The sound of the final bell on the last day of school was like a blessing to my ears.
Time had ticked much too slowly today-especially when something as blissful as two months of summer break beckoned to someone who couldn't wait to relax after ten months of learning and assessments and endless stress. Of course, by the time I graduate from high school next year I couldn't say for sure that the summers would be completely dedicated to relaxing, but nonetheless I was just as excited as a kid on Christmas morning. Glancing around at my classmates cheering the moment the bell rang and running out of the classroom like stampeding wildebeests, I chuckled to myself and followed them into the once deserted hallways, the smile on my face widening into a grin the moment the brilliant sunshine flooded into my vision.
It seemed as if my next two months of summer would be just as bright as the sun in the azure sky.
"Finally!" I heard my best friend, Rena, exclaim right behind me. "I've been looking all over for you, Brianne!"
"Sorry." I turned back to glance over and her and laughed. "Just a bit too excited."
"Too excited to spend your entire summer playing Town of Salem until you get every single achievement?" my other best friend, Luke, chimed in as he squeezed in beside Rena.
To this, I gaped at Luke. "How did you-"
"I didn't have to be a spy to know that," he said with a chuckle, shaking his head which allowed a few short black strands of his hair to fall in front of his face. "Besides, it's all you ever talk about sometimes."
That part, I knew, was true. I was not like most of the other students who were too excited trying out their two-piece bikinis at their next luxurious beach vacation, drenching themselves with buckets filled with ice or water guns filled to the brim, boarding a plane going to a foreign place in the world, or sitting outside reading all the Harry Potter books again. Instead, I have spent most of my days besides doing homework or helping my mother with the house chores playing Town of Salem, which works a little like Mafia but has more roles, more people, more suspense, and above all, more fun. Ever since Rena introduced it to me three years ago, I was hooked, and since then I have tried to get a feel for the game in its entirety. By the end of last summer, I had played every role there was, and now with the next update on the rise, I was more than prepared to see what other surprises were in store.
"Okay, well, that is true," I said then, breaking free from the mob so they could hear me better without having to raise my voice. "And also find a job so I can pay my tuition when university rolls around next year."
"I have not even taken any thought about university yet," Rena said thoughtfully, scratching her head and combing back her long brown locks. "Consider me screwed."
"Nope. I think we're all in the same boat," Luke chimed in grimly. "As long as we're all not considered for the Salem Games, I think we're good."
This sent a chill running up my back. How could I forget? Just recently, the annual Salem Games was initiated, and no one knew the reason why. In fact, no one believed it to be real until people mysteriously started disappearing and then end up on worldwide television for everyone to watch. All people, old and young, experienced and inexperienced, were considered on the random roster to play this deadly game. Not everyone made it out alive.
"Don't even go there," Rena murmured with a shake of her head. "If I have to recall one more time how the Transporter ended up getting lynched by his own townspeople, I'll puke."
"Or the time the Serial Killer literally chopped up the Witch until nothing was left but slabs of flesh," I echoed as the image flashed in my mind. "I don't get how people take this so seriously to the point where they forgot who they were."
In any case, I knew that in the end, all games relied on surviving and winning. Anyone would want to live to see another day, but who knew who would oppose them and sever what short lifeline they had? Once survival had become the main priority, humanity had shrunk to be the least of everyone's worries. They didn't care that a Vigilante was really a boy who had no experience with a gun. They didn't care that the Godfather was a little girl who loved to throw tantrums when nothing went her way. To them, they only saw the labels and roles as they were. The mere thought of it simply made me shiver.
"On the bright side, though, I've got a pool day planned for the three of us if you aren't busy," Luke piped up in an attempt to relieve our worries. "It'll be this Sunday if you want to drop by."
"Well, that sounds fun," Rena agreed with a nod. "I'm totally down. What about you, Brianne?"
"Sounds cool." I gave them a hopefully convincing smile, just to hide the quivering that resonated within my limbs. "Can't wait. But till then..."
"Three cheers to summer!" we all shouted, throwing our hands up in the air.
I was not prepared to get any weird mail over the summer, much less an invitation to join the Salem Games. In fact, all thoughts of it flew out the window until after the pool party at Luke's, when I reached my front door and saw an old worn scroll rolled up tightly and wedged snugly in the door handle of the big double doors of my house.
"How queer," I whispered to myself. I glanced around the rest of the neighbourhood to see if anyone else had a similar scroll attached to their doors, which, somehow, they didn't. Slowly, I eased the scroll free and turned it round a few times, glancing at the seal which held the scroll together-black wax with the imprint of a single S-before unfurling it, reading the notice written in slanted script. The further down I went, the more rigid my body became, the air turning frosty having lost the heat that radiated with the typical summer evening. How could this be? Truth be told, I barely even touched the game since school ended. This had to be some kind of joke.
But I knew it was not a joke. One glance around at the chilly gloom surrounding me told me that I was in more trouble than I could ever imagine myself being in. Goosebumps instantly splashed over my bare arms, the winds around me picking up as they brushed past my exposed skin and blew through my short blond hair, but I couldn't brush them away. From afar, I heard an ear-piercing howl, almost like that of a wolf calling to the full moon...and that was when I knew how helpless I was to this whole thing that was about to change my life.
Somehow, I had been chosen to play the Salem Games.
The thought made me keel over, blacking out the moment I hit the ground.