#vacanttask

“ state your name and age. ” 

no PLEASE — that’s what strikes her first. she hesitates, throw off guard by the absence of formalities. but her smile remains in tact, bright enough to block out the stars if she wished. esme forces some of the tension from her back as she leans into the chair, subtly enough where she looks at EASE but not enough to come off as rude. the man seems unimpressed as he watches her, his leveled gaze more unsettling than the camera with it’s blinking red light.  “ my name is esme yena. ”  her voice is soft, the honeyed timbre of her words a direct opposite of the mans booming one.  “ i’m twenty years old. ”

 “ do you know why you’re here ? ”

here as in the DINGY hotel room, empty enough to look like something abandoned ? esme didn’t ask. something told her that was probably not what his question was asking, and her manners told her any semblance of a need for clarification on her part would come across as rude. instead she took a moment to remember the resort and the PROMOTIONS they’d all agreed to do, her smile stretching just a bit wider before she began speaking again.  “ to promote the resort. i can’t even tell you how excited i am. ”  the mans expression didn’t change. once again esme couldn’t help but feel UNSETTLED by his ever watchful gaze, the feeling making goosebumps rise up on her arms shielded by her long sleeves. had she assumed wrong ? there was no confirming nod, and so esme paused before continuing again. “  — right ? ”

“ wrong ! you’re here because you’re ungrateful. joseph only wanted to reach out and express his love for all of you– and all you gave him in return was cruelty. ”   

the man had moved so suddenly esme JUMPED, his face now hovering just behind the camera, still out of sight from the lens. her smile had faded into something that resembled equal parts shock and fright, pink lips parted into an ‘o’ shape, brown eyes as wide as a deer’s who had come face to face with it’s very own HUNTER. her heartbeat picked up at the name joseph, not taking long to connect it to the username that had been bombarding her and so many of her friends. originally esme had seen nothing wrong with the messages, always quick to be friendly and offer a person the benefit of the doubt. but they had all been getting his DESPERATE messages, and that had been enough to spook the girl. she had pushed joseph from her thoughts completely until the man behind the camera had spat it out to her, and now esme’s mind was spinning as she tried to make sense of what was going on.  “ what are you talking about ? ” her voice was barely audible, a flame ready to fickle out.  “ we didn’t do anything to him. we didn’t ! he was just SCARING us, that’s it. what — what does this have to do with the resort ? ” there was shuffling coming from the hallway, and for once the mans gaze left hers. the door creaked open. heavy footsteps dragged across the carpet behind her. esme was too afraid to turn around.  “ is joseph here ? ”

anyone here that you’re worried about ?

there’s a WHIMPER before she can answer, and whoever was behind her makes a move for the man behind the camera. their steps are dragging, as if they’re limping or maybe dragging something heavy. esme takes note of how the camera is angled so the hotel door and anyone who comes through it remains unseen, only her face captured by the lens. everything about this felt wrong, wrong, WRONG — but the girl remains paralyzed in her metal chair. that is, until the newest edition to the room is in clear view, another man but this time he brought someone along unlike the first man. someone was squirming underneath a black hood, a muscular arm wrapped around their neck in a choke hold that looked way too tight. encouraged by esme’s silence, the first man signals the other and off the hood goes. the girl pales, her heart dropping to her stomach. kendrick’s face was bruised and his lip was bleeding, but it’s the panic in his eyes that really gets to her. the man with the strong arms tightens the choke hold even more and another whimper leaves her friend’s lips, this time more desperate sounding. “ STOP ! ” she shrieks, attempting to stand up before she’s being restrained from behind. more people had entered the room without her noticing. nails dig into her shoulder blade — a woman’s, maybe, but all esme could focus on was kendrick and the terrifying shade he was turning as he continued to gasp for air.  “ STOP, please, please, just stop ! ” she’s crying out again, this time tears of absolute fear blurring her vision. kendrick’s eyes were fluttering shut, like when you can’t stay awake in class. the hands that were clawing helplessly at the man’s arm limply drop to his side.  “ i care about him ! please, i care about ALL of them. stop, please just stop ! ”    

to what extremes would you go for to help the others ?

“state your name and age.” the question was asked with a rather unpleasant tone. Brooklyn’s brown eyes peered closed a bit, her manicured nails covering her retinas from the very bright, very white light. she cleared her throat and answered:

“my name is Brooklyn Nariyah Rosario. I’m 20 years old.” she didn’t know why she gave this man her full name. she figured she would just because. 

“do you go by any nicknames? why where you named ‘brooklyn’?” what was with the clip board he had? was he about to steal her identity or something? all she could see, was the board, his hand, his crusty ass lips, and papers he wrote on. this was getting weird.

“well, my friends call me b, or brook, and sometimes, ro. i guess my mom really likes brooklyn, new york, i don’t know.” she gave him a shrug. she didn’t really know why her Mom named her Brooklyn, and honestly, she couldn’t care as it was the last thing on her mind. all she wanted, was for her phone service to pick back up, and get back on the bus.

“when is your birthday?” 

“seriously dude? are you serious right now?” she groaned, rolling her eyes. now she was getting irritated, and the interview barely started. “January 14th, 1997.”

“do you know why you’re here ?” he questioned with an intense snarl. his voice had raised, and his over-sized hand gripped the arm rest. she jumped back a little, her hand attached to her chest like a magnet. her brown eyes drifted down to the floor where she noticed his right leg rapidly thumping against the carpet floor. she looked to the camera and gulped before responding with a nervous chuckle:

“i’m here because the bus broke down, and we’re supposed to be on a retrea-”

"WRONG!!!” He screamed. Her heart began to race, and she was sure he could see the terror raise in her eyes. His dark chuckle coated her eyes, and sent shivers down her spine that she didn’t want. “You’re here.... because you’re ungrateful!!  joseph only wanted to reach out, and express his love for all of you – and all you gave him in return was cruelty.”

‘Oh shit.’ Brooklyn thought. Tears started to stream down her face. The red light blinking from the camera seemed to mock her now, instead of welcome her with open arms as it did before. Now she could feel her heart beating at the bottom of her neck. she was fucked. she needed to get out of there as soon as possible. it all made sense. the amount of times he flooded her instagram notifications, joined her live videos, sent her things to her p.o. box.. how the hell did the perra get her number? 

“I don’t.. know what you’re talking about. I was only ever nice to him.” That was a lie, and she knew it, but at this point, she was really grasping at straws. “wait, the creep that was behind those shady texts did this?!”

“do you have any allergies? namely, death defying ones? what makes you CRAWL, brooklyn?”

the latina turned her head back to his. he was still hiding behind that bright ass light. “there’s no way in hell that i’m telling you that.”

“anyone here that you’re worried about ?” he gave her a cheep, smug grin as if he knew something she didn’t. how could he possibly know if she was worried about anyone?

“am i supposed to be?” she countered with a snarky tone. she tried to hide just how scared she was, but she knew that they were behind the death of lila, xavier’s assistant. what if they wanted to kill her next? or xavier? god, she needed a way out. 

it was at that point, that a large bag that blended in with the wall was taken off a chair to reveal Xavier. She caught her breath, her gasp nearly pierced her lips. Was he the only one here? How many people were there? What was going on? In the midst of her asking herself questions, bag after bag were pulled off, revealing Calista, and Dahlia. ‘Holy shit.’

“to what extremes would you go for to help the others ?” was the next question he asked. just then, she heard the click of a gun. his wicked grin only growing. the gun was pointed at Xavier’s head. Then a knife was at Dahlia’s throat. It was then that she noticed the can of gasoline threatening to drain Calista’s body. These people were sick.