A Game Called Revenge ✭ Cato Hadley

Twenty One - Do You See What I See?

"ᴡʜᴇɴ ʏᴏᴜ ꜱᴘᴇɴᴅ ꜱᴏ ʟᴏɴɢ ᴛʀᴀᴘᴘᴇᴅ ɪɴ ᴅᴀʀᴋɴᴇꜱꜱ, ʏᴏᴜ ꜰɪɴᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴀʀᴋɴᴇꜱꜱ ʙᴇɢɪɴꜱ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴛᴀʀᴇ ʙᴀᴄᴋ."

Pitch black. In a split second their sliver of the arena falls pitch black. The four careers swivel in all directions, trying to locate anything in the area, only to be disoriented when they can no longer even find each other, let alone see as far out in the direction in which they believe the beach to be.

"Clio." She hears Cato's voice but she can't work out where it came from as their footsteps are hesitant trying not to think about the variety of poisonous, deadly creatures that could be in the jungle with them. Her breath catches in her throat as every rustle of leaves and distant call of unseen creatures sends a shiver down their spines. With each step, the sound seems to echo in the stillness, and their voices fall to a hush as if afraid to disturb the darkness, their laughter replaced by tension hanging in the air like a heavy veil when the segment falls silent.

"I don't like this." Clio says, heartbeat thundering in her chest as her eyes are lost in the dark of the faux night. "Where are you?"

"What's wrong? Scared of the dark?" Gloss jokes, though his voice cracks slightly with nerves.

"I am not overly fond of it, no." She bites back.

Gloss just laughs as they move slowly. "Everyone take two steps back."

"Gloss-" Cashmere starts.

"Two steps back." Gloss repeats, cutting her off, "There's no point in trying to find the beach so let's just stand back to back and wait for it to pass."

The jungle is eerily silent as they take two big steps back with their arms stretched behind them, jolting when they make contact. Each step causes Clio's imagination to take hold, conjuring shadows and spectres in the corner of her vision. She lets out a breath a couple of seconds later, her fear drawing out the time. "Cato?"

"You're fine, Clio." He assures her, "Sit down."

She slides to her knees, the overcasting darkness unsettling her and the loud silence sending goosebumps crawling across every area of her skin as she slips her legs out from underneath her to sit on the forest floor. She hears the sound of the others sitting nearby, the silence broken quickly by a loud gasp.

"What the fuck is that?" Gloss exclaims.

His loud words startle Clio, causing her to let out a yelp and back up because it sounded like the loudest, most deafening thing in the world in her panicked, muted state. Her back hits someone behind her and she quickly shuffles forward again; then is thrown into nervousness as she sees various red dots glowing from all angles in the depths of the jungle. Several bright red and large, others subdued in the distance

"Woah, hey, hey. It's just me." Cato says.

"Cato..." She croaks out.

"You're okay. It won't be long and we'll be out of this part of the jungle. The lightning was quick, remember? And I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere."

"I have to get out of here." She shuffles, the leaves rustling underneath her.

Gloss breaks into hysterics, "Oh my god, you're actually scared."

"Gloss-" Cashmere tries, slapping her hand against what she hopes is her brother's leg.

"This is brilliant," he continues, ignoring his sister's warning. "Clio, the impenetrable defence, fearless, able to kill a man twice her size and barely bat an eyelid is reduced to tears by the dark."