Inferno

Chapter 13: Worst Fears Come True

Tobias told me that I would be facing my worst fears. The first one that I came upon was not what I was thinking I would encounter.

I expected the first one I encounter to be the worst one. And don't get me wrong, this sucks an equal amount, but I know it's not my worst fear.

It's glass. I don't know what the technical term for it is, I never bothered to ask the people at Erudite when I visited.

I have no idea where I am. Other than the small area I'm in, it's pitch black. I go to take a step forward, but I suddenly smash into something. Placing my hand against it, I see it's a glass box. It's not small enough to make me uncomfortable, but it's also not big enough to give me a lot of walking distance.

A small prick on my foot causes me to look down. Underneath my feet are millions of tiny shards of glass, and with every small move I make I just get cut more and more. The blood from my feet starts mixing with the glass, making it look like a stained glass painting.

I hate stained glass.

As the pain becomes bigger and bigger I feel my breathing quicken. The glass reminds me of the shattered bottles that used to lie around the house that I would be forced to clean up. And I remember getting cut with them on purpose sometimes, but not by my doing.

The box starts filling up with more tiny shards, reaching my ankles now. Every small move I make tiny cuts form on my skin, even in places I'm not touching glass.

When I twitch my foot at a particular stinging cut, slashes begin to lace up and down my arms, and I feel a stinging sensation on my face. My blood continues to leak out of my skin, and I feel the beginnings of a panic attack crawl up my throat.

"Clean it up!"

I jump at the voice that appears from nowhere. The same voice that I've tried so desperately to escape.

I whirl around, looking for a place where he might emerge, but I see nothing. Just my reflection in the box.

The glass is now up to my knees, the fear of the situation threatening to choke me. Tobias's words appear in my head, reminding me of what to do.

"Calm yourself, slow your heart rate, and deal with what's in front of you."

Calm. I take a deep breath, willing my body to relax as the glass rises to my waist, inflicting more pain.

Slow my heart rate. I place one bloodied hand over the area on my chest where my heart resides. I close my eyes, holding my hand there as I feel the thumping slow down, almost getting back to a normal pace.

Deal with what's in front of me. I open my eyes, looking down at the glass that now reaches my ribs. I inspect the glass, looking at it closer and seeing each individual point and edge on the shards. But, the more I look at them, the more I see how they aren't sharp. In fact, they're dull.

"This isn't real."

The realization hits me with such a force that my heart rate picks up again, but not in fear. Just to prove to myself that none of this is real, I take one of my hands and plunge it into the depths of the glass.

I feel nothing. No pain, no loss of blood. Nothing.

Finally understanding what I have to do, I brace myself before dunking the rest of my body under the faux glass.

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I jolt up in the chair, my breathing heavy. As I see I'm back in the room with Tobias, I calm down. I was right. It wasn't real.