Charles Reignmen Jr., 27
Reignmen Clan
I drew James, and have to come up with his fatal flaw, which is arguably the most boring if you think about it. You have a little hottie like Holiday and even Darcy, and I get stuck with the only guy left alive in the competition.
"You're helping me, right?" I ask looking at Cosette
"Do you do anything yourself, Charlie?" she asks me with an eyeroll. "Like honestly," she slides the file across the table with big bold letters spelled out to say JAMES BRAYLEY on them. Opening the file I see the basic details of the kid.
"This is boring," I say.
"Charlie, this is exactly why Dad always fought with you," says Cosette as she rolls her eyes and motions for me to slide it back to her. "You're not going to ruin my finale because you're lazy tendencies of being the silver platter child overcoming you."
She looks through the file and throws her finger down on the page. She pulls a pin out of her cleavage and underlines something on the sheet and then slides it back to me.
"Your boy has emotional detachment issues, probably stemming from the fact that his girlfriend lost their baby a couple of months before the games," she says rolling her eyes. "It was literally on the first page, Charles. Do I need to come up with the room as well, or can you do that for yourself?"
"I think I have an idea," I say as I slam my hand down on the table. "Send me in Camella. I need to get this out of my brain before I decide I don't like it anymore."
"That would imply you were having a coherent thought," she says as she rolls her eyes and gets up. "I'll send her in before the imagination station leaves," she says with a laugh. Walking out of the room she calls for Camella, and she comes hurried into the room. Cosette closes the door, and Camella pulls out her tablet and begins typing what I want to see in the room.
"I don't need all of that," I say quickly ushering her to put the codings away. "All I need is a coffin and a picture."
Sometimes the past comes to bite you
It longs for the taste of your blood
Your memories come recite themselves to you
They long for the sanity you hold onto
James Brayley, 15
District 3 Male
"What the hell just happened?" asks Darcy as she stares at Holiday's body. "We literally just watched her whole hair turn grey."
"I-" says Arwyn looking at both of us as she takes a deep breath. "I think she was scared to death…"
I feel my heart start to beat quicker. If that is the goal of these rooms, for us to face our greatest fears, I don't know how I'm going to fare. If I'm honest, I don't think I can even think of my greatest fear. I've pushed them down for so long during this process, I have almost forgotten who I am. Let alone what makes me nervous.
"Well, this has the potential to get very interesting then," says Darcy. "So much for Leather and Lace," she whispers. "I guess good luck guys. It looks like we'll need it."
My steele bars that are surrounding my come down, and I'm left standing free as Holiday disappears from the screen, and Cosette is once again staring at us. "Hello James," she says. "It's now time for you to face your flaw. If you could follow the path into the house, but you're going to the room on the left."
I nod my head and begin to walk towards the house slowly. I take a deep breath as I turn one last time and see Darcy and Arwyn gearing up for the show they're about to see, and then begin my steps up the porch stairs. I take a deep breath as I push the door open and walk into the giant room. There is a black door with my name written on it in bold white letters. I walk to it and take a deep breath once again before stepping in.
The room is pitch black. The only thing able to be seen is Cosette as she stares at me from the screen.
"Good luck, James," she says as she clicks off the screen.
A single light comes on, and a tiny black coffin sitting in the spotlight is all I see in the room. My heartbeat intensifies as another light comes on. Above the coffin is a picture of Selena and I smiling on the swings at the park. There is a piece of paper attached to the coffin, but I can't bring myself to move towards it.
"James, you need to go to the coffin." says Cosette's voice. Her face hasn't appeared on the screen, but her voice seems to fill every square foot of the room.
I don't know how I find the ability to do so, but I begin to walk to the coffin. I grab the piece of paper and open it. It looks exactly like Selena's handwriting.
"There's no way," I say as tears start to well up in my eyes. "There's no way they got her to write this before she passed," I scream. Tears are beginning to fall down my face, and I start to breathe heavily, but I open up the letter with trembling hands.
James,
You've held back a lot since I died. This baby was our saving grace, but unfortunately for me, the demons of my past came and conquered. You still have a chance though. You have to let him go though, James. You have a life to live. A life to find happiness and love. You're allowed those things.
I'll love you until my last breath,
Selena
"No!" I scream as I throw the letter down and begin to pound on the floor with my fist. I can't control the sobs that are escaping my mouth. The coffin starts to have the sound that comes from it, and I pause.
"Daddy," I hear from it.
I stand up tall. Staring at the black coffin that once held the entirety of my hopes and dreams. The life that I pictured that was taken away from me so quickly. Hands shaking, I place them on the lid of the coffin and rip it off.
I find nothing there.
"I'm so sorry," I say. "I'm sorry that I wasn't able to protect you or your mom. I'm sorry that the bastard that killed you is walking free with nothing happening to him and justice not being served." I choke up as I look down at the empty coffin. "But I can't keep beating myself up for losing you." I manage to choke out.
"I have lived the past six months in this state of hollowness. I was breathing and living, but I wasn't living. I will always regret not being your dad. I will always regret not being able to save you when I had the chance. But I can't allow myself to keep living for something that isn't living anymore."
A fire starts at the back of the room, and I jump out of my emotionally charged state. I realize that it's a furnace, and I grab the coffin and look at it one more time. "This is me letting go, son," I say. "We didn't even name you yet, but" I begin to choke up again as I say these next words. "There is no we anymore."
I push the coffin into the furnace and watch as the fire consumes the coffin. The lights in the room turn on, and a couch sits in the corner of the room. I walk over to it and put my head in my hand when Cosette Reignmen appears back on the screen.
"James, congratulations on overcoming your flaw," she says. "Emotional repression is a theme that you've carried throughout your time in the games. I'm glad to see that you're able to overcome them. Please wait here for the majority of the time we have this phase of the games. I'll be back in a little while."
She clicks off the screen, and I'm left staring at the ground. I let out a sob, and from there everything comes crashing down. RJ's death, Aplica's death, Selena's death, my babies' death. So many dead for such a young life that I've lived. I cry until my body can't physically take it anymore. Trying to catch my breath I lay down on my side and put a pillow under my head.
My eyes get heavy, and I drift off into a deep sleep.
Before people tell me it isn't logical, yes, being scared to death is a legit way to die. It happens in real life. You can look it up. Her hair turning grey was from immense stress that her body was under. That's a thing to. I might have hyped it up a bit, but her form was described as her having a HUGE fear of death.
James had a lot of emotional damage. The Reignmens wanted him to experience what it was like to feel some of the things he went through. This chapter was intense to write, so I hope I did it justice. I also hope you understand a bit more about James now.
Final 3: James, Darcy, Arwyn
Don't know who I'll write next. Remember to submit to Ascension; I'll post the opening chapter after the closing of this one because there is SO much left to tell of this story.
Keep it classy,
Caleb
