Bane Academy: To Run From Fear

Chapter 5

Fade

I watch her as she makes her way towards the group of wizards, smiling and waving like nothing was wrong. The group envelops her instantly, everyone laughing and joking around. After a couple of minutes, the group of five or six take a seat at one of the tables, Becca in between a bulky blonde guy and a tall, pale girl.
The Hall is bustling with energy, excited with the buzz of reunion after the first day of term. The long tables have been broken up into hundreds of individual tables to resemble a restaurant style. House elves and nymphs alike glide about, serving food and taking orders.
"So this is what they do with the Hall in between assemblies." A voice next to me suddenly says, making me jump. Alex laughs. "Gotcha."
I suppress a wave of annoyance and throw him a sideways smile instead. Alex leans back into his chair and we continue to watch in silence for a couple of minutes.
"How is she?" Alex finally asks.
"I don't know," I reply.
"Is she talking to you?"
"Well, yeah, but she won't actually tell me anything."
"Huh. Weird."
More silence.
"What about Shae?"
Alex sighs. "She's holding up. Night terrors are being a pain though."
"I can tell," I say, noticing the thick bags under his eyes. "You look like death man."
He laughs lightly. "You should know."
I smile. It's good to know I still have my best friend by my side through all of this. There was a point where I wasn't sure.
"Dude, look." Alex says, alarm in his voice. I follow his line of sight until I see Tivan, his lanky figure striding across the Hall, his eyes on Becca. Panic erupts in my stomach as my feet hit the ground. I was about to - actually, I don't know what I was about to do - when Alex puts a hand on my shoulder. I turn to look at him, his face serious, and he nods back towards Becca. When I look back over I see an older student, a Dauntless boy dressed in black and red, talking to Becca. She gets out of her chair and follows him outside after saying goodbye to her friends. Tivan sees this and quickly changes course, circling back around to his mates at another table. Alex exhales loudly behind me.
"Woah that was close."
We sit back down at our table as a nymph waitress starts towards us.
"Too close." I mutter under my breath.

Becca

"Hey Bec, there's been a change in plans." Tobias says as he meets me, quickly ushering me into another room.
Bec, I think to myself, haven't been called that for a while.
Several corridors pass, most dimly lit with either metal or rock walls, until we finally enter the examination room. Four mirrored walls, a chair and a machine.
"We're doing the fear landscape now?"
"Yep."
"Right now?"
"Yes." Tobias taps something into the machine, plugs in a few more cords and then produces a syringe swirling with a lucid liquid.
"Ready?"
"Uh, yeah, I guess so." I say as I hop up onto the chair and sit back, tempering mild surprise. The needle pricks my neck. The feeling of the foreign liquid being injected into my bloodstream is more uncomfortable than anything.
Tobias' face appears above me as he attaches some things to my head.
"Be brave." He says, smiling slightly as everything goes blurry.

     * * *

My stomach drops even before the world materialises around me. My feet hit something solid below me and the chill bites at my bare skin. When I open my eyes, the expanse of sky is so confronting I have to strain myself from stumbling backwards.
I adjust to my surroundings, processing the metal bar I'm standing on, which seems to be running in between two sky scrapers, poised so high up that the ground is nothing more than blurred fog. The sky is a washed blue, leaning towards silver. Fear grips my chest as I throw my arms out wildly.
"Becca?"
I jump so hard that I almost fall. Adrenalin pumps through my veins as I readjust my footing. Then I look up.
"Shae? What the hell are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same question." She replies. Her dark hair whips about her face messily in the roaring wind. She's standing about ten metres away from me on the bar, arms also stretched in an effort to maintain balance.
"Shut up," I say, "your just a goddamn simulation."
"No, you're the goddamn simulation." She snaps.
I look up at her, confused. She doesn't sound like a simulation.
My heart jumps again as I almost slip.
"You never told me you were afraid of heights." Shae says softly.
"Not heights," I reply, sweat already dripping from my forehead. "More like falling. Can we go?"
"We have to jump."
"What?" I ask. "We could just, you know, walk to one of the buildings."
"It's the only way to overcome the fear." She inches towards me.
I look down over the edge, the thought of stepping off tearing at my chest.
"Shae?" She looks up at me, her dark eyes wide. "I'm scared."
She smiles slightly, then takes my hand.
"I think that's the point."
The next second, gravity is ripping me limb from limb as we plummet down through the nothingness. I scream and scream but no sound seems to escape. Then, water rushes around me and the air is gone. I panic. Fear beats so hard at my chest it's painful. The water pulls me downwards. I kick and flail my arms but it's like trying to move through tar. My lungs scream in agony.
Something shakes my arm. I snap my eyes open to see Shae, hair wild under the water, yelling at me. But how is that possible?
Then I remember, it's just a simulation. This isn't real.
I force my mouth to open, and air rushes into my lungs. Suddenly everything around me shatters, pouring the water, Shae and I to the floor along with shards of glass. I cough and sputter helplessly despite the simulation, crawling onto my hands and knees. Leftover terror resonates through me.
"What the hell was that all about?" Shae asks.
"I can't swim." I say bitterly as I climb to my feet.
I look around, only seeing six steel walls. They are shiny and reflective, in effect creating multiple versions of Shae and I, some towering above us and others small and deformed looking.
"Where are we now?" I ask.
Just then, several people appear in the room. Fade, Alex, Tivan, Kyle and Nat. I look over at Shae and see her eyes wide with horror.
"No, no he said that he wouldn't do this yet." She stammers.
"Do what?" She doesn't reply. "Shae tell me!"
"You killed him." Tivan says. His metallic eyes are glazed over, his mouth barely moving when he speaks.
"You killed him." Kyle repeats.
"No I didn't." Shae half yells, tears already in her eyes.
"It was all your fault." Fade and Nat say in unison.
"If it weren't for you, he would be alive." Tivan and Kyle join in. The creepily in-sync words echo menacingly in the cube like room.
"No! You're wrong! I would never have-"
She's cut off by the chant they start. "Kill the beast. Kill the beast."
"I'm not! I didn't-!" She's now crying, knees shaking below her.
I should have helped her. Should have run over to her and told her that they were wrong. But I don't. Some part of me still believes that they are right.
In my thoughts, I hadn't noticed the blood spilling from the corners of the room and winding unnaturally up the walls and weaving together on the ceiling.
"Kill the beast." The crowd, which was now considerably larger than before, continued to chant. What the hell is going on?
Then the walls start to close in around us. The blood bubbles loudly. The people begin to scream their chant. Shae starts screaming uncontrollably as the walls close us in, covering us with blood. I finally run to her, trying to comfort her, but there's no escape. Her screaming rings in my ears, tearing my heart out of my chest.
And that's when I wake up.