Childish War

Chapter 5

The taunting went on like that for a solid minute. I had never heard such bizarre requests. Mother had called this a communication device, but this "communication" seemed entirely one-sided. And obscene, to say the least. I pulled the hem of my skirt down in protest. This proved quite difficult to maintain whilst I crawled forward.

As in "quite difficult," I mean I tripped over my own dress, causing me to launch face first into the ceiling with a large crash. I landed face first into the floor beneath, my fall thankfully cushioned by a soft mattress.

"Lol," Was the only comment from my earpiece.

It took a solid second to recover from the shock of being thrown from the floor above. Afterwards, I sat up to dust the ceiling debris off myself.

"Mara?" I heard a familiar voice. Familiar, I say, yet still absolutely blood-curdling. All trace of blood drained from my face. The core of my being knew this was the day I'd die. No use for fight nor flight. I turned my head to face my terrible fate.

Callum's Daylight Army consisted of four people. Callum himself, Author, Lance, and Tatum to be exact. I knew their names quite well, as they often only appeared in my nightmares. Each member had a firearm pointed straight at me. I stared down the barrel of Callum's pistol with watery eyes.

"Why are you here, Mara?" Callum's voice was cold and melodious. A smile— no, a smirk etched from ear to ear; a coy reminder that my fragile life was balanced in his fickle palm. No hard feelings.

I opened my mouth, but all that came out was a squeak. Author, who stood to Callum's right, lowered his shotgun slightly.

He sighed, "This is ridiculous. Just look at her, Callum." Author gestured towards me, pathetic as ever. The others did not budge without Callum's word.

"Don't spoil it, Author!" Callum gave a short and muffled giggle, "Her face was absolutely priceless!"

Author shook his head, "You're an awful human being, you should know that."

"So what?" Callum retorted, waving his hand so Lance and Tatum could drop their guards, "Might as well have a little fun in life, even at the expense of others."

Author simply rolled his eyes.

In all of my life, I could never have even imagined sitting alongside Callum and his Daylight Army with all of my vitals perfectly intact. And so, I didn't. My pulse was terribly fast, and I dare say it was even out of rhythm. If I didn't know any better, I'd say I was in a state of cardiac arrest. My temperature was undoubtedly high, to say the least. My lungs seemed to twist around each other, crushing any trace of oxygen and hope that I wouldn't lapse into psychological shock.

"Mara, try to calm down," Tatum tried to reassure me, "You're perfectly safe." She squeezed my hand, thinking that would help me in some bizarre way.

"Look what you've done to the poor girl, Callum," Author lectured his brother. "You damn near killed her like a rabbit from stress."

I didn't look up to see Callum's reaction, but I'm sure that he didn't take it very respectfully.

Tatum continued to whisper soothing phrases into my ear. I might have worked if not for the robotic voices drowning out most of her words. They chanted awful things like "Hah! Killed like a rabbit!" and "I didn't pay for this. I want a refund!"

"Huh?" I heard Tatum audibly gasp. "Mara-— she!" She motioned for the others to join us. The others rushed to our side, except for Lance, who silently guarded the door.