Once More
1778 Words
On the night of 8 June, very close to midnight.
Micah sat up on his bed, staring blankly into the darkness as he continued to read from his book.
A soft tangerine colour suddenly appeared to the side of him, upturning his lips.
"It is nice to see you again, Carvill." He said as the man made his way to him. "How is everything over there?"
"The games have been going on and Division Three already won three times," Carvill said, nodding to himself. "I think she just might win."
"It does seem like it, doesn't it?" Micah chuckled when they heard a groan and someone tossing beside Micah. "Oh, we have to be a little quieter. Bradie has been working all day today."
He reached his hand to his friend's head and began petting it. "I may have overworked him a little bit."
"Is this the boy?" Carvill asked, pointing to Briar. "The one you said who-"
"It is up to him," Micah said, shrugging. "Ok, so why don't we make this a little more interesting, Carvill?"
"What do you have in mind?" The man asked, eyes gleaming.
_____________________
As soon as Carvill left, Micah sighed, leading back against his pillow, running his hands through his hair.
Once the fire breaks out in the kingdom, they will take refuge in all nearby kingdoms.
If this fails, in the next couple of years, Thunder will slowly be resented by the people and then, he will be captured and killed.
Neighbouring kingdoms will declare war on this kingdom and it will be reduced to ashes.
The screams of people filled his ears again as Micah tried to cover his ears to keep them out. Though that never did work before.
Not again.
The pain from when a building crushed his leg came back, making Micah flinch slightly as he remembers how he crawled out of the wreckage.
The wreckage caused his legs to break and then tear from his thighs while crawling out.
He tried to call for help but his voice was drowned out because of all the other people running back and forth all around him.
Some of them ran over the boy, tripping over him as well while he tried to crawl to a safe spot.
One person ran to Micah and tripped over his body, turning the boy over while he tried to gasp for air.
"Why is a body in the middle of the road?" The man shouted, picking him up as quickly as he could.
Micah tried to call to the man but he could not find his voice as he felt himself falling, the man throwing him.
Fortunately, he landed on something soft. Unfortunately, as he felt around him, he realised that what he was laying on was a pile of bodies.
A scream escaped his lips as he tried to move away from them but he could not seem to find an exit.
Feeling to the side of him were only narrow walls as the putrid smell of rotting bodies and water waste-filled his nose.
I ... I am in the ditch?
He did not have the time to process everything when something heavy landed on top of him. He did not need to feel around this time to know that it was another body, recently dead.
The warmth from the person brushed against his skin while he struggled to get the person off him but to no avail as another couple of bodies fell on him.
Some smelt burnt and he could not breathe as the people above him grew heavier and heavier and heavier. Everything is burning. The liquid is coming on his face as he tried to crawl out.
It’s getting harder and harder to breathe. Chest tightening.
_________________________
Micah shook his head, clearing his thought as quickly as possible and pressed his throbbing head.
“Everything alright?” Micah heard Briar ask, voice husky and his hand on his lap. “What are you doing up?”
“Yes,” Micah said, patting his head. “Sorry, did I wake you?”
“No,” he mumbled. “Go to sleep. Or did you have another nightmare?”
“I had another nightmare,” Micah said softly.
“What was it about?”
“Dying in a ditch,” Micah said, as the two intertwined hands. “Would that not sound like an awful way to go?”
“Sounds terrifying,” Briar said playing with Micah’s bandaged fingers. “Is that a fear of yours?”
“Yes. I would rather die any other way than the way I did in my dream.” Micah sighed, leaning back against the pillow. “I think the worst part was the loneliness I felt. Not so much where it happened.”
“Don’t worry.” Briar gave him a reassuring squeeze. “Even if you were to die in a weird place, I will be there with you all the way.”
“Even in a ditch?”
“Even in a ditch.” He reassured him, voice turning soft. “So just forget that dream. You are not there now.”
As he said that, he slowly began to drift off to sleep while Micah stared at him, smiling.
Right. I am here now. Mustn’t forget that.
______________________
“What do you mean by that?” Heris asked as Teri handed him a letter.
“This came in the mail today.” She said while he read it. It said the same things that she just told him.
“All previous participants are to be there tonight.” It wrote.
“Doesn’t that mean it would just be Clover and not me?” Heris asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
“No, it’s you and Clover. I asked Carvill.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.” She said, looking at him. “But it seems it might be something to do with Roshi.”
“Roshi’s going to be there?!” He asked, standing up.
“I don’t think so,” Teri replied as the boy’s face fell slightly. “But it seems he gave him new orders.”
“About this Phase?”
“Yes.” She pulled a pillow from behind her and began to look at the embroidery all over the pillow. “You will have to come tonight, Heris.”
“I will be there.” He said nodding, looking at the letter. “Oh but, the place is different.”
“I will come to pick you and Clover up.” She said after reading the address. “We will go there together. Alright?”
“Ok.”
________________________
Heris waved Teri bye at the door before going into the bar once again.
It is emptier as compared to when she came inside and the workers there are busy cleaning the tables and sending off those passed out drunk on the tables.
The end of the day is always the longest because it takes quite some time to clean everything up, from the empty cups to the bodily wastes everywhere.
“Who was that, Kife?” A woman at the counter in a peasant dress asked as she wiped the table down with a cloth.
“She is … my … mentor?” He asked, not entirely sure. “Something like that.”
“I see.” She said, placing a large cup on the table. “Care to join me for a drink?”
“I don’t think I should be drinking.” He said, holding his hand up as he began cleaning the place with the others.
“Suit yourself.” She shrugged, filling the cup with beer and gulped the liquid down.
“Do you need any help?” Heris walked to the man at the corner, sweeping the floor.
“Just grab the mop.” The man said as they began to clean up the floors in silence.
Heris ran to the bathroom and came back with a pale of water and a mop sticking out of it as he got to work.
“By the way,” Heris said, not looking up from his moping. “I will have to be out for a while tomorrow night.”
“How long?”
“I am not sure.” He said, looking at the man. “Is that alright?”
“As long as you are back before midnight.” The man said, walking away from him.
“Ok! I will be back by then!” Heris said happily. “Thank you!”
The man grunted in reply as he disappeared into the kitchen.
_____________________
“So this how they do it,” Clover said, staring from the top of the balcony as they stared at the remaining four compete to try and do what Juliet did two nights before.
Except for this time, they were not in the original meeting spot. They were in, what looked like, a storehouse with nothing inside except some empty crates.
The balcony where Clover and Heris are standing on with the others that lost the nights before were filled with all kinds of characters.
Opposite to them are their Division Masters, looking down on the last battle.
"Yeah," Heris said, watching Juliet carefully. Her movements continued to be fluid even as he kept a close eye on her.
How does someone have that kind of skill? He thought turning to Clover. "I think you can tell who won previously, right?"
"I can." She said, eyes sharp and never off Juliet.
"Listen, Clover. I am sorry I-"
"Never mind that." She said quickly, stating. "Look. She will jump over there."
Heris looked at where Clover was pointing and saw nothing. That is until a few seconds in and Juliet appeared, grabbing the object and winning.
"Juliet is now sele-" Carvill was about to announce the winner when Clover shouted.
"Wait!"
"What are you doing?!" Heris whisper yelled at the girl.
"Just trust me." She winked at him, jumping off the balcony and landing on her feet. "I want to challenge her for that spot."
"The winner will be the one chosen. Unless you are scared of losing against me."
"I wouldn't mind one more game." The girl said pleasantly. "Don't come crying to me when you lose."
"I haven’t agreed to this," Carvill said, holding his hand up to stop them.
"Fine. What if we made the stakes higher?" Clover asked, looking at Carvill.
"What do you have in mind?" The man asked, looking at her.
"If we are spotted by the people on the balcony, we will be disqualified."
- Writer
