𝗦𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗘𝗧 𝗥𝗘𝗗• 𝗦. 𝗞𝗔𝗡𝗚

𝑓 𝑖 𝑣 𝑒

-the game of green light, red light

[Y u n  R y u n g]

The skin around my nails fallen, as I pick at the rims of the newly cut flesh that rimmed my finger nails. Yet somehow no matter what I do, they still stay in their shape. Maintaining the scars and the blood that would often replace the skin.

067 nudges my arm subtly. Her head nodding towards the direction of the guards as they speak. Their tones progressively getting lower as my patience. -"do you want to go back and live out your pathetic lives running from creditors? Or will you seize the last opportunity we are offering?" The crowd becomes a muster of mumbles. As each voice reaches the void less pit in my ears. Their words not piercing my flesh  and their stares will not weaken me.

101 stares at me. A frown colouring his slightly tan cheeks. The greasiness of his hair brushing the strands from his eyes. "You okay?" 067s voice softer, more mellow. Her short hair tickles the nape of my neck, and the softness off her feathered lip barely skim the back of my ear. Her breath apparent, as I count each one she takes. Her chest heaving against the my back.

That's how close she was.

-"what kind of games are we playing?" 199 speaks up. Breaking the tension between us into two. 067 steps back. Her shoes pattering against the glossy coat of the concrete. The whole vans dig into the back of my feet. As I shift into my place. Lazily listening to the conversation.

"For the sake of fairness, we cannot disclose any information prior to the games."

"Just how much is the prize money?" 456 waves his arm into the air. His words bouncing off the walls of the warehouse. His scrawny figure shrinks underneath the stares of strangers.

An abyss of light comes down towards the centre of the room. All eyes search up above where sat a transparent piggy bank. I watched as 067 stood with her mouth agape. Her shoulders falling into a slouch and her ebony eyes glowing underneath the harsh brightness of the light.

Her skin glows and the exterior of her garden expression seemed to be falling with the bank. I would be lying if I said I hand treated the same way too.

And I can clarify everyone felt the same. We all came here for one reason. We came here from many different places, but all starting and ending with one thing in common. The greed for money.

-"the prize money will accumulate in that piggy banks after each game. The amount will be revealed to everyone, after the first game. Those who do not wish to participate, please speak now."

My eyes roll to the left as I raise my hand towards the roof of the warehouse. "Can we hurry this up please?"

I swear we've stood here for an hour, and my feet were starting swollen. And my patience thin as each minute decreases.

"Please, stand in an array of six lines."

And we followed.

The lines move up and down. The silence speaking louder then the patters of our feet. My hands tucked into my pockets as I stand behind 067.

"Do you have a name?" 067 just glances at me. Yet somehow those seconds felt like hours, it was enough time to see the way her expressions would soften, and her dark eyes would drift around the rims of my face, carving each and every slim and dip in my cheekbones. I watched how her jaw would tense and the way her eyes flutter subtly. Her hair caught over her eyes, hiding the cold demeanour underneath. "What? Do you really think my parents would name be after a number?" A tenderly chuckle slips from her pungent mouth, kissing her dry lips.