Here's chapter 5!
I opened my eyes slowly to find that I was in a stone room with no windows, only a door. My backpack was gone and my arms were tied behind my back with a rope. Four torches lit the room. Outside I heard someone's footsteps as they walked closer to the door.
"She's awake," someone spoke outside.
That voice..I recognized from somewhere...Someone covered by a black mask slowly walked towards me. All I could see was her eyes. The eyes showed no emotions as if the person was controlled. She took a piece of cloth and tied them around my eyes. I couldn't move out of her way. I hated feeling this helpless. The person told me to get up and she guided to somewhere. After about a minute, I was thrown into another place. The cloth that once covered my eyes were ripped off. Cold stone slammed into my face after I was thrown. When I opened my eyes, I was face to face with two other tributes, each of them staring back at me. No one seemed to be surprised.
"What's going on?" I asked to no one in particular.
They all shook their heads and mumbled, "I don't know."
I sighed. I took a moment to observe the surroundings. I was in a stone room. The only way you could look outside was to see through the two vertical blocks if glass windows. In front of the windows you could see a long hallway, lit up by torches on the wall. We were at the end of it. At the end of the hallway, you could faintly see a door, which is possibly the only exit.
I looked back at the two other tributes. They were all girls. We were all siting in a circle.
"Well," I began, "let's all introduce ourselves. I'm Sophie, tribute from New York."
The one ahead of me spoke first. She had gray eyes. Her long, straight, dirty blond hair was down, turning ashen midway because of the low light. "I'm Ashley, tribute from Maryland."
"And I am Alyshia, tribute from Massachusetts," the other girl said. Her black hair was medium-length, only passing a bit from her shoulders.
"Where are we?" Ashley whispered softly. Her voice was uneven. She looked as if she was about to cry.
"I don't know," I answered. "We have to think of a plan to get out of here."
Alyshia nodded. "Any idea who captured us?" she asked.
I stayed silent. I thought about the voice I heard right after I woke up. It sounded so familiar. As if I knew the person from a long time ago.
"Tolkio," Ashley spoke and paused before continuing, "and possibly Sulfur." She shook her head. "They do everything together. And they are so strong and powerful."
Alyshia seemed to be agreeing to this.
"No," I suddenly said, "There's more." I didn't know how, but I'm sure there's more people. That voice I heard didn't match Tolkio or Sulfur's voice. I continued, "When I woke up, someone said and told the others that I was awake. And I'm very sure that voice wasn't Sulfur or Tolkio's. And I'm also sure that I know the person that the voice belongs to."
A silence passed between us. And a low moan and hiss interrupted it.
I jerked my head back. "What was that?"
"Zombies, spiders, skeletons. They put monsters out in the hall. Probably to prevent us from escaping?" Ashley answered. "Come on, let's sleep now."
Ashley laid down on the ground and Alyshia and I did the same. Pretty soon, they were all asleep. "She's awake..."
Soon, I saw myself back in kindergarten class again. The low tables were arranged in rows. Small chairs circle around the tables. It was the first day of school and I was walking through the door of the classroom. Some students were already there. The teacher greeted us and I found an empty seat next to a blonde haired girl. She smiled at me as I sat down. Soon, another girl came through the door and sat across from me. Her light-brown hair was in a short pony tail. The teacher said hi to everyone as class started. Then we were all given a blank sheet of paper and were told to draw something. I was the only one out of the three who brought crayons. The girl beside me tapped my shoulders and asked, "Can I borrow a few crayons?"
I sat up immediately. It was all a dream. However, something was nagging me. "She's awake.." the voice rang through my mind once again. "Can I borrow some crayons?" And the voice in the dream played in my mind too. The voices were the same. I thought more about the dream. Light-brown haired girl sat across from me..me sitting next to a blonde haired girl.. It wasn't a dream. It was a flashback. That day in the dream was the first day of meeting Autumn, and meeting Abigail. I continued playing the flashback in my head.
I nodded my head as the girl beside me took some of the crayons.
"I want to borrow some too!" the girl across from me said.
I nodded while giving some of my crayons to her.
"What's you're guys name?" I asked them and added, "I'm Sophie. Sophie Storm."
"My name is Autumn Scarlet," the girl across from me said.
"And I am Abigail Jones," the one beside me said.
"Let's be friends!" Autumn exclaimed while smiling at us.
Abigail and I returned the smile and nodded.
That was how our friendship began. We would do everything together. And soon, without the need to say it, we became more like sisters. They were the best friends I ever had. Well, it was like that until the second year of middle school when we were twelve.
"Tell Cynthia to go away!" Abigail hissed quietly at Autumn and I.
I remembered Cynthia. Abigail, Autumn and I met her in the beginning of fifth grade. And soon, she became our friend as well.
"Why?" I asked back. " What is your problem with her? Why do you want her to leave so badly?"
Autumn stayed silent beside me.
"Just tell her to leave or never mind! I'll do it myself!" Abigail walked over to Cynthia and started talking to her. I could hear them really clearly.
"Get away from me. I don't want you here!" Abigail angrily told her.
I expected Cynthia to question her or argue back but to my surprise, she nodded and walked away.
"Abigail! Why?!" I asked her.
She didn't answer and I could see tears in her eyes.
"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked softly and less harsh.
"Guys, we are going to be late to class. We should go now," Autumn interrupted. She glanced curiously at Abigail but didn't say anything.
"Yeah. Let's go," I said. I decided to leave the whole situation that happened before.
As we walked to class, one of the hallways was empty. And I didn't remember exactly what happened, but soon, three boys came out and threw us against the lockers. Autumn and I landed badly and couldn't move. I was pretty sure that Autumn passed out. Abigail was lucky and could still move but she was badly hurt.
"So you guys are bullies? I can't believe you actually want to live your life that way!" Abigail said as she charged at them. "I'll-"
One of the boys gripped Abigail's neck, before she got a chance to finish talking.
"You will what? Fight me? Don't you think you and your friends are too weak for that. At least you can still stand. Why are you friends with them anyways? They can't protect you! They can't even move right now. I would have let you guys go, but I'm bored right now, so," he said as he raised up his fist. His grip on Abigail's neck didn't loosen a bit.
"Abigail!" I screamed and cried out. "Help! Someone! Help!"
The next few minutes was a blur. I heard someone running, but it wasn't coming from Abigail, Autumn, or me. The boy's fist moved fast. The sound of his punch echoed through the hallway. I heard cracking, possibly from the breaking of bones. Then, it was followed by a loud shriek of pain. Then a thump. I looked at the one on the ground, expecting to see Abigail. But instead of the person having blonde hair, she had black hair with blood splattered on it. My gaze met girl's and she nodded. Her lips were moving but her words were covered by my cries. Slowly, maybe it was from all the blood in front of me, or maybe it was because of how she looked right now made me black out. And the last thing I heard was her last words, Cynthia's last words: "I'm sorry Abigail, and you...sis."
After a few days in the hospital, Abigail, Autumn and I recovered from the injuries. Cynthia died that school day. I remembered the first day we went back to school from that incident. Autumn talking to us as usual. But Abigail seemed different. She seemed distant. When I tried asking her what's wrong, she wouldn't answer.
"Come to my house after school today?" Autumn half asked half stated.
"Sure," I replied.
"Abigail?" Autumn slowly asked.
"No, I'm busy today," Abigail said quietly. She looked away from us and walked away. It was clear that she wasn't busy today, but it we couldn't force her to come.
"What's wrong with her?" I asked Autumn. "She never acted like this before."
"It's because of Cynthia," Autumn slowly spoke, "Cynthia protected her from getting hit when Abigail hated her. Cynthia even gave up her life for Abigail. I guess Abigail hated that. Don't worry, I'm sure she will return to her usual self again."
However, weeks later, Abigail didn't change. She joined the cheerleader team a few weeks later. And she never talked to Autumn or me. Whenever we tried talking to her, she would just ignore us. Then one day, February 10th, Abigail started talking to us, for the first time in months.
"Sophie, Autumn, I want to talk to you guys," Abigail said to us.
"What is it?" I asked slowly.
"Don't talk to me ever again. I don't want to be friends with you guys anymore," Abigail suddenly said. Her hatred in her voice was clear.
"Abigail," I started to say but didn't know how to continue.
"They were right. Why am I friends with you guys anyways?" Abigail sharply said.
I heard a gasp from Autumn. "You mean the bullies?"
"Yes! Not only them. And the cheerleaders. They are way better friends than you guys. And, they are my new friends," Abigail spoke while glaring at us. "So I don't want to play with you guys anymore." And with that, she walked away.
At the end of middle school, Abigail moved away from New York. She never told us where she was going. Abigail and I never spoke of Abigail again. Over times, we made new friends, but none of them could replace Abigail. To this day, I missed Abigail and Cynthia the most.
"Sophie, you okay? Is there anything wrong?" Ashely whispered behind me.
It took me a second to realize that they were both awake.
"Nothing much," I said simply.
‧:❉:‧
Abigail watched Sophie, Ashley, and Alyshia from the distance. She knew exactly what Sophie was thinking and she was thinking of the same thing too. Was it right to bring her here? Abigail wondered. She shook her head. The past was the past. It would be too big of a risk to bring up the memories. And it was too late to go back.
Abigail turned around and watched the builders build. Slowly, she approached the one who was directing all of this.
"We only need three tributes right?" Abigail asked.
"Yes. And I'm assuming you got all three of them?" the teen said back and added, "And who's the last one you caught?"
Abigail nodded. "And the last one is no one in particular," she said and hesitated a while before opening her mouth to talk. "Is it alright if we catch another tribute?"
The director started to say no but was interrupted by Abigail.
"Please! It won't be that hard. Just tell one of your workers to capture another one!" Abigail said but the director shook his head. "Do it!" Abigail's voice was getting louder. "Please! Please...Jared."
Jared paused for a while. By then, all the other workers had stopped working. All of them stared at Abigail. Some with opened mouth, but all of them had a look of surprised or shocked face. This was the first time Abigail had said the director's name.
Jared stared straight at Abigail's eyes and for the first time, Abigail met his. They seemed to freeze right there. Both of them were holding their breath.
"Sure. O-of course," Jared stuttered, breaking the silence.
"Thanks," Abigail replied softly and smiled. She turned to the workers and saw them still staring at her. "What are you guys gaping at? Hurry up and work!"
‧:❉:‧
"We need to get out of here," I spoke to the other two.
"But there's no way to so that. Monsters are outside 24/7," Alyshia replied.
Maybe it was best to stay here and see what happens. But I knew we would be dead for sure if we did that. If Abigail wanted to just kill us, she would've done it already. However, she was planning something important. I watched the monsters walk around aimlessly. Skeletons passed by our window from time to time. Sometimes day would stop and aim their bow and arrows at somewhere. I thought back to the Minecraft game on the computer. When you get hurt, all you need to do is eat. I didn't know if that was how it was here, but I highly doubt it. If we got a cut or other injuries, we need to find a way to heal it, not just from eating.
Before I could figure out what to do, someone outside of our room started mining at the stone. Two of them broke and someone came in. The person then took two stones from her bag and placed it back. Then she turned to us. It was obvious who she was. Even though one or two years had passed, I recognized her immediately.
"Abigail! What are you doing here?" I asked in a mid-tone voice.
Abigail stared straight at me. Her face was ambivalent. There were hatred, confusion, and a hint of sadness.
"Sophie," Abigail said, her voice barely above a whisper. Then she said the next part a bit louder and bolder, "Follow me."
‧:❉:‧
Tomen looked around the small house that he built. Checking that he had packed everything, he closed his backpack and swung it over his shoulders. He managed to pack mostly everything except for the stones. It was now noon, and Tomen decided to find a different place to live. Double checking that he had everything, Tomen stepped outside and headed down the mountain with a sword in his right hand. Once or twice, he would stop and look over his shoulders. Sadly, no one appeared next to the house.
Three days had passed since Sophie went off to find wood. At first, he thought that Sophie forgot about time and had to make a small cave for herself. Then after the second night of not coming home, the possibility of betrayal came to his mind. Sophie never wanted to form allies with him. Maybe she ran away and planned to attack him later on. So Tomen abandoned his house on the third day, which is today.
Tomen sat down under a tree to rest. It was getting colder. For the past few days, clouds blocked the sun. It was getting closer and closer to a raining day. Tomen knew he had to find shelter, but he barely had any stone with him.
Suddenly the bushes behind him rustled and slowly, a small girl came out. Panicking, Tomen threw his sword at the girl. The sword hit right below the girl's left shoulders.
Boom! The gun sound filled the air and the girl fell to the ground with the end of the sword sticking out from the girl's body.
Tomen stood there, staring at where the girl was standing. His breath was loud and short. Slowly, he walked over to where the girl was laying and looked at her face.
Tomen gasped. Then relief flooded over him. The girl had black hair and brown eyes, the same as Sophie's. But looking closer, the girl appeared younger and smaller than Sophie.
Shaking his head, Tomen got up from the ground. He was frustrated with himself. That girl didn't even have a weapon in her hand. She didn't even want to attack! He had just killed an innocent girl. And Tomen had to admit, he was scared when the girl first appeared, which is when his instincts took over. He threw his sword without thinking. What had the Minecraft Battle Games done to him? He was turning into a monster!
Just then, Tomen realized that the sun was setting. The only choice he had was to dig down. Taking his pick axe, he mined a small staircase down. Blocking the entrance with glass, he took the bed out from his backpack and placed it near the entrance. Soon he was fast asleep.
Then next day, Tomen woke up to the sound of moaning. Zombies... He waited for a while for the zombies to die but the moaning never stopped. It was until then when he realized that the moaning wasn't coming from zombies above him. The zombies were below him.