six;

THERE WAS A KNOCK ON THE DOOR.

Both Jack and Janiyah sat up on the bed and looked at each other, panic in their eyes. Crap, one of them's probably back...

"J, you in there?"

No, it wasn't one of her roommates... it was Ray?

"Is that Ray?" Jack asked, obviously recognizing his voice.

She nodded in response. Then whispered, "Let's get dressed, I'll lead him out and you leave the room once we're gone."

The two hopped out of bed, throwing on their clothes as quick as they could. The doorknob moved as Ray tried to open the door, but luckily it was locked. "J?"

"Coming!" Janiyah answered as she finished up changing into her clothing, heading towards the door. She opened it slightly to reveal Ray, who's face lit up when he saw her. How would he react if he knew Jack was in here with me? "Heyyyy, what are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you," he stated. "Can I come in?"

"How about we talk outside instead?" She told him, to which he nodded, beginning to turn around, Janiyah then leaving the room. But then a thud in the room caused Ray to look back, a grunt following the noise. Sounded like Jack stubbed his toe or something...

"What was that?" Ray asked, "Was there someone in there with you?"

"No," she lied, beginning to close the door. "Well, yeah, it was just one of my roommates."

Ray stuck his boot in between the closing door, "You sure? 'Cause you never lock the door... just let me in," he pushed through, but Janiyah stopped him.

"No, I said we can talk outside," she held him back. "I don't even remember locking the door, I don't know why it was locked."

"J, let me in." Shoving her out of the way and opening up the door revealed a very shirtless Jack, just about to throw a shirt over himself.

Jack froze, "Uh, hi?"

Janiyah entered back into the room, examining Ray's body language. He didn't show any expression, which wasn't good. She knew from the seventeen years she'd known him that whenever he remained expressionless, he was most likely fuming with anger. She was irritated as well, shooting him a glare now. Why couldn't he have just listened to her, and spoken with her outside? "Ray, let me explain, okay?"

"No, no, no, you don't need to explain," Ray said, looking straight at her, then at Jack who'd just put on his shirt. "Just let me talk with him for a moment."

"I- why?"

The two men shared a look, Jack realizing this wasn't gonna be any ordinary talk. "J, just go. It's fine," he reassured her. "I'll meet you at the top deck, okay?"

Janiyah nodded, exiting the room and heading up towards one of the decks. She walked along the deck, the cold breeze causing her to shiver. As she breathed, she could see her misty breath appearing from her mouth, then disappearing into the air.

Then she caught sight of... an iceburg?

A humongous iceburg, dangerously close. It shouldn't be this close to the ship...

Before she could react, the iceburg began to scrape alongside the ship, right next to the deck below her where a few men conversed together. As it initially hit, the impact was so harsh Janiyah had to brace for the impact, holding onto one of the railings. It continued to rake past, causing the ship to quake violently.

Janiyah continued to hold on to the rails, until it finally passed and the ship sailed away from it. Some ice split off of it, falling down onto the deck below her. There was no panic at all, and everyone seemed to return to normal afterwards, so Janiyah chose not to worry. After all, the ship was unsinkable.

The men on the deck below began to play around with the ice that had fallen onto the ship, kicking it around as if it was a ball. Janiyah decided to join them, insisting they should break up into two teams and use the two sides as a goal to play soccer. The temperature was so freezing cold that the ice barely melted.

After fifteen minutes of playing, they were interrupted, hearing a voice shouting, "Everybody must return back to their rooms and put on their life belts! There is no need to panic, it is just a precaution! Everybody put on your life belts!"

The men continued playing, completely ignoring what the crew member just suggested them to do. Janiyah obeyed, though, mostly since she needed to return back to her room, wondering if Jack and Ray were alright. They'd been talking for quite some time...

***

A fist was thrown, aiming for Jack but he dodged easily. He didn't try to defend himself, though. He could get out of this without fighting.

"You think you can have her?" Ray seethed, stepping closer to Jack. "I've known her longer, I'm the one who deserves her."

"Knowing her longer doesn't mean you deserve her anymore than I do," Jack argued. "Besides, if you deserve her so much then why didn't she pick you?"

"Because you got in the way!" He growled, "Everything was going just fine until you came in." The red-head aimed for another punch, but once again Jack got out of the way in time.

"I don't want to fight you, Ray," Jack stated, attempting to calm him down. "You're J's friend, me and you can be friends, too, alright? It doesn't have to be like this." Ray seemed to relax a tiny bit, but he was obviously still raging. He seemed to be thinking about it.

"Put on your life vests!" A man in the hallway yelled, banging on everyone's doors. "It's a precaution! Put on your life belts now!"

Jack had gotten distracted by the man, which Ray took advantage of, knocking him out cold by the head. His body collapsed to the ground with a loud thud. Ray sighed, beginning to search around, finding a thing rope in one of the drawers, which he thought would be useful. He brought Jack's unconscious body next to a pole.

These third-class rooms really had no decoration whatsoever, so there was just a random pole in the corner of the room. It's not like the people who designed this ship cared what the third-class had in their rooms. As long as they had a bed they though it'd be fine for them.

Placing Jack's arms next to be situated around the pole, Ray tied his hands together, the rope acting as cuffs. That way, when he woke up, he wouldn't be able to leave the room. Ray had no idea what he'd do afterwards, but he knew he was gonna try to get Janiyah to sleep someplace else, at least for tonight... it was a stupid plan, he knew she'd want to return back to her room. But he'd find a way.

Before leaving the room, he crouched down to peek under the bed, revealing the life vests. He grabbed two of them, one for himself and one for Janiyah, and grabbed one of the keys. Leaving the room, he locked it from the outside, placed the key in his pocket, and left to search for Janiyah.

(10.25.20)

author's note !
yes, early update!!

so i'm so tired, when i went back to edit this chapter, i saw that i accidently typed "remeasured" instead of "reassure." imagine the confusion that would've caused.

"jack remeasured her."

anyway, this is unrelated but i fell in love while playing among us and well rip me.