the game

Kassie

i'm almost at katie when the cannarie drags me away. i know there's no escape this time. i felt this kind of helplessness before. I don't have the instant death. I have no escape unless I make one. during the struggle to overtake me the creatures have shattered several bones leaving my body throbbing and my head in even more of a panic.

what do they want from me? i don't stop struggling until the pain is so bad i vomit mid flight. they don't care. dragging me across the sky like their next meal. that is until they find what they're looking for. in the distance i see it. the cannarie sky islands. i gulp as they drag us closer. my heart thuds wildly against my chest.

and then they let me plummet to the ground. i'm surrounded by figures bearing down on me from everywhere. their words are full of hate.

"you believe them,"

"you believe them more," their bodies twist around me in circles like vultures encircling the dead.

i gulp and lay splayed against the ground clutching my leg.

"you believe the others," their chants blend into the nausea building in my stomach. i'm in so much pain i want to die.

"what should we do to this beast! what should we do to it!" they scream louder and louder. as my eyes adjust i make out the large straw structured homes. there are odd nick knacks stored in the walls. like pieces of ribbon or small pieces of wood. it reminds me of smaller birds. ones who collect shiny things and store them away forever.

"explain," it's all i say. "i have not told you i am not on your side," this causes another uproar.

"how dare the alasian talk!"

"how dare it speak!"

they can't decide what to do with me.

and then slowly from the back a larger than life cannerie steps forward, a long jagged scar running across his face.

"the creatures and alasians betrayed us, so forgive my brothers. we are a bit hesitant to let the same happen again," he speaks through a smile. but what's worse is the word choice.

"the other creatures sided with tori you see. the canneries have been attempting to knock out their efforts. eventually they wish to form a government much like our own. one where they can control the shots," a shiver runs down my spine. the canneries have been trying to help us?