Games Reapers Play

Prologue

POUNDING ECHOED THROUGHOUT the courtroom. The defendant's head throbbed with every strike.

"Order in the court," cried the judge.

The defendant's heart raced and she labored for every breath. It was more than she could bear. How could something go so wrong? She wanted to cry, but the tears would not fall.

Her chest tightened with each passing moment. Five months had gone by since she last saw her fiancé alive. A month after their engagement, they were on the phone when guns blared through the speaker.

 Before she could hang up the call, the police broke down her front door, and put her in handcuffs. "You are under arrest for the murder of Alexander Thompson," the senior officer smiled smuggly as he pushed her into his cruiser..

"It's just a nightmare," she whispered to herself. Nausea overwhelmed her, and she tried swallowing the feeling. How could anyone believe she did it?

"Has the jury reached a verdict?" the judge asked, drawing her from her thoughts. Anxiety ripped through her as tears threatened to fall. She wanted to cry out. She tried to tell the court she didn't do it. 

The lawyer glanced in her direction. He had tried his best. Now the moment of truth was upon them.

"We have," the foreperson answered as he stood from his seat. "We, the jury, find the defendant guilty for the murder of Alexander Thompson."

Fear struck her. What little hope she had been clinging to was ripped from her hands. Whispers went up around the courtroom. No doubt, they all agreed with the jury.

She gasped for breath as tears cascaded down her cheeks.. She already knew her sentence. All convicted murderers, rapists, and thieves were sent to the arena. Her life was over.

"Will the accused please stand?" the judge ordered.

Her heart thumbed loudly against her chest. Her face turned a ghostly white. Her legs shook. This was it. 

The moment she dreaded had come, and she held her breath. Agony pulled at her. Seconds turned into minutes and minutes into hours.

"Annalysia Creaven," the judge began, "I have no other option than to sentence you. At dawn, you will enter the arena where you will fight for your life. The President will free the last person standing."

Annalysia's heart skipped a beat. A chance for salvation? Freed from this injustice? She had to find a way out of the arena, no matter the cost.

"May God have mercy on your soul." He pounded his gavel, signaling dismissal.

An officer stalked over toward her and yanked her out of her chair. She glanced at the onlookers as the bailiff escorted her out. Her eyes fell on her family. She had to return to them. She couldn't let her parents' tear-stained faces be her last memory.

Annalysia pulled her arm away from the bailiff and marched out of the room. She didn't know when or how, but she had made up her mind. She would return.