Black Cloaks

One - The Game

        Drip.

        Drip.

        Drip.

        The only sound that filled the cold, pitch black room.

        Drip.

        In a room with no windows or doors the girl sat, leaning against the wall. She had been there so long that the sound of dripping water, or maybe blood, became all she knew. She didn't move, didn't speak. She knew that if she did, they would come for her again.

        Her eyes, now accustomed to the blanket of darkness, swept about her. To the spiked chains on her impossibly thin ankles. To the low ceiling just above her head. To the CCTV camera attached to the other side of the room, mocking her. It was how the black cloaks got their fun, and in her fatigued brain she could almost hear them laughing. And finally, her deep, black eyes trained on the bodies laying before her.

        The stench of death and decay filled what little air was left. The room was never cleaned, never emptied and over time the bodies of her victory piled up. They were the only company she had had for a while now.

        She was fed rarely, maybe once every few days, but she didn't care. Water was never scarce however, if the black cloaks ever entered, they would leave a bucket of water somewhere in the room for any survivors to find once they had left and the room was overtaken yet again by a crushing darkness.

        It was their game, she supposed. Their own little box of reality T.V. Except there was no escape for the weak and the strong soon fell.

        She felt like she had been there for years, when in reality it was a little less than one. Time was non-existent here. She remembered reading The Hunger Games. She remembered an old friend from years back, kind of. Was it Anna? Alana? Alice? She could barely remember her own name. 'Jade', she thinks everyday so she doesn't forget. She remembered laughing with her about how The Hunger Games was so unrealistic. Who could ever do such a thing?

        During the first few months of her insanity she laughed at herself. How wrong she had been and how stupid she was to underestimate sanity. No one can understand the human mind, least of all her and she guessed this was life educating her.

        That was when the game began.

        The ceiling had opened up and she thought she had been saved. She had stood shakily and glimpsed a second of long forgotten sunlight before a girl and several boys had fallen through the gap. The new girl screamed and the sound deafened Jade after hearing nothing but;

        Drip.

        Drip.

        For months.

        The new girl had crawled over to Jade. Even in the now darkness, she could see tear stains across the other girls face.

        "My n-name i-is Lilly," she had said, her voice as innocent as her pretty, little blue-eyed face.

        "Jade," Jade had said, for she had learned not to make attachments.

        The boys had made their own huddle on the other side of the room and she could hear them whispering. One of them sobbed quietly, but not quiet enough. A black cloak opened the hatch and a ear-splitting crack echoed through the room.

        He was the first to die.

        Slowly, they had all weakened. If they spoke loud enough, their life was the price but starvation was the main problem. She comforted Lilly without words until the day she grew limp in Jade's arms and Jade lay her down to rest. She was the survivor in the end, for she never ate much before she was taken and her reward was food. She had received proper meals for a day, but the next week, more people had been dropped through the hatch in the roof. 

        The 'winner' was whoever survived for a whole year. Jade supposed it wouldn't be long before they came for her to send her to wherever the 'winners' go, if there ever were any.  They were never given any details, and she doubted whether there actually would be any kind of freedom.

        Suddenly, a clank of metal sounded as the hatch in the roof was unlocked and roughly pulled open. A black cloak stuck his head through the hatch and she could see his smile in the shadow of the hood they all wear.

        "Final go, little plaything. Survive this and you're off," he said, grinning with yellow teeth, like she should be happy.

        In truth, she didn't really care, she had nothing to live for now, it felt like her whole life had led to this, and this was all that was left.  She felt empty, almost emotionless. She felt better that way. Her eyes saw everything and nothing. She didn't reply.

        "Suit yourself," he spat coldly, before pushing in another batch of living, soon to be dead.

        'The game is on.'  She thought bitterly as the sunlight closed and the dripping resumed.