LAST CHANCE WILL YOU SURVIVE

Dreamer

"What do you mean that was you? It's impossible." We were both sitting on the ground in my room with the book between us.

"And you think what's been happening is possible. Look there's something I haven't told you about the game."

I look up at him so he knows I'm listening.

"If you win the game you also lose something too. Making it fair for the people who lost."

I sat there thinking about what he just said.

"Wait, aren't people who lost just going to die anyway."

"Think of it like this. A lot of the people playing the game are fighting for their lives. She thinks taking something important from the winners is fair. But taking something important makes you not want to live without it. Because she likes seeing people in pain as I said. 

I wonder what was taken away from him.

"What about the dream?"

"So last night I was taking Moose out and he ran away as if someone called him. When I ran into the woods there was this tree I'd never seen before. At first, I didn't see anything but when I went around the tree it was winter. Everything was normal except this girl was walking in the snow. For some reason, I couldn't walk. It was like I didn't know how. So I started calling her to me. She was looking around so I knew she could hear me. But she never did anything. She ignored me and kept walking. But for a moment she looked right at me. But she decided to go to a stream instead. After being at the stream for a while she got up. But there was a horrible ringing noise. I saw the ice breaking as she was running. But when she when running she slipped and wasn't getting up. I tried my hardest to run and save her. But I couldn't it was like I was forced to watch her die. I dropped to my knees and closed my eyes when I saw her sink into the water. I opened my eye's when I felt Moose lick my cheek. And of course, everything was back to normal."

"Why would she want you to see my dream?"

All he did was shrug and stare at me.

I grabbed the journal and put it in the suitcase.

"Well, I'm done packing."

He looked over to my zipped suitcase and nodded getting up. I got up and was about to grab my suitcase when Saud stopped me.

"I will be taking that. Now come on I want to show you something!" He said taking it and grabbing my wrist to go downstairs. But he instantly let go when I hissed in pain. He turned around and held my hand rolling up my sleeve. There were black streaks on my wrist where the splinter was.

"What is it doing?" I said concerned.

"Sit down." 

I sat down on my bed looking at my arm. 

"Do you have a first aid kit?"

"Yeah, in the bathroom cupboard."

He came back with a bunch of stuff in his arms setting it on a small table. He pushed the table beside my bed so I could set my arm on it. 

"What are you going to do?" I said scared.

"I need to get the splinter out before the black reaches your heart. But that's not what the most concerning thing is. It's the fact that it's in your wrist."

"Can't you get tweezers and take it out like that?"

"When you get a splinter from that tree it poisons you. It's a way to defend itself from things. When it goes into skin it buries itself so it's harder to get out. So I need to cut it out."

I stare at him long and hard.

"You're going to cut my wrist."

"It's not that deep. Don't worry"

He put a reading lamp on the table and flicked it on. My arm started to shake when he got out a knife. He held down my arm hard which made me more anxious.

"You absolutely can not flinch. Do you understand me?"

I nodded my head and looked at my arm.

He was about the put the knife on my skin when I flinched. He looked up at me.

"Sorry."

"It's okay. Just close your eyes so you don't see it. And I'll hold down your arm more, okay?"

"Okay." I said taking a deep breath and closing my eyes while he put more pressure on my arm. I felt the warm blade on my skin. Then the stinging pain of the blade. I didn't know which one was more painful the blade or how hard Saud was holding down my arm. I didn't open my eyes but I heard the knife being set down. It wasn't long until I heard him opening something and putting it on my skin.

"You can open your eyes." 

I opened one of my eyes looking at my arm. I opened my other eye smiling.

"I'm alive! You didn't kill me!"

"Yeah, but I was thinking about it."

"Stop, that's not funny to joke about. I was hardcore trusting you."

"Oh, stop being a sourpuss. It was a joke." He said mockingly.

"How come the black isn't gone?"

"It'll go away in a few minutes. When it does it'll scar."

"Okay, but what's this." I pointed to a white thing that was on my arm.

"It's a butterfly band-aid. You can sometimes use them instead of getting stitches. Here, let me put a band-aid over it."

I set my arm back on the table. He gently placed it over the butterfly band-aid.

"Okay, ready to g-."

"Wait, I'm not done."

He grabbed a Sharpie and drew a heart in the middle of it. And filled it in.