KAEL
When the naked pictures of myself leaked online because of my bullies, I thought that was the worst thing that was ever going to happen to me. Then, shortly thereafter, my friends and I were kidnapped and taken to an underground bunker where I watched one of my closest friends get his head blasted off in front of me, and we were left for dead. When we we were released and finally got to go home to our families, I thought that my nightmares were over. I thought that I would finally be able to say goodbye to the horrors that were happening in my life and just enjoy the rest of my freshman year, despite my humiliation.
That Monday morning I was in for a rude awakening. As I was sitting in the courtyard with German, my only remaining friend in my group, and my girlfriend, Arya, we were talking about the Fear Games and what it was like losing both Harlin and Freddy in different ways.
"It's just so weird," Arya said. "Why would Harlin be helping the killer? What kind of motive does he have?"
"I guess that's what we have to figure out," I said. "I just can't believe he would be part of all of this, especially helping them kill Freddy. All of us were just so close..." My voice trailed off because I didn't quite know what else to say. It was awful, everything that was happening, and I felt somewhat responsible for it. I kept telling myself that if none of them were friends with me, that none of this would have happened. But the truth of the matter is that I had no control over Harlin or what he chose to do. We didn't know his motive, but even if it did have to do with me and my family, he still made these decisions on his own. I couldn't keep blaming myself for everything, no matter how easy it was to do so.
And believe me, it wasn't difficult at all.
"I'm so sorry, Kael," Arya said as she reached out to grab my right hand. "I wish I could make all of this better for you."
"Arya's right," German said. "You don't deserve to carry around of all of this weight. The world isn't yours to hold on your back."
"Thank you both," I said. "I just really—" I stopped right in the middle of my sentence, my mouth dropping all the way to the ground. Looking off into the distance, I saw someone. There was no way in hell that could be who I was thought it was, could it? "Dear God, please tell me this isn't happening."
"What's wrong—?" Arya started, but stopped right when her eyes fell on the same person that I just caught a glimpse of. Then she said, "Oh shit. What the fuck is he doing here?"
German caught wind of what was going on, and they saw the guy we were looking at too. Then they said, "Oh shit is right. I thought he was expelled!"
But nope, evidently he was not. Standing off in the distance with his buddies that made my life hell while he was gone was my bully, Brett. He was dressed in khakis, a blue polo shirt, and his hair was slicked back, but no amount of nice dressing would show me that he was a different person. He was a monster and the fact that he was back here after what he did to me made my skin crawl.
He must have noticed us staring, because his head turned and he smirked at us. Then he started walking right over toward our table.
"Crap," German said, "should we try to run?"
"No," I said, planting my feet firmly on the ground. "I'm not running away from him."
When he reached our table, he said, "Hello, Kael. Nice to see you're still alive, even after the Fear Games, huh? It's quite a shame. When I first heard there was a victim, I hoped it was you."
"I see you haven't changed a bit," I said, smirking right back at him, even though inside my heart was ready to burst out of my chest. "I thought you were expelled."
"Yeah, well, when your parents have money, that tends to not be so much of an issue," Brett said. "But you know what? The Fear Games killer not murdering you gives me a bonus. That just means that I can spend the rest of the year tormenting you."
"And what makes you think I won't tell anyone?" I asked, feeling braver now than I ever had in the past.
"Because if you decide to be a tattle-tale about anything that I do to you, I will make sure that you never see the light of day again," Brett said as he leaned in to me, putting his face right in my own. When he grinned, he revealed a set of perfectly white teeth, ones that I wanted to punch down his throat. "Do you understand, Fuckhead?"
I wanted to stick up myself. I wanted to say that no, I wasn't going to allow him to do anything to me like I did in the past. I wanted to say that I was done playing his stupid games. I had enough to worry about with the Fear Games. But instead of saying any of that, I gulped and found myself nodding along. "Yes," I said, "I understand."
Brett straightened his back, getting out of my face, but his smirk never faded. "Good. Glad we have an understanding. See you later, Kael." As he walked away, all I could imagine was tackling him to the ground and smashing his face in. But my mother would be extremely disappointed if I did that—and quite frankly, I wasn't sure I'd win that fight.
Arya said, "Kael, are you seriously just going to let him continue to bully you?"
I shook my head. "No," I said. "I've got to figure something out soon, because I am not spending the rest of the year being afraid of him. Or the next three years after this."
"So, what do you want to do?" German asked.
"I haven't figured that out yet," I said. "But let's just say that soon Brett's going to get what's coming for him. I'll make sure of it."
CINDER
Emerald and I hadn't really talked about what happened with Colton ever since we were rescued. I guess it seemed there was more important things to deal with than our boy troubles. We'd done a pretty good job of just letting it go, I had to say, but it was still nagging at me in a way that I couldn't stop thinking about.
That Monday morning, Emerald and I were sitting together having lunch at school, and Emerald was going on about the Fear Games, as if I hadn't heard enough about that topic for my entire lifetime.
"I just hope the killer gets caught soon," Emerald said as she took a bite of her salad. "We can't go the rest of our lives with this kind of fear lingering over our heads. We deserve to have peace."
"You can say that again," I replied, taking a bite of my vegan burger that I brought from home. Even though I wasn't vegan myself, Mom always liked to try and make as much meat replacements as she could—you know, for the animals' sake. Over the last twenty years, she said vegan food had improved greatly. I think it tasted just like the real thing, to be honest. Most of the vegan meat we had now was lab grown, so it was almost a hundred percent identical to real meat. Veganism had grown exponentially over the last twenty years, and most people ate at least some of the replacement options. I was happy either way.
"I feel bad for not sitting with your brother, Arya, and German," Emerald said as she glanced past me at the table where they were sitting. "Should we go over there? I know losing Freddy has been hard for all of them. I just don't want to feel like we're invading on their friend group."
"Going over there sounds like a great idea," I said, "but first, can we talk about something?" It wasn't like I wanted to bring this subject up on my own, but I wanted her to know that I'd chosen her over Colton. I hadn't told her what happened at the funeral home, or the fact that I'd been ignoring him since then. She deserved to know that I chose her over some stupid guy.
"Of course," Emerald said. "What's on your mind, bestie?"
"Well, it's about Colton—" I started.
Emerald held up both hands in a stop motion. "Hold it right there, Cin. Listen, I know what you're going to say."
"You do?" I asked.
She nodded. "You're going to say that you choose me over him and that you want me to know that you'll never let a guy get in between us again. Does that sound about right?"
"How did you know?" I asked.
Emerald shrugged. "Colton may have texted me, blaming me for the fact that you decided not to be with him. You know, childish shit. He was never much of a man anyway. But I wanted to give you my blessing anyway, despite how hard it may be."
That surprised me more than anything. "Your blessing? As in to...?"
"To date him," Emerald said as she took another bite of her food. "I mean, hey, I'm not dating him. And it's obvious he wants to be with you. I figured, why not? I might as well not get in between the two of you and let you decide for yourself whether he's worth it—which, by the way, I don't think he is."
Hearing these words come from my best friend meant everything. When I first started having feelings for Colton, I was so concerned about what Emerald would think or feel, and how she might react. Clearly she had bad first thoughts, but for her to give her blessing...I wasn't sure what to say. Did I even still want to be with Colton? I wasn't positive that I did anymore.
"You might be right about that," I said, "but you won't get angry with me if I decide to give him another try?"
She smiled at me in that familiar grin I knew so well. "Of course not. You're my best friend, first and foremost. If you two want to be together, who am I to get in between?"
"That means a lot," I said, returning her smile. "Thank you so much, Em."
"Don't worry about it," she said. "Now, come on. Let's go sit with your brother, German, and Arya. I have a feeling that they could use a little bit of friendly company."
EMERALD
When I got home from school, I was in for the surprise of a lifetime—only one of the many surprises that would be coming my way soon. As I pulled into my driveway, I saw a man standing on my porch, pacing back and forth, and he was completely unfamiliar to me. Whoever he was, he obviously hadn't rang the bell or knocked on the door. He looked as though he were contemplating making his presence known, and then he saw me pull in. As he did, he must have realized he was trapped, because he stopped pacing, and instead stared at me, waiting for me to get out of my car.
As I neared the man, I realized that he was around my mother's age, with shaggy chestnut hair and brown eyes. In fact, he was kind of cute, for being an old man and everything. Once we were face-to-face, he smiled at me and said, "You must be Rachel's daughter."
"Uh huh," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "And can I ask who the hell you are, pacing around on our porch instead of just knocking on the door like a normal person?"
The man smiled softly. "You have the same sass as your mother. I like it. I'm sure she's raised you well. You know, there was once a time where I thought she and I would end up together and would have kids of our own. Boy, things really did change after the Fear Games..." His voice trailed off, as if he was remembering something important. Something close to his heart.
"You still haven't answered my question," I said. "Who are you and why are you here?"
He smiled again charmingly, as if that was supposed to sway me somehow. "My name's Isaiah. I'm an old friend of your mother's. We knew each other back before the Fear Games and...well, I made some choices that were questionable, and I ended up in prison for a long time. I'm here to reconnect with Rachel."
The name Isaiah sounded familiar to me, but I couldn't figure out exactly where in my mother's history he lined up. I said, "So, you want to speak to my Mom? Why not just ring the doorbell or something like a normal person?"
"You have to understand, it's been a long time..." Isaiah said. "We...I used to love her. And the things that I did were inexcusable. I just want a chance to make amends with your mom and show the man that I have turned out to be after all these years."
Normally I wouldn't completely trust a stranger's word who just appears out of the blue, but when I looked in his deep brown eyes, I knew he was telling me the truth. This was a person from my mother's past that truly wanted to reconnect. Who wasI to send him away? I sighed and said, "Fine, I'll go in and get her. But she will make the decision whether or not you come in. So you stay right here while I go get her. She just had a bad incident, so she's in a lot of pain. If she says you have to go, then I can't change that. Got it?"
Isaiah nodded. "Yes, I understand. Thank you...uh, what's your name?"
I smirked at him and said, "You'll get that later if my mother deems you worthy of entrance into our lives. I'll be right back."
As I entered the house, I threw my car keys on the table and didn't find Mom on the couch or in the kitchen, which meant she was likely in her room. I walked up the stairs and got to Mom's room, where I tapped gently on her door. "Hey, Ma, are you in there?"
"Come in, sweetie," her voice said from the other side. I walked in and saw she was lying down in bed, and if I was being completely honest, she looked like shit. She was originally supposed to stay at the hospital longer to recover from her gunshot wound, but she signed out Against Medical Advice because she was a stubborn bitch. From the looks of it, she wasn't doing so hot. "How was school, Em?"
"It was alright," I said. "Listen, I'm not here to small talk. There's someone who was standing outside waiting to talk to you. He was nervous to make himself known to you, so he asked me to come inside and see if you'd be willing to talk."
"And who would that be?" Mom asked. "Your father? If it's him and he sent you in here to vouch for him, I swear to God—"
"No, it's not," I said. "It's some man named Isaiah. He says you two knew each other as teens, before the Fear Games. He said he was in prison for a long time and he's finally out and wants to talk to you."
Mom was silent for a moment, and when she closed her eyes, I thought she was annoyed. When she reopened them, she sighed and replied, "I knew this day would come eventually. Let him inside. He and I need to talk."
"Mom, are you sure?" I asked. "You don't look so well—"
"Please, Emerald, let him inside," she said. "And give us some privacy, okay? It's been a long time since we've talked."
I nodded. "Okay, I'll go let him in."
I walked down the stairs, back out onto the porch, and almost expected him to have disappeared. But nope, Isaiah was still there, sitting on one of the chairs, patiently waiting.
"What did she say?" he asked as he jumped out of the chair.
"I guess it's your lucky day," I said. "She wants to talk to you. But don't stress her out too much, she's in a lot of pain. Last thing I need is for her to go back to the hospital. Understood?"
He nodded. "Yes, I understand."
"Good," I said with a light smile. "Come on in."
***
You are now THREE episodes away from THE BIGGEST REVEAL of the series yet! How does it feel to see Isaiah again? Why do you think he's come back? Find out in the next episode! See you all with another episode soon! Be sure to vote for this episode and comment all your thoughts and theories!