Amy Cross - Persona

“He’s busy with—”

“Where is he?” I shout. Hurrying forward, I try to force my way through, only to be pushed back until I trip and fall to the ground.

“I tried to stop her,” George Umbolt says as he finally catches up. He’s rubbing his jaw, clearly in pain, and he seems a little dazed. “Watch out, she’s got a pretty strong right-hook.”

“Where’s Harold?” I ask, struggling to my feet. “I want to speak to him now !”

“Harold says that it’s best if you leave without any further trouble,” one of the men says calmly. “We don’t want any trouble, Asher, but you’re out-numbered here.”

“Harold!” I shout, convinced that he’ll be able to hear me. “Get out here! Face me!”

I wait, but there’s no reply. He’s obviously hiding in one of the huts, letting everyone else do his dirty work while he laughs at me. As I stare at the sea of angry faces, I start to realize that I’ve been played by a master, that in the short period of time since he arrived Harold has managed to push me out of my own town and humiliate me in the process. Sure, my control of Steadfall was hanging by a thread, but I was getting ready to push back. It’s hard to believe that I let myself get manipulated so easily.

“This is my town,” I stammer, although I can hear the desperation creeping into my voice. “Steadfall’s mine, I started it…”

“We’re sorry,” Carly replies, “but this has been building for a while. We’re better off without you.”

“Do you really believe that?” I ask her.

She opens her mouth to reply, but then she hesitates. “Well… I mean…”

“Yes,” one of the other men says, and there’s a murmur of agreement from several people nearby. “We all know this is for the best. We want you to leave peacefully, Asher, but if you try to force your way back in…”

“Don’t make us hurt you,” another voice says. “Just accept that this is over, and walk away.”

Spotting movement at the back of the crowd, I see that Ellis and Joe have returned. I guess they no longer have any reason to stay away, not now that their actions are so well-aligned with the prevailing mood of the town.

“Is it true?” Carly asks, with tears in her eyes. “Asher, did you kill Alison?”

“In self-defence!” I reply.

“Alison was a good person,” Carly continues. “You shouldn’t have… I mean… It’s kind of hard to believe she’d really want to hurt you.”

“She tried to kill me!”

“Liar!” a voice calls out, and I turn to see Ellis glaring at me. “She’s a liar,” he continues. “She attacked Alison for no good reason.”

“It’s true,” Joe adds. “I was there.”

“There was talk of letting you stay as an ordinary member of the town,” one of the others tells me, “but we figured you might cause trouble. We’ve got a lot of plans for how to fortify the town and improve its defenses, so we’re going to focus on that and—”

“Defenses against who?” I ask.

“Someone’ll attack us eventually,” Carly suggests. “Harold said that the bigger Steadfall gets, the more it’ll become a target.”

Staring at her, I realize that they’ve all fallen for the garbage that Harold has been spewing. I always thought I was pretty good at recognizing people who wanted to manipulate me, but somehow that asshole managed to slip in under the radar and expertly throw me out of my own town. Spotting Leanne and Ben watching from the rear of the crowd, I suddenly feel an overwhelming sense of anger. Finally, unable to hold back any longer, I push past the group and start heading toward town.

“Asher—”

“Steadfall’s mine!” I say firmly. “Where’s Harold? We’ll settle this!”

“Asher!”

I turn as soon as George grabs my shoulder, but this time I’m also grabbed from other directions. I try to fight back, but I’m quickly manhandled away and shoved to the ground. Unable to control myself, I scramble to my feet and try again, only for George to grab my arms and hold me back. When I try to push him away, several other men from the town come and grab my legs, and suddenly something hard hits me on the side of the head. I slump down, slipping quickly into unconsciousness.

When I wake up later, groggy and with a pounding headache, I find that I’ve been dumped several miles from Steadfall. A small parcel of food has been left next to me, along with an old canopy and a knife, but the message is clear. I’ve been thrown out of my own town, and I’ll be killed if I try to go back.

Rain comes crashing down, filling the evening air with a constant spitting and hissing sound. Having found shelter under a tree, I’m huddled and shivering as I watch the glow of Steadfall just a few hundred meters away. One of the first decisions I made, many years ago, was that a fire should be left burning all night, and that during storms the fire should be protected by a series of canopy-made screens. I thought it was important that the light should keep burning, but now the fire seems to be taunting me, reminding me of the place I’ve left behind.

Except I haven’t left it behind, not really.

I’m going back.

Having spent all day coming up with a plan, and trying to think of alternatives, I’ve finally faced the truth. I can no more walk away from Steadfall than I can stop breathing.

The key to all of this is Harold, so my next move is obvious. I have to get rid of him, and then I can start to undo all the damage he’s caused. He might have isolated me and made the rest of the inhabitants turn against me, but I still have a chance to make them see the truth. People will start to understand that I was right all along, that I had the town’s best interests at heart, so long as I’m able to show them that Harold has been manipulating the whole situation. I hate the idea of committing cold-blooded murder, but Harold has to be eliminated. Back in my military training days, I was taught to keep emotion out of decisions, but I’m starting to think that I need to let the emotion flow for a short while, just so I can do what’s necessary. Then I’ll put my emotional side away again, and focus on moving the town forward.

Figuring that there’s no point waiting any longer, I start making my way through the forest. The rain has soaked me before I’ve managed more than a few steps, but that’s fine. If anything, the constant hiss of the storm provides a little extra cover as I creep forward with the knife in my right hand.

Stopping next to another tree, I realize I can just about make out the silhouette of a figure up ahead, although the low evening lift makes it difficult to see properly. Someone has been left on guard duty, no doubt to make sure that I don’t try to sneak my way back into town. I wouldn’t be surprised if Harold has given orders to kill me on sight, as a means of underlining his power, but there’s not a person in Steadfall who I can’t take down. Heading between the trees, I start to approach the town from the south, creeping closer and closer to whoever is—

Suddenly a hand grabs me from behind, pulling me back through the darkness.

“You’re an idiot!” Deckard hisses, as the pitiful fire flickers nearby and casts lights and shadows across his face. “Don’t you think they were expecting you to go back? If I hadn’t stopped you, you’d be dead by now!”

“Don’t underestimate me,” I reply. “You know I can handle myself!”

“You’d be dead!”

I can’t help sighing. “I’d have managed!”

He shakes his head, as if he finds me exasperating.

Opening my mouth, I’m about to tell him he’s wrong when I realize that he might actually have a point. After all, I didn’t actually have a plan. All I had was anger, and maybe a little humiliation too.