Writer Games | Death Wish & 51

Task Two: On the Steps of the Palace - Males

District One - Eoghan Monteligneau

Heaven was always  described as having archways made of gold, twelve pearls on each arch,  and marble walls guarded my angles whose names were inscribed in the  stone, but the palace in front of me was not it. A sick twist from the  games. The sun jumped off of the palace walls and into my eyes. I  squinted to get a better look. On the steps of a palace metal and  plastic shimmered. I positioned myself, and when the gong rang I  sprinted.

I grabbed the first  thing, a backpack, and swung it onto my shoulders. I grabbed handfuls of  supplies and stuffed my pockets. Then, a boy's body landed in front of  me. I stopped in my tracks and searched for the killer. I took the knife  out of the boy's back and continued running.

I ran up the stairs,  jumping over bodies and dodging elbows and fists of fighting tributes. A  girl threw a knife and it whizzed by me, cutting my ear. It landed in  the stomach of another girl behind me. The ivory stairs were now stained  with red. I picked a spear up from the stairs and threw it randomly  into the crowd. Then I sprinted. I hear a scream and a thud, but I  continued to run to the forest.

I crouched into the  bushes and waited for the fights to die down when something sprang out  from the bushes. My eyes darted over to the sound, and I gripped my  knife. A small bow was wrestling a girl. It looked like he punched her a  few times, blood was dripping down the sides of her face. They both  didn't have weapons, which seemed strange to me.

He turned her over and  pined her to the ground. Her eyes scampered around the canopy of trees,  then landed on me. I recognized the look on her face all too well, her  glassy eyes, the way her arms wavered under the force of the boy, how  her lip quivered as she struggled not to cry; it was pure fear. I felt  my stomach flip and all of a sudden, I wanted to cry out with her. I  crossed my arms and my fingertips brushed the handle of the knife. I  pulled it out.

I went up behind the boy  and took a fist full of his dark hair and held him against me, the  knife at his throat. He was still for a moment, and then struggled  against my grip.

"Now what have we got  here?" I cooed in his ear. The girl backed up against a tree trunk, more  fear crept into her eyes. The boy pawed at my arm, he had as much  impact as spoon against a steel wall.

"If you keep struggling I  may loose my patience with you." I inched the knife forwards. Tears  welled up in his eyes. His feet kicked as the hovered over the ground.

"Why don't you just kill me?" he whimpered. His voiced cracked.

"Now, why would I do that? You ain't done nothing to me, and I ain't done nothing to you."

"But you're a career."  The girl perked up at those words. I looked over at her. The fear was  flushed out by something else, but I couldn't pin point it.

"Now, let's not go  putting labels on people." I leaned closer so only he could he the next  words. "If I see you again, if I even think I see you, I will throw this  knife at you, an I never miss.. Got that?"

The boy nodded and I let  him out of my grip. He crumpled on the floor. I raised my knife and cut  his arm. He howled as he gripped the wound.

"Get out of here!" I shouted. He stood up and ran away. I looked back at the girl.

"You're a monster," she whispered. It wasn't fear, but disgust that coated her tone. I looked back to her and narrowed my eyes.

"Listen, I don't know what academy you were at, but I learned it's better to whip than get whipped, even if somebody bleeds."

"That's not right." She shrugged past me and stood on the edge of the forest and watched the others battle at the palace.

"Please, nobody dies from a scar."