Author's Game Entries

Task 2: A Meeting

Dear Valentine,

It's your brother, Wills. You probably assumed that already though, this letter is from the castle, who else could it be from? Meh...You'll probably get another one from the castle to let you know if I die, but... That definitely won't be for a while.

Anyway, I thought I should let you know how I was doing, considering I didn't really get the chance to say goodbye to you all. Tell mom and dad I'm doing fine, I haven't gotten myself into any serious trouble yet. There was this minor incident with some silverware, but don't worry, it was handled. This nice servant lady ended up catching me and made me put them back, but she didn't scold me or tell anyone thankfully. I believe her name was Mrs. Severn? She's really nice, I like her.

Oh yeah, I also tried out sword fighting a couple days ago. I completely sucked at it but it was fun. There was this other guy trying it out too, he's actually pretty good, I think he's done fencing before. He's kind of the only friend I've made here so far, but I kinda like that it's just him, I don't know if I could deal with more friends.

Well... He's mostly a just friend as far as I can tell... I mean he is a real flirt and he doesn't seem to want to stop bugging me, but I don't really mind, I kind of like that too. His name is Adrien, I'm sure you'd love to meet him. I mean, I know I did.

But anyway, I'm sorry for not writing sooner, I meant too, but I'd been busy getting to know my around this amazing castle. Seriously, ahaha, this place really is amazing. You should be jealous, Val. The dining hall is the bigger than our house, the food here is magnificent, and you can't even imagine how nice my room is. And as an added bonus, most everyone here is really nice!

You probably wouldn't like it though, too 'posh' with these all stuck up rich nobles and royalty. Just another reason why it's a good I got chosen instead of you.

Hugs from your favorite baby brother,

Willis Dale

. . .

Willis looks down at the envelope in his hand, recalling the slightly sarcastic words written in the enclosed letter. He is standing in the hallway outside of his room, trying to figure out where to go to send it.

He really had meant to write his family sooner, but he hadn't been lying when he had said he'd been busy. There had just been so many places to explore on that first day, so many people to meet, and Willis guiltily acknowledges the fact that he hadn't even thought of his family once that day.

It has been roughly a week since he first arrived at the castle with the other tributes, and the whole time he had been trying to get to know them as best he could. Of course there had been the easy ones to notice, the ones that stood out like koi in a pond.

He had noticed the variety in the tributes, from kind and active ones to the more shady kinds of people, and then some that are just plain insane. Willis shies away from pretty much all of them though, even after a week of being in the same quarters with them, and the only thought in his mind is that they are his competition. People who could eventually cause his demise.

Of all the tributes, he only really had found companionship in Adrien Thiswood. He wouldn't even have that if the outgoing boy hadn't been trying so hard for it though, as Willis himself hadn't contributed much to forming the friendship aside from awkward smiles and flustered blushes.

Just thinking about him causes a slight blush to tint his cheeks, and Willis directs his attention back to the letter still held in his hand, reminding himself that he still had to send it. The raven haired boy lets out a sigh and starts down the hallway towards the dinning hall, hoping to find someone there he could ask about getting it sent. Since dinner had been served hours ago, unsurprisingly no one was there when he arrives.

Having glanced around the room once, Willis is about to turn away and try somewhere else, when he heard the sound of a running water going on before abruptly going off again. Confused, he looks around the room again, only to see no one. The sound had come somewhere to his left, and as he looks in that direction all he sees is the light seeping under the door to the kitchen.

Hesitantly, Willis creeps over and peeks through the ajar door, only to see that it is Mrs. Severn, the head maid. She is standing at the sink, slowly working her way through the stack of dirty dishes piled next to her.

Not wanting to bother her, Willis is about to back away and into the dining hall again, but he didn't pay attention to the door as he steps back, and his motion causes it to creak. Mrs. Severn looks up with a slightly startled look, and blinks in surprise when she sees Willis standing there.

"William, is that you?" She asks, and Willis smiles sheepishly.

"Yes... It's uh, Willis, though." He can't help but correct her awkwardly, though he was used to the mix up by now.

"Ah, I'm sorry." She apologises quickly, fixing her mistake. "Willis, come on in! Don't just stand there, boy, lend this poor woman a hand." She smiles at him, and Willis knew he didn't actually have to come and help her, but he decides to anyway.

"If I may ask... Why are you doing dishes all by yourself? Shouldn't there be a... Chef or someone designated for this job?" He asks as he picks up a dish, standing next to her at the large sink. He had slipped his letter into his back pocket, reminding himself to ask her about it later.

Mrs. Severn sighs, "Well, yes, but the dish boy was new and he was doing them all wrong, so I decided to let him go and do it myself for now." She chuckles. "But let me tell you, there were a lot more dishes than I had anticipated, two for every tribute as well as every noble! You can imagine, I'm definitely not offering to do this again, that boy can just learn to wash them on his own."

Willis smiles and laughs slightly, though he did feel bad for her, if she really had been in here doing dishes since dinner than she had obviously been here for more than an hour. Her efforts hadn't been futile though, she is almost done now, and the stack next to her is now less than a dozen.

"Now if I may ask, young man, what are you doing wandering around this castle this evening, don't you have better things to do than to stay and help me with this?" She asks, her words surprisingly kind. Willis got the feeling she really wouldn't mind if he didn't help with the dishes, she just wants company.

So he shrugs, "Well, I was looking for someone to mail this letter for me..." He starts to explain, setting a dish he had cleaned down with the rest of the clean dishes. Mrs. Severn notices the letter in his back pocket then and she raises an eyebrow.

Willis realises what she was thinking and instantly shakes his head, "Ah no, that's actually mine! It didn't take it I swear, I wrote it to my sister."

Mrs. Severn smiles and waves her hand in a dismissive way. "It's fine, I didn't believe you had taken it, I was just wondering. But do you need someone to send it? I could always have it mailed for you if you'd like, the least I can do to thank you for helping with these dishes."

Willis blinks and looks up from the dish he'd been cleaning. He hadn't expected her to offer to send it and he didn't know what to say. The maid just smiles again and sets the last, now clean, dish down in the pile with its fellow clean dishes, and dries her hands on her apron.

"Here, let me see, do you have an address already on it?" She asks, holding out a hand, and Willis pulls out the letter with his still slightly wet hands to give to her.

He nods as she looks over the wrinkled envelope with a smile. "Don't worry, sweetie, I'll get this sent for you."

"Thank you so much." He smiles widely and gratefully to her as he sets the last dish down in the pile. If Mrs. Severn's kindness were an object, Willis couldn't help himself but steal it then; just so he could always have it with him.