Page 61 of Deviant

I want drugs.

And if Rohypnol isn’t an option, then I’m sure any would do in a pinch.

There has to be some in here.

There just has to be.

With the Harvest Festival approaching, I have no doubt that my father and his deputies have confiscated a wide range of drugs. Blackwater Falls is plagued by addiction, as many members of our community have chosen to escape the harsh realities that come with living in this town by using meth, fentanyl, heroin, and a variety of other illegal substances.

I know there are plenty of people who look down on these poor souls, thinking their existence should be eradicated from our town. But if no one in Blackwater Falls has ever dared to lift a finger to end The Scourge once and for all, then what moral high ground does anyone have to judge on how a person deals with such a thing hanging over their heads?

It’s not like they are an eyesore in our town since most prefer to live at the border, living off whatever the forest can provide.

Nora took me there once when we were kids just to watch them from afar. I’m not sure what the purpose of the visit was, but I know it scared me half to death. All those people…looking completely lost in their despair…it was heartbreaking.

Nora, however, had a different reaction.

She got angry.

“It’s not fair. They get to escape while everyone else has to deal and suffer.”

At the time, I knew where her resentment was really coming from. Elias had just turned eighteen and was old enough to qualify for the games.

By some ill stroke of luck, we never saw anyone that suffered from addiction ever get picked for the Harvest Dozen. It was always the smartest and strongest of us that seemed to get selected. And to us, there wasn’t anyone that fit that bill quite like Elias Larsen. He just oozed confidence and strength.

I spent many afternoons in the Larsen’s home backyard, just watching him chop wood for the winter without even breaking a sweat.

Not only that, but Elias also had brains. He skipped two years in high school and graduated early at only sixteen.

However, it wasn’t any of those attributes that fascinated me. What really intrigued me was how he went through life with no worries or concerns, even with the threat of death staring him in the face. Call it a schoolgirl crush, but even at thirteen, I knew my best friend’s older brother was one of a kind.

But when Elias didn’t get picked for the Harvest Dozen that year or the following one, Nora started to breathe easier, whereas the rest of us became suspicious of her brother instead.

Maybe something was wrong with Elias after all. I mean, there must have been a reason for him not to get picked.

Over the years, we witnessed men and boys being summoned who, compared to Elias, were far weaker and much less intelligent. At the time, rumors started to spread that he knew a secret that the rest of the town didn’t—one that enabled him to be spared from the games.

I, myself, spent endless hours wondering if the rumors were true or not.

Not that I wanted Elias to be chosen.

I liked Elias.

I mean…I really liked Elias, even if he never spared me so much as a second glance.

He embodied something I always wanted to be.

Like Nora, he was fearless.

Their brother, Aidan, not so much. Sure, he’s friendly and sweet when he wants to be, but those traits are of little use in a town like Blackwater Falls.

I should know.

Since those are the traits people think of when they think of me, too.

When Nora called me a “good girl” yesterday at the cemetery, she knew exactly which nerve she was hitting. She was well aware that after my mother’s death, I became so fearful of my own shadow that I felt the need to do everything perfectly. I didn’t dare break a rule or color outside the lines, always careful not to upset anyone for fear of the repercussions. I lead the most boring life, thinking that maybe, just maybe, it would be enough for no one to really pay any attention to me. And by no one, I mean whoever is behind the selection process for The Scourge.

I didn’t want to have the same fate as my mother. And for Nora to use that against me, it felt like a sucker punch to the stomach.

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