Author Games: Ace of Spades

Finals: River Round

"Balance and moderation. Regression to the mean. Every Hector met his Achilles. Every Achilles met his Paris. Every Priam had an Agamemnon and every Agamemnon had a Clytemnestra. Sooner or later, everyone paid for the wrongs they did to others."

- Sherrilyn Kenyon

~~~

Dawn Everhart

~~~

March 10th, 2017; 6:30 pm: Unknown location

To whomever is reading this right now,

I have a confession. I was one of those involved in the Milena Seble Casino Massacre last year. Exactly twelve months have gone by since then.

I wasn't a victim, but I can't say I was the ringleader of what happened. Admittedly, I didn't do it for the money, and sometimes, I wish I did. I wish I did do it for more reason than just trusting someone like that. I did it for Mort because I knew him. We all knew him, and trusted him.

To this day, I wonder if he ever thought that the great empire he created would go up in flames within a single night.

I need to make it clear—I didn't hate Mort, and that's not why I rebelled. I was his Ace of Clubs and he was like this crazy father figure I'd always wanted.

If only he knew.

The feeling of terror, the kind you get when you're holding a gun to someone's head, and all you have to do is press the trigger for a life to be gone in a matter of seconds. Someone's life, right at your fingertips, so crushable as you play god.

But they never noticed.

They never noticed that every single time there was a gunshot, I would blink or turn away so I wouldn't have to see someone who had so much light in their eyes fade away like an old memory that turned to dust. Gone, within seconds.

I don't know how I managed to stay so calm and composed that night. I like to think that it was because we were all in it together, like always. Us against the world, just like we were always told, like we always believed.

Zahra.

She was the first to go. I've always considered her to be my sister; we did everything together, and told each other everything. But at the end of the day it didn't matter, because I failed her. She protected me, and I let her die. My sister...I let her die.

Kol.

I failed him too. I wasn't the closest to him, but he still mattered. We were friends, and maybe I even considered him to be the annoying brother in my life. He was so confident, and that's what a lot of people liked about him. Yet, confident as he was, no one could stop him from falling.

I couldn't stop it.

No matter what, it didn't stop. He kept going and going. Zahra, Kol, Emerson.

Emerson.

To Kol, the boss; to Zahra, the leader; to Mort, his closest confidant; to me, my best friend. I wish Emer had believed their own facade. The facade where they acted like they were certain of themself, and knew exactly where they wanted to be. As much as they acted, Emer was a lost soul. They shined so bright that it was nearly impossible for anyone to see the broken parts within them.

I wish they'd known and believed how great they were.

I'd always thought Mort's favourite was Emerson—they were almost never around because they were with him. But no. I was wrong. We were all wrong, and that mistake cost so much.

More than what can be fixed.

The only reason I'm alive right now is because Mort's favourite was never Emer, it was me.

I can't do this anymore, I won't. They were my friends, and it's my fault I didn't do anything. I don't want to be the villain anymore.

They always say, "all good things you feed the world will come back as something better. All bad things you give it will find their way back to haunt you." I made the worst possible choice, and I must take responsibility for it.

All those lives that were stolen...there were twenty-four. Just like my age twelve months ago.

Now I'm twenty-five. And mine is the twenty-fifth I'll take. 

~~~

THE TASK

Congratulations on making it to the finals! You're in the home stretch, and you're close to the end. As you can see here, not 3, not 4, but 5 of you are in our Finals, due to a tie in votes and no proper way to break it as one tribute had the better entry, while the other had more consistency. So congratulations to all five of you.

However, you're not finished yet. In this task, you will yet again write either Task A, or Task B, depending on the choice that was made in the Quarterfinals. Both tasks happen at any point in your tribute's life (your decision), but follow different guidelines, so please read carefully.

Task A: You chose the million dollars

Following the quote above, everything in life is about balance and moderation. No one can take things from others without having to pay for their wrongdoings later on. Whether it be a few months or thirty years from now, we all pay for our selfish acts at some point. What your tribute has done was take the lives of others for their own selfish needs. They are not exempt from the wrongs they committed at Milena Seble, and here is where they pay for it. Your task is to write the price of their selfishness. Your tribute's retribution can be anything from nightmares of the executions, to going bankrupt. The price your tribute pays is free reign, as is the rest of the task. The only requirement is that you show us what that price is.

Task B: If you chose the people

No bad deed goes unpunished, but no good deed goes unrewarded. Acts of benevolence may not be paid back instantly, but kindness and morality always get rewarded later on in life. Whether it be a few months or thirty years later, our charitable acts do not get turned the blind eye by life itself. Your tribute chose the selfless act of sacrificing their own desperate needs for the lives of others, and they will be rewarded. You can write how your tribute's life has improved, how your tribute has learned to be happy after the traumatic events that took place at Milena Seble, or anything along those lines. It's a free reign task, and the only requirement is that you show how your tribute has been rewarded in some way for their benevolence.

SLOT MACHINES: Destroyed and recycled.

WORD LIMIT: None

DEADLINE: Sunday, June 19th, 1 PM BST