When I opened the door to leave, I spared one last glance to Duncan. He still sat on the bench, looking at the ground with a face full of emotions I couldn't read. There was a small pang in my chest when he didn't get up and come after me. Soon enough, I knew that what I'd hoped for was completely unrealistic. The pang in my chest soon transformed into regret, but I couldn't bring myself to go back in there and apologize. Yet, I also couldn't bring myself to go back to our flat.

Looking around, I saw a bench nearby and walked to it. The metal arms were cool under my skin, despite it being summer. It was the climate we lived in, I concluded. Summer had hardly even started and it as getting cooler. The green grass and leaves on the trees almost looked too cheerful, I envied their inability to understand and feel.

Parker left the building a few minutes later, looking around. He was about to start walking forward until he saw me, he turned and approached me carefully. "What happened between you and Duncan?" he asked almost too suddenly as he sat next to me.

"What do you mean?" I asked, as if I hadn't known. I refused to look him in the eye and decided to study the all too cheerful leaves in the trees.

"You and him were talking, then suddenly you leave and he's upset. I come out here and find you sulking just like him. It doesn't take a genius to know that something happened. From my own experience, talking about things can help you to feel better," he explained. I couldn't help but have a painful flashback to when Duncan told Parker, from his own 'personal experience' might I add, that it was helpful to stand up to your bullies.

"What is your experience? I mean, you don't have to tell me... I was just wondering. Everybody here seems to have a story." I expected him to react like I had earlier, or at least like he had done before. Last time he felt obligated to tell me about his past, but when I'd released the pressure he felt to tell me he shut up. He never got so close to telling me anything personal since then, and because he hadn't closed himself off from me immediately, I had hope.

"It's okay, I'm going to be straightforward, no beating around the bush," he said and looked around, probably to be sure there weren't any cameras. "I suffer from depression, don't tell anybody."

I furrowed my eyebrows."I won't but... how'd you get accepted?" I asked. Before we were allowed to apply, we'd had to read a bunch of rules. I remembered that you weren't allowed to have things like depression. Knowing Parker, he had definitely read the rules and was well aware of the fact.

"I know, I know. It's lying and against the rules, but as I said before; I didn't think I'd get accepted. When I was invited to the callbacks, I talked to my therapist. She okayed me to go if I got accepted, but she knew if I went I couldn't bring my medicine. The stuff that keeps my depression in check, otherwise I'd be found out. I wasn't sure if I could do it then, but she told me she trusted I could do without them. So I came, and Grace?" he asked after his long story.

"Yeah?" I replied, starting to momentarily forget my issues.

"I denied having depression until my mom made me go to my therapist, and she diagnosed me with it. Being able to talk to her about my issues really helped me, I think you should talk to me about whatever happened between you and Duncan," he suggested.

"Why would you want to help me? All I've done for you is intrude and make things worse for you," I said to him. I started thinking again about myself, about how he'd told me he hadn't wanted me stepping in on his business. I was conflicted when I started thinking about the time I did leave him alone, and how mad he was at me for not sticking up for him.

"No matter how much I've told you I didn't want your help, don't stop. I've needed you, when I spent those nights awake I was pondering whether or not to give up. Just your initial faith in me, and your continuation of our friendship, helped me to stay," he explained to me.

I was glad he wasn't asking about my past because I wasn't ready to talk about that yet. I had no such reservations on my encounter with Duncan. When I was sure he had finished talking about himself I said, "It's just that Duncan started asking about me," I left out the fact that I liked him. "And he told me something really personal about himself, and I had the nerve to completely disregard it. It was rude and selfish, and I wish I hadn't done it, but I'm not ready to go back and talk to him," I explained.

He looked at me from across the bench and rested his hand on my shoulder. "Just talk to him. Soon," he told me. He released his hold and stood. He reminded me one last time the importance of communication before he walked off. At first I thought he'd go betray me and talk to Duncan himself, but instead he walked in the direction of our flat.

I soon found myself following him back to the flats, I was awake in bed when Duncan decided to go talk to his friends who'd had all the theories. Apparently I hadn't been accepting enough, and he felt he needed to hide this part of himself from us. It hadn't mattered to him if I started to believe his little theories. When he'd gotten up he didn't spare me one last glance as he left. He didn't say a word.

The next morning everyone was awake and talking, though when I was a participant in the conversation Duncan quieted. When this had happened, Parker had given me discreet glances. He'd still stressed the importance of talking to Duncan, yet I still hadn't found a moment to talk to him. "The note's here, I'll read it," said Parker as he went to the door.

We all followed him and crowded around to read. Dean had learned his lesson and let us get the note from then on. It was like he feared being embarrassed for not knowing the code of conduct here.

"Dear Gamers," Parker started reading. "This competition is called Fear, and for good reason. You can be eliminated from this game alone. We have collected your greatest fears and you will have to face them. That is all we wish to say, you know what to do. We wish you all good luck, gamers." He put the note neatly on the counter and we all started to put on our suits, I was honestly surprised we hadn't put them on already. The people in charge were fairly predictable at this time of day, but their recent actions had led us to think that they weren't going to let us live on a schedule.

"Sounds fun," said Amberline sarcastically. She crossed her arms as we waited for our turn to change. I hadn't replied because a room emptied and I could get myself ready. We all walked to the lobby in a hurry, not wanting to risk being late this far in the game.

We got there and it felt tense. Everyone seemed worried, probably because they hadn't known what fear or fears they'd face. I, however, had a general idea of what I'd face. I was mentally preparing myself for it and hoped I would last long enough to keep my team on top.

Jasper walked up to us and smiled mischievously. We all looked at him in return, nobody said anything. The point was clear enough that we weren't going to start the conversation, so he went ahead and started it himself. "I was just marveling to myself at how much fears you must have."

I crossed my arms and smiled back at him. "Just remember, you have to face your fears too," I said. His smile had not been replaced but all the color left his face and he quieted. He backed away to talk to his own team, as if he had never spoken to us in the first place.

We all cringed at the loud ringing in the room, because apparently the people in charge were done using words to greet us. The ritual started and we all walked to our cubicles. The color of the injection was slightly different, they had changed the formula. Trying to ignore that, I stuck my arm through the cylinder and waited rather impatiently for it to give me the injection. It had taken longer than it had ever taken before. When it finally worked, I was put in a pitch black room.

A sudden pain shot through my head and it seemed voices from my father and brother surrounded me. Their words got worse and worse as did the pain. When the pain stopped the last thing I heard was, "hit the relief button to escape." I knew the voice instantly, but the way he'd said it sounded off. It sounded like a threat, a taunt. I was sure Duncan would never say a single threat to me. I hoped it wasn't a sign of what was to come.

The room around me started to change and I found myself in my old home. Before anything started I turned around and saw a red button in the corner, the relief button.

On impulse I started to walk forward, through the dark hallways of the old home. I heard the creaks under my feet as I walked. I was surrounded by an eerie silence and I suddenly knew my destination; my room. Before I could get there I walked past my mom's old room and came to an abrupt stop. My mom screamed and I was transported to my own room. I felt like a little kid again, hiding under my covers. When I was little I would hide there, scared someone had broken in. Though when I was grown, I started to realize things I wish I hadn't had to.

When I found the relief button again I heard a vase fall just outside the door and my father cursed loudly. He called my name and I found myself unable to move. He called it again, louder, and I still felt paralysed. Just as I had in the game when someone froze me. Although it felt as if no amount of will in the world could make me step closer to that door. I heard another bang against the wall as he'd thrown something, my door came open and I saw his cold, angular face as he decided I wasn't worth it. He told me I had five minutes before he'd be back, without telling me what I was supposed to do.

When he left I got up and walked to my window, my hands were clammy as I opened it. I needed to breath. I needed cool, fresh air. In the game, it was winter and I was soon refreshed. I needed out. I glanced back to the red button that had been added to my room, I couldn't let my team down. I looked through the closet to see if anything could help me defend myself if he'd came back. My dad had never hurt me in real life, though he came close, but I didn't know how far the simulation would go.

A few minutes had passed and I stumbled across my old winter coat. It was just as it had been before, a dark purple with little bees my mom had stitched into it. The only difference was that it was bigger, able to fit me now. I shoved it on and looked back out the window, still open from before. My room wasn't very high up, I figured I could climb out without much risk.

My dads angered words echoed throughout the halls as he approached my room. He was mad, and in my irrational state of mind I had only one choice; jump out. I landed in a pile of snow as I heard the door slam against my wall. "Grace!" he spat. "Come here right now!"

I didn't. I ran, often tripping through the thick snow. My heart thudded in my chest as my surroundings turned black. Worry shot through me when the next simulation hadn't started quickly. I hadn't hit the relief button, but I ran away from the fear. The next scene appeared and I couldn't tell if I was relieved or distressed.

I was sitting in my living room, near Mom. My brother, Toby, and my dad were talking in the kitchen. My brother was becoming a teenager in this scene, and that was when he'd started following in Dad's path. Countless memories flooded my mind. Memories of being shoved into my room and locked there. Memories of his taunts, and not feeling worth anything. Memories of helplessness. My mom hadn't known until too late that Toby was becoming our dad, and so she couldn't protect me.

Besides the memories, I couldn't figure out what was supposed to be scary in this scene. I waited silently on the couch, as not to provoke the other two. The doorbell rang and Toby had offered to answer it. I looked into my book, knowing Toby's friends were no good either. "Hey Duncan! Glad you came," he greeted casually. My head shot up at the name, and I saw what I hadn't expected.

After several future thoughts being flashed across my mind, I saw my father turned into my brother, who slowly morphed into Duncan. I was snapped back into reality and I started to cry, the image of my brother turning into Duncan burned in my mind. I heard a knock on the door of my cubicle. When I hadn't replied I heard Duncan ask, "are you okay?"

"No," I snapped, accidently sounding much harsher than I had intended. I calmed my voice and continued, "not right now."

A/N The end is in sight, thanks to anyone who has continued to read this far. I don't support the things Grace's father and brother would do, but that's how I created Grace's character. There's two more chapters after this, and then there's a sort of bonus chapter.