Into the Game

Chapter 5

She woke up with a terrible headache and no feeling in any of her limbs. It felt like there was liquid lead running through her veins.

The first thing she could move was her head. She tried moving it to the right and succeeded only in slamming her ear onto a marble floor.

"Wait. Marble?" She said quietly to herself. She blinked a few times then looked around more, turning her head from side to side. It was a ballroom. She sat up quickly, and felt a million needles stab her temples.

It was impossible, she was in the little wooden shack just... When was that? Yesterday? A few days? An hour? Now that she thought about it, how long had she been in this place? She had no idea.

Slowly, she stood up and looked around. People everywhere. Beautiful, graceful, translucent people, twirling and dancing all around her. One couple literally spun right into her but they just passed through. She began walking with hesitation to the edge of the room.

After about the fifth couple or so, she just ignored the translucent blurs that overtook her vision as they passed through her. She finally made it to the wall and she started walking along with the wall. She held one hand to the wall and looked around.

The glamorous people took no notice of her, and after a while, it got boring to watch them, so instead she took in her surroundings. The first thing she noticed was the ceiling. It was beautifully and intricately designed, in perplexing patterns, red purple and black. They almost appeared to move, but that had to be a figment of her imagination. Then again. Nothing could shock her anymore.

As her eyes traveled from the ceiling to the walls to the floor, she noticed something odd about the dancers. Every once and a whole, as a couple passed her, she would notice a hand pressed to tightly to a back, or a smile a little too forced. After noticing it, she couldn't stop noticing it, and soon enough, every couple that passed her had a flaw.

She allowed her eyes to wander through the crowd until she almost overlooked a small, frail looking girl pressed against the wall. Hugging the wall, she made her way to the girl, who, although she was dressed appropriately, stuck out for who knows why.

Expecting to be able to examine her without acknowledgment, Elizabeth walked towards the girl. But then the girl looked her dead in the eye and Elizabeth realized what was so strange about her. She was opaque.

"You-you can see me?" The girl said, obviously shocked.

"I could say the same to you! Who are you?"

"Tara. Tara Clemit," she said with a confident air that Elizabeth could have cut with a knife. "Who," she asked with a glare, "are you?"

Elizabeth was taken aback by the sudden change in attitude.

"I'm, I'm Elizabeth Willows," she said, attempting to muster the same courage as she had noted in Tara.

"How lucky for you, you're stuck in the Dodge Ball."

"What does that mean? Why did you call it that?" Elizabeth asked nervously.

"Did you notice the couples?" Tara asked, nodding toward the dancers.

"Yeah, they don't look to happy."

"They aren't. But they're putting on a show," Tara said, now examining her nails.

"For who?" Elizabeth asked still entranced by the dance that was now taking place.

Tara's only response was to shrug.