Author Games Compilation [Cycle 1]

Task 4 ♢ Drip, Drip, Drip (KE)

THE HANGING TREE GAMES: REVISITED - TASK FOUR

When the sun returned, it hadn't stayed for long, having dipped down beneath the myriad of condemnation that was this city and plunged the tributes into night. It had risen again, surely, but not with as great a bravado as it'd once had; it became shy, and only peeked between the stretches of cotton whenever it felt nobody was looking - or thinking - at its revisit. 

Perhaps Kassia was partly to blame. There she was, perched on the balcony of that apartment building - the sort where you have to walk up four flights of stairs, all of them open to the outside air and harsh elements, no less, just to get to your apartment - staring up as well as she could between the buildings right at that forlorn sky. And the sun knew. And the sun hid.

The sun was a wuss.

Behind her, in the closest apartment, a round of laughter emanated through the open door. Brannon with their lows, the kids with their highs, and Aeneas with his in-betweens. It warmed Kass to hear - it was like home, when dad would flip something onto the ceiling and mom'd sit there and laugh at his inability to cook for a good ten minutes before helping him get it done properly. She wondered how they were now. If mom still laughed at dad's silly mistakes. Not often had she thought of them since arriving, but now, faced with this laughter and calm, she had room to let them in.

Hoping that a camera would pick up her voice and transmit it along, she took in a great deal of breath to speak. Before she could loosen the words, though, a pattering of feet rose up behind her, followed by a tap on her elbow. Though disappointed, she looked down - she could say "I miss you" some other time.

There stood Symon, contented with a spoonful of pineapple slices in his mouth. Brannon was right. Around the food, he said, "I can take watch if you want. You should eat something, probably."

Again, her chest swelled with warmth. Here this small boy was, offering to stand here and wear out his legs so she could eat. She shook her head, resting her jacketed arm against the railing. "No, I'm good. I like seeing the colors change." A pause. "If you let me have one of those slices that'd be great, though."

Symon obliged, and soon the both of them were chewing through the acidic fruit, looking out into the dry arena. "Do you think we'll find water soon?" he asked.

"Hard telling, sprout," Kassia replied. "I just hope we do before tomorrow, or we're all more royally screwed than the president himself."

Below, Symon blanched, but said nothing in return. Smart kid, he was. Kassia, not so much. But if anything, it showed the entirety of the nation she had guts. Maybe it'd make up for that whole tripping-off-the-train mishap. Yeah, it would.

As if in response to her subtle shading, a bout of thunder rolled over the sky. It sounded almost like a cannon, but she knew quite well the difference. The difference was that light came with it, and light did come, though distantly, and so quickly it might've been a trick of the eye.

But the flash of silver falling down was no trick of the eye, nor was the splash of it upon the parking lot asphalt below. Kassia turned to stare at Symon, and Symon returned the favor.

We'll be okay.

"Woohoo!" This whoop, naturally, alarmed the others, but she was too charged in the legs that they sent her running before the pack could rush out of the apartment. By the time Aeneas could call out and ask her what the hell she was doing, she'd already gone.

"It's raining! Hydration, bitch, come and get it!"

With no degree of hesitation did she run into the rain, arms splayed and gleeful twirls gracing the screens of an unseen audience; her head hung back to catch a whole shower on the tongue. It was tasteless and glided down as water should, and she swallowed down a good bit before figuring it was time to wave her allies forward so they could share in this gift.