The Queen's Gambit

Forced Move (Carmen Grey)

Forced move: where a player is obligated to move a certain piece against their will, generally having to sacrifice another (less important but still crucial) piece. The player is forced to choose between immediate death or a major disadvantage.

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I slumped in my desk chair. I had tried so hard not to think about it. I tried to believe that my mother didn't have a choice. It hurt so much.

Why would she just accept the fact I had to go on this stupid quest? She didn't even try to do anything to change it. I didn't want to go. Not like I had a choice, did I?

I brushed away angry tears, accidentally banging my elbow on the desk. It hurt. Just my rotten luck. I wasn't even sure who I was mad at. My mother or stupid Athena -oh, excuse me- Evelyn Willow.

My mother had absolutely betrayed me. Evelyn was the reason I had to go risk my life. They were the reasons I had a backpack packed with essentials for tomorrow. They were the reasons why my whole entire life was being forgotten and I was suddenly 'the only option for the quest'. I picked up the picture of me and my mom and threw it at the wall. The picture with my mom teaching me how to bake brownies when I was three. The glass on the picture frame broke.

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I was three years old, sitting on the countertop while my mother was measuring the sugar. It had felt so important -at the time, at least- that she was letting me pour the sugar from the measuring cup to the bowl. She turned to grab some vanilla. I got bored, and had reached my chubby hand into the open bag of flour, getting a huge fistful.

Laughing gleefully in happiness, I threw it at my mother. She looked down in surprise, seeing a white layer of powder covering her apron. For a moment, my three-year-old self had thought she would be mad, her shock masking whether she was going scold me for wasting flour or laugh.

Fortunately, she did the latter. I wasn't sure when, because my memory was a little fuzzy from time, but my grandma Asteria had tiptoed into the room and took a quick photo.

In the photo I was shrieking with laughter, my mother tickling my sides. There was flour in my lap, and caught in my hair.

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Funny how times change, I thought sarcastically, looking at the wall. I winced as I looked down at my elbow. I wasn't sure how I hadn't noticed it before, but it was bleeding quickly. There was blood on my history assignment. I was supposed to turn it in on Monday. Like you'll even be alive and going to school on Monday. I ripped the meticulously written papers up and threw them in the trash.

I hated this all. Call me dramatic, whatever, but it's true. I don't want to get horse poop from some random dude's stables. I would rather not almost die via hydra. And seriously, getting the lion pelt? We'd have to skin it, and I'm a vegetarian. Yuck.

I guess my mother heard me, because she came into the room, looking absolutely mad.

"Fay. Don't make a scene-" she whispered, barely controlling her anger.

"You are literally forcing me to go on a quest where I. Will. Die. Am I supposed to sing my praises for this amazing opportunity?" I replied, just as venemously.

"Carmen Elora! You are obligated to go with Athena on her quest! Don't act like I'm the bad guy here! I did not choose this, and neither did she. It is simply how it is done!" Her voice rose in volume, her fury at my 'accusations' resounding around the room.