average human’s Reviews > Cut Her Strings > Status Update

“Well, just our luck, the smart girl.” 173 laughed while walking into the room, passing us and settling on a couch to my left. His intense rusty hair was no longer pulled back, instead it hung shaggily around his face. His mask, collar, and bandage were still in place, but now he wore similar silk pajamas to mine, the number 173 stitched across the chest and back.
“Brother, she might just give you a run for your money.” 173 waggled his eyebrows at 174. The two were incredibly difficult to tell apart by their appearances, but their countenance told a different story. 173 was clearly the easygoing one.
174 pushed past 182 and looked down at me with a sneer. “Doubtful.” He then plopped on the couch with his brother.
I sat up and mentally stitched myself together. I separated further from Jayce and gestured around. “Do you know what this is?”
182 walked further into the living room and sat on the armchair near me. “Well, pretty lady, it appears our home for the foreseeable future. We checked all the rooms while you two were still out. They’re all clear. There’s a bedroom for each of us and even a lock on ‘em for our safety.” He laughed humorlessly at the word.
I raised an eyebrow at Jayce trying to convey my thoughts without words. Friend or foe? Jayce gave a small incline. Friend it was.
I stood, brushing myself off, and dragged Jayce with me. Very unhurriedly, I walked to the loveseat on the other side of the twins and across from 182. I tugged Jayce down with me and made a show of placing my hands on my lap, face up. I nodded at Jayce to do the same.
The three men eyed us speculatively almost unsure of what had just happened.
“I get the feeling that y’all two know each other pretty darn well. I also imagine you both have some interesting pasts,” 182 stated.
Jayce’s eyebrows drew together in sadness, and I lightly bumped his shoulder with mine in reassurance.
“For people seeking revenge, you both seem mighty calm,” 174 murmured, watching us both with eagle eyes.
174 and 173 exchanged a look and 182 watched the pair guardedly.
“I could say the same to you three.”
174 turned bitter eyes towards 182. Interesting.
“Revenge doesn’t keep me alive,” I stated. All three men turned aggrieved eyes to Jayce. Before they could get the wrong idea, I continued, “And I think they might have gotten the wrong person.” It was beginning to seem more and more like my sister had been the one they had wanted, unless it was her that Sponsored us. That would make sense too. “All I request is a chance to explain before you all react.”
The three men stared in silence. I felt around on my mask, I found what I had noticed on the other men’s masks. The latch on the back that was locked shut prior, now opened easily. I took a chance. Jayce didn’t seem to understand until I reached back with both hands to remove it.
“Ra- no!”
As the mask fell everyone jumped up as if to lunge at me. Jayce leapt from his seat and stepped in front of me. “Let her explain.” He turned to me. “I would like to know, too.”
I didn’t blame the men. When looking at the face of the previous, assumed leader of the Resistance, the woman who bombed an entire Government facility, killing innocents and the reason this reality game had the traction to start in the first place, I would be irate too. She ruined everything.
“My name isn’t Nightingale,” I stated plainly.
“Bullshit! We saw you. We know what you did!” 174 snapped out.
I, too, was furious when I realized my sister, Anadil, had lied to me. I didn’t know that my sister was the notorious Nightingale until she was stabbing me as our country watched in person and through their screens. It was a pivotal point. The entire day and late into the evening was broadcast live. She stated she represented the Resistance, that they would take control of this country. That nothing would get in the way of their mission, including her own flesh and blood. Then she stabbed me and bombed the entire Government facility for good measure. Stating it was for the greater good. All it did? Cause most of the Resistance to have to go further into hiding, to restart everything over from scratch. The three Factions held steady, but at what cost? Even five years later, our numbers were nowhere near what they had been. She single-handedly crippled a movement that was years in the making.
Right before she pushed the knife into my stomach she told me why. She wanted her revenge. On me, for being safe while she was forced to endure daily cruelties. And on any and everyone that was involved in those cruelties. She didn’t care about the collateral damage. That she killed others that went through the exact same traumas she had endured.
I was barely coherent when the bomb went off, but I heard about the deaths in detail when I awoke from my coma. Our parents were among those that were confirmed dead.
I wasn’t quite sure where to begin telling this incredibly tortuous memory, so I just did. “My name isn’t Nightingale,” I stated again. “It’s Raven and I am her younger sister. The one she tried to kill.”