The Game

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The Game

 

by

 

BAMonster

 

                A town can be single minded. Definitely one that is in the 1720’s. Within one, you can be their special prodigy or the misfit, the whore or the stranger. But as a young woman who had been a favorite, it was through the knowledge that I was the granddaughter of a Madame.

                She was pretty with those Goldie-locks curls and willowy though curvy body. Everyone liked her, but secretly she was hated. She was too perfect the people would say. And I looked just like she did when Grandma was in her prime. So I expected the same treatment.

                Grandma had never been one for doing things out of character, for her perfect behavior was everything to her. Though unknowingly, I tried to do everything opposite to rebel against her. That girl, I was young and just wanted to have some fun before she had to take care of the business that her Grandmother owned. It wasn't a difficult business, I had been taught at a young age to know what to expect.  But once I started, I would never be done. And it was a lifelong career that I didn't want.

 

 

Remember What They Did

                The maze was congested, you could see through it because the walls were glass, but people were littered everywhere. Confused and scared, I stood between a young girl with pig tails shaping her hair and a weird looking man who had a mask covering his face was on my other side, only the mask made his right eye show. But it was too shadowed for me to see clearly.

                The last thing I remembered was running away from the police and Mal... who said he loved me, but then turned around and gave me to them? The thought was bitter. That liar! His younger brother was screaming for him to not let them take me. At least someone cared. The poor kid was only seven, and Mal had a bad temper.  He smacked him, shushing him, he then growled not to interfere.

They dragged me viscously; I was barely able to touch my bare feet on the dirt road. Then I remembered why I was running. They think I killed Grandma! I started to fight them, but it was difficult with three trained men escorting me to who knew what. Kicking up my leg as high as I could get, which was a distance because I was trained at a young age to be flexible, I tried to kick one of them in the head. It was unsuccessful, which led to the third man grabbing my legs and pressing my ankles together tightly enough to make me wince. I screamed then, which got me a hard slap to my face several times.

                “Shut up you whore!” He spit at me as I turned my face. I'm not a whore you smelly faced bastard!

                “I am never going to-” I started, then was slapped with a piece of duct tape over my mouth.

                “No you won't. You will never get a chance either. Not with your bitch Grandmother hanging around to protect you anymore.” I scrunched up my forehead and tried to tell him that she never protected me. If only she lived just another two years, I would have been 21, then I could have left.  Because she never was much of a Grandmother, always telling me to do this and punishing me when I didn't do it right, and indulging this dirty town with all its vices, saying, “This is good for you. You need to understand that pain can be turned around.” Oh, I never liked lessons with her. They seemed more perverted then those that I read in the books that I was supposed to read.

                We came closer and closer to my house, which surprised me. Wouldn't I be brought to the jail? As we came into the fenced yard they detoured and took me to the back. Many of the community were in my back yard, all circling a plot of dirt. I stared at it frozen. What are they going to do to me!? I thrashed around more trying to escape, but it was fruitless. The people around me didn't make it better by shouting harsh words and trying to throw thing at me.

                “Bitch!”

                “Whore!”

                “You’re a devil's servant.  You and your she-witch Grandmother!” All these and more were spat at me over and over. “She got what she had coming! And you do too, with your wicked seducing ways!” I glared at that one. Oh yeah, I looked down I'm in my night gown. It wasn't as bad as some my Grandma advised ones, but it was still short for their taste which was ankle-length.

                The new Priest that was sent by the state stepped up all decked out in his robes. He raised his hand and the crowd quieted quickly. The third man let go of my feet allowing my night gown to go down to shins.

                “This girl with her sins of being taught the way of the pleasure house, who shall be condemned by God. Whom God has chosen the punishment, just as he did her Grandmother, is to be taught their lessons in the depths of hell.” A few cheers went out and some grunts of agreement. I stared at the holy man in shock. Too shocked to react I just stared wide eyed as he reached to tear the duct tape off my mouth. Feeling my lips burn from the stripping of skin and hair, my eyes stared to water. “What is your plea?” He asked me with cold eyes while I shrugged out of the other two's hold.

                “But I've never -” I tried to start but was out voiced by everyone yelling ‘guilty’ and other foul words. I attempted several times to finish but they wouldn't let me be heard, so I started toward him but was held back.

                “Why won’t you listen?!” I screamed. “I was taught forceably.” I whimpered. “I didn't want to be a paid whore...” Real tears started to stream down my face as I shook in fear and shame.

                “Then with no declaration of innocence,” The Priest started, “Throw her into the pit with her wicked Grandmother. I grabbed an arm of the nearest person holding onto me and held on with dear life.  

                Please someone, anyone save me! I begged and prayed.

                “You called my dear?”   A male voice spoke to me through the mob of screams and cursing.     “Please help me!” I begged again. I was tossed into the hole, right on top of my grandmother, who had been dead for almost a week. “Please!” I shouted louder. The members of town started to bury me, shoving me back into the hole, as I tried to climb out.

                “This favor you’re asking of me has some catches.” he started. I spit out dirt that had made it into my mouth and chose to officially close my eyes to protect them.

                Please just do it. I don't care what the price.

                “Very well... It’s your life.” He answered as if he was shrugging it off. Then everything went black. Then back to where I am right now.

 

Maze Time

                Standing surrounded by a lot of people in the middle of a glass maze. Daring to speak I asked the girl next to me who was dressed in a leather suit of armor and pig tails. She seemed to be about twelve or thirteen.

                “Uh, where are we?” I tried to start it off but she just raised an eyebrow as she stared at me. Turning fully to look at me, she crossed her arms.

                “This is the 2nd chance tournament.”

                I tilted my head in confusion. “You know, every October 31st the god of tricks saves thirty one people who have death impending on them. Then they have a chance to win back their life by playing the game at random.”

                “A game, what do you mean?” I couldn't help but to question.

                “Yeah, I heard from a girl on the street that was dating a guy that was related to one of the temples of the trickster servants, that the last game he played entailed bouncing balls and that two were lucky enough to survive and get a second life.” She looked away and then came closer to me with a gleam in her eyes that wasn't quite sane. “So I jumped off a cliff at 11 o'clock and estimated the time through mathematics and came up with the predated time to fall to be 11:59pm so I could come to the game. You see, I have this problem with-” But right as she finished, the same male voice boomed around the maze making the glass rattle.

                “Welcome to your possible last chance at a second life!” He sounded excited. “Now let’s get rid of this maze for a minute.” The glass disappeared and the area was filled with bright colors and numerous pillows. Almost like the special room Grandma had hidden away at the back of the house. “Now have a seat and  I will instruct you all about your game.”

                Almost everyone slowly found a pillow away from each other and sat down. Though a few stood like a man, or at least I think it was an man, in knight-like armor, the man in the face mask that was next to me before that seemed to be across the room, and then a couple of muscled men that had plaid skirts on and no shirts. The two almost looked alike except that their hair was different.  One looked slightly younger and more relaxed as the other was stone-faced, glaring eyes staring at everyone.

                Popping into the room like a snap and a wisp of smoke; an olive skinned man smiled and tilted his head in greeting. Several people gasped making me jump on my red pillow. ‘This was unnatural.’  I thought to myself. ‘Am I dreaming? Am I Dead?’  I glanced around the room again taking in more of the people. No one looked the same except the two men in skirts. They appeared to be from a different world or era. That just in itself; scared me enough to keep an eye on anyone who was close to me.

                “Hello. The rules of the game is to not piss me off. But otherwise it's a free for all.” He smiled as a large throne like chair that I had seen in history books appeared out of nowhere startling some and forcing those to make signs of evil on a few.

                “As you saw when you first arrived, that maze will be your game. A pair of runners will go through the maze and fight their way to the end to make it out. If you lose and come in last on the first round, you die. The next round you will fight the person and kill them before they reach the end. Each round will have some differences in it until there are only two runners left. That's when things get juicy. I'll tell you that if you live through the first couple of rounds.” The room went up in murmurs and harsh whispers.

                “Also, here I have slowed time so the fighting can last for what to you seems like days, but really you've only been here about five minute. Don’t bother trying to do the math, it's complicated. Now for those who die here, you will be transferred out of the maze and given back the death you originally meant to have. For the lucky one who wins...” he smiled and looked at everyone. “I'm not telling you how I SAVE you.” He put up his hand and used hand parentheses as he said save. “So eat and do whatever you need to do now because after this treat, you’re running like mice through my maze!” He laughed at that and waved his hand making food appear on small tables within the room. INstinctively I grabbed a plum and ate it; I hadn't had anything since the day before.

                Stuffing my face slowly, I people watched again but this time my eyes strayed to the two men in the corner wearing the skirts. After staring at them for a little while, I looked down and chose something different to munch on and returned my eyes to find that the stone-faced man was staring back at me. Or was he glaring. Widening my eyes, I just kept staring back. It was hard to keep my eyes just on his shining blue ones, when I had a tendency to look at other parts of his face. He had a scar on his cheek that crossed over the bridge of his nose and his lips were fuller then Mal's.  Mal had thin wide lips that looked odd when he opened his mouth. His skin was tanned like he had spent time outside most of his life and his chin had a little stubble from forgetting to shave. I started to look down but noticed that he tensed. He turned and spoke softly to his friend who dressed like him and then I switched my gaze to the other man. I saw that the younger man was smiling and grinning at me. I gave him a confused look and turned back to search for the man who was called the trickster.

                Sitting in his chair he watched others around him and talked to a few. Once he felt my gaze on him, he turned and hooded his eyes and slyly smiled at me. It was a smile that said ‘I know a secret’ or to be particular, he knew my secret. But what is my secret? Do I even know myself well enough to want a second chance at life? Do I deserve a second life?

                “All right now,” The god boomed in his scaled voice.  Everyone stopped what they were doing, all eyes fixed on him. “It's time for your race!” The room disappeared and the maze took its place. To what looked random to me, he pointed at two men and they were carried off into two openings that led into the maze.

                “First one out by any means wins their life!” The god crackled as his teeth were bared in an excited smile. “Go!”

                Watching from the sidelines as two men raced in and out of a maze was uneventful. That was, until they caught up with one another and started to fight each other. One, finally seeing his defeat ahead of him blocked after being hit multiple times and ran for it. This was a good thing for him because he turned the second corner and made it out of the maze in ten minutes flat. The other man screamed and disappeared in a red smoke.

                “One down 29 to go.” The god smiled, then pointed to the next two people. The pig tailed girl next to me and a large seven-foot man who looked like Goliath. She hopped up and down like the little girl she was. At the signal, the two were released and the girl ran toward the same direction as the previous pairs route.

                “Time for a change up!” The god yelled as he clapped his hands. The glass maze shifted making the girl and man slid to a stop right as they were about to crash into each other. Cursing, the man pounded on the wall as he watched the little girl blow him a raspberry. The two ran around again but when they came close to each other a glass wall would block the way. After about four times of this the big man let his temper get the better of him so he took off his gloves he was wearing to produce thick bronze knuckle weapons which he pounded at the wall in his way. The girl eyed the man but didn't move as she waited for him to break the wall. It took less than a minute for him to do so.

                “Come here!” You could hear the man shrill as he aimed for the girl while glass shards littered the air. The two played a game of chase, then she side-stepped and bolted up a wall allowing her to balance on the thin maze wall. He pounded at the wall she was on until she changed position and flung out her hand to swing on his extended arm that he was hitting with. She twisted around and slammed her heel into the man's nose. Stumbling, the man spat out blood and lunged, throwing his whole weight at her. The only problem was, she wasn't there. He looked around and she wasn't anywhere. Before she could even have time to think, the girl appeared by his head and wrapped a wire around his neck. Slowly slicing his throat and smiling as she did it. The man's head dropped to the ground and blood sprayed the clear glass like a fountain. Gasping, I turned my head and covered my mouth. That girl is insane! She's sick! I told myself. And I talked to her! I realized in disbelief.