Death's Game

2

“The most unbelievable things are those that are the truth."
– Anonymous

Silence is defined as the loss of all sound. It is also described as a situation wherein none of those present within a group or a room had spoken for a certain period of time. Silence also happened to be the perfect description of what ensued amongst the 10th graders within their classroom.

The moment silence befalls a class it usually meant that their teacher for that subject period had arrived. A chaotic room filled with the mindless chatter and jibes between the students would cease the moment a figure that held authority over them would grace them with his or her presence. It’s the event that showed an ounce of normalcy in their lives. It also happens to be a respectable silence that doesn’t invoke discomfort among the students.

Grace wanted people to go ahead and call her crazy the moment she admitted to them that she enjoyed the silence of her classmates when a teacher walked in. That silence somehow comforted her and it was definitely a thousand times better than what she had to endure at the moment.

It dragged on, the silence that continued to bring her discomfort. She shifted slightly in Angelo’s arms in discomfort. The stares of her classmates are like sharpened daggers that are piercing directly into the fabric of her very soul.

The girl tried not to flinch or struggle out of her friend’s arms and once her feet met the ground, she would bolt for the door. The stares are not new at all seeing as the two of them are fairly used to them. It was the emotions that she had glimpsed in the seconds in which she lifted her head to tell them about Frank’s apparent demise that became the root of her discomfort.

The class population often gazed upon the two of them with eyes promising a chorus of teases that hinted at the supposedly non-existent chemistry between them. This time their eyes held a different story. The individual pairs of orbs each held a tale of apprehension, disbelief, hostility, and many more negative emotions that she could not even name.

With a sigh, she lightly tapped Angelo’s shoulder. The boy’s hazel orbs met hers and she saw a story in them as well. His eyes shined with a promise, an unspoken agreement that she could not put into words but understood nonetheless.
“You can put me down now,” she whispered.
“Are you sure that you can stand on your own two feet?”
Grace glared at him to which he stifled a chuckle that would have disrupted the tense silence in the room.
“I can stand just fine, thank you very much.”
Angelo shook his head with a small and almost unnoticeable grin tugging at the corners of his lips. With great care, he placed her back on the floor and ensured that she could stand without the need for support before he untangled his arms from her figure.

The black haired girl kept her gaze glued to the floor as the hazel eyed boy set her down. She was hesitant to raise her head. She was utterly terrified of what her eyes will meet once she looked up and met the eyes of her classmates.

A weight fell upon her shoulder and it sent spikes of comfort through her being. Angelo gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. Her fingers grazed his once she lifted her hand to the shoulder where he placed his own hand.

Grace inhaled slowly, closing her eyes as she did so, then she raised her head and opened her eyes as she exhaled the air that pooled in her lungs. Taking her lower lip between her teeth, Grace met their stares despite the tension she could feel emanating from them. She felt like a mouse in a lion’s den or a rabbit in a snake’s nest or maybe even a worm in an eagle’s abode.

As the forty-six pairs of eyes bore into her, the girl who became subjected to their stares was having thoughts about the earth swallowing her whole.

Angelo, who stayed behind Grace, could not help but feel pity towards the poor girl. Their classmates are fixing her with murderous glares that would have killed her had their eyes have the power to do so. If the class was filled with Gorgons instead of students, then the girl in front of him would have been turned to stone by now.