Chapter Twenty-One

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(Alleya's POV)

I was running through the woods. It's was daylight, but I couldn't see anything. Twigs scratched my face and poison ivy wrapped around my legs.

My nose was bleeding due to a previous trip over a log. The same incident caused me to break a toe, but I kept running.

I didn't know what exactly I was running from, all I knew is that if I stopped, I was dead. So, I never stopped despite the pain.

Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of me. It was Percy.

"Come with me," he said, holding out his hand.

Should I trust him? Instincts told me to stay away, but my heart told me something different.

"This isn't Percy," I muttered to myself. I swerved around him and took the other path. I turned around and saw a horde of beasts surrounding him and I knew I had made the right choice.

When I looked forward, I saw a tree had popped up in my path. I jumped around it, causing me to lose my balance and crash to the ground. I screamed in pain. I landed wrist first. There was a horrible snapping sound and I knew that my wrist was broken.

The howls grew closer, so I picked myself up and ran. I ran until my lungs hurt. I ran until my feet bleed. I ran until sadness over took me. What had my life become?

I decided to climb a tree, knowing that running wasn't going to help anything. I just hope these things couldn't climb.

I hauled myself up to the highest branch and started to cry. My best friend kissed my crush. Neither one of my friends cared I was gone. I didn't know where my sisters were and I was about to die. I guess it's fair to say I'm severely depressed.

The tree swayed as claws scratched at the trunk. At this point, I didn't even care. I had failed. This was it for me, and to be honest, death didn't look so bad right now. It's better than being tortured in life.

The tree fell, my head hit the ground and pain shot threw me momentarily. Then there was nothing. Just black nothingness. I was dead.

The blackness faded and I was back in my cell. There was only one fish thing this time. She wasn't holding any needles, just a wire that she had just detached from my head.

"You passed the test. There will be more tomorrow," she informed me.

I passed the test? I died! How could I even be here if I was dead? None of this made any sense.

"This doesn't add up," I said, rubbing my sore head, "I died!"

The fish lady rolled her eyes. I didn't think fish could do that. "You died in the simulation. Not in real life. You passed because you lasted a very long time and trusted your instincts. Now, someone will be by to serve you dinner. Goodbye."

She exited the room, and hung the wire, along with the keys to my cell, on a rack in the hall.

I sighed and propped my head against the wall. I was never going to get out of here.

Another fish thing came by later and gave me a glass of sour water, moldy bread, and a rotten banana. I pushed it away in disgust. Some dinner.

If depression, and these tests didn't kill me, starvation would. And that doesn't seem like a pleasant way to die.

I laid down on my cot, only to find my pillow was made out of old newspapers. I flung it at the door and tried to situate myself. I curled up in a ball and willed myself to go to sleep. But that's hard to do on an empty stomach, so I looked up at the ceiling and cried myself to sleep.

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