door, and we'll see whether he goes after either of us." She points to Rebecca, who nods. "So he stays."

Olivia loses it, yelling. "FINE, SEE IF I CARE." She grabs her food, leaving the table, walking to her room. You wait, but Erica just looks down at her food. Afraid to rock the boat, she sits there. Afraid to break any norm, no matter how small. Still, you can see beneath her pitiful state, that her gaze is watching you, trying to find some weakness. She is not conquered yet.

But your mind goes over what just happened. A hung jury, the feeling of walking up to the hangman's noose. Maybe that little status trait from earlier was an omen. The hanged man is originally a tarot card, about opportunity and new perspectives. About indecision. Maybe this was what it was referring to. Maybe that is still to come.