Republic of Omisha

Chapter 11: Valerie

  It's not until after Valerie leaves the room, that Eliza moves. Valerie watches her, although Eliza thinks she's gone. She watches Eliza get her anger out as she screams and pounds her fists on the walls, through the safety of the one-way glass.

Back to square one. Valerie thinks as she watches Eliza helplessly. Valerie cares very deeply for others. As much pain as Eliza thinks she's in, doesn't compare to Valerie's.

Valerie knows that Eliza is a big deal. It's all over the new, media, everywhere. Sh doesn't even know it yet, but because of her uniqueness she is already top dog on campus and the deceivers wanted blackmail to have on her and that's why they set her up. They wanted to keep their power.

The next day Valerie visits Eliza. To her surprise she seems perfectly normal. She currently has study hall and has to finish her essay on the recent trials. Since she knows that Eliza would appreciate some time out of her cell, she brings her along to the computer lab.

"Don't touch that." Valerie says to Eliza as she reaches for a button on the main computer. She watches Eliza wander the room aimlessly.

"What's your essay on?"

"The trials."

Eliza nodded, her eyebrows drawn together. "How can the teachers be okay with the trials?" Her tone became headed. "I mean they know what we've gone through." Her voice shrank on the last word.

Valerie replies with a shrug, "we too will be brainwashed by the time were adults to thinking that this is okay."

"How can they forget their siblings that were killed?" She sounded hurt as well as angry.

"Well, our current leader, Liam Nelson, won the trials by killing the other last survivor. He, he ruthless and he has one sibling and she was too young to be in the trials."

"You're not exactly answering my questions."

"Maybe there are no good answers." Valerie bluntly replied with nothing better to say.

Moments on silent past. Valerie could feel the tension in the room. It subsided as Eliza cooled down. Valerie questions being around Eliza. She wanted to help her, but her hotheadedness shook Valerie, who isn't naturally confident.

"What's do you have to do for your essay anyway?" Eliza says when the silence has become unbearable.

"Well, we chose a contestant in the games and write about their experience."

"How did you pick a person? Or did a teacher just assign you someone."

"We choose who we thought was going to win."

"Oh, who did you pick."

"It doesn't matter."

"Come on, please."

"I chose Hugo and Travis."

"Hmm."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Come on."

"Who chose me? Who thought that I was gonna win?"

"To be honest... no one. You and..." Valerie is ashamed of her words. "Every contestant have their odds at winning calculated and with your PTSD you had the lowest score from your assessment between the trials."

Valerie is worried. Eliza looked stunned, but she can be hard to read.

"Can I see them?" Eliza asked showing no emotion.

"I guess." Valerie bring up a web page with the trials information. It had information on all the past contestant, locations and winners with family facts.

After a few minutes browsing some articles Eliza says shaking her head, "something is going on here."

"What?"

"Look, this is a record of the towns that were in the trials. They do two a year so that they get to every town once a generation, every 40 years, but they had just done my town less than a decade ago. Why?"

Valerie thought back to watching Eliza and her sister in the trials. They got out of the escape room unusually fast. Something didn't add up. "How did your sister know where the door was? She was the first one out." It had just been renovated that year. No one had seen the layout.

"She just said that she had seen the trial before and knew where it was."

"The beasts were more aggressive towards your sister than they were to anyone in any of the trials. Why?"

Eliza explains, "They must have been targeting my family. Nine months ago they finished modifications on the escape room walls. The people that were born and raised in my town were slim and under five foot eight. My father moved to Edina after he married my mother and he is six foot two and broad. Don't you see, he and the other four adults that remained in the escape room were all over six feet and weren't born in Edina. Size has never been a factor of who loses the escape room trial; they were targeting my family."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Obviously they were not targeting me or I wouldn't have won and I never did anything to deserve to be targeted. Why would they want to kill my sister?"

"Maybe she knew something or was a part of something that she shouldn't have been." Valerie should have watched her mouth because the look that Eliza gives her makes her shake to the bone.

"Your right, but what? What was she doing?"

The bell suddenly rings. Valerie knows that she has to her next class. "I'm sorry, but I have to go to art. Come on. If you like we can continue this conversation.

"No. We can't talk about this out in the open." Eliza looks suspiciously around the room. "We might not even be able to privately talk here. What if someone was listening to that whole conversation?"

Valerie puts her hands on her hips. "Now you're just being paranoid."

"Someone has been targeting my family. Someone who wants us dead. I think I have the right to be paranoid.

Valerie takes a long sigh. She can't argue with Eliza. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't win, not against Eliza when she has her mind set.