Mind Games (FIRST DRAFT)

While Ray rolled away, it began to drizzle. Mei stood there, trying to figure out what they said. What was wildeberry? No matter, as Mike and Mason came closer, she noticed Mike limped more than walked.

“Are you alright, Mei? Were they bothering you?” Mason asked, who would be more than happy for a reason to beat the crap out of Ray.

“No- they just told me some stuff. Nothing interesting. I think they trust me.” Mei responded, trying to get the two off her back. However, this plan backfired.

After a moment, Mike exclaimed, “Maybe you could be a spy-!” as he pounded his fist into his unclosed hand. When he saw Mei was confused, he explained, “You go and talk to Ray, get information on Mother, then talk to us!”

Mason piped in at this point, saying, “We could let you win games, and then you could have more time with Ray!”

At this Mei objected, “First of all, that wouldn’t be fair- I’ve only got a punishment once, and although I wouldn’t want to have that again, you been dealing with this for much, much longer. And besides, wouldn’t that be suspicious?”

Mason exclaimed, “Mother doesn’t care, she does the games for her sick enterainment. And besides, we’re used to it.” That doesn’t make it fine, Mei wanted to argue. However, she kept her feelings to herself and agreed to be the “Spy for Forgotten Souls”.

…

…

Later in the room, when the moon hung high in the sky, Mei took out a small jar Ray had managed to sneak in Mei’s pocket, supposedly full of wildeberries. The berries were small and a purplish-red, and their smell was strong, yet sweet. She placed the berries on the floor, then mashed them with a spoon stolen from dinner. Earlier that night, she had snuck the small utensil in her pocket when they had eaten a red soup with chewy pieces of meat in it. Yet again, the meat was unrecognizable, and had a strangely familiar taste. She looked around the room, and quickly realized how empty the room looked without Luca.

She took some of the smashed berry and rubbed it on herself, then Mason. She put some on Mike, then contemplated on putting some on Lily. However, she refused, and hoped Lily well on being reunited with her brother.

…

…

…

That morning, Lily’s absence was announced joyfully by Mother. “Lily is gone..” Mother began, “because her guardian picked her up!” Mother exclaimed happily that morning. The three participants looked at each other, confused as to where Lily had went. Whilst faking her confusion, Mei turned to Ray, who winked at her. She turned, her heart pounding so hard she thought Mike would her her.

“Now, now, dears, we have a new arrival as well! Meet Florence, our new player.~” Mother turned to introduce a tall, skinny, black girl with afro buns. She had thick, red-painted lips and brown eyes, and she wore denim overalls and a black short sleeve shirt with roses on it. Mei waved to Florence with her bandaged hand, hoping to give her new friend some foreshadowing. “Now come, sit down dear. That’s Mei, Mason, Mike, and dear lil’ Ray- now sit besides Mei-Mei, she’ll be nice to you!” She smiled her sweet smile. Florence sat besides Mei and smiled shyly. Mei leaned over and whispered:

“You have no idea what you’re in for.”

…

…

“Alright dears, now come on out!” Mother had allowed the players to come out again. “Now I know some of you guys are tired of the games, so tomorrow we’re going to have a birthday party!” Everyone, even Ray, was surprised. Nobody remembered their birthday at this point, let alone would have a birthday party at this hell hole.

Mother pulled a rock- a goddamn rock- out of her pocket, lifted it up high and said, “For him.” She said cheerfully. Florence just blinked a couple times, then turned to Mei.

“Is- is this normal?” Florence whispered to her. Florence’s buns were extremely frizzy, and bobbed about when she bent down to talk to Mei.

“The rock is new, but basically everything else is the same.” Mei smiled. Florence scoffed, as though she didn’t believe her. However, she wasn’t sarcastic. It was more friendly than not.

“Now today, the game we’ll be playing is ‘Red Light, Green Light.’ You know the rules of course, Flo?” asked Mother, testing a new nickname on the new girl.

While the boys groaned, Florence responded, saying,“Uh- yeah, sure! I used to play it all the time with..” she paused mid sentence, most likely trying to remember whoever she played the playground game with. Ray, who again seemingly appeared out of nowhere filled the silence.

“Bug and Bee? Your nephew and niece?” they asked.

“I mean, probably-“ Florence muttered back. Mason turned to her while Mike turned to Mei. Mei could feel his breath on her neck, and it made her stomach flop.

“Normally no one EVER wins Red Light, Green Light. She normally only plays it when we get a new person, so it was weird when we didn’t do it when you came.” Mike whispered. Mason looked over at them, then rolled his eyes.

“Line up, everyone!” Mother shouted, clapping her hands. Mike turned to face her, running to the starting line, and shouted, “Good luck Mei!”

She liked the way he said her name.

…

…

Ray was by Mother, who was doing stretches. Which was weird, because she wasn’t going to be doing anything except turning around, calling people out, and beating the crap out of teenagers because they lost a child’s game.

“Ready?” she asked. But before anyone could answer, she turned around and yelled, “GREEN LIGHT!”

Mason took tiny steps, while Mike dashed across the field. Florence decided to copy Mason, and Mei Mike. It had begun to drizzle, so the dying grass slowly but surely became muddy and slippery. Mother turned around and yelled RED, and although Florence and Mason didn’t get out, Mike and Mei did. They walked, sulking, to stand besides Ray.

“Just because we’re standing by you doesn’t mean we’re friends again.” Mike said.

“Just because I’m allowing you to stand by me doesn’t mean I enjoy it.” Ray responded.

End of Chapter Five.

Word Count: 1,071

Character Count: 6