RACHEL
When Isaiah stepped into my room, our eyes locking for the first time in twenty years, my heart stopped the same way it did the first time we met back in the day. He smiled at me as Emerald walked out of the room, said, "You two behave yourselves," and closed the door behind her. He was wearing a pair of shaggy khaki pants and a green sweater, which definitely suited him well. It was hard to believe that after all this time, he still looked so much like his old self, his his brown eyes and messy brown hair. I would have been able to recognize him anywhere.
Isaiah took a step further into the room and said, "Your daughter seems friendly. She's not your only child, huh?"
"No, I have an older son named Calix," I replied as I tried to make myself comfortable in bed. "He's an adult now, in college. Well, he was at one point. He's had a lot going on."
"It sounds like you've all had a lot going on," Isaiah said as he neared the bed, where he pointed to an empty spot next to me. "Mind if I sit?"
"Of course not," I said as I scooted over so he could have some room. It felt weird being alone in the same room with him again after everything. I honestly didn't even know he was getting out of prison. How in the hell did that slip past me? "What do you mean it sounds like we've all got a lot going on?"
"The news," Isaiah said, "it says a lot. I've been following the story. That's, uh, actually part of why I decided to come by. I heard that the Fear Games started again, and at first I couldn't believe it. But then I knew it was true when I heard that your family was involved."
"There's no use in even trying to deny it," I said. "The Fear Games started a couple of weeks ago. It's been an absolute nightmare. My best friend Eden's kids were victims too. She was one of the victims of Daisy Williamson, the real creator of the Fear Games."
Isaiah nodded. "I know. I spent a lot of time the last five years researching what I could about what happened after I went to prison for setting the Fear Games traps. I learned all about Daisy, Brandon, the team that was built, and her brother Damien. I learned all about Josh Mitchell, too."
I raised my eyebrows. "Damn, how much access did you have inside of the prison?"
Isaiah sighed and clasped his hands together. "Actually, Rachel, that's something that you should know, too. You see, I didn't just get out of prison recently."
"No?" I said, confused. "How long have you been out?"
"Five years," he said softly.
My mouth dropped open as an, "Oh," slipped out. So that was how he had been able to study the Fear Games as much as he had. It made sense to me, but it also kind of hurt that he had been out of prison for so long and he was only just now making his presence known. I thought about not asking, but I figured I might as well: "What took you so long to come by and see me?"
"Rachel, there were plenty of times where I wanted to come by and see you," Isaiah said. "But when I first got out of prison, I saw on social media that you were married, and then when I saw that you had broken up, I didn't want it to seem like I was trying to come and be the savior or take you back. Then after that, it just never seemed like the right time. Until now."
I closed my eyes, thinking all the way back to my past relationship with Isaiah in high school, and how much every bit of it meant to me, until it all got thrown away. Before Ryan was revealed to be the first Fear Games killer, Isaiah was revealed to have been the one who was forced to set the traps in the old house against his will. When Ryan was finally discovered as the killer, and died, Isaiah turned himself in to the police because he wanted to be noble. All these years later, I wondered what it would have been like if he hadn't turned himself him and just stayed with me. Would I have come to resent him, or would we have ended up together? Would my life have turned out completely differently?
"So," I said, "what brings you here now?"
"I want to be part of your life," Isaiah said as he reached out and touched my leg on top of the blanket. "Now that the Fear Games have started again, I realize how important it is to keep you around. You're a gem, Rachel, and I was a fool to let anything get in between us back then. I've made so many mistakes, but I'm here to make up for them. I was a victim too, in a lot of ways, but I've owned up for my past. I'm ready to look to the future with you. Even if it's just as friends."
I had to admit, his proposition was really appealing. Being friends again sounded like just what I needed in my life right now, especially after everything happening. I needed someone else who could keep me sane, someone else who went through the same things I did.
I smiled at him and said, "Isaiah, we've always been friends. How about we have dinner tonight—you, me, and the kids? It would be great to catch up and have them get to know you?"
Isaiah smiled back, something I hadn't seen in a long time. "Fine, dinner sounds wonderful. But don't even think about being the one to pay. I'll see you tonight?"
"Sounds good to me," I said. For the first time in a while, everything sort of felt...normal.
It was because of that, I should have been afraid.
EDEN
I could have only hoped that Rachel's plan wasn't going to backfire and kick my ass. I made sure that the entire house was clear of people, especially Jax. I had literally no idea where he was, and to be quite honest, I didn't care as long as he wasn't out there plotting the next way to get my kids into a bunker and try to murder them. Even though I wasn't positive that he was one of the killers, I would find out soon enough, thanks to Rachel's brilliant idea. But it sure did put a dent in my wallet.
As I unboxed the security cameras, I tried to read the instructions the best I could, but I was never the best at putting these kinds of things together. Jacob was always the one to do this shit, and now that his charred body was dead out in the woods where Jax and I left him, I had to do this all by myself. These security cameras were obviously meant to go outside the house, but Rachel thought about the idea of putting them inside as a way to watch Jax and see what he is doing whenever I'm not around. It was definitely risky, but it was totally worth it.
It didn't take me long to figure out how to set up the cameras. The hardest part was figuring out how to hide them so that no one would accidentally notice them. Rearranging a couple of vases here and a couple knick-knacks there, I finally got all the cameras set up in the living room and the kitchen. I thought about trying to put some in Jax's room, put I figured I'd be more likely to get caught that way. So, despite what my gut was telling me, I strictly stuck to the public areas of the house.
Around the time that I was setting up the last camera in the living room, my phone started to ring. It was Rachel. I answered the phone and said, "Hey, bestie. I'm almost done setting up the cameras in my house. How are you doing?"
"I'm alright," Rachel said, but I could tell by the tone in her voice that she was calling for something serious. "Listen, there's something I need to tell you. A certain person from my past decided to show up at my house this afternoon."
I stopped what I was doing and walked over to the couch to sit. I asked, "Who?"
"Isaiah. And it seems he'll be sticking around for a while," Rachel said. "He apparently got released from prison five years ago and heard everything that was going on with the Fear Games. He came by to help us. The kids and I are having dinner with him later tonight."
"Wow," I said, "how exactly do you feel about that?" I didn't know too much about Isaiah, but over the last twenty years his name had come up at least a few times. I knew who he was and his return was definitely unexpected. His trial was mostly private, despite how publicized the Fear Games were back then. I wondered how neither one of us had heard about his release.
"It's a shock, for sure," Rachel said. "But what can I do about it? He wants to help, and since Drake doesn't want to be around—not that he'd understand anyway—it's probably a good idea how have Isaiah around."
"Well, let me know how the dinner goes," I said. "I'm trying to finish up the last camera—" Just then, I heard a car door slam outside, meaning that either Jax or my kids were home. Shit. "Uh, Rachel, I gotta go, but I'll talk to you later, okay?"
"Sounds good. Love you."
"I love you, too," I replied and hung up quickly. I raced over to the unfinished camera and pushed a few buttons, hoping that I was doing this right. After a couple of tries, a green light lit up on the side to signify that it was working and filming.
Perfect.
I ran back over to the couch, turned on the television, and pretended to be watching the news. The front door opened up, and sure enough, in stepped Jax. Today he was wearing black skinny(ish) jeans and a black shirt, his hair matted hair a mess, but still cute. He smiled at me and said, "Hi, Eden."
"Hello," I said, returning the smile, hoping it didn't look as fake as it felt. "Where we you?"
Jax shrugged. "Had some errands to run. I'm going up to my room for a little bit. I'll be down for dinner, though, okay?"
"Okay," I said. As he headed up the stairs, I started to beat myself up for not putting any cameras in his room to monitor what he was doing. Oh well. Sooner or later I would figure out his motives. If he was the killer, or one of them, he was messing with the wrong bitch.
RACHEL
"And that's how I ended up in prison," Isaiah said. It was later that evening, my kids, Isaiah, and I were sitting around the table eating a pot roast Emerald managed to put together, and we were talking all about the past. I felt that it was best that Emerald and Calix got a better idea of what went down back then from the perspective of someone that wasn't me, because they'd heard my side of the story plenty of times. Now that we were in our own brand new set of Games, I felt this was important.
Emerald finished chewing a potato and asked, "How was it being in prison for, what, fifteen years? What the hell do you do all day?"
"Let's just say that I kept myself pretty occupied with books," Isaiah said. "Lots of learning, trying to educate myself about lots of different topics. I was able to finish my schooling and start working on some other things. The prison system has changed a lot since when I first went in. While I was there, I loved studying religion and philosophy. It really changed the way I look at life and a lot of what's happened to your mother and me."
That definitely caught my attention. "How do you look at it now?"
Isaiah smiled—that same familiar smile that I knew all those years ago—and said, "That's not a dinner conversation, but I will say this: I do not think everything happens for a reason, but we've all been brought to this place for a specific purpose. What happened to us as kids, and what's happening to your children now, is beyond horrific. But it's all about what we choose to do with it that matters the most. We can choose to take the bad, the trauma, and make beauty out of it."
My whole family was silent for a moment, and I pondered what he said. Was it true that we could make beauty from trauma, from pain, from tragedy? When I looked at my children, I realized that it was absolutely possible. But how were they going to do the same, to build lives for themselves, after all of this was over? They needed to be strong like Eden and I were. They needed guidance.
"What if we can't?" Calix asked.
"Can't what?" Isaiah said.
"What if we can't make beauty out of this? What if it's not possible? After what happened to my sister, I'm scared for her. I won't stop being worried until we catch whoever did this. But how is she going to recover?"
"I think I'll be fine," Emerald said, but I don't think anyone at the table believed her.
When I realized both my kids' plates were cleared, I said, "Hey, why don't you two go to your rooms so Isaiah and I can talk for a little bit privately?"
Emerald nodded, but Calix stared for a moment like he hasn't sure. Finally, they both stood up from the table, dropped their plates in the sink, and left the kitchen.
"Your kids are amazing," Isaiah said as he leaned back in his chair to stretch.
"Thank you," I said with a small smile. "I like to think so myself."
"I really mean that. Your kids are strong and I'm sure that we will all get through this together," Isaiah said. "I'm so happy that we did this. It was nice to connect with you and get to know your family."
"You're sweet," I said. He had his left hand on the table, and out of instinct I grabbed it and squeezed. "Isaiah, can I ask you a serious question?"
"Anything."
I sighed. "Do you think...well, I guess I was just wondering...do you think that if the Fear Games hadn't happened, that we would have ended up together? That we would have been married and had kids of our own?"
His eyes widened and he said, "Why do you ask?"
"It's not that I don't love my family, because I do with my whole heart," I said honestly. "But I can't help wonder if life would have been different without the Fear Games. I thought I loved you back then and I often wonder if we would have been together and had a family. I wonder how different my life would have turned up."
"Let me ask you this," Isaiah said as he placed his free hand on top of my own. "Do you regret the life you have now?"
I shook my head. "Of course not. I love my children. I even still love my ex-husband, even if he is an asshole."
Isaiah nodded. "Then I can honestly say yes, I do think we would have ended up together. But that's not the way life wanted either one of us to go, is it? It wanted us to be right here, in this moment."
"You said you studied religion in prison. Do you believe that there's a God, someone watching out for us, guiding our paths? Do you think God brought us together again?" It was a stupid question and I knew it was as soon as I asked it. My face immediately became hot and I hoped it wasn't turning red.
"I believe there's something out there, a divine energy," Isaiah said. "Whatever it is, it brought us exactly where we are right now, didn't it? We all have free will, but that doesn't mean we can't be divinely guided."
"What do you think the future holds?" I asked, tears forming behind my eyes. "Because honest to God, I'm scared to fucking death that I'm going to lose my children."
"I don't know what the future holds for all of us," Isaiah said, "but I can promise that your kids are not going to die on my watch. I won't allow it. You understand me?"
"Okay," I said, and before I knew it I was breaking down crying. Isaiah leaned in, wrapped me in his arms, and pulled me in close. I cried on his shoulder for probably five minutes, and when I finished, I just rested my head there, listening to the silence in the room. I hoped that the Divine would give me some sort of answer...
...but I didn't hear a word.
EDEN
The next day, which was a Tuesday, I spent all morning in my early classes at the high school wondering what was going on at home. I knew Jax was there alone, since all my kids were in school and I was here teaching my life away, and I wondered if he was doing something that might prove that he was part of the new Fear Games.
During my lunch break, instead of eating in the teacher's lounge, I decided to in my classroom. As I sat at my desk, I reached into my bag and pulled out my personal laptop, opening the security camera footage. I just had to know what was going on. The suspense was killing me.
Staring at the different camera angles, I saw that Jax was currently sitting on the couch watching television. Nothing too eventful. I even rewinded and watched some of the earlier footage, but he had spent the entire morning on the couch. He hadn't even gotten up to go to the bathroom. Weird. When I fast-forwarded back to the present moment, I watched and watched and watched. It was the most boring half an hour of my life, if I was being completely honest. Jax was doing absolutely nothing suspicious and I started to wonder if maybe I was just losing my mind.
Right when my lunch break was about to end, what I assumed was a knock came at the door of my home and Jax got up to go answer. When he did, I saw him talking to the person on the other side, whom I couldn't see right away. About a minute passed before Jax left the person in, and the guy that stepped into my home was not who I expected to see.
It was Calix.
The two of them walked over the couch and I switched on the audio so I could hear everything they were saying.
"Thank you for coming by," Jax said. "I've missed you."
"I've missed you, too," Calix said. "With everything going on, we need to be careful. We can't get caught doing this. It would just cause too many problems."
Jax smirked. "You ready to create some problems right now?"
Was that a threat or some weird flirty comment? I found out two seconds later when Calix threw himself on top of Jax and the two of them started to make out. I watched for another minute or two, but when I saw their shirts start to come off, I realized that Jax wasn't doing anything suspicious other than having sex with my best friend's son on my couch!
I slammed my laptop closed and tried to erase that image from my mind. Now I would never be able to sit on my couch normally again. So gross and disrespectful to my home. This didn't exactly rule him out as a killer or suspect, but he certainly wasn't doing anything weird today.
I grabbed my phone off my desk and called Rachel. She answered on the third ring.
"Hey, Eden, what's up? Aren't you at work?"
"I am, but there's something I need to tell you," I said. "Your son and Jacob's son are currently having sex on my couch."
Rachel was silent for a moment, then asked, "What the hell are you talking about?"
"I mean that your gay son and Jacob's gay son have apparently found a common interest in each other," I said. "I just witnessed the whole thing on my security camera footage."
"But don't we suspect Jax of—"
"Being a killer? Yeah, now you see my dilemma," I said. "We need to make sure that those two stop seeing each other. If Jax is dangerous, Calix could be in serious trouble."
"How do I approach Calix with this?" Rachel asked. "I can't tell him you saw them on video. That would ruin your only defense right now."
The school bell rang and suddenly students began pouring into my classroom. I said, "Rachel, we'll talk about this later, okay? We'll figure something out. We just need to make sure that Calix is safe."
"And the other kids."
"Yes," I said. "And the other kids."
When we said our goodbyes and hung up, I pondered what the hell we were going to do about Jax. He was beginning to be a lot more trouble than he was worth, but if I confronted him, there was no way he'd tell me the truth if he was a murderer. I'd have to find some other way to prove that he was one of the new Players.
And I needed to do it sooner rather than later.
***
You are TWO EPISODES AWAY from the Season 5 finale of Fear Games! The BIGGEST REVEAL YET is almost here. What did you think of this episode? Did you enjoy it? If you did, make sure to vote! Don't forget to comment all your thoughts and theories!