𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 [𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲] ✔

The Trial

Bile rises in my throat as I take in the ruins before me. It's hard to imagine that once, these ruins used to be a grand, menacing stadium that brought horror to the whole city.

Now, it stood dead, no longer in use yet still haunting those who passed by. Remnants of evil that will no longer terrorize us.

It was a big, round dome that was hollow, the sides crumbling and the whole place pungent with the smell of metal. Even after all this time, the smell of death still lingered.

I couldn't help but tear up at the sight. This place was where they lost their lives. Those who lived in the slums and the two people who held me together during the hardest times.

When their numbers had been called, Millicent had cried, and Davy had held her as they both made their way to the front. My heart had been crushed, realizing I would never see my best friends again. And I was right.

I never saw either of them again. Alive, at least.

It was almost the first year that The Trial had ended, forced to shut down over violent protests held by those who had lost so much to it. People couldn't take the fact that their loved ones were considered mere pawns, taken away to undergo mental torture. I couldn't help but think that if the protests had started a little earlier, if the trials had been put down a few months before, I would not have lost the two most important people in my life.

But it was too late for that, wasn't it?

October 31 was the day they died.

I liked to imagine that before they died, Davy had held Millicent and finally told her that he loved her. My friends were in love, no doubt, but Davy, being the shy, soft soul he was, never told her.

If he was alive, he would have told her. But he wasn't.

A boulder had crushed him, according to the report given back to us after his death.

Millicent had thrown herself into the raging river a little while after.

The memories came back, hurting like fresh wounds, and my heart ached for them.

I entered the ruins, wary if any rogue animal was nearby. My footsteps echoed as I made my way through the maze of the area, to an open clearing, left all alone. I knew this place by heart.

My fingertips lightly traced over the large stones sitting on the ground. Carved into them, in scratches, are the names of all the former contestants. But the two in the back, so far from the light, are the two most important.

My friends.

Millicent and Davy lay in the patch that has been missed by sunlight, yet vibrant with flowers from those who have passed by. A quiet, unbothered place where they can rest in peace. Laying down, I curl up on my side, eyes closed.

I miss you both.

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Word Count: 500