Chapter 22 #2
Jaime turned away, stepping into the wall. Heather gasped, fearing Jaime was about to smash her own face. Instead, the wall melted into shadows to let Jaime through.
Heather sighed and adjusted her ponytail. Perhaps it had been a mistake to bring that topic up. Jaime clearly wasn’t ready to talk about it. Better not to push her.
The scenery around Heather melted and shifted.
Now she stood in front of a severe, old-fashioned concrete school.
Two wings with pointed roofs jutted out from the main structure.
A belltower with a slate roof stood as the highest point, and a copper weathervane shaped like a rooster tilted in the wind.
Two students passed, both wearing plaid skirts and blazers and carrying schoolbooks. One of them said, ‘Did you hear that Jaime won the school talent show? The robot she built could even sing and dance!’
The other girl nodded. ‘She’s a shoe-in for head girl next year.’ Their voices were slightly robotic, as if they were reciting lines from a play. Of course, this was just an illusion. It all seemed so silly that Heather wanted to laugh.
On the other hand, there was nothing funny about the risk of Jaime being trapped in illusions like the people here, who loved Floor Gluttony too much to leave.
Time to find the kid.
Heather walked past the students, into the building. As further proof that this must all be a dream, no one acknowledged the strange adult entering the school. No one seemed to notice her at all.
The hallways were filled with posters about Jaime’s accomplishments.
A newspaper clipping said that Jaime had won a good-citizen award for rescuing a dog from a river.
Jaime smiled from a poster advertising the literature club.
Another article showed her winning an international science competition.
A glass trophy case held countless accomplishments.
Only Jaime’s name stood out on the plaques – the rest of the students’ names looked like incoherent scribbles.
A poster on the wall showed Jaime wearing a prom-queen crown.
Wasn’t she way too young? The crown half fell off her head.
No one talked in the hallways. Even the students’ footsteps were uncannily silent. Heather followed the sound of chatter to a classroom and pushed open the door.
The classroom had an old-fashioned chalkboard before a row of wooden desks and black plastic chairs.
The windows were cracked open to let in a light breeze and the smell of the flowering bushes outside.
This room was indisputably more realistic than the rest of the school.
Chalk from the board tickled Heather’s nose. The rest of the building had no smell.
Jaime sat in the centre of the room, only the top of her head visible. The other students surrounded her like bees around a queen. They chattered at her:
‘Jaime, will you help me with my homework?’
‘I have a party on Friday. You must come, Jaime. It won’t be the same without you. You’re the guest of honour.’
‘My family will be going horseback riding this weekend. You’re coming, aren’t you, Jaime?’
‘I’m Jaime’s best friend!’
‘No, I’m Jaime’s best friend.’
‘We all love you, Jaime!’
Even the teacher hovered around Jaime. He offered her a piece of chalk. ‘Could you help me solve the maths problem on the board? I think it has a mistake. I’m struggling to work it out. You always have the right answers.’
Then this was Jaime’s dream? To attend school like an ordinary girl and make friends?
To be able to grow up? To live again? It broke Heather’s heart to see, because it could never be real.
Although Jaime had never said anything, it seemed obvious in retrospect.
Of course she’d be frustrated by never aging and remaining immature in mind and body.
Of course she wanted to attend high school and someday become an adult.
Jaime wasn’t the type of child who complained about what she couldn’t change.
Now Floor Greed had laid her deepest desires bare.
It made Heather feel like an intruder on something private.
Was it greedy for Jaime to want to grow up like everyone else?
Was it greedy for her to feel the unfairness of her life cut short too early?
Surely not. But then Greed had never been Jaime’s sin.
Lucy did imply the tests could be in some ways more difficult when you weren’t testing your own sin.
And, unfortunately, such a tempting dream might be harder to reject than gold.
In the middle, Jaime said, ‘It all feels a bit too exaggerated to be real. I wanted to have friends, but they didn’t need to fawn over me this much. I must be more egotistical than I thought.’
Everyone in the room froze.
Heather pushed her way forward. ‘It’s only natural for you to have dreams. Don’t be hard on yourself. This place isn’t capable of producing a realistic illusion. You’re not egotistical. Floor Greed is simply excessive. You should have seen how much gold it produced for me!’
Jaime looked up, her eyes widening with surprise. She must have been talking to herself. She hung her head. ‘I’m embarrassed to have you see this. I wanted to have friends, but I didn’t need this much attention.’
‘I don’t know what I’d do with a cave full of gold coins, either.’
‘I used to come to this floor all the time to pretend. I’ve been in this school before.
At first it was fun, but over time I got tired of all these fake people.
’ Jaime waved her hands across the frozen illusions.
‘They don’t have any personalities. They don’t have any likes or dislikes, except to mirror whatever I say.
They’re incredibly boring to talk to and stupid. ’
‘Because they’re not real,’ Heather said.
‘They never tease me. I like it when you tease me, and it’s fun to tease you back.’ Jaime stared off into space. ‘This wasn’t what I truly wanted. What I truly wanted . . . was . . . was . . .’
The school building faded away. The desks melded together. The white walls melted. The frozen people became transparent.
Heather fell into a swirl of colours. Crying out, she tried to hold on to something. The world slipped through her fingers. She glimpsed white gloved hands. They seemed to be putting together pieces, like building blocks.
Heather landed on a lawn. The green grass was a tad too bright, but the smell of a fresh mowing felt very real.
The sky overhead also seemed unnaturally blue.
The house looked like a typical suburban place to live, with brick walls and a gravel driveway.
Wisteria bloomed along the walkway and ivy grew up around the windows.
It seemed reasonable to assume that Jaime must be inside, especially because this world turned into shadows before the street could reach any other houses.
Heather went up the walkway and tried to open the white door.
It was locked. She hoped that didn’t mean Jaime was shutting her out metaphorically.
Circling the house, Heather found a giant sliding door at the back.
Inside, Jaime sat at a round walnut dining table. Steam drifted off roast beef and mashed potatoes. A man wearing a suit and a woman in an orange sundress were on either side of her.
As the woman served a helping on to Jaime’s plate, the man put away his newspaper. ‘How was your day, Jaime?’
‘Uh, I got second place in the spelling bee.’
Warmly, he said, ‘That’s wonderful – great job.’
Jaime lowered her eyes. ‘It’s not first place, though.’
‘You don’t always need to be first in everything.’ The woman kissed the top of Jaime’s head. ‘Don’t overwork yourself. Make sure you have fun at school too.’
The man smiled. ‘That’s right! We’re already really proud of you. We love you.’
‘Okay,’ Jaime said, tears shining in her eyes.
Those words struck Heather like a blow to the solar plexus.
It was enough to cause her real pain. Because here was Jaime’s real dream.
She just wanted a family to love her unconditionally, without her needing to be special or accomplished.
She wanted people who wouldn’t abandon her if she got sick or made a mistake.
She wanted someone to love her without her needing to be perfect.
Floor Greed was even crueller than Floor Anger.
It hurt Heather that she wasn’t included in this illusion, even if she knew she shouldn’t make this about her.
The family started eating. They laughed at something someone had said. Jaime’s eyes had a slightly glazed quality.
A flicker of worry penetrated Heather’s pain. Did Jaime realise this was fake? Had she got lost in the illusion?
Heather pounded on the locked door. ‘Hey! Over here! Can you hear me?’
No one inside reacted to her presence. Jaime pushed some peas away from her mashed potatoes. She never did like it when her food got mixed.
Heather called, ‘You’re taking the test on Floor Greed. None of this is real. You need to snap out of it so that we can leave together and repair the hotel.’
Jaime didn’t even look up. Why would she? What did the hotel have to offer for her? Just being stuck forever.
But this illusion would merely become a different kind of being stuck.
Heather cried, ‘You deserved parents who would love you unconditionally and not abandon you as soon as you got cancer. I’m sorry this wasn’t your real life.
This is merely an illusion on Floor Greed.
It will quickly grow boring for someone as clever and creative as you.
Even if it’s tempting, even if it’s briefly comforting, you don’t want to stay here forever.
’ Heather took a deep breath. ‘I love you. I know I’m not as perfect as the people in this illusionary world – that’s probably why you didn’t include me in your family – but my love is real.
I can be better. I won’t ruffle your hair if it bothers you. Please come back to the hotel with me.’