I look down. Darkness.
I look up. Isla’s face stares down at me, her icy eyes glowing in the black mist. A smile creeps over the corner of her lips. Isla is – was – my best friend. I’m not so sure now, not after this game…
“Isla – let’s stop. You win, yeah?” She is looking straight at me, her eyes staring not at me, but into me. “Isla?”
Her smile grows wider. “You don’t want to be the winner anymore, do you? OK, then. I win…”
I don’t know if it’s Isla’s voice which does it, or her eyes piercing critically into my mind, or the mere thought of winning… But I give in. I crouch down into the dirt, staring up at Isla’s face.
She is smiling. I look away.
A voice goes off at the back of my head like a shrill siren: Get back up! You’re giving into her again! She doesn’t care about winning… she doesn’t care about you…
I look up to the small chunk of light at the top of the hole which should be filled with Isla’s elfin face. But she is gone.
Then, slowly, I feel a sprinkle of something brown and fresh. Someone is filling the hole up…
I suddenly realise, as dirt falls on my face and the light fades away. I realise the whole point of this “game”… what Isla is trying to do…
“I win!” I hear her laugh.
Not yet… I smile to myself.
