Writer's Games: Carnival

Finals: Morgan Griffin

Every story comes to an end, even the longest most vivid ones have a final page. Those books end in one of two ways; in tragedy or in gaiety. More often than not the author chooses to wind the words through the darkest valley's only to arrive at a brightly lit peak where the story comes to an end. Life isn't like that though, life weaves the most inhumane plots only to leave her lead characters brutally maimed and barely alive.

The final pages of this horror story are upon us, how it will end has not yet been determined, but I can't see it ending well.

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Chills ran down my spine as I knelt in front of the door handle pushing the large jagged piece of glass into the screws that held the handle in place. The edges of the serrated glass dug into my already roux stained palm that clutched it clumsily. The makeshift bandages on my wrists were barely doing anything to slow the blood flow from my wrist. A drop of blood dripped from the soaked fabric every few seconds like the sand in an hourglass, reminding me how little time I had.

I needed to move faster if I expected to get my revenge.

Revenge, I thought as I twisted the screw with the glass, it really was a beautiful word. "Revenge, retribution, vengeance, retaliation, reprisal, requital, recrimination." I let the foreign words fall from my tongue like silk as the third screw fell free, hardly realizing that this wasn't me. It clattered to the ground loudly as I moved onto the final screw that would finalize my freedom from this dreadful bloodspattered room.

Perhaps if I had been thinking rationally I would have realized that the thing I had feared most from the second I had begun this sadistic charade was slowly coming to be; the loss of my humanity. I was so blinded by the pain and grief that swam through every fiber of my being that I failed to see the fury driven monster I was becoming. I wanted vengeance for Arwen, for Bobby, for Cleo, for Maxine and every other soul that was cruelly chained in this arena of death and played with like we were puppets on a string. I think I thought that taking our captor's lives away would somehow erase what had happened in this haunted place.

I held my breath as I twisted the final screw loose and the door handle fell free hitting the hard ground with a loud 'ding' as the door swung open. My heart jumped into my throat as I gazed at the black abyss that opened in front of me, dreading what awaited me inside. My ears were just able to make out the dim whirring of machinery that made nervous energy crawl up my spine like spiders.

I slowly raised myself to my feet, feeling a slight coldness stiffen my limbs as I glanced over my shoulder casting one final glance at the room that had held me captive for the past undetermined amount of time. I stared at the mirrors covered in my final words to the world, written in my own blood, I stared at the millions of crystal like glass that covered the floor like millions of diamonds.

My gaze fell on two long shards of glass among the more broken ones. I walked over to them and reached downward numbly and one of them up. I'd need something to defend myself with, I thought grimly. I was naturally small and skinny and I detested working out with a vengeance, I wasn't going to overpower two six foot men without having some advantage. I stuck it into the pocket of my jeans.

I turned away from the room and began to walk into the dimly lit passageway that held the unknown, a second before I made the final step I paused, throwing one final glance behind me, "Goodbye." I said, unsure of what exactly I said goodby to, it just felt right.

Without another thought I stepped forward and began walking very slowly through the darkness. I extended my arms in front of me, feeling ahead of my so I didn't run into a wall. I felt a few cobwebs catch in my hair, I brushed them away quickly and continued forward.