One acronym, four letters, a dreadful meaning.
S.L.A.D. : "Some Lives, A Dream".
That's what most teenagers signed up for these days, including me: people from all over the world, some coming from slums, ghettos, the poorest cities on earth, others rich enough to own half the earth itself, but just too bored to do anything else in life.
Some called it an illegal competition, others an underground recruitment: the truth is no one really knew who was in charge of all of it, who organized these challenges, nor how would these people benefit from all this bloodbath. Some tried to figure it out, but ended up badly.
One thing was well-known tho, and that was the reputation that preceded this game.
People joined and risked their lives because they knew it could lead them to a life-changing finish line: the winner could make a wish and see it come true.
It could be anything in the world, and that single desire would be fulfilled, for real.
Was it worth it tho? Risking your life for a game with the smallest chance of being its winner? It was, especially if you had nothing left to lose.
Signing up to this was easy, sticking 'till the end definitely wasn't.
Being part of S.L.A.D. meant being awaken in the middle of the night by an anonymous number, a robotic voice articulating an address where to show up at a certain time, a long ride to an unknown place, and a new challenge to face, not knowing if it would be your last.
Many people lost their lives each time, and the organization always came out clean with it, god knows how.
Another little detail was that there was no coming back from this: you were either in 'till the end, or you weren't at all. There was no way to break the system: it was just you, and the game. Every won challenge meant points: the more you won, the more you gained access to the top of the game ranking.
I wasn't good at many things in life, but I was good at this.
It didn't take long for me to understand the game's rules, to figure out the twisted plots it could turn into, to get into the right mindset to overcome my fears. However, the last few months had gotten heavy psychologically speaking: I was still a nineteen year old girl after all, and even if I could challenge myself and my body, there was no way I could somehow get used to people dying in front of me.
Winning was a breath of fresh air: it made the finish line closer, my craved wish more achievable. It gave me strength to keep going, and not to give up on my dream, my heart, what I missed and longed for the most.
Though right now that excitement was replaced with something else - a sense of intimidation, or better to say, annoyance.
Who the fuck is this guy?
"You've got a lot of audacity, trying to take what's mine." - he snarled, an intimidating tone vibrating from his mouth. His voice was hoarse and deep, and I wish I couldn't say it gave me chills down my spine.
"I'm sorry, 'love', I forgot most men underestimate women." - I hissed, his conceit annoying me.
We were both still on the ground facing each other, his other hand holding himself steady. My leggings were now exposing half my thigh, due to the impact with the floor.
"Oh right...where are my manners" - he relaxed his arm for a second, and so did my expression. He was giving up and the anticipation of the victory hit me.
"Pull then." - He looked down at me with challenging eyes, a smirk gradually spreading on his face.
My ego was hurt by this, as I sent him an uptight gaze and started pulling the trophy with all my strength. This wasn't S.L.A.D. : I was in fucking kindergarten all over again. One interaction and this man was testing my nerves like no one else ever did.
"Harder " - his grin turned into a serious gaze, his eyes now a dark green that almost made me shiver.
He wanted to challenge me, so be it.
My spare hand suddenly hit the arm he was holding himself up with, making sure he lost his balance. My legs blocked him with a swift motion as he gasped at the action, instantly trying to react at my force: before he knew it, I was now straddling him, one hand on the trophy floating in the air, the other one placed beside his face to hold myself steady on him.
It was I who was looking down at him now, my long hair brushing the side of his sweaty face.
"Faster " - I whispered, panting from the sudden excitement of it all. A satisfied smile on my face. He looked up at me with an expression I couldn't quite figure out.
Nevertheless I didn't pay much attention at it as a sound immediately filled my ears: the time was up.
Challenge ended, points gained, dude's ego killed.
"This was fun" I asserted while lifting myself up from him.
Suddenly, he grabbed my wrist: he didn't put much force in it, but enough to truly gain my attention and make me look at him. His hand was warm on my flesh, my skin crawling under his touch: I bet he could now feel my pulse too.
My eyes met his as his face had that intimidating expression all over again. His chest was going up and down, and it hit me when I noticed mine was too.
"Were not done here, love." - he asserted. "We are definitely not done." - I wouldn't say I was intimidated, but the excessive calmness in his tone was quite disturbing.
He stood up slowly, revealing how tall he was: not many inches more than me, but just enough to make me feel small. Our interaction had filled the room with tension, my heart picking up for no reason.
I barely moved as he turned his back to me, eyes not leaving my face up to the last second. His figure cutting the thick air surrounding us as he walked towards the door he had kicked wide open: as he left the room, I noticed his hand tensing in a fist, then relaxing.
The same hand that grabbed my wrist. The same ringed hand I had first set my eyes on.
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HEY GUYS! <3
First of all thank you so much for taking your time and reading this chapter. I really hope you're liking the story so far :) Just here to say I'm no writer, I'm doing this for fun and mostly because it's something that I've always wanted to try out. Also as some of you may know I'm Italian and English is not my first language, therefore there might be grammar mistakes: if so, I'm sorry and feel free to point them out<3
YES ITS A PHH FANFIC!!! JUSTICE 4 PHH!??
If you have any type of questions pls comment below, and your thoughts are very much appreciated too! <3
Thank you for the support both on my editing acc and on here, I'm always so grateful.
Take care, ly all <3
- giulia
CZYTASZ
Nemesis | H.S.
Romans"What are you doing to me?"- I didn't know the answer. I gulped as words struggled coming out. "What are we doing?" My head was now spinning both from the alcohol in my system and the sudden tension in the air. "I don't know"- he whispered so quiet...
