Snake 9:30 P.M. Twelfth Day
It had been a few days since the meeting, with the buddy system firmly in place, things around the hotel were reaching a status quo. We interacted more, and the previous sour relationships warmed up. We still didn't know each other that well, but considering we were stuck here until the foreseeable future, it was better than nothing.
Currently, it was night, and the adults of the group had decided to hang out together while drinking. I didn't really want to join; I'm not a fan of drinking, but Tiger dragged me along. I decided to just sit down and watch the others. It turned out to be a…pleasant evening. It felt weird to be making friends in this place when I'd never made them anywhere before.
It also felt like I was betraying Rat and Dragon, the people who died. Making friends, having fun, forgetting them. But then again, there hadn't been another death for a while now. It was nice to hope we were in the clear, but it wasn't something I caught myself thinking often. It was better to always be alert.
"Do you guys have any regrets in life?" Horse asks suddenly, her face is flushed, and she's leaning against Ox. We're sitting in the lobby, everyone but Tiger and I had already had a considerable amount to drink.
"Of course, who doesn't?" Monkey replies.
"Did you want us to share?" Ox chuckles.
"I mean…I don't know, if you want." Horse flushes.
"Hmm, I can tell you mine, it was a long time ago…" Dog trails off, he was usually the silent one, watching over Boar and sometimes Rabbit, as they were the youngest.
"Ooh, what was it?" Tiger asks curiously, sprawled on the couch, stomach down, legs kicking in the air with his chin on his hands.
"When I was much, much younger, I was a fool. I went around getting drunk and starting fights because I thought I was better than everyone else. One day, while I was drunk, I bumped into a young girl. I was angry with her, so I pushed her, and she fell and hit her head against the ground. There was so much blood. That day, I realized I needed to grow up. I stopped drinking, entered the army, and afterwards, I spent my time helping children in need. I'm not proud of what I did, but I did it, and I spent the rest of my life making up for it." Dog tells his story with a rough voice, and near the end, tears stream down his face.
"What happened to that girl?" Rooster questions.
"I called the ambulance for her, but left, I thought they would arrest me. I wish I had stayed and helped her more. I have no idea where she is now, I tried looking for her, but to no avail." Dog answers, his face twisted with guilt.
"What about everyone else?" Tiger asks, glancing around the room.
"What about you? If you want stories so bad, you should offer up your own." I tell him.
"Ugh, you're no fun." He says, sticking his tongue out at me. I roll my eyes.
"I know mine, when I first started out on the police force, I overworked myself to the point where I was taking on three or four cases at a time. There was this one drunk driving case I took on, but I ignored it for too long, and we didn't get much evidence out of it, and the driver got away scot free." She explains, her face pinching like she ate a sour lemon.
"That doesn't sound too bad." Sheep points out.
"Well, think of it this way, that drunk driver could've hurt more people, plus, the people who lost the case probably spent a ton of money on it for my negligence." She states.
"I can relate, my biggest fuck up was a drunk driving accident." Monkey cuts in, a faraway look in his eyes.
"Seriously?" Rooster questions.
"Yup, my ex had broken up with me that night, so I went out drinking. I had some friends go with me to drink responsibly, but they ended up getting wasted. I got a call that night that my ex was in the hospital, and I lost all reason. I got in the car and accidentally hit someone. I won my trial but…I still feel guilty about it." He sighs.
"I used to bully people." Rooster blurts out. We all turn to her.
"Uh, uhm, yeah, I used to be a huge bully. I'm super insecure, so I would bully people to make myself feel better. I try not to do it anymore. In fact, I don't know why I'm talking about this." She flushes as she babbles.
"What about the rest of you?" Horse asks, glancing at me, Tiger, Sheep, and Ox.
"Hmm? What w's that?" Sheep slurs, he was slumped in his seat, almost out cold.
"I'll take him back to his room," Ox says, shaking his head.
"Alright." Horse smiles, too tipsy to realize he was avoiding her question.
"I'd rather not talk about myself, it's more interesting to hear about other people," Tiger states.
"Same," I reply.
"Boo." Horse huffs.
"Right, I'm going to go to bed now," I tell the group.
"Me too!" Tiger shouts, jumping to his feet.
"We'll stay out here, keep having fun." Rooster cheers. I shake my head and start walking back toward my room with Tiger following behind.
"Sooo, you wanna tell me your biggest regret?" He asks, I knew he would try something like this.
"Why do you want to know?" I question.
"Because." He grins.
"Only if you tell me yours," I tell him.
"Ugh, never mind, goodnight." He says, stalking off toward his room. I turn back toward my own room and open the door. The pile of weapons is still on the floor, having grown in size over the past few days. I sidestep it and flop onto the bed. My eyes were already closing from how tired I was. Only in my dreams could I pretend that everything was alright.