The Game Before the Fall

Chapter 45: Home's nightmare (Part 1)

Chapter 45: Home's nightmare

Aria Friend:

We were forced to dress in party gowns, cleaned up and our hair done. We didn't fight against it, picking our battles. They called the man Master. Everyone did, not just the other girls. They looked at us pitifully, knowing we would be taken to the so-called festival. Attempting to talk to them had the guards on our backs and so, in silence we were prepared.

Dolled up, we were taken to the basement where the man waited with two other girls. He wore a resplendent white suit that shone with diamond like lining. He marvelled at us and praised our beauty with words that made us want to puke. I wanted to sock him in the face but knew it wouldn't end well. If I tried, I could probably escape with Erin but Endi... she was barely functioning, only standing with our help. Her eyes remained lucid as if dreaming.

A train came to pick us up. The damn bastard had an actual train in his basement and for an hour we sat close to him. He merrily drunk champagne and ordered the other two girls to do his bidding, putting his hands on them freely. Against us however he kept his hands still.

"Can't lay my hands on the goods just yet," he smiled and licked his lips. My nerves shook. For the first time in a while, I felt weak. I felt my fate no longer in my control. It was sobering. Since the memories came to me, since that first dream I had in the hospital that felt long ago, I felt empowered. Now I felt my age. A seventeen year old girl, taken from home. The figure of me no longer in my vision as if I had been abandoned. Erin held my hand outside the man's sight, tightly squeezing it both for her comfort and mine.

Finally, we arrived at the station. It was a true station. Eight rail lines reached a central point like a star. The platform we arrived on was the smallest. The others were larger and hosted more people, all wearing masks, including the guards who welcomed them dressed in bright blue uniforms. We were somewhere underground and in the centre of the station an elevator, beside it a spiral stairwell both rising and descending.

"Well ladies, time to mask up," he handed us all flamboyant masks glittered with silver and gold. They were European styled and sat cut just below our noses. We couldn't refuse but obliged easily. None of us wanted our real faces seen here.

A guard greeted us with a bow as we stepped off the train carriage, "Greetings Master Randall. Your VIP booth has been prepared as usual and your prior 'guests' have been sorted. Do you need assistance in anything further?" He eyed Endi who was still unsteady on her feet.

"Oh, don't worry about them, they're here for the surprise round," the man gleefully grinned.

"The surprise round? The other VIPs will be most interested then."

"I'm sure they will."

We were guided behind the man and as we reached the elevator, those in front of us were pushed aside. Everything we saw reeked of overindulgence. There was no reason to have polished marble or gold lining within the elevator, yet it was presented like a fist class hotel. It only became worse as we exited and entered the VIP booth. Plush chairs and decadent foods were laid out with attendants dressed to show their assets waiting.

A cheer resounded as the edge of the booth came to view and the reality of the festival set in. A coliseum. Hundreds of people sat at waited tables ascending the coliseum seating. Then there was the man and us, situated at the top of it with a near perfect view of it all. VIP rooms similar to the one we occupied circled the coliseum's rim. In the centre, the cause of the cheers, a man in full plated armour tussling with a pack of wolves. My stomach churned. This was their festival. This was their entertainment and we'd be part of it.