The Writers' Games: Disney Games

Round 3- Entries

Sariah- DIDN'T HAND IN THIS ROUND.

Haven-

Today is my birthday. Eighteen years, I've made it eighteen years. And I might lose them all today. 

I smell the sea before my tube rises out of the ground. I had been screaming before, slamming my fists against the glass and shouting curses at whoever might have been listening. There aren't many things in this world that I fear but confinement is one of them. Being pressed against glass walls and trapped like a bird in a cage. Fear awakens this unnaturally frantic part of my brain. It leads me to screaming and panicking and feeling choked, like I'll never be able to breathe again. My heart is pounding in my chest because of this fear and it only stops when I smell the ocean above me. 

We visited the sea once. I was pregnant with Meadow, I was very sick at the time and I was convinced that I was going to die. So Ben, in an attempt to make me happy in the end, convinced his mother to allow us to visit the ocean. Just once. There was something about the salt in the air, something about the waves crashing on the beach, something about the way everything felt at ease there that made me feel alive again. Made me want to fight for the baby I had to live for. And again, I am fighting to live for an unborn child. It's fitting that the scene is set by the ocean air once again. 

All I can see is water when I first look. Water the color of green glass and storm clouds and bluebirds all at the same time. I notice the other royals first, all equally apart from a dock. And there is a rowboat. My heart leaps at the sight of it; it reminds me of simpler days when I would fish on the pond in my dad's old boat, alone and happy that I was free. Why do I have so many happy memories connected to such a terrible place? 

I take a deep breath and straighten myself on my pedestal so I don't fall over. The stylists are horrible people; they've put the princesses in dresses. Formal ballgowns of all things. Mine is white, woven with colors that you can hardly see, with three birds flying across the hem. Guess that's my thing now... And my tiara is balanced on my head, held in place by intricate braids. I feel too fancy for a fight to the death...

I can see a bow in the piles of weapons surrounding the Cornucopia. A quiver brimming with arrows lies on top of it. My fingers are itching for the feel of the string, the sturdiness of the bow in my hands. It's in my blood. I was born a wild girl, made to have a bow in my hands and thrive in the wilderness that claimed my father's life. Therefore I will do whatever it takes to get to the bow, to get to the weapon that could stand between life and death for Calla and I. Getting to the rowboat is my best chance, but everyone is probably thinking that. I need to find a way.

'Just run, you're one of the closest people to the boat. You can make it I'd you sprint. Even pregnant, you're fast enough.' The voice in the back of my head is somehow mean and encouraging at the same time. It's a good enough idea. It's not like I have any better ones anyways. There aren't many options in a place like this. 

A gong rings, it's a disorienting sound but I don't let it shake me, and I start running. I have to be careful not to slip on the wet dock for fear of injuring myself or Calla but I can't be slow. I have to run. A boy, I'm not sure which one, is getting too close to me and without thinking, I get just close enough that I can nudge his shoulder with my own. We're far enough away from each other that I stay on my feet when he slips and hits the deck with a crash. Now I'm in front of everybody. Well, almost everybody.

Delilah and I reach the boat at the same time, staring at each other distrustfully as we both sneak glances at the boat. We don't have much time before the other royals get here and there's a fight for the rights to the boat so a decision must be made rather quickly if we both want to live. Believe me, I'm not ready to die yet. And I'd assume she isn't either. Nobody is as ready and willing to die as they'd think they are, no matter what.