CHALLENGE SIX

"Now that you're gone, feel like myself again. Grieving the things I can't repair and willing.

To let you blame it on me."

SIX - The Past Problems

RYAN

We spend about two days in Orlando. As much as I hate to say it, we needed that extra day to rest and regroup. Toby's been different for one, actually, we all have, and after what happened in the swamp I'm pretty weary of him. Actually, I'm not sure how to feel about any of the members on my team right now. They all are good people, don't get me wrong, but they're also closed off. No, I don't supply a lot of information about myself, but that's not quite the point. What I mean is, we all obviously do not trust one another, and that is not a good sign. In the thick of things, we pull through, but I don't know if it will be enough to make us win.

Our next challenge is waiting by the door of our hotel room. Someone obviously slipped it through the door crack. I pick it up and rip open the envelope, and I'm curious, real curious. Everyone else is still asleep in the other room. Toby is sprawled on the couch. T/Cory are in the bed, and Ipod is in the other. Boys, I don't know why they can't share a bed with each other. The couch doesn't look too comfortable, but Toby insisted. Something about wanting to be up all night playing some stupid video game. Waste of time, but I didn't want to fight him too much on the issue because in the end, I'm not sure it would have been worth it. Irritating, sure, but so long as he continues to function appropriately, I won't be giving him grief over it. Now if that changes, that'll be another story.

Who you going to call? Ghost busters. Enter this address, and be ready to face a new kind of truth. Complete this task, and you'll be one step closer to your goal and your next treat. It’s a doozy.

I stare at the note, thinking about the picture I got as part of our last reward. I keep it close to me, and I don't let anyone else see it - anyone else see her. I don't think the others would understand if I told them after all. I'm sure they don't think much of me to begin with, but to find out that I have a daughter through a one-night-stand might destroy any credibility I have left. If we can win this, then I can be with her, and I can't wait. It was a mistake to have given her up to begin with, but at the time I would have done anything to keep my ex.

The others sleep for another half an hour. I don't want to rush anyone awake, but we should get moving soon. T is the first to wake up. He grabs his glasses and rubs his eyes, before getting up and using the bathroom. He showers and is ready in a decent period of time as well. I like that he's so considerate of time. Cory, not so much, but I suppose that's why T is the one who gets the morning hours and Cory is the night owl. Not to say Cory isn't fun and interesting. His laid back attitude is mildly refreshing, but he's also immature to the point where I want to sock him a lot.

"Stop making so much noise," Toby whines from the couch. He groans, looks at the clock and sees that it's around 9:30 in the morning, and decides to get up so he can use the bathroom next. He doesn't shower, but he gets ready all the same. Gross much? So long as he doesn't smell I suppose. Ipod, per usual, is last to get up. The girl is lazy as all get out.

I show the others the note, each looking it over curiously.

"The address is for some place in New Orleans." T comments. "Looks like we have another fairly long journey ahead of us."

Toby groans a little, he's kind of always complaining I've noticed. "I'm so tired of sitting in a damn car."

"We all are." I say, and start packing up my bag. "I'm not looking forward to this challenge. Let's get it over and done with as soon as possible. Plus I don't know if they've siced the hunters on us yet."

"Can't even eat breakfast first?" I sigh, because as much as I don't want to eat on the go, again, because fast food only does so much good for a person. I also don't want to waste more time. "We'll stop at a grocery store and pick up something? Or maybe a diner."

"Diner sounds divine. I would kill for something at least sort of resembling home cooking. Might be the closest we can get to it." Toby says with a sigh.

"We'll see how much time we have first."

Not too much longer and we're on the road again. We ended up spending more time at the hotel eating the complimentary breakfast it provided and then high tailed it out of there. So far we haven't had any high speed chases, and I'd like to keep it that way. I think our plan to avoid using our credit cards as much as possible is working. Toby is shotgun today, T is in the back curling up and looking miserable, and Ipod is jamming to her music. It's a long drive. It takes us a couple of days even because I don't speed, and because of some traffic issues. Oh and Toby wanted to get up and stretch, a lot.

We pull up in front of a large, abandoned house. I'm not looking forward to this. I always hated movies about hauntings, or scary movies in general. I also never enjoyed going on haunted house rides, despite my ex's insistance that they were 'fun'. I close my eyes and open the door.

"Alright, let's do this." As soon as we enter, hands are grabbing me. It takes me a moment to realize they belong to hunters. I struggle but these guy are strong. Eventually, a blindfold is placed over my eyes, and I'm taken away, shakled down, and then abandoned.

"Hello?" I call out. "Guys?"

"I'm here." I hear T's shakey voice. "Toby? Ipod?"

There's no reply. At least I'm not alone, but the lack of sight is throwing off my entire perception of where I am and the space I'm in. It makes me feel claustrophobic and if there's one thing I'm especially terrified of, it's that.

"Okay, stay calm, and figure out how we can get out of this." I mumble to myself. I try to feel around me, searching for something, anything, that will help me get out. I can move my arms a little and I grasp a hold of something hard and slimey. Gross. Then I realize that this hard and slimey thing is in the shape of fingers and I scream.

"What happened?" T asks. "Are you okay?"

"I think I just touched a dead person." "What? That's disgusting." But I'm not sure if he believes me. T is always so logical and he's still in this mindset that the show producers wouldn't allow for anything to actually hurt us or kill us. I on the other hand am not so sure. Ever since the night in the fun house, I've been skeptical.

"Do you think you can get out?" I ask. "Let me work on it, for a second but I...."

He trails off. "What is that light?"

"What light?" I ask. I can't see anything, not really, but then it appears in my line of vision as well. A light, and in such a way that I can see it perfectly despite my blindfold. It surrounds me, and then when it fades away I find myself sitting in the corner of a living room, completely alone. "T?" But there's no reply.

I slowly stand, curious, scared, but determined to figure out this puzzle and get the hell out of there so we can keep moving forward. I grab the handle of the door in front of me and open it to find my ex. Before I can get a word out, his hands are around my throat and he’s pushing me up against a wall, trying to kill me.

Struggling, I fight, hit, kick, do whatever I can to get him off of me, but it’s no use.

“You should have thought about this better. You know there is no way I’m going to let you bring that brat back into our lives. I never wanted to be a father. Should have just aborted her.”

I’m starting to get dizzy, but I’m able to mouth out three words I’d never once told him before. They’re hard to say. I never wanted to ever admit to him I had betrayed him, but now I suppose it doesn’t matter since he was never loyal to me to begin with.

“She’s not yours.”

His grip loosens on me. “What was that?”

I can speak now at least, and breathe. “She’s not yours.”

He then back hands me and I hit the wall. “Lying whore!”

I fight back, giving him one solid kick into the knees. He falls, and I run for the door. I run through the halls, they’re all blank and desolate. They kind of remind me of a dream. I glance back to see if he’s following me, and I run into a wall. Only when I turn back forward I notice it’s not actually a wall I ran into but a guy. A big, strong, guy because his chest felt like a wall.

He’s familiar, and it takes me a moment to figure out where I know him from. He’s the one I cheated with, my one night stand.

“Ryan, we need to get out of here and get back to the others.” He says.

“What are you…?”

“I need you to focus. You’ve admitted your biggest secret. Now you can get through the door.”

“Get through the…door?”

“Focus.” He whispers, and then disappears into nothing else.

Focus on what? I close my eyes, an idea forming in my mind. If I can go back in time, maybe I can go back to the room as though this never happened. Time passes by and I float back through the hallway, back to the room and then through the light into the blackness.

“STAY OUT OF THE LIGHT T!” I scream.

“Huh?” I hear him say. “What light?”

I’m panting, shivering, and then I feel strong, yet gentle hands on my upper arms. I try to get free but I’m still restrained.

“It’s me,” T says and pulls off my blindfold. “Are you okay?”

I nod. “what happened? I don’t….”

“Creatures of the dark, messing with your head no doubt. They have a tendency to uh, feed off of your biggest fears.”

“Did you see anything?”

“Hmm?” He asks and completely blows off my question. With a small hand gesture, I’m released from my chains. “Let’s see if we can find the others. They can’t be far right?”