King's Gambit

A Game of Chess

Silence filled the room and hung over their heads like a dark veil. Neither of the two siblings spoke a word, letting the heavy weight of their previous argument sink. Time passed painfully slowly, dragging on like chewing gum.

It was unbearable to the point he had to do something about the tense atmosphere. He knelt down in front of the cupboard.

"Hey, wanna play something?" he broke the ice, scrawny fingers rummaging desperately through the drawer. It was like fishing in a sea of garbage for valuable fish. Among tangled wires and old electric devices, he spotted a few cartridges, but without the right gadgets they wouldn't be of any actual use.

What they needed the most right now was some distraction to pass the time and it would better be a good activity to cool off. Further fueling her bad mood could only cause another dispute.

"What do you suggest?"

Sighing, his teenage sister's leather boots clattered across the cold concrete floor and came to a stop right next to him. She bent down, hands resting on her knees for support. Behind shoulder-length black strands of wiry hair, her tired eyes skimmed over the few board games available. At this point a habit, his hands opted for a stack of worn down, dog-eared cards. He raised an eyebrow in question to silently ask for her agreement with his choice.

"I'd hate to play cards, we've played enough of that these past few weeks," she grumbled with a glare.

In his mind, he recollected numerous rounds of Mau-Mau, Jack Black and Poker, which almost always resulted in his sister getting the short end of the stick. As unlucky as she was as a player, it was no wonder where her bias against those kind of games came from.

"Agreed," he nodded after brief consideration and put them back. As fatigued as they were, arguing with her now would do neither of them any good and just deplete them of the energy they had barely left.

Eyeing the few other games there were, he was at a loss for suggestions. Either those left were the board games based on luck, which his little sister absolutely hated or those which they had played ad nauseam to the point they had gotten absolutely boring. There was one game, however, they had not played once since their arrival here.

In the right-hand corner of the drawer, a plain chessboard laid, a small bag next to it, covered in slight dust. He didn't dare pick it up or even mention its existence.

"We don't have much of a choice, though," he continued, trying to find another solution,"How about we -"

"Let's settle our problem with this. This round will decide who gets it, right?" she interrupted. Her serious tone made him turn his head to take a look at her pale face. He didn't need her to elaborate further to know what she was talking about. After all, it was the topic which had led to their initial argument in the first place.

Hesitation in her sunken eyes evident, he just nodded, thin-lipped. For a moment, he considered breaking eye contact, but he figured maintaining it instead would hopefully add a layer of sincerity to his explanation instead of coming off as an aggressive attempt to pick up where they had left off.

"Sounds like a good idea. That way we don't have to-"

"Chess."

"Huh?" He raised his eyebrows at her in surprise.

"I want to play chess with you." She pointed with her index finger at the drawer.

All of a sudden, raw emotion appeared on her facial features and combined with the dark circles under her eyes, stemming from sleep deprivation, had aged her at least five years. The few months spent here had turned a fifteen-year old into an ill-looking twenty year old woman, appearance-wise. It was as if the joyful spark of being a teenager had vanished from her features and only left an irritated husk behind. He could only regard with worry how the fiery look of determination seeped into her eyes and clouded her senses. She was absolutely serious and knowing how stubborn she could be, his sister would not accept no for an answer.

A wave of uncertainty washed over him, mixed with terrible anxiousness. He knew exactly what she tried to do, but as the older brother, he simply could not refuse his little sister's request. Like always, he would have to quietly beat her at her own game.

"Okay, we'll play chess."

Reluctantly, he picked up the chess board and rose to his feet. A thin layer of dust uncomfortably stuck to his fingertips, awakening the urge in him to wipe it off on the washed-out fabric of his jeans. His little sister nodded pensively without uttering another word. Instead, she picked up the small black pouch, the pieces within rustling as if to replace its noise with her unspoken thoughts.

Their shoes scraped against concrete, past empty tin foil cans in a bin, weakly dragging themselves to sit down at the square table, opposite of one another. Shivering, they both swathed themselves with blankets, pressing them tightly to their bodies to stop the cold from seeping into their already brittle bones. Briefly, his eyes darted around the room. Imprisoned by those cold, gray walls, this place did not provide the right atmosphere to play his favorite game.

Playing chess should be a fun battle of wits for the sheer purpose of competition. The way he viewed it, it should be the perfect playground to draw out the fun of reading the opposites mind in expectation of their next move. It should be the opportunity to show one's scheming skills to the rival at the other end of the table, to display the art of deception in a game where you pretended to play war.

It should just be ... fun. As it turned out, in this very moment, it was neither of those options.

And yet, there was no other choice but to continue. Nothing else to do to settle things between them. No other way to determine who would get the prize.

Placing the board in the middle of the table himself, his little sister emptied the pouch and the wooden figures scattered across the surface. Both put each pawn to their rightful position. Without exchanging words, they came to the silent agreement that the white figures belonged to him, the black ones to her. It threw him back to his childhood, which now merely seemed to be a memory of a distant past. Old habits really die hard.

"Are you really sure you want to settle it with this game?" he inquired, making sure she was in her right mind making this life-changing decision.

"Let's begin, brother," she heaved a heavy sigh and forced a sad smile, "May the better one of us win."

That smile didn't reach her eyes.

With a painful expression, he returned the gesture, "May the better one of us win."

Neither did it reach his.