Beyond the Barrier

New Days Were Seen

Farrah: "Omg, Trystan is totally checking you out!"

Me: "No Farrah, you're imagining things again."

Most of mine and Farrah's conversations started off like that.

Trystan is the hottest guy in school. Farrah and I always have had the biggest crush on him for so long. We sometimes tease each other about him.

Though this particular day is very important for us. Today is called 'Día del nuevo líder'. Yes it's latin, typical. It means 'Day of the New Leader'. Today we have three groups each member of the groups fight against each other. We fight to the death. They last people of each group assume the three roles: Leader, Co-Leader, and Chief.

The last thing we want to do is kill each other, but... we have no choice.

At last the time has come. The people I will be fighting are Kensy Wilkingson, Dave Forbe, Tomson Benweeled and Rachel somethin'. I was happy Farrah wasn't someone I had to fight, we're besties. All of a sudden a bell rung and everyone got into their starting positions. I assumed the position I thought was right for my body type; pale, thin, weak. The speaker was now announcing our names, group numbers, and the time we will have until, voting battle. 

Voting battle is when the other lower grades vote on whom they think should win. The only part about that is if you lose you don't die, but you have to retake the 'Día del nuevo líder', physical test.

We hear a countdown. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1...FIGHT!!

Everyone starts coming at each other. I go for the weakest, Rachel. She's skinny and scrawny just like muah. I jump at her with my arms out. When I reach her face, I give it a hardcore scratch. I started scratching her face until I saw red. Brutal, yes. Worth it, maybe. Easy, no. I don't understand the concept of killing to win titles. But, we don't oppose our government, they are very strong. I heard a rumor that they took down every part of Russia, with one word and one object (think about what they'd do to us). I just really can't wait 'til this is over.

I let my grip on her face go as I see Dave rushing toward us and Tom and Kensy injured on the ground. No wonder they were injured, Dave is the strongest guy I personally know. He could kill us if he wanted, with one hit. Okay, now I'm exaggerating, but even then he is still super strong overall. I don't want to end like them. I hesitantly decided to push Rachel to the ground and move out the way, to let him run passed us. As he realized that he was going too fast, and he had already passed us, he did a U-turn right back in my direction.

Obviously he wasn't going to Rachel, she was weak enough and injured, plus he didn't want to seem as if he was taking out the weakest first. Seeing him do that, I started to dart my eyes around, looking for something. Anything. I knew that I could avoid him until the Voting Battle, but didn't think that I'll make it for that long. I start aimlessly running into different directions, avoiding Dave at all costs. And though I looked there were no objects/weapons lying around for me. 2 minutes go by and I'm still dodging him. I think to myself that Dave is a really unliked person, in the female community. He's a douche. So I'll surely win that Voting Battle, if I even make it there.

4 minutes go by and I'm really getting tired;Dave is calling me names; the audience is booing us. In 3 more minutes Voting Battle will begin. During Voting Battle, the competitors leave, get cleaned up and dressed up. We give speeches about why we don't want to lose and convince people to like us by presenting ourselves a certain way. I'm prepared, I can wait 3 minutes. But my hard thinking got my running off track. I couldn't even hear the footsteps behind me, when...

He crept up on me and attacked me. I just had to fight him off for 2 more minutes. He grabbed my hair and forcefully pulled it back and push my head forward, repeatedly. This time I knew how it felt to be hurt. I was going to die. That's all I was thinking. I couldn't even feel the pain because all I was thinking was, I'm going to die.

I could hear the announcement saying one minute left. I was still alive. I needed to get out of this situation. I was dizzy and my head was hurt. But all of a sudden, the announcer told Dave to stop attacking me. But why?

Dave grabbed my hand and pulled my weak, bloody and bruised body up. The announcer explained that all of the contestants from group three were... gone. I didn't know if that was Farrah's group so I was worried. We didn't even have to do Voting Battle now. The man said that he'd announce the winners and their titles in 5 minutes or less. I was shocked. I did it. I won. I survived.

A woman about in her forties comes out on to the arena. Bodies are piled up against the wall. She examines it. She had blonde-ish silvery hair. It shimmered when ever she step in the shadow of the sun. Her clothes looked very formal and she very clean. She started to walk toward me and Dave and before she could speak a word, I fell to my knees. I cried. Not tears of joy or sadness, but tears of anger and betrayal.

The woman spoke softly and empathic.

"We are going to get you to get cleaned up and ready for your titles. If you need to request anything specific, please find me because it is my concern and mine alone".

When her brief explanation was over, I got one my feet and wiped my drenched face with my sleeve that was covered in sand from the arena floor. I followed the woman and glanced back a couple of times at Dave. Not because I was furious or I wanted revenge, but because I didn't know what the hell was going.