The Promise Of A New Life

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. I knew he would come back. That’s why I’ve been watching. This must be him the candle was our sign. None of the other creatures have lit the candle.

I cautiously walked to the door and tried to listen to what was happening on the other side. I could hear nothing, so I slowly turned the knob and eased the door open. A woman stood staring at me. She was dressed all in black, I think, I can’t be sure because she was there one minute and gone the next. I wasn’t sure if I was seeing her or if she was seeing me.

I noticed movement and a wand, but I was too slow, and the next thing I knew I was waking up on a dirt floor behind bars in a dark place made of stone. My head hurt but I yelled in frustration, DAM, DAM, DAM! I should have known she was real! Then I cried out hello or at least that’s what I thought I was saying. I didn’t recognize my own words. The woman came to my cell. Her words didn’t sound familiar either, but I understood them. She said the cell had a spell on it so we would be able to understand each other. “Where am I,” I asked?

“For the moment you are in a cell under the castle.”

“Castle?”

“Yes, I am acting as an agent for Soprent.”

I was up off the floor in a second and ran to the bars. “Is he here? Is he okay,” I asked her in a language I had never heard before?

“He is,” was all she said and just sort of faded away.

“Wait, please, please wait,” I yelled after her. Of course, she didn’t. But it wasn’t long before she was back. She brought me bread and yellow water. Neither of which I had any interest in.

“You should eat, drink, you’re going to need your strength.” I looked at her curiously. This sly smile crept onto her face.

“You didn’t think you’d get him for free?”

“I don’t know what you’re asking me,” I said.

“Hummmm, human women! You have to fight for him, honey! There are six of you. You will fight until there is one of you. You understand now,” she asked with her hands on her hips?

“What are you talking about,” I demanded!

“Oh, poor baby. Didn’t your beautiful man tell you about the fights? I guess not, he never does. And so far, he hasn’t been too fond of the winners. At least that’s what I think since he keeps killing them. Maybe he doesn’t want a mate at all. Maybe he likes the excitement of the courtship.” She sniggered, rolling her eyes. She faded away again and left me with my bread and water. At least that’s what I think it is.

After hours of useless thought, my eyes roamed the bare cell looking for, I don’t know what, but it wasn’t there nothing was nothing but stone walls. My eyes kept returning to the bare lightbulb hanging from a chain flickering. I fell into a restless sleep staring at that lightbulb thinking there must be a short somewhere and we would all die from the fire it would cause. I didn’t want to wake up, but my bladder refused to allow me to hide in sleep any longer. I found a corner and made a quick deposit.

My captor returned and threw a skimpy dress at me. “Put this on,” she demanded! And screamed “NOW” when I didn’t move. She aimed her wand at me, and a jolt of electricity zapped thru me. I jumped up and slid into the dress. She led me thru tunnels I could hear cheering getting continuously louder. Suddenly she threw me into the arena. There was another woman standing in the fighting arena which was nothing more than a stone cell. She was bloody from the fights she had won. I could see she was exhausted. I didn’t want to fight.

“Listen, we don’t have to do this,” I said hands up circling my opponent. She swung fast and hard, hitting me in the nose. Blood gushed and for a moment I couldn’t breathe. I saw literal stars, and remember thinking, I had always thought that was just something people said. But it’s true you really do see stars. She was on me before I had a chance to clear my mind. She was banging my head on the floor. I could smell her sweat, feel it dripping on me, and hear her labored breathing. Somewhere deep in my brain, I realized I was going to die. I was instantly terrified! A hundred different thoughts ran through my mind in the same moment. And then there was fear, I had never felt fear like this before. It grabbed me with icy cold talons and screamed FIGHT NOW! I began to panic and with the panic came strength. I reached for a rock that was laying on the arena floor. I grasped it and started bashing my opponent in the head without thought one. The crowd exploded from boos of disappointment to screams of excitement.

I found myself sitting on this woman with a bloody rock in my hand. Her face was unrecognizable. Disgust filled me. I dropped the rock and scurried off the dead body of my opponent. I couldn’t believe I had killed someone. Remorse filled me. I was drug screaming and crying back to my cell. I could think of nothing but her and wondered about who she was. If she had a family who missed her? I had no one. No one even knew I was missing. I had pushed everyone out of my life after I met Soprent. I have spent the last five years waiting on him.

I couldn’t keep a single thought in my head. It all kept slipping away to the dizziness and pain that throbbed through every fiber of my being. I kept finding myself staring at the flickering bare light bulb, like a moth drawn to a flame.

I don’t know how long I lay there repeating the same thoughts anguishing over the same pain and regret. I opened my eyes and Soprent was there. I sat up quickly and immediately regretted it.

“Are you ok,” he asked me?

“I’m in a lot of pain. Soprent, what is going on,” I asked him?

“I told you I would do anything to get back to you. This is the only way I could make that happen. I was only supposed to have one tournament, but I have not been able to find you again until now,” he said.

“Is that why you have killed all the survivors,” I asked?

“Yes, I know it’s barbaric. But these women mean nothing. You are the one. I can explain more later there’s no time now. But I needed to give you this. Secure it to your hip it will look like part of the belt.” He slid me a knife. I picked it up and was shaking my head.

“Soprent, I can’t,” I began but stopped short as I looked up and realized he was gone.

I got desperate enough to eat and drink over the next few days. I spent my time running my hands over the rock walls trying to find a means of escape. There was nothing. I hadn’t seen anyone since Soprent had been here. The food always appeared while I was sleeping. Then one morning a dress appeared in my cell. An icy cold dread slid through my veins. Instinctively I knew she was back. I looked up directly into her stone-cold eyes.

“Get dressed! Your presence has been requested,” she tipped her head back and loosed her maniacal cackle. Then her voice changed, “There is a way out and it’s so, so, easy. But you’ll never find it.” Then she was back to herself. “No matter you’ll be dead soon.”

I followed her to the arena. The knife was secured to my hip, I tried to talk to her, but she didn’t respond to anything I said. Once in the arena, I began talking and circling,

“We both need to refuse to fight. This is wrong. This isn’t how you show love or decide who is worthy,” I yelled to her.

“If we refuse, we both die!” And as she said it, I knew it was true. I had run out of words. There was nothing I could say. My next thought went to the knife. If I, did it fast enough, she wouldn’t suffer. I couldn’t believe these were my thoughts. But I had a strong will to live. I didn’t know how I felt about Soprent anymore. I had loved him hard for the last five years but how could I be with someone that cares so little for human life?

I went for her throat but it’s not as easy as they make it look on tv. I managed to cut but not deep enough to do the damage needed. I didn’t have the heart for this. I watched in horror as her hand flashed to her belt, as she grabbed me by the hair. and pulled my head back to expose my throat. The panic and fear were back. I broke loose and rammed the heel of my hand into her nose trying to drive her nose into her brain only to find out that isn’t true either. She grabbed me and I twisted away just missing my throat she stabbed me in the shoulder. I was bleeding but I would survive. I retrieved my knife from the floor, it was slick with blood. I hit her and she fell I pinned her to the floor and raised the knife high to stab her in the throat, but she managed to twist away, and the knife stabbed into the stone floor. My hands had been webbed around the handle now slid along the knife blade and sliced off both of my thumbs. Blood spurted and I screamed and screamed. It took me a minute to register that the wounded animal scream I heard was me. I tried to reel it in, but I couldn’t control it, so I rode with it. I got to my feet and ran straight at my opponent. She must have been in shock she didn’t even try to move. I slammed into her with a fury I didn’t know I had. We both fell backward onto the floor. I fell on top of her causing her to lose her breath. As she struggled to get it back, I ripped her throat out with my teeth. I must have passed out after that at least I don’t remember anything else until I woke up in my cell covered in blood with both hands bandaged. Panic immediately set in. I sat straight up only to discover I was alone. The thought that kept repeating over and over was that he wouldn’t want me now. I was damaged. The question was would he let me go or would he kill me? I couldn’t believe he would let me go.

I kept reliving what I had done. I didn’t know the person who had done that. I was forever changed. There are things that once you live through, you will never be the same. You can’t go back you can’t change it; you have to learn to live with it and the new person you now are. But I didn’t want to learn to live with the new me. I had nothing to live for now. I was done! I would no longer fight. I would be dead soon and I was ready.

I could feel the haze of fever now, my hands must be infected. I could hear the sputter of a candle only it wasn’t a candle it was that lightbulb. And the flicker was so fast it now had a strobe effect. I was pretty sure it was the fever causing it. But it irritated me so badly that I jumped up and smashed the bulb between my bandaged hands screaming with the pain it caused.

I instantly felt like I had been flipped upside down. The dizziness was so bad that it flattened me to the floor. Slowly I realized that I was sitting on the cabin floor staring at the candle. Seriously, could it be that easy? I jumped up and grabbed the candle holding the flame to the shred of curtains that remained. They caught fire with a whoosh. I then grabbed a piece of paper on the floor and lit it tossing it to the lone overstuffed chair in the room. It caught flame like it had been doused with gasoline. I stumbled out the door and stood and watched as it burnt to the ground.

I stumbled down the trail in the woods until I came to my car. I found my phone and dialed 911. I spent a week in the hospital and I’m still not sure I want to live. I came to pick up my car and stood with the door open debating but finally, I shut the door and followed the trail to see the cabin remains. I stood there staring at the cabin with a flickering candle in the window. And Soprent was standing at the threshold holding the door open.

The end?