Caught in the Middle

The Right, the Catch, the Letter, and the Crush

I demanded, pointing at the book, “I read the entire thing twice, and I didn’t read that part anywhere!”

“You’ve read the condensed version. You should have read the full version.” he grinned, “Which is in my possession, but since you refused to speak with me, I never had the chance to hand it over to you.”

“You’re a brute.”

“You’re in luck.” he whispered, leaning in, “This brute happens to get a kick out of snarky bitches.” with that, he strode off into the dining room. Tyler looked at me with wide eyes.

“Aria, you are insane.”

I glared at him, “This didn’t work how it was supposed to. It was supposed to work out with everyone who wanted to leave leaving and everyone else continuing with this stupid thing.”

“Well, at least Cayton got one he likes.” Same laughed weakly. I looked at her.

“Seriously? I know you think Cayton has a thing for me, but its not going to happen. I’ll find another way out of this. I’m not worried.” I was lying through my teeth. I couldn’t be more worried. Cayton didn’t know about my brother. My brother!

“What’s that look?”

“Sam, he doesn’t know about Adrian.”

“Holy crap, you’re right!” Sam said. Tyler looked at us.

“What’s going on?”

“It’ll be fine! I’ll just tell him and - oh shit, Sam.” the realization hit me like a ton of bricks as my eyes widened, “That could get me killed.”

“Wait, Aria, did you say Adrian? You’ve got a letter from him.” Tyler flashed to the small table beside the door and back, handing me a small envelope. “This came this morning.”

Sam and I looked at each other as I took the envelope and opened it. How did he find me? I pulled out the paper to see that Adrian had scribbled me a short letter. I sat on the stairs and began reading.

Sister,

I found them. It wasn’t hard - they were roaming the streets with recruiters. All I had to do was talk to the right person. I started training right away, and I’m a natural. They helped me track you down when I came home and you weren’t there. I asked around, and some of the neighbor guys said they saw you fighting a leech.

It wasn’t hard once we were in the city. A few people saw you get snatched, and they recognized your picture. If I was right, you’ll get this letter.

Please respond when you receive this, Aria.

Adrian.

I looked up at Sam, who was watching me closely. “He made it. He’s in.”

“What’s he going to do?”

“I don’t know.” I said, folding the letter as I stood up from the stairs. I was aware of Tyler watching us and following carefully. “He said he asked around to find me, and I just need to write back. I’ll send him a letter tomorrow, I suppose.”

Sam nodded as we walked into the dining hall, where Cayton was making an announcement.

“Ladies, I have some…possibly unfortunate news. Upon further consideration and under advisement of my trustees, I have decided to discontinue this competition. With that, I ask that you pack your bags this evening, and in the morning you will all be escorted from the grounds and sent off. Please, enjoy the rest of your evening here.” he finished and sat back in his seat. that’s when the muttering started.