Don't Play With Death (on indefinite hiatus)

Chapter 2

BEFORE YOU READ THIS: YES, I KNOW IT PROBABLY HAS A LOT OF GRAMMAR OR/AND SPELLING MISTAKES, BUT KEEP IN MIND THAT I'M ONLY FOURTEN..PLUS I'M A NORWEGIAN, SO OBVIOUSLY, MY LANGUAGE ISN'T PERFECT. IF YOU FIND ANY MISTAKES, FEEL FREE TO CORRECT ME :) THANKS!

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Chapter 2

I end up at my own house again. While clutching the letter in my hand, I walk inside and find my mother in the kitchen. She’s preparing for dinner; I can smell the scent of her special onion soup.

Mother senses my presence, but she doesn’t turn around to face me. “Are you hungry?” she asks. Her voice is light and relaxed, which means that she probably hasn’t heard the news.

My stomach decides to growl in answer to this. She chuckles, I laugh half-heartedly. “I’m starving,” I say. I don’t sound like myself, my voice is hoarse and my throat feels sore.

“Well, then it’s a good thing that I’ve made your favorite soup. Tell your brother it’s dinner, will you?” says Mother. Then she finally looks at me. Her whole body stiffens when she sees my face, while her gaze shifts to the sheet of paper that I’m holding. She moves closer to me, and I can see my reflection in her eyes. I look like I’ve been crying for hours; my eyes are bloodshot and swollen, even though I can’t remember to have shed a single tear since I received the letter. My look is empty. Lifeless. Which pretty much describes how I’m feeling right now.  

“What is that?” Mother whispers shakily. Her eyes are already filled with tears; she already knows what has happened. She must’ve known the second she saw my face and the letter in my hand; it doesn’t take a wise head to put two and two together.

I can feel the warm, salty drops run down my cheeks when I realize that I   never really stopped crying. My voice is trembling when I answer: “It’s from Ophella,” knowing that she’ll understand.

My mother starts sobbing uncontrollably, and who can blame her? It’s not exactly every mother’s dream come true to find out that their children are going to participate in a game that will get them killed.

Before I can stop her, she turns on her heels and runs towards her bedroom. I can hear her scream in agony, and it feels like a hole has been punched through my chest.  If there is one person that takes this harder than I do, it's my mother. 

Then I notice that Mikael is standing on the top of the stairs. He looks confused and surprised, his eyes are widened and his lips are trying to form the words that he can't say out loud. 

I wipe away my tears immediately, and put on a fake smile. “Hey, Mike,” I greet him cheerfully. He isn't fooled by my false, happy mood. He comes down the stairs warily, his gaze focuses on me the entire time. When he reaches me, he carefully takes the letter out of my hand and nods his head seriously. The tears start trickling out of the corner of his eyes, and I nod too; there's no point in lying to him because he already knows what's going on. 

As I watch him, I nearly break again. It's too much to take; my little brother, who has barely turned nine, has to deal with the fact that his sister will most likely be murdered within the next two months. It's not fair...it's not right.

Mikael opens his mouth to say something, but not a sound comes out. I know he wants to talk very badly, and I wish that he was able to, cause I know that if anyone can comfort me right now, it's him. “It's okay,” I tell him quietly and pull him to my chest. I caress his face gently while letting him ruin my shirt with his tears. “I know what you want to tell me, but I know you cant..."