My eyes opened in a sudden. The calm peaceful plane had just turned into a mad house. As I got up, I crashed into the wall next to me. I felt dizzy. I soon realized we were spiralling to the Pacific Ocean. The cabin leaders ditched us. They grabbed their parachutes, and they jumped out the plane. They left us with no instructions. People started flying around the plane crashing into the walls. Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling. As I started to reach for the mask, the wall cracked. That instant 5 people rocketed out of the plane. I started to fly off the plane trying to reach for anything to hold onto.
Finally, a seat belt allowed my hand to grab onto it. I held on as best as I could, but the wind would just pull me in. I could feel the wind pulling me into it’s grasp, and I knew its only intention was to send me to the world above. I could see more people flying out of the plane. I found my hand give in to the powerful wind. My hand let go and I found myself hurtling into the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Everything I could do to save myself disappeared. I realized that nothing could be done. Suddenly my head slammed into a metallic surface of the plane putting me out of conscious.
Water was where I should have ended up, and I had not landed on water. Where did I end up? I had dare not opened my eyes. Instead of water, I landed on a cold brick felt surface.
Confusion rushed through my delicate mind, how could I land on a cold brick surface when falling into cold, deep, salty water should have been. I then realized that the only way to find out where my landing happened, was to open my eyes. My eyes slowly opened trying to analyze the surrounding environment. My eyes were open.

It took some time to process what I saw. All I could see was an alley way. There were closed down shops and restaurants.
Trash and dust flew around the alley polluting the air. The fragrance smelled unpleasant. It smelled like rotten eggs wrapped in gym clothes. The old alley way looked mostly deserted, except for one man. He sat on a wooden chair by at an old closed down restaurant. I couldn’t see his face, but I could see the rest of his body. He looked as an overweight man. He wore a brown leather jacket, and a pair of shady, blue, ripped jeans. His black leather boots showed his sense of fashion, I walked over to him hoping that I could make sense of this place.
“Excuse me sir,” I asked as politely as possible. “Yes boy,” he replied. His accent made it hard to distinguish between an australian accent and a deep cowboy accent. He seemed as a very joyful person.“Sir where may I be?” I asked again but much more anxiously. The man replied, “Well you are in neutro city.” My head went red hot trying to digest everything I just heard.
How did I end up in “Neutro City” when I my landing should have been in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. And what the hell is neutro city! This blubbered up man said it as if I knew what this damn place was in the first place. I became mad, but I tried not to show it. I tried to ask another question as politely as possible. “Excuse me sir, but who are you?” “Of course, how could I not inform you of the very presence of myself,” the man answered.
“My name is Ruk and I take the role the neutral’s advisor, and I welcome help it through the mind games,” he commented. “In other words I live here to help you and to answer any question you may have,” he clarified. Excitement rushed through me, I would finally know where I ended up.
I started to ask, “Okay, what is a neutral.” Ruk started to respond, “a neutral is a name used to classify a person’s place in the grand cycle.” There is the living, neutral, and the dead.” Ruk started to say more, “You existed once the living, now you are a neutral.” That made a little sense to me, but I was still majorly lost.
My questions piled up and I started to ask another question, “I now know why I haven’t heard of neutro city, but I still want to know what it is.” Ruk then started to answer “Neutro city is more of a bridge, he added.” “You can go both ways on a bridge, but you can also be stuck in the middle.” I couldn’t tell if that he implied it or he made it clearly explicit. I knew I would be asking questions till my mouth drops to my knees. I realized that Ruk’s cheerful personality seemed fake as he tried to hide something from me. So I asked one final question to wrap this up. “What are the mind games.”

Apparently that became a hard topic because once I asked that question Ruk’s face went pale. “This is the one topic, the neutral is not allowed to talk about, unless the neutral decides to participate in the Mind Games,” he answered quietly.
I could tell that this game might not be a regular sports game in which you win or lose and it is all over. I had to ask some more questions to understand where Ruk wanted me to go. “If I were to participate in the mind games, what would be my reward.” Ruk started to answer. “Well the only reward that the neutral would want, the choice of there place in the cycle.” I understood everything then. If I did participate in these games, I could live again. Without thinking I exclaimed, “take me to the mind games.” Ruk started to prepare for something as if a ceremony was happening. “Close your eyes and don’t open them until I say, if you do open your eyes, you will immediately be sent to the stage of the grand cycle of your inconvenience, Ruk said. I shut my eyes and I did not open them. I could not interpret what happened, but I could tell that something was happening that Ruk did not want me to see. I then heard one single word, “open.” I heard it from a voice that I had not recognized.
I opened my eyes and I could not see anything. I appeared in a dark space. I couldn’t tell where I Ruk took me, but I decided to stay where he brought me. I then saw one bright light shining on me. I looked to the side of me and realized I wasn’t alone.
There were a total of 8 different people on both sides of me. I could see all boys except for one girl. I looked to the side of me and saw a big black man. He had a tattoo of a dragon on his left arm. Muscles popped out of his entire body; I couldn’t see an ounce of fat on his body. His face appeared broad. He wore a black tank top, and his jeans were basically torn. He wore running shoes.
“Hey punk,” he called out. I looked at him, but I realized he wasn’t talking to me. I looked to the side of me and saw a small kid about 12 to 13 years old. The man started to talk again, “I am going to make sure Dentom skins you alive, and he puts your bones up for decoration.” The kid got a little scared, but found himself talking back, “The only time I will be encountering Dentom is when you cry for my help to fight off Dentom.” The man started to talk again, “Screw you Jose.” Before Jose could talk back, a man, coming out of nowhere, started to speak.
I couldn’t see him, but I could clearly hear him. He started to speak, “Welcome to the mind games,” he started to speak. “My name is Argus Drash.” “In these games you will be tricked, scared, and possibly sent to the stage of death.” Out of 9 contestants, only 1 will be named champion, and he or she will go to the stage of their choice.” “But beware, Dentom still lurks in the mind games, and he is out to get anyone who enters his realm.”
Mr. Drash finally stepped closer to us, so that he became visible to our eyes. He appeared as a short man no less than 5ft 2 inches. His face was long and his skin looked pale. A fake smile marred his face ruining the perfect picture. He was relatively fit, though his legs may have picked up some fat.
He started to speak again. “You will be given 1 minute to speak with your advisor, and you will be sent out into the mind games.” I saw 9 people walking over to us. Among them I recognized Ruk. Ruk had no smile; instead he trembled with fear. and he seemed to be reciting something.
He walked over to me and asked, “Hey, how are you doing.” I could tell he was nervous. I realized if I showed that he would die of a heart attack, or in this case “sent to the next stage.” “I am fine,” I replied as confident as possible. Fortunately that was enough to make him feel better. Mr. Drash started to speak again, “Your 1 minute starts now!
Ruk started to speak, “Ok first off if you get that feeling you are being stalked, then it is true.” “The stalker’s name will be named Dentom,” Ruk hurriedly spoke. “Dentom’s appearance is not known to me, but you will know when you see it.” When Ruk said the word it, that brought my fright level up past no return. “Also, you will be given a device that allows you to summon me any time you need help during the games, but you can only use it once,” Ruk unclearly spoke.
There were 15 seconds left on the clock. “You will have to face Dentom during the game at least once,” he calmly said. Ruk started to talk more, “When that happens, you will NOT summon me to help you, do you understand.” Ruk was very serious, so I decided to go along with his idea. “ I do,” I replied. “Oh I almost forgot, Dentonm’s weakness is….”
We shall now start the games,” Mr. Drash interrupted Ruk. The platform we were standing on rose high. I could see a light above us that kept getting brighter and closer. I finally entered it and saw an audience.
I couldn’t clearly see them, but right as I was about to look closely at them Mr. Drash butted in. “I wouldn’t look at the audience if I were you; the last time someone looked at them, he disappeared,” Mr. Drash whispered. He then started to speak to the entire group. “You will each be given any 3 things of your desire,” he commented. “A bag will be coming around, and anything you imagine in your mind will be in your hands.” The bag started to come around.
I could already see machine guns, knives, and rockets being handed out. I realized that the players should not only fear Dentom, but they should fear each other. I saw that the bag came to me. I tried to imagine a gun or knife, but I could only imagine a mirror. I then felt something in my hand. I looked down and saw a small mirror in my hand. I picked out a rope and a backpack. I realized that everyone had been gazing at me for my lack of weaponry. 1 question came on my mind as I started to ask Mr. Drash.
I went up to him and asked him, “Are the players allowed to kill each other?” Mr. Drash answered in a smile, but it was not a fake smile this time. “Well the objective of the game is to be the first one to make it to the entrance to the other stages, and a relieving way to do that is to eliminate all the variables,” Mr. Drash replied implicitly.
I realized that the other players were variables, and there is only one way to eliminate the other players. I tried not to think too much about that topic, but there was one topic that I was more afraid of, Dentom. If I can put together what everyone has spoken about Dentom, I can already tell that it is the worst of all my problems. Mr. Drash once again started to announce to us.
“You are all about to enter the Mind Games, and I wish you all good luck and happy survival.” The place started to get darker. It started spinning around. I had first thought that we were again being transported to another place, but I realized it was me that was shutting down. It felt like a 30 pound bowling ball had weighed me down, and suddenly I found myself in a deep deep sleep.

I woke up in a corner. I looked on both sides of me and saw 2 pathways leading in different directions. I realized that I had already entered the Mind Game. I chose 1 path and walked all the way down. I saw many twists and turns, but I decided to stay on the same path. I walked really slow, and I kept my eyes peeled open for any other players, but more importantly Dentom. I kept walking until I had that feeling Ruk told me about; I was being followed. I had no defensive material, but I armed myself with what I had. I walked a little faster, but I maintained a slow pace. I did not want to alert Dentom, but I also wanted to get away from it. I found a turn in the path I was walking on, so I decided to take it.
Once I turned I put my back on the wall, and I waited for the monstrosity to arrive. I waited there, until I heard footsteps approaching my location. I took out my rope. I decided I could tie the rope around Dentom’s neck possibly killing it. I waited until it got closer, and I then made my move. I jumped out, and I was surprised to see what I saw. I definitely did not see Dentom. Instead, I saw the one girl in this competition.
She was frightened to see what I was about to do. I put my rope down and apologized. “It is ok,” the girl replied. “What is your name?” I asked her. “My name is Lara,” she replied. “My name is Will,” I unnecessarily told her. Lara started to ask another question. “Is this your first time in the games? I replied with the correct answer. Lara was a white person. She had short brown hair, and was as tall as me. She was very skinny. Her face was very pretty. “I am really lost,” I told her. “Can you help me get past the Mind Games?” She replied yes, and that made me very relieved. We continued along the games.
Lara and I blindly continued along the mind game. We took turn after turn and we got nowhere. We occasionally got sleep, and when we did get sleep we would always have a guard. I finally got fed up with taking wrong turns, and keeping guard every time. “We need a guide,” I told Lara. “That isn’t possible, they change the games every time,” Lara told me. I started to speak, “I know that, but we need someone who has a lot of experience with the games.” Lara replied, “We will find someone soon.”
We still walked around the game hoping we can find some passageways. Lara gripped her knife the whole time. We started to hear some voices coming out of the distance. We hid behind a wall and looked out. It was the big black man holding Jose by the back of his shirt. We saw three other people with him. “Dentom!” the black man called out. “His name is Mac Dugry,” Lara whispered to me. “But he calls himself Tentris,” Lara whispered. Tentris reminded me of the game I used to like called Tetris. “Dentom, claim my offering to you,” Tetris shouted.
“Who is that kid he his holding?” I asked Lara. “His name is Jose; this is his 15th time playing the games,” Lara replied. I realized that this kid could help us get through the games. “We need to save him; he can help us in the games,” I told Lara. Before we could plan, one of Tentris’s men saw us. We started to run at them. That distracted Tentris, giving Jose an opportunity to take down Tentris.
Jose elbowed Tentris in the gut and jumped out of his grasp. Lara and I took down one of the players, and we grabbed Jose and ran away. The other players were chasing us through the game while Tentris lay on the ground. “Lose them here,” Jose shouted. We followed him, and the other players went in the opposite direction. We caught our breath and then we started to walk. “Alright, we will split parts at that pathway, Jose commanded.
“Hey Jose,” I asked. “We were wondering if you could help us get past the games,” I asked nervously asked. “Alright I’ll help you, but only under some conditions,” Jose replied. “One, you screw me, you die,” Jose exclaimed. “Two, you protect me from Dentom, and the other idiots roaming around hunting poor punies,” Jose told. “Alright we will do that,” Lara told him. “Good, lets get started,” Jose exclaimed.
We followed all of Jose’s tips and advices, and they were actually really use full. He lead us through the Games, and that gave us all time to bond together. I learned that Lara was sent to Neutro because she was at a space station and her oxygen supply had run out, and Jose was sent here because he fell off a cliff. It was all going well until that feeling came back; we were being followed. The others were also well aware of that. We silently decided that we would act natural. I asked Jose one question, “Jose what does Dentom look like?” Jose replied, “I would rather not tell.”
We kept going forward until we saw who we really did not want to see, Tentris. “Well, well, well,” Tentris humored. “Look who just walked into death.” Jose started to speak, “Tentris Dentom is right behind us; we need to pass. “That just makes things better,” Tentris spoke. The players following him grabbed us and put us on the ground. I could feel something getting closer and closer. Until finally it came.

I closed my eyes to not see what was visible to everyone. I could hear screams from everyone, but among them I heard one that brought me to open my eyes. I saw my mother lying down with the man setting his gun at her. He fired and pointed it at me. I saw that everyone had summoned their advisor to help them. Everyone, including Tentris, ran away.I started to run away, but I then realized that I had to protect Jose. I ran over to him and started to pull him out before he could shoot us dead. “Jose, come on,” I shouted over to him.
He did not come. “I have been afraid of this for too long; run away I will protect you guys,” Jose insisted. I watched as he approached the man. The man was looking at me the whole time, but Jose just walked over to it and Jose disappeared screaming as he did it. I ran away not looking back, but crying because I had failed him. I just kept running. I did not find Lara anywhere, but I just kept running. I finally stopped when I was 110 percent sure I was safe.
I had been scarred to see that monstrosity again, the same thing I have been trying to run away from my entire life. I was freaking out. I sat down and cried until I realized that I had to keep going. The only reason Jose sacrificed himself was to face his fear and for us to keep going. I walked along the pathway once again blinded, yet I developed a sense of direction.. When Dentom killed Jose, I did not fully understand what happened. But I knew for sure one thing. Jose and I saw something else when looking at Dentom.



I thought about the games. Jose saw a different form of Dentom, but I saw something else. This game was supposed to use our fears and desires against us.
Before I could think about this more, I saw her. There she showed up young but old. The long beautiful face shined out. She had a skinny body. Her hand held out for me to hold. I ran over to her, but she kept moving away. I kept running until she finally disappeared. I knelt down. I did not cry, but I became heart broken. My mother had left me. I felt a cold deep hole in my heart. I picked my stuff up and I kept walking. I realized that I had then lost everything that mattered to me. They left me helpless and alone in a pit full of dread and hatred. Everything that loved me turned against me and went in the opposite direction, but they never looked back. They didn’t stop to think about the boy who drowned in the bowl of his own misfortunes. That is what that felt like.

I did not stop, nor did I know where I was going. I just kept walking. I kept walking until I found Lara. “Will, thank god I found you.” She said. “Why did you leave?” I asked her. “I am sorry Will, I just got scared.” There was something wrong. Lara and I could not just find each other. “Lara, what is going on?” I asked her.
Lara then was pushed down by Tentris. Rage boiled up in my body. Looking at Tentris reminded me of everything that I had lost in these games. “Screw you Tentris, because of you everyone has had a living hell in this stupid game.” I shouted. “That is just what I do.” Tentris laughed. That was it! I had enough of this idiot. I ran over to him and punched him in the gut. Two more players started to attack me when Lara knocked one out while I kicked the other guy in the groin.
Tentris got up and was really angry. He punched me in the face. It felt like a bowling ball hit my face. I took my rope and brought it around his neck. I pulled as hard as I could blinded by the things he did to make my life worse. I kept pulling until Lara tackled me. I realized I was trying to kill somebody. Tentris was laying on the ground, and I was pretty sure that was where he would be for a long time.
“The entrance to the other stages are only that way.” Lara exclaimed. We both ran over there. We kept running until the entrances were visible. Then Dentom came out of nowhere, and started to shoot his bullets. Again fear rushed through my body. I hid and looked over to Lara. She was right beside me. I came to realize something, but I could only be sure if I ask Lara.
“What do you see, when you look at Dentom?” She could not reply. “Lara please tell me I need to know.” I told her. She then talked. “When I was little I saw a man running away from the cops.” “I was hiding behind a trash can and he came up to me.” Lara cried. “The man told me if I told the cops of his location; he would kill me and my family.” She whimpered.
I then knew what was going on, and I finally came up with a plan. I told Lara about it. She unhappily agreed, and ran off. I walked over to Dentom. He shot two bullets at me, but I did not feel them. I kept walking at him, and he kept shooting bullets. I did not feel a thing. I then started to talk.
“Everyone has a fear, but if you learn to face your fear they cannot harm you.” I told Dentom. I had finally figured out what Dentom’s weakness was, himself. “You have only posed as fear, but have you faced it?” I shined my mirror at Dentom, and it started to scream. “Lara now!” I shouted. Lara came behind Dentom and stabbed it. Dentom exploded into dust. We had just defeated Dentom. We had won. The happiness could not last forever because, I had just realized that only one of us could win. So I started to think and came up with a plan that I knew I would hate.

I went over to Lara, and I started to talk. “We won.” I tried to calm her. “But Lara, I have been learning the game the whole time we were in it.” I told her. The game has put us through so much hardship that we learned to just move through it to just forget about it.” What are you going at Will?” Lara asked. “How can we live through all this; won’t it be logical to just give up.” I told her. “Lara, I give up.” I told her.
I put my rope around my neck and was about to tie a knot. “Will don’t do it.” Lara exclaimed. Lara came up to me, and I grabbed her arm tied the rope around her hand. I tied the other end to a point on the wall. I then summoned Ruk. Ruk came and I told him to keep Lara away. Ruk felt happy, but not the same fake expressions he was displaying through out the time. He felt free,as if his whole life had been in a cage, and I had given him the key to unlocking his cage. Ruk smiled and this time it showed Ruk’s true colors. “Hey Will, win this for me.” Ruk told. “Yes sir,” I replied back. I sprinted all the way to the finish line. I stopped at the finish line and I looked back. Lara trapped in a rope having to face another painful heart breaking Mind Games. I then looked at Ruk. He helped me through this, and he never left my side. I turned my head back to the finish line, and I did what I had to do. This game did not turn out to be a game only about life or death. The game’s prior objective was to take that most feared and desired element and to turn it against you to show you what true pain feels like. That is only when you can be chosen to become a true champion. I took that final step, with regret of letting everyone down. I might of won, but inside I had failed.

Suddenly I showed up somewhere else. The room I came into was filled with many different types of technology including cameras and computers. I could see different people looking at a monitor, and I realized that these people were spying on us the whole time we were in the game. I saw Lara still tied by a rope crying because of betrayal. One single tear ran down my cheek, but Mr. Drash interrupted me. “I see you have finished the game.” Mr. Drash said. “Not only did you finish the game, but you outsmarted it.” He exclaimed. “You will now have the choice of the next stage,” Mr. Drash told me. Two doors opened up. The doors opened for me to see a long dark tunnel realized one symbolized death and the other represented life. Inside the doors were not visible to my eyes. I looked at them for a long hard time, and I looked back at Mr.Drash and thought about everything that happened. I boldly chose one door and I started to walk. “Aren’t you going to ask me which door is which,” Mr. Drash interrupted. “I am pretty sure I know,” I answered back. Before I entered, I asked Mr. Drash a question. “Before Lara starts over, please tell her I am sorry.” “Sure thing,” Mr. Drash replied. I took a deep breath and walked through the door.
At first I was surprised to see what I saw, but I knew in my heart this was where I belonged.

“We are ready to get the next players in the game Mr. Drash.” “Good, open the games to them.” Mr. Drash replied. Mr. Drash was giving new instructions to Dentom when an official came up to him.
“Hello Mr. Drash, my name is Tarris Hoger, and I am the secretary of stage transportation.” Mr. Hoger introduced. Mr. Hoger was that type of college professor you would see every day. I would say he was in his late 50’s, and he was about 6ft 2 inches. He wore round glasses, and had a long brown colored face. He wore a black suit, and he wore black dress shoes “I am here to discuss the case of Will Gudder,” Mr. Hoger told Mr.Drash. Mr. Drash started to speak, “Ah yes he was one interesting player.” “What would you like to know about him?” “I would just like to discuss about his previous life.” Mr. Hoger replied. “Funny you should say previous life Mr. Hoger; it is appropriate considering the fact he chose the stage of death.”