The Killer Game

Chapter Two

You had better believe that as soon as i ran home i brushed my teeth until all i tasted was minty toothpaste. The taste of the shit was still in the back of my throat and no means of swallowing mouthwash was forcing it down.
I took about 10 showers that morning, deeming it to risky to shower at 6 in the morning without being caught. For once, i was grateful for the dark hair on my head that could conceal any tents of green that show through. It was almost 9 so i brushed my teeth one last time before i was late for breakfast.
Skipping down the concrete, i was happier than ever before. I was picked... it actually happened. The way this game works is that if they like you enough then your invited to play. Granted, it's not a "you don't have to play if you don't want to" its more of a "we drug your lazy ass out of bed now your going to play". So, naturally, everyone chooses to take it as a place where they stand in the popularity totem poll. The Game Master evidently has control over everyone because they want to be picked next. The Elders are seen just as it seems, they're given high respect as any one of them could be the Game Master's apprentice to the thrown when they graduate. The newcomers, often called Stinkards just because they make fun of the new blood, are higher than the normal people but the teachers have it out for them. Make no mistake, the school knows of the game. Hell, the principle was the Game Master in her prime and her wife was one of the best Killers this school has seen. But that doesn't keep the staff from thinking it's a waste of talent.
At Abler, the school, every child here comes for some reason. either they're parents are loaded or they are some sort of super genius in something. as for me? nothing like that. i suck at math and basic credits, im decent at art, but my parents moved here to Whales from a small town in London and decided "Hey, lets send our only child to this boarding school of hell!" its bloody rubbish.
I walk into the cafeteria and all eyes turn to me. Did they smell me coming? I want to walk to my usual seat but i take a glance at the Guild's table off at the edge and notice Nathan with his eyes on me. he beckons me to sit with them and who am i to say no?
i plop down in the seat next to my fellow new recruits and a bowl of something piping hot is pushed toward me. the steam still rising off it. i do not have the stomach to handle anything else steaming to be pushed under my nose. not after the trauma i went through last night, but nonetheless i pick up my spoon and try to eat my oatmeal. theres something hiding in between the oats. i pluck it out gently, like its a hazard, to see it's a leather bracelet that everyone at the table is also sporting. a sign that we are the Guild.
i slide it on and theres an uproar at the table showing approval.
Courtney strides over laying down a book filled with typed pages. she has all access to printers since she's the leader of the newspaper club. "These are the Game rules, read this front to back. Memories it. Dont loose this" and she turns back as quickly as she came.
my art teacher strides over. Mr. Smith. he's a hardened man with a scraggly beard and long calloused hands. although the name Smith always gets a bad rep dont let the name fool you. if he was at this school then you know he would be running the game as Head Game Master and giving everyone hell.
"So" he says "your in on the shenanigans now too." he seems somewhat disappointed that i was now in the Game. "Yes i am" i say back proudly.
all of a sudden Nathan slams a red skull on the table and him and the Elders run out of there as fast as humanly possible with Mr. Smith yelling "YOU THINK YOUR SO HIGH TO NOT CLEAN UP YOUR PLACES" but he knows good and well thats what the Apprentices do.
"What does a skull mean?"  asks some apprentice i dont know. after leafing through some pages in the book i find it "Yellow skull: meeting in the Place Most Holy" i read. as i flip to the back theres a map with PMH scribbled at the caves. "This is a suicide mission" Max lets out with a sigh. The caves are restricted. totally off limits. and, as he said, a suicide mission because of the slippery rocks and jagged edges. Nonetheless this doesnt stop the Guild from wanting to hold meetings there i suppose.