Author Games: Renegade | CLOSED

SF Entry - Mai Li

I remember how I spent my first birthday on the run. It was when I was turning 12. I had made a friend, someone like me, running far away from somewhere.

One the morning of my birthday, I woke up and saw she was gone. I thought she was out picking berries or hunting like she does in the mornings sometimes. So I began to walk in the direction that she normally goes to hunt. Not wanting to scare any game, I climbed into a tree and waited.

I heard her voice. But not just hers. Several others, and pairs of footsteps. As she neared where I was hiding, she told the people that I was right ahead and they could grab me and take me to my father.

That girl... She was never on the run. She was tracking me. We were never friends. She had a family, a job, a life, something to go back to. She lied.

As the group walked by, to the camp, tears fell. But I couldn't cry, so I took the pack that I had on my back, and ran. Ran as fast as my feet would take me. Until I thought I was safe.

Out of my bag, I pulled out a round object. It was a cupcake holder. My friend worked at a bakery and got a couple. She thought she could use them to hold food.

Inside, is a cupcake. One with mint green icing and vanilla cake. We were going to share it.

I took a candle that was in my pack and stuck it in the cupcake. Once I lit it, I crouched down and stared at it.

The sun had gone down and it was twilight. I blew on the candle, and tears flooded my eyes.

That's how I spent my 12th birthday. Alone in the woods.

My eyes flutter open, and I'm staring at light. I bolt up and see I'm in a hospital bed. I swing my legs off the bed and run out of the room, only to trip on my outfit.

My outfit... I want to scream when I see it.

A full length emerald colored gown, with gold jewelry. My dark hair is in a high ponytail, and my makeup has been done. The only thing missing are shoes.

I wander around the hospital until I hear voices. Voice that I recognize.

I throw open the door to the room that the voices are coming from, and gasp.

The room is a large banquet hall, with room for only four at the table. Neha, Luna, and Berenice are laughing and talking together.

Neha is wearing a sparkling orange dress, with her dark hair loose down her back. Luna has a midnight blue mermaid gown and her blonde hair is in an updo. And Berenice is in a light purple mini dress, with her brown hair in a braid that rests on the side of her shoulder.

Neha looks up.

"Mai?!" She screams, and runs at me.

She tackles me in a hug, and I hug her back.

"Hi," I laugh a little, "Where is everyone else? Like, Skye, Vix, and Gus?"

Neha's face falls, "Gone. They're gone."

"What do you mean, 'They're Gone'?" I ask, suddenly paralyzed.

"I mean, gone. They're dead."

Dead

The thing I tried so hard to make sure they didn't become. And yet, they did.

Because villains never win.

I can hear the voice, the one from the arena. The one that manipulated me, twisted me, and broke me. I thought it was gone. But it isn't.

As I hear more taunts about my failure to save my friends, I sink to the ground. My hands cover my ears, and I am aware that someone is screaming. Me. Images fly past me eyes, of my friends dying, my allies dying, my family dying. And then it stops.