The Shadow Games

Chapter 2

*-(+)-*
•After being selected•

Utter chaos erupted. Voices yelling or overlapping. Histerical crying or objects being thrown. Tugging or ripping. Only one was still. Me.

I was in the middle in the room. My excitement from before vanished but at least a part of my soul was reunited. Everyone will acknowledge me, they'd finally care. And if i die, then surely I won't need to go to school again.

"Silence!" my father yelled taking me by surprise. "We all need a moment, in silence!"

The room was silenced immediately but silence was the loudest. It was like a fog you sould still see through but yet it was still deranging. And right now, silence was all that we had.

"If you are finnished i wish to take our contestant now, for she needs to be ready for Friday." the man in the suit insisted.

Then my mother sprung into action, deeply apologizing for my answer and asking for another chance. Her tears were rolling down her cheeks, staining her skin like blood would. They say the love of a mother is the most powerful thing but i think the love of a mother isn't the most powerful thing she could offer, i think trust is.

And right now, she isn't offering me any, apologizing for my answer, for my actions, not trusting me, not believing i have a reason.

"I'll come. Just tell me where and I'll go." i started, "And mother, before you say something, or something more, i would like to specify that i do have a reason and that if i do die, at least I'll be happy."

"I will let you have a moment. When you are finnished, there is a limo outside waiting for you." the gentleman finished.

After he closed the door I couldn't bring myself to walk. It was like my feet were glued to the floor, as if hands were holding them in place, the hands of others who died in The Game. My mouth was taped shut by fear, a translucent person who was always following me like a lost puppy.

The tension was too much for me and my mom's sobs and my dad's comforting words didn't help it at all. The only people that weren't doing anything were my brother and his girlfriend, Alahna.

I think they were too shocked, too flabbergasted to actually talk, or to actually move to me. I didn't need to be comforted, i needed space. And maybe space was the one who turned me around to observe the scene behind me or maybe it was another emotion, but i did regret it deeply.

My mom was sat in a chair far from the table, and my father was besides her rubbing her back and wiping her tears while talking to her calmly. Hugh, on the other hand, was slumped in a corner, on the floor, staring at a wall, or maybe a hole in the wall where he could see the future. Alahna was sitting crisscrossed, tears gushing out, mascare dripping, and a napkin crushed in her palm.

It was a devastating scene, and I didn't know how to mend it. I don't usually mend things, i just break them and then leave the mending for someone else. And I certainly didn't know how to mend this. Everyone was grieving, but for what? I didn't die yet, but if i will i don't want them to grieve my death.

"So," i spoke up, "is anyone going to say goodbye?..."

Only then my father's eyes rose up from my mom's face. They didn't look sad, they looked angry. Almost like they wanted to taste revenge. Like revenge was the one holding them alive.

"How. Dare. You." he said slowly. "How dare you hurt your mother like this. After all she's done for you, after all we have done for you, this is how you thank us?"

"I didn't want to thank you anyway. It wasn't my intention. My intention was getting the fuck out of here." I snapped.

It wasn't anger that fueled that reaction, but regret. Regret for my past soul not choosing another family to be born into, regret for not doing this earlier, for not snapping sometime earlier.