A deranged man who likes to call himself the Director kidnaps a teenage boy and girl to be his actors. He expects them to perform the six acts of his play without messing up once, or else harrowing pain awaits them.
🥇1st place / The Cosmic Awards
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NATHAN WAS SO flabbergasted that his reflex smile couldn't even appear. Nothing in him moved—not a bone, not a muscle, not even a single atom.
"You know what?" Nathan said when he found his voice. "You were right. It's a greek god retelling."
Adelaide's expression pinched with either disbelief or disgust. "I'm telling you the script's exactly what happened to my mom! It's not greek mythology! I . . . I didn't want to believe it, but Act Five proves it. It proves everything."
With a shaky sigh, Nathan skimmed through Act Five entirely. It revealed that Luna was a widow, and that she had a daughter she hadn't told Dolion about. And as soon as Dolion got to know about that, he packed his shit and left. Charming man.
Nathan raised his gaze, set it on Adelaide. "Your mom was a widow?" His fingers trembled against the paper; he didn't even notice he'd dropped it until it brushed by his leg.
Adelaide nodded. Something icy-cold struck Nathan's heart but he tried to keep his shit together as much as he could. "And your mom met a random dude like Dolion too. And he left when she told him she's a widow."
"Y-Yeah."
"So you're sure this is about your mom."
"I'm sure," Adelaide said, voice both firm and cracked. "And that makes you Dolion's son. That means your dad betrayed my mom. He's the reason she died. He's . . . He's a bastard. A complete bastar—"
"It's not my dad." It was an odd thing for Nathan, feeling the symptoms of denial but wanting to latch on it because he trusted his dad. "I know him. He's not an asshole. He loves my mom. He wouldn't cheat on her."
Adelaide leant forward, her weight on her knees. "Nathan," she said, "do you think it's a coincidence the Director hates you that much? That he keeps hurting you but he never even touched me the wrong way? You're Dolion's son. That has to be the reason he kidnapped you. And me. Because we're their kids."
The shock locked Nathan down. He couldn't move. Couldn't speak. Couldn't do anything. Everything Adelaide had said made sense. But impossible. He wouldn't believe it, didn't want to.
More tears had mapped Adelaide's cheeks by the time Nathan could acknowledge her existence again. Except this time, hints of anger forced her brows into a frown.
"My mom committed suicide because of your dad, Nathan!" Adelaide shouted, too loudly for Nathan's fragile state. He looked at her. Straight at her yet straight past her. He blinked. Adelaide's expression was getting angrier, and suddenly she was jabbing him in the chest, yelling: "She hanged herself when he left her! It's his fault! It's his fault she died—"
Nathan pushed Adelaide off even though he wasn't sure how he did it with his nerves and muscles alike numb. "Shut up," he mumbled. "Please shut up."
