The Deciding Games

Chapter 3

                    I’ve been sitting in this same position for some time now, thinking of how lucky I was. if anyone had been out there, my life would have practically ended. There would be no Deciding Games for me. I could have been forced to join whatever gang found me. They could have been the worst gang out there and I would have to join their forces. I want to do TDG no matter how nervous I am. My own fear of the challenge excites me. If I missed that challenge… I would be very mad at the gang that took me.

                    Just then, Ella turned into the room, coming from her bedroom. Immediately I replaced my scared expression with a blank one. I stopped breathing hard and looked up, meeting her worried eyes. She walked towards me, “Camie, where were you? Is everything ok?”

                   I mumbled something along the lines of being with Ty. She offered her hand and I took it, pulling myself up. Underestimating her strength, I came up fast and almost ran into her. Ella looked like she wanted to say something, opening her mouth but then deciding not to, slowly closing her mouth. 

                  I had a sudden urge to hug her but realized I was too old for her comfort. So I walked away from her grasp and trudged into my room.

                The next day came quickly and before I knew it, I was with Ty at Mackey D’s with Kat and Zac. Now we are all just waiting for Jax.

                 “Dude, where is he? He is never late!” Says Zac.

                 Starting to pace the room, “Something must be wrong.” Ty states.

                 I stop and look at my friends. “Maybe we should go back to the apartments and check.” I suggest, trying to decide what to do. Everyone of us are in deep thought when I begin to hear it. In the distance I hear the sound of old tennis shows slapping the sidewalk. Someone was coming is this direction, fast.

                 I clicked twice to Ty, getting his attention while I point at the door. He understood me immediately and whispered to the others. We prepared ourselves for a fight, standing our ground. Who could it be, I ask myself. I haven’t made any enemies recently…

                The running steps are getting closer, just outside the door now, about to come in. I still couldn’t see him, I was prepared for anything. Maybe it’s Jax, the optimistic part of me thought. We never bothered to make a signal for our place because we always arrive within ten minutes of eachother.       

                Finally, the mystery man blurred past me. I see the scar; it’s Jax.

“Jax.” I say, telling the others if they hadn’t realized it yet.  I relax my fists, not realizing they were so tightly clenched.

                Jax ran towards the back of the room, his momentum too great to stop. He rammed into the wall, both hands on it to prevent himself from falling. His back is facing us, his head down in order to regain his breath. I took slow steps toward him. Jax whipped around to face me, stopping me in my tracks.

                "Another dead in the center of the city.” Jax looked at each of us in the eye.

                Shock registered on each of our faces. Then fear and concern as we wondered if it was someone we knew.

                “We didn’t know him, but he was just a kid… maybe 5 years on his life.” Just a kid, I thought, why would a kid go outside the wall?

                “What state was the body in?” Zac burst out.

                Jax met his curious expression with a grave one. “Same as all the others… completely black eyes that continuously stare forward at nothing. No marks that you can see from the outside, no scratches, no blood, no bruises… and no pulse. Dead.”

                We have all heard this same description many times before. I get chills every time I hear it.

 I have only seen one body before. He was an old man, graying hair, wrinkled skin, black eyes. The black eyes stared up, seemingly to no where. Always seeming to be staring straight into your soul. The old man’s pale face made the blackness shockingly bright. I couldn’t look away from those eyes, I got lost in them. Finally someone took the body away to the graves in the back of the city, tearing my eyes away from his black pits.

                I looked around at our table. All of them had a thoughtful expression on their face, all except Jax. He was looking at me, at expression I couldn’t read written all over his face. As soon as I met his eyes, he looked away. I stared at his now blushing face a moment longer. Looking away I said, “Okay! Let’s go!”

                Together we walked the mile to the border of the city. Jax led us, since he said he had been here before. Ty and I walked in the back.

 “Do you know where were going, Ty?”

 He looked over to me. “The wall of course!”

 I rolled my eyes with a smile on my face. “I know! But have you ever been there?”

 He shook his head, no. “Never right up to it.” Ty asked me the same question but my answer was the same as his; only from afar have I seen the wall.

                Ahead I could see the line that borders our city. Jax, still leading, we all continued towards it. We all came right up to the border, in a straight line, standing a foot away from it. From here it looked so harmless; then I looked down. The Walls’ burnt line wasn’t just a line because it was cut straight into the ground.  So deep, it was pitch black after only 10 feet down. Zac was looking at the line like it was a science experiment. Jax was looking down at it, as I was. Kat was trying to guess where the boreder started by sticking a stray piece of grass through it. Ty was looking around for something to stick through. I quietly chuckled to myself, shaking my head in humor. My friends are crazy, I thought to myself.

A/N- Hey! yeah.. comment, vote, Fan!! <3