I wasn’t always the one being hunted.
I used to be a Hunter.
But ever since I saved her, the roles changed. I had become the hunted.
Her name was Kasia, I remember clearly. She made me call her Kas because she hated the name Kasia. Kas and I were inseparable. We laughed and played together as children. Not innocent children, but children nonetheless.
As children, when we weren’t playing, we were training to go into the Aille, a terrible place where the troublemakers of our country were hunted and killed for the sport of the Hunters. The Hunters were paid lots of money to get rid of all the troublemakers. Kas and I were skilled Hunters and were often placed inside the Aille to murder the helpless victims.
The Aille looked like a forest, but it had a wall making the forest a large and enclosed circle. Wild animals were constantly being placed inside the Aille and used as food for the Hunters. We had ten days inside the Aille, ten of us at a time, and then we had twenty days to train and rest. Kas and I always hunted together even though we had different troublemakers to hunt.
One day, I did not see Kas at all; she wasn’t at training. Later that day, I heard the greusome screams of someone being whipped outside the cabins, and late that night Kas stumbled into her bunk, groaning with every step.
I didn’t see Kas the next morning as I was preparing to hunt. I wondered where she was, and then found my answer when I entered the Aille. A sign that always held the names of the people inside the Aille and the hunters meant to kill them was posted. On the top of my list was Kas’ name. I was hunting Kas that day. She had skipped out on training, and was being punished.
After finding her, she begged for mercy, tears streaming down her face. I refused to give mercy at first, but my emotions betrayed me and suddenly I was crying right beside her. I knew what a skilled warrior she was, and after some half hearted attempts to wound her, I gave up.
The leaders commanded me to kill her, but I refused.
They refused to kill her themselves.
Now we are both being punished. We run through the Aille, being persued by hunters and wild animals. Who knows how long we have until one of us is caught. I wish I could say the story ends happily, but for me, there will never be happy endings.
***
I don’t know why I keep writing gruesome stories; they just kind of pop into my head. This story kind of ended out like that famous short story – what was its name? “Most Dangerous Game,” right? Yeah, that seems right. At least this story didn’t have a circle ending . . .
Love from the Library,
Aria
Ari D. 