Illusional

Finally, Some Breathing Room

    My own subconscious stepped out from the crowd and to the front, stating evilly, "You've done great so far, Stella, but it's not good enough."

"What do you mean...?" I asked with concern in my voice.

"Don't you get it?" Mason's subconscious asked back. "This is too easy for you. The illusions we throw at you are nothing when your family and friends tag along. You, Mason, Marleigh, Brandon, Zachary, Andrew, John, Leo, and Bill combined are stopping you from overcoming your fears." Mason paused, sighed, then continued, "...which is why we have to stop you ourselves."

"Mason..." Stella's subconscious started, "are you sure you want to do this? What about me?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't think we have a choice."

"What are y'all talking about?" I asked.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Brandon's subconscious interjected. "Stella, we're going to kill you! Your subconscious can't strive in your fears! We didn't want to do this, truly, but it's the only way."

"No... I'm begging you, please!" I pleaded. "How am I supposed to survive?! There's 8 of us and 10 of y'all!"

"Precisely." my subconscious chuckled. "Get her!"

With that, the hallway turned into an arena. Punches, kicks, and shoves were being thrown in just about every direction possible, and axes from the subconsciouses were being swung and missed at others.

The subconsciouses came planned, too. Brandon and Andrew's subconsciouses, who were among the strongest, started targeting the weaker ones like me, Mason and Leo, which gave them the upper hand.

The worst part is that, most of the time, we real people didn't have enough time to react. Without our subconsciouses in us, we can't instinctively think. Moreover, the subconsciouses had the ability to disappear into thin air and reappear in the worst spots imaginable (for us) giving us an unfair battle.

    We tried to fight the subconsciouses off as best as we could, but it was very hard to due to our slow reaction time. All of us got injured, but some of us got more injured than others. Nonetheless, all of us got injured at least a little bit, even if it was just a bruise.

In addition, the subconsciouses started to make illusions to tag along with them. Now it was almost certain we were going to lose. This wasn't just a game, this was a life-or-death situation, but the subconsciouses treat it like a game. Just a silly little game. Even though we were such well-bred people, it was almost mind-boggling to see our subconsciouses be so evil so as to kill their own residence!

The only good thing was that my wound already felt clotted up and it didn't feel like it was bleeding anymore, though that was probably the least of our concerns, or mine, at least... also, it was noticeably brighter in the room, even though the lights were still out... perhaps it's our adrenaline giving us tunnel vision?

Although the noise in the hallway was quite loud with all the screaming and axe-clashing, I could hear distinct footsteps outside the cabin. They grew louder, too.

Eventually, after almost a minute, the footsteps stopped. Then a door opened. We all stopped, the subconsciouses dropped their weapons, and we all turned around to see what opened, and we were all amazed and delighted to see something we've all been waiting for: the cabin door was opened!

"Hiya, fellas! How's it going in there?" Jenny said with a smile on her face.

All of us, except for the subconsciouses, ran towards her, hugging her with overwhelming happiness due to the fact that we were no longer stuck here! We're now free!

Each of us thanked Jenny tremendously for freeing us from this cabin, and some started to tear up and even cry in overwhelming joy.

For some reason, my wound has cleared up entirely, so now I didn't feel pain from the wound or from moving.

I turned around back at the hallway, and that's when I noticed the subconsciouses were no longer there. However, I did see a yellow sticky note on the wall at the far end of tbe hall, so I sneakily went over to see what it said, and it was written, "You've successfully overcome your fears." At first, I was wondering what other people I've hurt, but then I realized that my own subconscious was hurt because of my fears, and when Jenny freed us, my subconscious had no more power over me (besides continuing to control my actions and stuff like that) because I had no reason to be afraid anymore, and now my subconscious resides back inside of me once again.

While I was gone, part of the conversation between Jenny and everyone else already happened, but I did hear Jenny start off with, "Yeah, overtime the snow just started to melt from the unexpected heat wave and there was just enough to safely shovel through the snow and get y'all out. I'm just glad y'all made it out unharmed."

"Well..." John started off, but I quickly interrupted him.

"Thanks, Jenny!" I said with gratitude.

"Anytime, kiddo! So, are y'all gonna spend Christmas Day in this cabin, too?" Jenny asked.

"Yep, we all will!" Bill replied.

"Okay, great! Let me know if y'all need anything!"

"Alright, have a good one!"

"Have a good one!" And then Mr. Yemmingham closed the door.

I decided to give Mason back his journal, since there was no longer anything to write.

10:34 AM

    Finally! I haven't written in this journal in quite some time...

    As stated earlier by Stella, everything worked out for us in the end, and we no longer had to suffer any more illusions because we're no longer trapped.

    The rest of the day went smoothly. Me and the others played out in the snow, and Dad had enough energy to make us all a delicious lunch.

But most importantly, we were all happy now. None of us were sad or frustrated or scared of something or someone, or even at each other. We could all just have fun now, just like what I wanted to happen since the beginning of this trip.