Survival Gamers [An Original Story]

Chapter 5: Formal Invitation

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 5 days gone… I think, sighing, as I stare at the 5 smoke rings fading into the sky. The boys and I had been talking at lunch, and I couldn’t help but agree with something… something Raven had said. Being as outspoken and stubborn as I was, I had voiced against, but I had to admit to myself now that he was right. This was just too easy.

5 Days. 25 more days to go. We had already found all 4 of the chosen survivors within our continent. The scary part was that Raven, doing some research, had discovered that the Survival Gamers - specifically Myrror - were still alive because they had never lost before. But how have they won every game if it’s just so easy…? I think.

I don’t want to know the answer. If the Survival Gamers have won every game of every planet they’ve been to so far, then there is a real challenge coming, and I don’t want to know what it is. I let my tails fly around with the breeze as I sit on top of my “house.” I suddenly find myself thinking of Mary Kate as I watch my middle tail, with it’s brilliant lion’s tuft at the end, whirl around in unison with the wind.

Grabbing the end of it in my hand, I pull it close to my face and examine it, thinking. Thinking hard. Most humans would not consider that something to be proud of. Her slimy, girly voice echoes in my head. I release a low growl, trying to drown out her soft voice bouncing around inside my thoughts, but her voice only grows louder. Finally, having had enough of this nonsense, I jump up from my spot on the roof, gritting my teeth, clenching my fists so tight my hands feel numb.

“Ah!” I scream, kicking at a loose piece of debris sitting on my rooftop and watching it fly over the horizon. “I don’t care what you think!” I scream at MK, from far away, and I know she cannot hear me… and part of me wishes she could. “I don’t care about you at all! You mean nothing to me! I hate you! I hate you, Mary Kate!” For a long while I scream. And scream. And scream. Finally, satisfying myself, I relax my shoulders and stand there. Watching the stars get brighter, and the moon higher. Watching the small changes that will turn into big changes, into bigger changes, into massive changes.

Watching the wind blow a paper bag, but soon that same wind will blow a trash bag, then a whole trashcan, then a garbage truck, then one of those big old boats that transport garbage to the landfills, and then-- I stop myself, realizing I’ve upset myself once more. Taking a deep sigh, I let myself fall back, lying in a starfish position on my rooftop once more.

There’s a wind blowing… a very rotten wind! I think. And she! She started it! That… that witch! Myrror! She started everything! Oh, I wish I’d never saw her that night! I wish she was dead! I wish she was never born! I wish she and all her heartless gamers would just fall dead!

I sit up, telling myself that “wishing” will do me no good. And it was true… the wind has blown. There’s no stopping it now. I could suddenly feel my anger ebbing into doubt… from doubt to anxiety… from anxiety to fear… The wind has blown… and I have no idea where it’s headed, nor what changes it will bring. Unable to trouble myself with the thought any longer, I hug my knees and cry.

******

“Hey! Hey you!”

I wake up to the sound of someone yelling. Ugh! Who could be up at this hour! I think, then I realize I’m not in my house. Looking around frantically, it only takes me a couple seconds to realize I’m on my roof! Then a couple minutes to recall the events of last night. Oh boy… I must’ve fell asleep up here. I think in irritation.

“Hel-lo…?” The voice calls up again. I peek over the edge of my roof, and the figure - a… frog? - looks up at me. I immediately identified her as a Tailer, with the two green fox tails.