Fears

• Ryan Chung, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2022

The hot thick blood rains upon me, streaming down my face as the other children run around the room screaming, the one thing that they can do. I close my eyes, Basically screaming myself when I remember what the instructor said. “Face your fears, don’t let them consume you, keep them at bay with your light”. I screw up my face and try to think of the happiest memory in my life. Me, my dad, my mum, and my little sister Maya. I open my eyes and reality sucks me in. It’s cold, and the eerie silence echoes throughout the dark room. The lights turn on, blinding my eyes as I draw a shaky breath, rocking myself on the icy floor. The door flies open, and the instructor walks in, beaming, “Well done Lucas, you have exceeded stage 1 of the trials, dinner awaits.” He beckons toward me, and I follow him out of the room into a brightly lit corridor, where he then shunts me into an ambient dining room where the other contestants are seated around the table. A boy, around my age, whose entire family was killed in a factory explosion. There’s also a girl who reminds me too much of my sister, I haven’t looked at her once since I arrived in the simulation arena. While the Instructor makes small talk with the other tributes, I concentrate on the meal. Cold mushroom soup, diced carrots from a can and a cheese that looks like it’s been through digestion. I think about my family, but the mental image itself is just enough to cause pain in my guts, the feeling of ones that you would love for an eternity. The talk subsides, and masked people enter the room and shunt us in different directions. I shove my escort's hands off me, “Thanks, but I have legs”, I say. I follow the looming corridor into the singular unlocked room, the masked escort trailing me in my wake. I slam the door and hear a click as it's locked from the other side. I kick off my shoes and climb under the covers of my new bed. Ready for my inner demons to drag me down into their reality, I succumb to deep sleep.

“Lucas” I’m awakened by someone frantically shaking my head like I’m some kind of wild dog that should be decapitated. The tribute's face zooms into focus as my vision clears, “Hi, and what…” I slur. “It's time to leave, says the boy.” “I’m sorry, what…?” I say, “I just woke up and you’re here to ask me what now?” The boy releases my face and the girl steps forward. “My name is Lola, and this is Ben.” “We’re breaking you out,” she says. I look outside of my room, into the dimly lit corridor, and I see blood on the walls, a hand in view here, and a leg there. “Take me to my family” I choke out. “Ben,” she says.

“Your family’s dead.”