The Massacre

Two days later

The seven sisters sat on their beds silently, not uttering a single word and not moving a single muscle; they waited for a Leader to come at take them to the Flame room. The minutes passed by slowly before the door banged open and a Leader stared at the girls, pointing his gun menacingly and threateningly towards the Centre. Silently, the girls got up and moved out into the bright hallway. Aurora walked first with the gun pushed in her back. It was supposed to scare the other girls, kind of like, ‘if you misbehave, your sister dies.’ Aurora thought it was very pointless and wanted to shout at him to get off- she hated it when people touched her. But she held herself back because, after all, that was a real gun. They reached the Centre and joined a stream of people being shoved and pushed by Leaders towards a large gap in the rocky wall that led to the Flame room. As they filed into rows and rows of people in the room, Courtney, Celeste, Nicole, Maddy, Kayla and Scarlet kept their heads low and walked where they were told to walk.

Aurora didn’t. She stared at the Serpent’s pointed face, looking straight into his cold, grey eyes. For a moment, Aurora felt a wave of fire in her body as the Serpent stared straight back at her, looking into her soul. Aurora was so taken aback that she almost tripped. She looked away instantly and stood next to Maddy, who looked up at her with frightened eyes.

Aurora put a hand on Maddy’s shoulder and immediately felt a numbing pain in her back. Turning around, Aurora saw a Leader staring at her menacingly, while bringing his baton down from the air. Aurora bit her lip and remembered. No touching. Maddy put Aurora’s hand back to her side.

‘’I don’t care. I’m fine.’’ She whispered quietly so only Maddy could hear. Aurora saw the rest of her sisters lined up next to Maddy, standing as still as a board and staring at the Serpent. He stood over his people proudly, like they belonged to him and looked up to him. Most people were either looking down or at the Serpent but no one was moving a single muscle, petrified with fear.

‘’Finally, my friends. Welcome. You all know what time it is. Today, one of you will leave our…family. Just think of it as a contribution to your people.’’ A sinister smile spread across the Serpent’s face, showing his fangs. ‘’I hope you are all ready and happy to be a part of this month’s Massacre. What is the point of living if you don’t live by the rules? If you don’t do your part? Hm…it would surely be a pity if one of you misbehaved tonight. Just remember: ‘Murderers are not monsters. They are men. That is the most frightening thing about them.’’’ The Serpent paused and stared into the eyes of his people before continuing. ‘’How many times have I said that now? Hopefully enough so that the message has sunk in. Let’s get started, shall we?’’

The whole room froze. Everyone held their breath as the Serpent moved across the stage to the big ring of fire that had thousands and thousands of tiny pieces of paper suspended in mid-air in the middle. Aurora knew that there were more pieces of paper than they could see but the ring was too small to visibly and physically hold thousands of little pieces. It was another one of the Serpent’s clever tricks.

The Flame room was split into five parts: along one wall was the stage, where the Serpent talked and watched; along the wall on the opposite side of the room were thousands of seats that held the whole of the Men’s Quatre; the left side was the same but it was made for the women; and the right side had all of the children. The middle of the room was the most important part of the whole room. And the most awful. There was a special arena that was fenced off and designed so that the people inside, couldn’t get out. There was a clear view from everyone in the flame room and was projected so that any tiny sound could be heard. So that every scream could be heard.

The Serpent’s hand was poised above the ring of fire before he thrust it into the clutter of papers, his hand disappearing into the dimension the held the thousands of little bits and pieces. An agonising moment passed as The Serpent finally removed his hand from the ring and pulled out one miniscule piece of paper. He moved painfully slowly back to the centre of the stage where he unwrapped the folded paper. His lip curled unpleasantly as he opened his mouth to speak.

‘’Jerome Griffin.’’ His voice boomed across the room. In spite of herself, Aurora let out a sigh of relief and relaxed her muscles. She felt her sisters do the same. After a moment, a boy (about the same age as Aurora) with stylish blond hair stumbled out of the row that was just below Aurora’s and climbed towards the stage, shaking with fear. Surprising herself, Aurora noticed that he was extremely good-looking. Even though his handsome face was masked by fear, his features were could be clearly seen. Watching him go up next to the Serpent, Aurora made a sudden movement without thinking that indicated that she was going to run. Just in time, Maddy caught her by the arm.

Aurora didn’t know why she did it. She wanted to help. There was something about him that was different, but Aurora didn’t understand why. Jerome walked up to the Serpent on the stage, shaking uncontrollably, looking frantically through the crowd, probably for his family. When he reached the stage, the Serpent shook his hand and grinned at him before standing back and staring into Jerome’s eyes. He stared into his soul and tried to find that one special person that meant the most to Jerome. Even Aurora’s breathing got shorter and faster. After a moment, an evil smirk spread across the Serpent’s face.

‘’Ah…interesting. Yes, very good.’’ He murmured, though, somehow, the whole stadium heard him. a knot tightened in Aurora’s chest and throat as she watched Jerome’s face go paler and paler, trying to shout out but not finding his voice. The Serpent laughed cruelly before he turned to address the whole room and opening his mouth to speak. ‘’Hazel Price. Come up. Now.’’

‘’No!’’ Jerome was crying now, being forced down the steps to the arena. The iron gates were closed after him. A crying girl came tumbling down the steps opposite Jerome, being shoved into the dirt by Leaders.

‘’Jerome!’’ She sobbed, barely getting any sound out. A tear clouded Aurora’s vision as she hurriedly wiped it away before anyone could see. What are you doing? You see this every month!

There was a stack of weapons on the left side of Jerome. Hazel stared at them, crying, shouting out for Jerome and her family.

‘’Well? Choose your weapon!’’ The Serpent smiled impatiently. Jerome reached out a shaking hand towards a steel sword and grasped it in his fist until his knuckles were white.

‘’Good…very good! Do it!’’ The Serpent continued, laughing like a maniac, having the time of his life. The sound made Aurora want to throw up.

‘’I can’t!’’ Jerome choked, looking into Hazel’s eyes.

‘’I’m not sure I care. Do it. NOW!’’ The Serpent’s eyes twinkled in anger as his voice echoed through the Flame room. The hairs on Aurora’s neck stood up and she dug her fingernails into her palms until there were painful white marks in their place. Unsteadily and hesitantly, Jerome raised the sword over his head and closed his eyes. Hazel sank to her knees so that she didn’t have to see; her hands covered her ears and a part of her face. His legs looking like they were about to give away, Jerome stayed in that position for a few moments before he brought the sword down onto Hazel’s neck, which separated from her head and rolled over to Jerome’s feet, facing up. There was no scream. No shouts. Just the silence that paralysed the entire room. The Serpent stared at Jerome’s broken form, staring at Hazel’s head, before he let out a cruel laugh once more.

‘’Excellent!’’ He exclaimed, ‘’Well done, boy. Two Leaders will transport the body and head into a tank and into your dorm in the next twenty-four hours.’’

The room erupted. What? This has never happened before. The Serpent just laughed at the chaos. Was it a joke?

‘’That’s right, my friends. I felt that a new rule should take place. A rule that would make out society even better.’’ He continued, clearly trying to contain his excitement. His lips quivering with eagerness, The Serpent took a slow breath before he continued talking. ‘’The deceased will be placed in the dorm of the victim of each Massacre. To look at. Forever.’’ The words barely escaped his mouth before he started laughing maniacally. There were shouts and riots throughout the whole room. Aurora was yelling with them as she looked over at Jerome, who was still in his knees. He looked…broken. Aurora stared at him and stopped yelling; but she didn’t think before she moved.

Without even looking at her sisters, Aurora pushed through the crowd and out of reach of Leaders. She raced through the scene towards the stage and Jerome. The thundering footsteps of the Leaders were already behind her. This is the stupidest thing I have ever done in my entire life, she thought. Everyone else was still protesting and barely noticed Aurora speeding down the path that leads to the stage. The Serpent turned his pointed face towards her and the smile on his face vanished instantly. There was no fear on Aurora’s face but pure anger...