85: Out of reach

“We’ve got to move right now!” I yelled before grabbing onto both of Liam and Xavier and pulling them towards me. I knew David would be alright on his own, but I just couldn’t bear the thought of splitting up from Liam and Xavier after what had happened before. We launched ourselves onto another flat spike in front of us, then another, but by the third, the rocks around us had begun to crumble and shatter, and the ones we were standing on were no exception. To make matters worse, the wind had begun to pick up speed and force, knocking some of the flat spikes into each other and sending them crashing into others like giant, deadly dominos. And so, we began to pick up speed ourselves in order to prevent getting caught in all of the madness surrounding us. But as we moved forward, my eyes began to wander to the people around us to see how many people that I knew, were still alive. It was a way for me to ground myself, to feel present in this moment of fear and struggle. I just needed to see a few familiar faces struggling to survive like me. I needed to feel as though I’d make it through. No... I needed to feel as though Liam and Xavier would make it through. I just thought that if the people around me survived, they would too. After all, the two of them had won the games the last time, and although that fact should have brought me comfort, it did the opposite. Because the truth of the matter was that these games that we were playing were nothing like the ones they played before. Meera *wanted* to torture me. She wanted me to see the people I truly cared about, die. She wanted to kill me on the inside, to destroy every shred of happiness and life I held within me. That was who she was. Stubborn, blood-thirsty and merciless. Then again, she and I were similar. The only difference between us, were the choices we made in deciding who we’d end up becoming. She decided to be a cruel monster, and I decided to be a compassionate one. We were standing at the same river of power, wisdom and wit, only standing on the opposite sides of the riverbank, out of reach from each other, destined never to be on the same side.
As I looked up, I noticed a little to the left of me, that Kyle and Darren were struggling against the force of the wind but through their outstanding teamwork, they managed to get from spike-to-spike, although making it just barely each time. My eyes then landed on Jayden who flung himself onto one of the sides of the spikes in front of him and rode it as it crashed into another. It seemed he knew more or less what to do. But then my eyes wandered to Aaliyah and Felicity and a heavy sense of dread began to dawn on me. The two of them were caught in a particularly strong current of wind, and I watched as they struggled against it, all the while trying to avoid the sinking of the unstable spikes beneath them. But a slip of the foot against the flat surface of the spike and another strong gust of wind was all it took for Felicity to lose her footing. What unfolded thereafter, felt like something out of a nightmare. Felicity’s body lurched backward, and Aaliyah outstretched her hands to grab her and pull her back up. For a naïve second, it almost seemed as though she’d manage to grab the fabric of her stiff, black jumpsuit that she was in. But the closest her fingers got to the fabric of her jumpsuit, was just a graze of it against her soft fingertips.
Then, she fell.
All that could be heard now was the chilling shriek she let out as her body began to plummet to the depths of the abyss below. It began as a loud, ear-piercing scream and then slowly faded into a faraway echo before silencing completely. It was soon replaced with a scream of my own, followed by one belonging to Aaliyah. We both just stood there, frozen. Felicity had just fallen to her death, and there was nothing either of us could have done to stop it. Slowly, the familiar feeling of hopelessness began to creep up on me again. But it was cut short by Xavier who rightfully snapped me back into reality.
“Come on Phoenix! We still have to continue moving!” It seemed that processing my grief was a luxury that neither I nor Aaliyah possessed as she began to move forward too, avoiding the falling pieces of rock as tears streamed down her face.
I turned back towards the front and followed Xavier and Liam, as quickly as I could. As I gazed up ahead of us, I could feel my heart thud erratically in my chest as a feeling of anticipation rose within my stomach. Not too far ahead of us, almost bordering the horizon in front of us, and just a few more spires away, was the end of the gruesome “Field of Rock”. But there was a strange uneasiness beginning to rise up within me. We weren’t supposed to reach the end of this round of the game so quickly, and as I took a quick glance behind me, I realised that there were still quite a large number of players still alive. Suddenly, almost as if to prove my point, the ground began to shake violently again, but this time it brought with it the domino effect of the tall spires that had now, finally caught up to us. As I tried to reach for the next one, I found nothing but air underneath my feet. And although I should have been filled with fear at this point, I couldn’t help but be amused as I stretched out my hand and watched as the “Field of Rock” disappeared above my outstretched fingers as my body began to slowly fall. My amusement was, however, cut short as an inescapable sensation of overwhelming pain began to spread through my abdomen. I let out a stifled whimper and felt warm tears stream down my face as the pain in my body began to feel as though it were covering every muscle in hot, raging fire. I hadn’t felt pain this raw and potent in quite some time.
“Oh my God… Phoenix…” I heard Liam say from far above me. He, Xavier and David were all still standing on their spikes but stared down at me in absolute terror.
It was then that I noticed that I wasn’t falling anymore. Instead, my hands and legs dangled freely in the air. It was almost as though I were suspended in mid-air. There was also a warm wetness beginning to form around my stomach, which was strange considering that it was not raining and that there was not a cloud in the sky. I lifted my head slightly, curious as to what had happened to my body and where this wet sensation was coming from, then let out a stifled gasp as I stared at the gory sight before me. Sticking out from the middle of my abdomen was a large, sharp shard of rock. I’d fallen onto one of the spikes and become another victim of impaling. I coughed out, splattering warm blood from my mouth. I lifted my hand towards my lips and then used the back of my palm to wipe away at the blood. As I stared at the bloodied back of my hand, a weak smile appeared on my face. Pain, an old friend of mine, had come back to visit again. I wondered for a moment if Meera was watching this. I wondered if she was somewhere safe and sound, snickering to herself and sadistically relishing herself in my pain and suffering. And so I let out a chuckle and began searching for one of the floating cameras that had done such a good job of catching the action in the previous round. Once I’d found one, I stared right into it and reached a fist out before popping my middle finger out.
“Fuck you!” I yelled out. And then again, “Fuck you all you fucking cowards. But fuck you, Meera, the most. Once these games are finished, I’m going to fucking come for you, and I’m going to make you hurt like I’m hurting, you sick, sadistic bitch. I’ll send you straight back to hell so you can burn.” Once I’d said it, I was breathless and panting, which only made the pain worse. But I was furious, and tired. This was all a fucking game to her, and that made me livid.
“Phoenix. Is now really the time to be yelling? You have a fucking rock sticking right through you. Tell us how to get to you!” Xavier said, not once hiding his obvious concern. But as he spoke, my eyes zeroed in on something hidden within the darkness. It took some concentration, and a lot of honing in on my vampiric senses, but the fact that I was also closer to the ground now than I was before, helped tremendously. Far down, in the distance, I could see a body. Judging by its small build and the shortness of the hair attached to its head, I assumed it was Felicity’s body. It was then that an overwhelming conviction came over me. I *needed* to retrieve her body, no matter how out of reach she was from me right now. I wouldn’t leave my friend there, alone.
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Hello everyone!!! Just a little clarity regarding my updates. I do not have a fixed update schedule. I update as often as my studies allow me to. On that note, I know I haven’t been updating much lately. As I’ve stated in the comments section, I currently have an extremely overwhelming amount of work to do which was why I stopped updating for a while. Nonetheless, I have begun updating again. Updates *may* however be very slow and will usually occur during the weekends. I ask humbly that you be patient with me. Thank you, once again for all of your love and support. I am truly grateful to each and every single one of you! As always, stay safe, stay healthy and sending you all my love!💕