Lalita Stone
Childhood's Requiem
I turned on the TV. An innocent enough act for an eight-year-old, but what blared through the black box was far from innocent. A boy appeared, drenched in blood and tears, mostly blood. At first I thought I had accidentally stumbled upon another Japanese horror film but the red 'LIVE' banner at the bottom of the screen convinced me otherwise. "The winner of this year's hottest new reality show has just emerged! 16 year old Tristan Barker is the first ever winner of Survival Program! And let me tell you, that ain't pig's blood on his hands!"
I don't know when things became like this. I just know that I was unfortunate enough to be born into this generation. The government is out of control, crime rates and suicide rates seem to be competing and education is laughed at. To say things are bad would be the understatement of the millennium.
I always knew I lead an unlucky life. So it came to me as no surprise when my school bus was being hijacked and we were being driven to a place I had seen on TV eight years ago. There were noxious fumes stalking the air and suppressing everyone into unconsciousness which made it hard for me to remember why the nearing forest seemed familiar. As the gases finally put me to rest, I remembered why this morbid forest we had entered mesmerized me and realized I would never see my parents again.
I slowly regained consciousness but a cobweb feeling lingered in the back of my head like a jetlag. As I became more aware of my surroundings, the feeling of invisible danger crept over me. I swiveled around and stepped backwards at an attempt to hold an intimidating stance but ended up falling backwards rather clumsily instead. A girl's giggle echoed through my freshly sober head. Aika appeared out of the curtain of darkness the forest drew. The smile that was always on her face seemed out of place in our macabre situation.
She slowly drew a small pistol from behind her back and continued smiling. My heart lurched in disappointment. Aika. My best friend. A sadness washed over me. Why was I born in this godforsaken era where best friends kill each other? I took a deep breath and attempted to put off the adrenalin rush threatening to erupt. Her finger slowly wrapped around the trigger.
No, wait, I don't really want to die- As she pulled the trigger my life didn't flash before my eyes, I saw no white light. Instead, a splash of cold water hit my face. I blinked dully through my now soaked hair to the soundtrack of my pounding heart. The girl began laughing maniacally in front of me, waving the water gun around in her hands. After a while she calmed down, realizing that her laughs probably attracted nearby predators i.e. former classmates who had been frightened into playing into the government's hands. She sat down and pointed at the envelope in front of me. I already knew what it said but I opened it anyway.
The envelope contained a letter which reminded us of the rules we thought we would never have to play by. 50 students taken from high schools around the country are kidnapped. They are then handed different weapons which range from fans to scythes to machine guns and are sent off to brutally murder each other within the next 24 hours until one survivor, the 'winner', is left. If more than one person is alive by the next day, the survivors are collected and shot altogether so there are no winners. Who can be defined a winner in a game like this, I'll never know.
Before the reality of the situation had time to sink in, Aika swore loudly. Startled, I looked at her and saw that she was clutching her ankle in pain. A dagger was sticking out of her ankle grotesquely as blood gushed down her feet. I looked up and saw Cheyenne staggering in front of us, his eyes half open. Aika groaned and rolled onto the floor, "What the hell are you waiting for? Shoot him, Graphie!" I impulsively rummaged through the rucksack without a single thought crossing my mind. It was all too unreal. It felt like I was watching this unfold in front of my eyes without taking part in it.
My hand gripped a slender Mauser which slowly found itself pointing towards my classmate. "Shoot, Graphie!" Aika screamed. I had no idea what I was doing, my hands were shaking so badly the pistol could have dropped at any second, but as Aika shouted louder and louder and Cheyenne crawled closer and closer, the gun stopped directly on his forehead. BLAM!
Silence. It was the loudest silence ever. The pea-shooter sized Mauser was fatal. My heart was pounding like a newly captured bird madly flying around its cage. Blood seeped from under Cheyenne's head, through his blonde hair, and towards me. While I stared, frozen at my latest sin, Aika had managed to bandaged her wound. "Graphie, let's go" I wouldn't budge. "Come on! We have to move to stay alive!" She persisted and yanked me from my shock. I followed her but turned to look back at Cheyenne once more and noticed that the same dagger that had struck Aika was sticking out of Cheyenne's back as well.
The next five hours was like being forced through a tour in hell. The forest had taken on a reddish hue. We passed Samson and Regina who had hung themselves together on a nearby tree, holding hands. My sanity broke down piece by piece as I passed body after body. Aika's once fun-loving nature became that of a mercenary. I watched as Aika stabbed Benny in the neck with the dagger from her ankle, decapitated Charlotte and shot Lila thirteen times with a rifle.
As this living nightmare unfolded before me, I never uttered a single sound. Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice interrupted my thoughts. "Attention! There are now only two players and 20 seconds left!" I breathed a sigh of relief. In 20 seconds this would all be over. The cold expression Aika had built completely shattered as a warm smile melted through. "We made it, Graphie…" 5… Her smile turned sad as she lifted the rifle she had collected on her killing spree. 4… A tear ran down my cheek as I raised the Mauser. 3… "Y-Yeah…" I choked through tears, it was my first word since the game started. 2… I shut my swollen eyes. 1… BLAM!
A cold splash of water hit my face.