A Collection of my Writer's Games Entries

Carnival Games: Quarter Finals (Maxine Carlos)

** Quarter Finals Task - Welcome to the House of Fun **

I feel myself being dragged by someone along the ground. What happened to the ants? I can hear someone muttering.
"...Stupid Sayuri....should have just left the girl to the ants, but no, little miss perfect wants to watch people kill eachother, not get eaten by ants,"
Come to think of it, the voice sounds familiar. Atilius. Where is he dragging me to? Please not somewhere dangerous. Maybe everyone is dead now. No that can't be right, we had to kill an opponent, not everyone should be dead. I groan as he throws me onto the ground. His footsteps disappear and I move my hands up to rub my head. Maybe I hit it on something. I don't know, maybe I'll just rest for a moment. Go into the blackness....

"Do you think she's dead?" someone asks,
"Don't say that, Arwen, it's bad luck to say that about someone," a louder voice hisses,
"Well, she could be after being dragged away by you-know-who,"
"Well I got dragged away too, do I look dead?"
"Guys," I say, "Shut up, my head is pounding,"
"See, she's alive. Come on Max, hop up. You need to walk around," it is Cleo
"Please Cleo, I just want to sleep," I mumble, opening my eyes. I realise that it is night time, no sun. Just the moon and twinkling stars. Someone, most likely Cleo, grabs my arm and hauls me up.
"Cleo," I try to push her away,
"Walk around, it'll make you feel much better,"
"How can she feel much better with blood on her," Arwen remarks,
"It's not my blood," I shrug sleepily.
"Ok, listen up tributes," Sayuri shouts, "Time to go to the fun house!"
"Start walking, or we'll shoot," Atilius adds. I stumble, leaning on Cleo towards the fun house. 
"Where's Morgan?" I ask,
"Oh, he's sulking because they took his journal. Which he can, he has had it for a long time," Arwen replies, I look at her and see that her hair is very messy. Much messier than Cleo's.
"What happened to your hair?" I ask,
"Nothing," she replies too quickly,
"Come on Arwen,"
"No, it's how I killed the kid. That's all I'm going to say," she folds her arms, just as we enter the fun house. The doors creak shut behind us, only dim lights light the place. I can barely see in front of me.
"Your only task," the voice makes me jump, "Is to explore," and something clicks off,
"Let's go," Morgan says, "Maybe they hid my journal in here," he walks off,
"Morgan," I reach out to stop him but he walks anyways, without replying. 
"We better go after him," I sigh, we stumble after him in the dark light. But we soon lose him.
"Morgan?" Cleo calls,
"Shh," I hiss, "I don't want to die in this hole,"
"Well, so-rry," she says moodily, and we continue in silence,
"Ugh," Arwen mumbles, "Smells like someone died in here,"
Cleo screams, it echos off the walls, "Someone did die in here,"
Shivers fly down my spine. A small girl lay on the ground with a mace stuck in her head. I swallow the bile.
"Where'd the mace come from?" Arwen asks,
"That's what you're worried about?" Cleo exclaims, suddenly a whooshing sound flies near us, I turn and see where the mace came from,
"Shit," I curse, "Run," I grab Cleo and Arwen and pulls them away from the mace, I can barely see where I'm leading them but it's away from the mace. Suddenly we fall, we screram in fright as we slide down and land on a solid surface. 
"As if my head wasn't sore already," I mutter, looking around but seeing nothing,
"Do you think we can climb back up?" Arwen asks,
"To the death balls?! Definitely not," I hear Cleo fall to the ground again, then I notice we are moving. Or maybe it's just me.
"Are we moving?" I ask,
"I think so," Arwen replies, her voice shaky. Suddenly lights turn on and I see we are on a massive record and it has just started spinning. 
"How do we get off?" Cleo says,
"How would I know?" I growl, trying to grip onto the ground as the record turns faster and faster. The walls fall away. I slide closer to the edge. Peeking over my shoulder I see everything that you can imagine that is sharp. An array of knives, mace and spears stick up from the ground. Anything to kill us. I feel my legs go over the edge and force my fingers to grab hold of the ledge of the record. I squeeze my eyes shut. I don't want to die. My fingers are hurting already. I slip. I feel something grab my wrist and haul me up, then drag me somewhere. I open my eyes and grab hold of the hole in the center of the record. I turn to my saviour. Arwen.
"Thanks, for saving me," I smile and force down some bile. This is spinning fast now.
"It's ok, I don't want any of us to die," she turns her face away so I can't see it.
"Where's Cleo?" I ask, suddenly worried,
"She's safe, she jumped off to a doorway," she points to where Cleo is standing a  bit below the record, I breathe a sigh of relief. 
"Let's go," Arwen grabs my arm, 
"I'm not jumping into knives," I protest,
"Fine," she shrugs and lets herself slide to the ledge then launches off it. I have to get off here somehow. I slide down slowly and wait until the right time. Then launching myself off the record, a sudden force knocks the wind out of me. The whole world spins around me. I throw up.
"Eww," Cleo whines, "That almost got me,"
"Now let's get going, or shall we wait for miss I'm-not-scared?" Arwen teases,
"Let's go," I say, even though my entire body is protesting. I walk in a zigzag, watching Arwen and Cleo in front of me, I crash into the wall. Looking into it I see myself, I jump back in surprise. Mirrors. They cover the wall, the spin and distort me. 
"Arwen.....Cleo?" I call, the room is eerily quiet, laughing echos.
"Scaredy cat, scaredy cat," a high pitched voice circles around me. The world is spinning less now and I see clowns in every mirror. They're behind me. I turn, nothing is there. I feel a pressure on my back. I jump forward and turn. A giant spider holds a knife in each leg. I scream. I run under it and skid across the floor. A way out. There has to be a way out of here. I press my hands along the wall then run away from the spider. It is hissing and spitting at me. I crash into a mirror, cursing as I hit my arm that has the acid scar. I press myself against the wall, hoping it'll make the spider seem further away. I fall backwards, screaming. I land on something squishy. I lay still for a few moments, letting my eyes adjust to the poor lighting and letting myself recover. I sit up, wrinkling my nose in disgust. I've smelt that before. Rotting flesh. Dead people. I look around there is a door at the other end of the room. Bodies are scattered to make a carpet for the floor. There must be hundreds. A stand up, wincing as I hear snapping of bones and squelching of flesh underneath my feet. I recognise some. They started in the carnival with me. My eyes fall on a girl I've seen before. I remember her falling off the ferris wheel after being burnt by acid. Her skin is moving with maggots and blood coats her hair, which was once black. I have to get out of here. I tread as carefully as I can. I look up for a moment. I thought I saw a movement. I notice that dolls line the walls. Funny, that's where the movement was. I shrug mentally and keep walking. One body to the next. The lights flicker off and on and my breathing falters as it does. Red eyes move on the wall. What is it? I remember what was on the walls and know it can't be true. Simultaneously, every pair of doll eyes lights up - red. I scream and forget about the dead bodies that crunch under my feet. I run. The lights flicker again. I don't look anywhere but towards to the door. Red eyes block the way to the door, I grab an arm that happen to be sticking up and use it use a stick. Batting away the dolls. The dolls hiss and squeal. I run to the door. A few more steps. Just a few more. I run through the door and slam it behind me. The dolls bang against the door, I hear the scraping. I shove the arm into the handle so the door won't open. I wipe my hands on the floor - which is not dead bodies - to get the smell off. I walk slowly and notice the walls are moving again. Please not dolls. Please not dolls. Hissing and slithering. Snakes. I walk slowly down the corridor, not letting my fear show. I hear a familiar scream. Cleo. She hates snakes. I fight back the urge to run to her. I tread carefully, not wanting to anger any snakes. I feel one wrap around my arm and my breathing hitches. Now one on the other arm. I can't move, I don't want to pull away, it'll only anger them. I try to slowly slide my wrists out but the snakes only tighten their hold. I take a deep breath. Whipping my arms away from the walls, I sprint.
"Cleo!' I shout,
"Max!" I hear her shout back, I sprint faster. Determined not to let the snakes scare me.I shade my eyes from the light. Air spurts up from the ground. I jump in fright but keep pushing. Don't be scared. Don't be scared. A run into a new room, without snakes or dead bodies or dolls. It's filled with gravestones and statues. 
"Cleo?" I whisper loudly, hoping she'll answer. I walk slowly, not daring to make a sound. The statues have blood stains all over them. I'm wondering how the crows, flying above me, got in here then I walk into something. I scream in fright but then turns to laughter as I realise it's Arwen.
"Oh thank god!" I sigh, pulling her into a hug,
"I thought you were dead," she exclaims,
"Second time you've thought that," my jittery nerves cause me to laugh, "Do you know where Cleo is? Or Morgan?"
She shakes her head. Suddenly she is pulled back and a statue is now holding her.
"Shit! Help," she struggles to fight off the bar that is pinning her to the statue,
"How?" I shout, angry with myself for some reason. I search around for something to whack the statue with. A tarzan war-cry tears through the room. Morgan swings from the roof and tips over the statue holding Arwen. Arwen breaks free and scrambles to where I stand. My mouth wide open.
"Come on. We have to save the monkey's," Morgan rushes around,
"What?" Arwen and I say in unison,
"Quick," he says, we grab his arms. What is wrong with him?
"Morgan, calm down," I say forcefully, his eyes go wide. I turn to his gaze. The giant spider is coming to us. I scream, letting go of Morgan. He grabs me, and Arwen, and drags us to, somewhere. I let my leg stumble in Morgan's tracks, checking back to see where the spider is. Suddenly we fall down and land on a cushion. I shake my head. It's pitch black. The lights come on and I see everyone who remains sitting on similar cushions. Though, we are rapidly declining in numbers. I search around for Cleo. I find her sitting on a cushion near us, alone. She must have come a different way. Suddenly cages drop down, stopping us from getting off our cushions. Now we're trapped.