The Game of Undesirables

Chapter 1

I have felt this feeling before. My vision is blurring, and it is becoming harder and harder to breathe. I know right away that I have lost too much blood.

I lift my head, seeing the wound in my side, the blood flowing out. My head drops, resting back on the ground, and I try to remember what happened, how I got here. I faintly remember shadows. I can't recall anything else. My head aches, sending a heavy thump-thump-thump that pounds at the same rate as my heart.

This can't be right-- I don't even remember when I left the house. I close my eyes, try to slow down my heart, and concentrate on what I have to do to get out of here. 

My eyes flutter open at the quietest sound, probably just the building, but I'm scared to leave them closed any longer in fear someone will show up when I'm not looking. I turn my head around slowly, focusing on my surroundings, taking everything in. I blink a few times, the dust getting in my eyes. The room looks like a study, with a bookshelf and a desk and chair. Nobody has been in here for a long time. The place feels really familiar, but I can't figure out why. 

I pull myself up, slifling a yelp as pain shoots up my side, and grab the desk for support. I pull myself over to the window and peer outside. Everything is pitch black. How am I going to get away when I don't even know where I am?

I start getting extremely light-headed and the world begins to spin around me. I lose my grip and fall to the floor. My side is killing me. This makes no sense, I want to scream. I have no clue how I got here. 

A bump echoes throughout the hall outside the door. I freeze, but I can't do anything except lie there on the floor. I'm completely drained of energy. Dread starts to fill me, and I feel it tug deep into my heart. What if I die in here, and nobody would know?

Suddenly the bump turns into a scuffle and the sound of a fight rings out from the hallway-- a yell, a thud, noises that my ears seem to drown out. My vision tunnels and starts to turn black. I struggle against it, to keep breathing. The door flies open, but I can't concentrate on anything. I think I'm starting to see double.

A head appears above me, morphing into two and then back into one face. I have to blink to see it clearly. As soon as I see him normally, my vision fades entirely and I can feel the world slipping away from my grip.

The last thing I feel is his shaking hand grabbing mine.

* * *

I stared at the empty seat beside me as I sipped at my steaming mug of coffee. There was plenty enough room for two on this bench, the only problem is that nobody wanted to sit there.

I looked across the tables as  girl laughed abnoxiously, demandingly kissing the boy beside her. They probably wouldn't even last a week, in my opinion. They never do. She would just get bored of him, like everyone else does. That's why I never bothered with it.

"How is your coffee, miss?" The young waitress pulls me out of my thoughts. She  has a nervous bounce in her step and an apprehensive look hidden behind her chocolately brown eyes. It must have been her first day.

I gave her a sincere smile. "It's great, thanks."

She nods, hiding a sheepish smile as she turned around, almost running into a man. She stuttered on an apology as she slipped into the kitchen.

I sighed as I turned back to the shop, watching the world outside the window. There had to be something more for me out there, other than this small town. Sitting alone in a coffee shop just wasn't enough anymore.

I finished my coffee and left a tip beside my bill, swinging my messenger bag over my shoulder as I walked outside. A cold breeze blew past, and I stepped into a puddle that seemed to sparkle under the falling sunlight. The town may have looked pretty during sunset, but so does everything else. I needed something new.