“How can he be so pretty?” One nurse asked the other two. 

“I know. I’m so jealous of his hair.”

“It’s so silky, and it has so much body to it. Then his skin just glows even under all these medical lights.”

*CLANG* 

The sound of a metal door opening made all the nurses talking stop. The nurses lowered their heads at the sound of shoes and heels enter the room. They watched as a small group of black shoes strolled by.

“So, who do we have here?” A voice asked, which made the people with him rush to answer him.

“Sir, this is Veda Éinrí Venom, he is twenty-five, and he is of African American descent. He has a long history of mental health issues and a long rap sheet. The most important ones are his recent mass poisoning and drug trafficking. Special notes are: he has complete heterochromia, his left eye a clear gray, and the right eye a deep honey brown. It seems like he got it from his mother, but that’s a slight chance. And he has a blood disorder.”

“Hmm…” the voice just hummed, not saying anything else, so the person continued.

“Height 5’10, weight 140. He’s a little underweight.”

“Umm, get him ready to be shipped. Who’s his partner?”

“Lorcan A. Kyrith.”                                                                                              

I opened my eyes to see a field of red lilies that went on forever. The smell of citrus lingered in the air, the sun was out, and shining brightly with very few clouds in the sky. I looked around, finding a gravel pathway leading somewhere. I walked towards it and followed the trail. There was no other sound but the crunch of my feet walking on the gravel, with a light whistle of a soft breeze. It was peaceful. I was walking for a while, but I enjoyed it. This peace and quietness was foreign to me. I lifted my head and basked in the sun. I then took a deep breath, breathing in the fresh citrusy air. 

The strong sun's rays became cold. I opened my eyes to see the moon slowly covering the sun, turning it into an eclipse. The soft breeze became harsh, almost like it could cut through paper. The light scent of citrus morphed into the stench of nail polish remover, a scent I was familiar with because that was the smell of rotting bodies. I looked down to see the soil that the beautiful red lilies were growing out turned into corpses. The red lilies became a vibrant blood red. I bent down and touched a petal. When I did, a drop of blood was left on my fingertips. Each flower petal shined like rubies, while the leaves looked like emeralds. I wanted to put the flower in a case so I could persevere it forever. As I looked at the bloody jeweled flower, I forgot it was growing out of a corpse. I became hypnotized by it.

As I examined every part of the flower, my eyes landed on a suit jacket, seeing that reminded me of bodies. So I took a look at the bodies. I immediately recognized the face, so I looked at another and repeated the process to the point I knew all of their faces. I laughed as I looked at my father's rotting face. He was where he belonged, right with his friends, too. I plucked a lily off of his body and twirled it. The dripping blood started to run like a faucet. It covered my hands real quick. It didn’t bother me so I just wiped the blood off my onto my father’s dead body suit jacket.

I stood up and walked away while humming a quiet tune as the sky turned black with every step I took.

  *RRRING*

The sound of an alarm entered my ears. My blurry senses begin to wake up. “Ugh,” I immediately shoot up, reaching out to grab anything to use as a weapon. I then stopped and looked around. I realized I was in a bedroom.

Black walls were lined with eccentric paintings, fresh green plants, and flowers were crammed in every corner of the room. I looked down at the soft bed I was on to see a pink velvet duvet neatly laid across me. I looked over to the other side of the bed to see it was folded like someone threw it off of them, so another person was here with me. 

I then patted my body, making sure nothing happened to me, as I felt soft material different from my silk loungewear. I was wearing an extremely long, black, almost see-through boudoir robe. Feathers decorated the whole edge of the robe. I studied the robe and saw everything was high quality. Which was surprising since every show I ever saw didn’t like their contestants having their basic needs met. I rolled up my sleeves to see the sore purple bruises healed, which meant I went into a medical pod. I sighed, hoping no one touched me.

I pushed that thought to the back of my head and tried to get up as I did something, yanked my leg. Pushing the duvet away, a silver metal chain was wrapped around my right ankle. The chain was connected to the art déco metal footboard. I looked over at the other side of the bed to see a similar chain on the ground broken in half completely. The chain was completely metal with no lock anywhere around it, so I couldn’t lock-pick it. The people who put me here were smart.

I sighed and glanced around the room some more. The room door was closed, so I couldn’t even see what was happening outside. I gave up on the idea of escaping or trying to. The room fit my taste; I liked the accent color. It was something I wouldn’t choose for myself, so it must have been the other person's choice. As I glanced around the room, seeing where the furniture was placed, it looked identical to my room at my mansion. With the art déco decorations, it looked like something I designed a long time ago; I wasn’t mistaken at all. All the furniture was something I sketched. I never forget what I drew or made, especially since it was in my private sketchbook, something I never showed to anyone. It was a sketchbook I used to plan how I would redo the whole mansion the way I wanted after I killed my father.

As I processed everything, I fiddled with the metal chain as I zoned out. Unknowingly, the chain began to warm up after I tugged it one more time. I got zapped. It felt like static shocked me. I pulled my hand away while rubbing it, glaring at the chain like it was alive or something. It didn’t hurt, it just felt like I got bitten by an ant. I pushed it away from me with my foot before laying back down waiting for whatever was going to happen to me. 

I scratched my head and waited every other moment I played with the long sleeves, then I got bored with that quickly. Before long, I heard sounds coming from the closed bedroom door. The doorknob twisted and walked in a man with skin that reminded me of brown golden beryl and he was taller than me. He had on dress shoes with black dress pants. On top, he had on a white button-down with two buttons undone. The shirt fitted his frame nicely. His hair was completely slicked back, but it looked like he ran his fingers through his hair, so one strand of hair fell onto his face over his thin, round glasses that covered his eyes. 

The room instantly smelled of outside and sweat. The man's shirt was slightly damped with his sweat. His gray eyes stared at me as I stared back. It felt more like I was being examined. Which I didn’t mind since I was used to those types of looks and feelings.

“Hello,” I spoke first.

“Ah, hello I didn’t think you would be up.” His voice surprised me. It was like sweet smoke. It was deep and smooth like honey, but husky like smoke. It was the type of voice I wouldn’t mind listening to it for a while.

“Sooo, what’s the situation?”

“Well, I went out to see the surrounding area, and we’re on a big island. In the middle of nowhere, theres a couple of other people too, but they were still knocked out. It seems we woke up first.”

“Okay?” I slowly processed the info, which didn’t take long for me. While I was thinking, the man walked over.

“Let me help you with the chain.” He carefully approached me and broke the chain effortlessly.

When he got closer, I could see his eyes clearly. They were beautiful, and they reminded me of my favorite gem, moonstones. The way the light reflected off them made me hold my breath. Looking closer, he had two beauty marks underneath his right eye, which matched his face perfectly. His skin was flawless. You couldn’t see any pores at all. It was exactly like a brown golden beryl gem. He even matched the meaning of the crystal name, heliodor. Helios means sun, and doro means gift, so together it means sun’s gift and that man was.

“Thank you…?”

“Ah, sorry, I’m Lorcan A Kyrith.”

“I’m Veda Éinrí Venom.”

“Beautiful name.”

“Thank you.” I smiled and rubbed my ankle to get the feeling back.

Lorcan nodded his head before he walked to the bathroom and grabbed a towel to wipe himself down. He was sweating badly, which made him look even better, and with him dressed in a style I liked, I could faint. Thinking about it made me look down at myself and then at the robe I was in … he has good taste.

“So, Mr.Lorcan I guess we’re some type of team for this show?”

“I think you guessed correctly. I found something addressed to us on the living room table. I tried to look at it, but it wouldn’t turn on at all.” Lorcan then walked out of the bathroom with a smile on, looking refreshed.

“Shall we go look then?”

“Sure.”

I walked out first, then Lorcan followed behind me. When I walked out of the bedroom, everything I was thinking about how the bedroom was identical to mine was confirmed. I stood there frozen by how everything was exactly like the plans that I sketched out. My eyes roamed around the house, there were my new paintings I made the night before my arrest they were half finished. They were hung up right beside a piece that my favorite glass blower made for me. I felt an urge to throw up. They invaded my privacy, which was completely against the strict tvOS laws.

“Are you okay, Veda?”

“No, they stole my personal items and turned them into a profit.”

“Did you design this house?” I was surprised at how fast Lorcan understood what was going on.

“How did you know?”

“Well, everything in here is placed at a certain angle. It’s too specific. Like that vase is at a perfect sixty-degree angle.” He pointed out.

“Smart, I like that.” I then turned away from him.

“Thank you,” I could feel Lorcan eyes on me. After a few times, I understood his gaze. He wasn’t looking for a weakness it felt more like he was trying to understand me by poking the bear. Which was nice, especially in this world where people don’t care.

“I’m currently redoing my home, and I guess they loved it so much they stole it from me,” I said with a sarcastic smile on.

“It seems these people don’t fear the tvOS.”

“It seems so … forget it no one is going to care about this anyway, what was addressed to us?”

We both sat down on the couch a few inches away from each other. I saw a pink piece of paper sitting on top of a sleek tablet. I had no interest in reading the note, so Lorcan just pushed the button on the tablet. Instantly, the giant TV screen on the wall lit up. Without missing a beat, a pink background with hearts appeared on the screen as a woman's voice narrated.

“Hello! Lovely couples of Dareting Island, and welcome to the first official couple surviving game!” Fake applause and screams echoed throughout the home. It then died down as the host continued. ”Ten lucky couples who we carefully selected to be a match made in heaven. They must work together, and survive together while going through the hardships of being in love. Each week they will be put to the test from taking care of children to killing wild beasts. 

Can they survive love? Now let’s meet our lovely couples!”

Then a heart appeared on screen with wedding rings flashed across the screen. I felt a chill go down my spine, and before I could get back comfortable, the video of me getting arrested popped up on the screen.

"Let’s meet the first couple! Veda Éinrí Venom is known as the most beautiful sin Lilith! He earned this name after he committed a bloody massacre, he poisoned all the guests who were there to see him get deflowered by his father, and the man his father sold him to! It said he enjoyed a bottle of strawberry champagne with a bubble bath after poisoning the guests and slaughtering his father. Afterward, he ran his father’s company years after his death, taking it to new heights that even his father couldn’t do.

But before becoming Lilith, he was diagnosed with two or three mental illnesses in his early twenties. Which stopped his career in architecture and interior design. He was a very promising young man!”