Page 8 of Collared

The thought makes my brain tremble, visions of students mocking me because I fell for it. Perhaps this is the pledge. This…fake hunt. My fingers reach up and touch the silk material of the mask I’m still wearing. I’m not supposed to take it off, but the more I contemplate, the more I realize that yeah…it’s very possible that this is all a joke. One I fell face flat in, like some wimp. Because…why? Because I want to make my grandma proud? Because I was determined enough to step out of my average-fucking-life and wanted to be someone? Is that why?

I huff out a chuckle. “You ass.”

I take in a deep breath and eye the trail right in front of me. They’ve had their fun. It’s time to go back and tell them all where they can shove it. Then I'll pick up my bag from my dorm and head to Paris for Spring Break.

And that…is the final thought I have before everything turns to shit.

3

THUREL

“Hey!” Someone calls out from somewhere. Flutters of the participant I met earlier strike my mind, together with that nauseous feeling of guilt. If that were me, and someone would have left me to fight on my own, I’d definitely get back at them. But…

“Over here!” He calls out again, not sounding like the other guy at all. Not sounding like anyone I know. Though I can’t be sure. At night, all noises are distorted, though its effect on my nerve-system is immediate.

I freeze.

For a moment I think the stranger won’t see me if I don’t move, but when I catch movement in the corner of my eye, I know that won’t work. No, I’ve been found again, though right now I wonder if I’m brave enough to halt and face them.

Normally, I’m not the type who gets scared, yet here I am.

Christ, I’m not even the type who gets noticed in the first place.

You were chosen.

Ever so slowly, I turn my head, and in those scarce breezing seconds all kinds of thoughts pass my mind. Silver Mask. The older man with the cane.

It’s a prank, a fucking prank.

“Hi,” he says. It’s another participant. He’s standing on the trail, no further than a few meters from me. I guess he’s as surprised as I am to find another person this far out, because he brushes over his equally dark mask as if to check if it’s still in place, before taking a measured step toward me.

“Who’s your opponent?” He asks.

Plush, wet lips, curled in a wicked grin. I clear my throat. “The guy with the silver mask.”

He nods at that. “Rope guy. Haven’t seen him.”

“Have you seen anyone out here at all?” I ask. Pushing my earlier thoughts away, I decide to play along a little longer. Maybe there’s still time to find the perfect hiding spot and just sit this whole thing out.

I mean, time’s nearly up anyway, right?

He shakes his head thoughtfully, then narrows his gaze. “I have actually,” he says on a second thought. “But only from afar.” His voice is thin when he adds, “Bronze mask.”

“The one on the horse?” I croak, and he nods before falling into a silence that’s filled with both relief and tension.

“I told myself I would make it,” he mutters. I can hear his throat click from here as he swallows thickly. “I mean, how hard could it be? And then they send that guy with his golden mask after me.” He looks up to face me, his shadowy glower fierce. “I’m going to win tonight.”

“I…” I don’t know what to say to that.

“But I’m afraid of the darkness,” he continues.

Shrugging, I gesture toward the faint lights around us. “It’s not that dark here.” That’s not what he means and we both know it. He doesn’t say anything, instead just nods, then presses his lips back into a fine line.

“It’s so quiet here. Back home—” He lets out a shudder, then takes a few steps toward me. “I didn’t know they would take us to the woods, you know?”

I want to ask him what it is about the forest that freaks him out so much, but only one of us can win tonight. It’s best if I don’t know anything about this guy. I don’t recognize his voice as being someone who’s in my year, so that helps. We’re strangers. I only think about the other participant for two seconds, the one who got chased down by a crazed rider and his horse, before I shove all thoughts aside.

“Out there, you’re on your own.”

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