Chapter 3
I wake up in darkness, Sadie's soft breathing filling my ears.
I sit on my bed in the darkness, but then I hear people laughing.
Slowly I stand up quietly, get out of the room and down the hall and see Kyles and William sitting there, laughing and drinking.
"Kyles!" I cry out.
He hiccups and smiles at me.
"Hey missy." He raises his glass, his long brown hair dirty.
"Cy," William starts, "I swear, I wasn't drinking. I needed to keep an eye on him because I was taking a walk and he was sticking his head out the window."
I nod in understanding.
"Hey missy," Kyles hiccoughs, and grins at me. "Y'wanna a lil sip?" He raises his bottle at me.
"How much has he drank?" I ask, staring at Kyles.
"I dunno. I haven't bothered counting the bottles." William pointed to a pile of empty bottles, about 20.
Kyles burps, and then leans over, throwing up on the carpet.
"Well Finnalin isn't going to be too happy about that, is she?"
"I don't care what Finnalin thinks!" Kyles shouts. "She thinks she's all that with her big shoes and her ugly nose with her pink skin and blue freckles!"
He laughs, and then collapses on the floor, in his own puke.
"Well that's just great." I say.
William and I clean him up, me mopping the puke, and him cleaning up Kyles.
After, we sit in the dining car together.
"So why were you awake?" He asks me, after a moment of silence.
"I... Had a dream."
I look up at him and he seems genuinely concerned.
"I don't know how to explain it, but there was this voice. And it told me that I needed to know the answers to the questions in my head in order to win."
William shook his head. "It was just a dream."
"It told me that it was playing chess for... Lives." I whispered.
He smiled at me, and opened up his arms. "Come here."
I sit beside him.
"Don't worry Cy, you'll see. Everything will be alright."
'Everything will be alright.'
And with those words, I fall asleep.