Red and Green

Chapter Three- The Curse of 'Carousel'

Chapter Three- The Curse of ‘Carousel” 

“You have been voted target for Carousel.”

The words of Violet’s father echoed the exact words previously exclaimed by Alison.

It was clear he was disappointed but it was harder to tell that he was scared.

‘Carousel’ was the night that took place every three months where only one person from each gang was targeted. The rest were to be left alone. It was the gang’s only agreement. The ‘Carousel targets’ were painted with stripes of their own gang’s colour to show they were a target. Most of the time ‘Carousel’ targets remained unharmed by dawn. Each gang usually protected their ‘Carousel’ target well. But sometimes the target’s endured horrible things. Sometimes they died. Violet had never been a target. Most of the ‘Reds’ figured if they voted their leader’s daughter up for Carousel there'd be hell to pay. Vi’s luck had just ran out.

“What do you think you were doing?”

His words matched Vi’s own thoughts. Ashamed of herself, she tucked some loose hair behind her ear.

“I wasn’t-”

“Anything could have happened to you! The boy had a gun for christ’s sake! They’re dangerous Violet! They kill people!” Theodore interrupted.

Violet felt a irrational jolt of anger. For some reason she was compelled to defend the enemy gang.

“We kill as well!” she justified.

That seemed to be the final straw. Her father shook a finger in her face.

“From now on you NEVER leave this house! Carousel or no!”

“Wha-”

“ENOUGH!”

Having already spent the majority of her life stuck within the walls of ‘Red Manor’, Violet already knew her father’s new rule would be broken. There was no way she was staying locked up inside like some sort of helpless princess. Violet was going to have some fun!

* * * * *

His bother’s taunts had forced Jake outside. He was out to get some respect back. Jake confidently marched to the rock fence. Unsure of how to go about climbing it, he grabbed the thickest shelf of rock and scrambled to get his foot wedged in the biggest cavity he could find. Being of ample height, Jake was able to extend his arm far enough above his head to grip the top of the wall. The Green then pulled the rest of his body up onto the wall and dropping down to the other side of the fence. Jake tossed his face back to look at the summer sky and promptly smacked the back of his head on the rough rock wall, which “shockingly” had stayed put behind him.

“Oww fff-shh, bloody he-”

Jake’s rude outbursts were stop suddenly by a swift blow to the side of his face.

* * * *

Jake timidly opened his eyes. His vision was still blurred but he could just make out the outline of a girl holding what appeared to be a baseball ba-

* * * *

Violet had brought the baseball bat down quickly on the boys head again but this time he did not pass out. Go figure.

“What was that for?”

Jake tried to leap at the girl but was restrained to his chair by thick ropes. Ropes? Was this some kind of Joke?

Violet held the bat in front of her face and backed away a little at the sight of the struggling male. He looked strong. Very, strong.

Violet stood up straight and held her head high. She slowly put down the baseball bat (after secretly checking that the boy wasn’t strong enough to break the ropes.)

The young ‘Red’ did her best to look threatening.

* * * *

Jake watched in bewildered amusement as the girl cutely tried to look menacing. He didn’t drop his gaze for a second as she dramatically pulled back the hood of her black jacket to reveal a head of loose chocolate brown curls. He had to admit the woman was hot. However he couldn’t shake the feeling she looked vaguely familiar. And not in a good way. Trying to recall where he had seen her before, Jake  examined the teen standing before him. She was clothed entirely in black like a ninja. To an outsider this would probably look like a pretty alarming scene but to Jake it was rather comical. At least it was until the girl began to unzip her jacket revealing a bold red t-shirt. Crap.