Alaska ✓

5 | Nightmare

5 | Nightmare
❝Forever does not make loss forgettable, only bearable.❞

"Four more fights to go," Josh sighed as we dispersed from the long day of battles. Azra had been victorious over her opponent, and all of us had moved onto the next round.

I raise my eyebrow. "Four?"

"If you get to the final, that is." Josh points out, and I nod. I wanted to get to the final so that I could have a chance at surviving the tournament, but I didn't want to become queen.

However, there was another option. If I was put up against Azra or Josh, and I lost, then they would let me live. That was the only other way that I could escape this torture alive, and we all knew it.

I turn to look at Azra. It was obvious when I gazed into her cobalt orbs that she was uncomfortable with the prospect of me dying, almost as uncomfortable as I was.

Josh places his hand on the small of my back, steering me towards the dining room as we headed for dinner. The contact felt strange on my body, but I ignored it as he pushed me towards the noisy chatter of the other competitors.

The cobblestone hallways all looked identical: grey, bleak, and composed like a stack of precariously balanced rocks. I didn't have the foggiest clue where I was going, and I was glad to have someone like Josh with me.

We round yet another corner, a flame torch eating at the darkness. At least I recognised this part of the ancient and crumbling hallway: it lead to the dining hall.

All of a sudden, I begin to feel nauseous, as if my stomach has suddenly been churned a million times in one second. Bile rises in my throat as my footfalls become weak, and I no longer feel as though I can support myself. My sudden reaction doesn't have an explanation, I just feel as though I want to curl into a ball, and shrink so small that I disappear off the face of the earth.

I didn't want to go into a room full of people who wanted to kill me. Since I had slaughtered William in cold blood, I knew that they would all be furious. Each and every one of them would want to rip my flesh from my bones.

Josh notices my discomfort, and supports me with his other hand. I wonder if he thinks I'm going weak at the knees because of his touch. "Ali, are you ok?"

I shake my head. "They're going to kill me." I whisper, suddenly frozen in place like a statue. Today I had killed someone, yet here I was like a dog with its tail pressed firmly between its legs. God, I was so messed up.

Josh squats as I sink to my knees, becoming eye level with me. His eyes were still beautiful, perhaps more beautiful than my own.

"No, Alaska, no they won't." He gives me a hand up so I'm back on my feet. "Everyone in there hated William, trust me."

I shake my head in disbelief. "Well at least he wasn't a rogue," I hiss between my teeth, not anticipating how harsh my words sound, and I feel my legs confidently drag me towards the dreaded dining room. I was petrified at the thought of going in there, but somehow I don't feel daunted as I get closer to my destination.

"Alaska!" Josh shouts from behind me, followed by the echoing of heavy footsteps. "I'm being serious."

I roll my eyes, not hesitating to falter. I was not used to being social, and Josh feeding me lies was not helping. He was a good guy with the right intentions, but nobody lied to me.

I march into the dining room, and all eyes turn towards me as I stand there, my hands flying to my sides, my foot freezing in mid-air as I decide not to continue forwards.

Yet again, I am surrounded by a storm of angry eyes, scowling at me as if I was the devil. I could tell just by looking at someone that they wanted to kill me, their eyes filled with the complex drive of bloodlust.