CHAPTER 11 — WHAT DO I FEEL?

🦪 DORA 🦪

Gathering the last strength flowing in my veins, I pop out my middle finger from the arm lying numb on the ground, raise it to his neck, stabbing him with it, so deeply. Not once, not twice, at least 10times with the same effect and speed.

Another lesson learned, ‘Always fix your nails, make them sharp and pointy, it serves as a weapon and self-defense sometimes. In this ridiculously cruel world that cheats ladies, we do need a weapon.’

Blood springs out of the little hole I created in his neck, and he capsizes from me, falling on his side. I can hear him choking faintly, as I am giving out myself due to the poison and extreme beating.

I tighten my already slammed shut eyes to say a word of prayer, “Dear opponent… please die, so I can live.”

“1,” the digital voice roars. “Time to assess the situation. Congratulations, Miss Dora, you have successfully assassinated your opponent as he just swallowed his last breath.”

A choking sound escaped my lips as I thought, “Who answered my prayers? God or the devil?”

“In a box right under your feet is the antidote. You have to solve the puzzle by clicking on the screen on the ground. It consists of scrambled words. If you place them together correctly, the box will be visible, and in it is the antidote. You have to hurry as you have no time left.”

“What stupid puzzle?” I say, barely hearing my own voice. “Just hand the antidote over as promised, I'm already dead as it is.”

“Since you have no time, I'll give you a hint,” the digital voice roars. “The hint is… no hint.”

Breathing heavily, I can feel my throat tightening as I reach for the ground and begin to scramble words together. After finally arranging with shaky hands, I hear a click, and a small space opens in front of me, pushing out a box.

The words combined were a sentence.

“You are not going to make it next time, because... that was just the beginning.”

After reading those words, I feel like I’m trapped in a dangerous game where everyone has to die, because one day it might just be you not walking out of the ring.

My heart skipped a beat as I struggled to bring the liquid to my lips and gulp down the antidote, swallowing hard. I’m terrified to the bone. I know it’s just the beginning, as I still have to top the rank before I get the red card and fight the reaper, the bastard I’m truly after. But the question is, would I survive the next one?

On a large screen, ranking displays, and I watch my name read until it hits 20 and stops.

“Congratulations, you are now among the top twenty,” the digital voice announces. “A few more fights and you’ll hit the top 1.”

I gawk at the ranking list, and there he is, ‘The Reaper’. The top 1 fighter, the bastard who killed my father.

I squint through my swollen eyes, searching for Dale Lazarus’s name, but he isn’t on the ranking list. “That can’t be right,” I thought. “He and my dad signed the same contract, how come he isn’t on the list? Did he retire? That’s not possible. Did they make an exception and let him go?”

🦪

I don't know how I got to my father's grave; it has to be one of the places I can go to without being able to see.

I fall to the ground, beside me, bags of money and gold. I’m not worried about where to store the money, because I’d just bury it close to my father’s grave, since the money isn’t what I’m after. But, where did my dad keep all the ones he got from the fight? I’ve never even seen a bundle of cash at home before the house was burnt down by Dale Lazarus, that psycho.

“Father,” I whisper, drained. “Why did you die? You said you wouldn't, you said you'd celebrate my birthdays, graduations, and every other celebration with me. You said you'd always be my rock; that rock doesn't bend. You said you'll remain by my side, that you wouldn't leave me as my mother did. You said I am your favorite person, that you'd stop time just to be with me. You said you'd never die. And that you'd see me through all my thicks and thins.”

A drop of extremely heartbroken tears managed to escape my swollen eyes, “I'm a coward, Father,” I choke. “I regret it all. I shouldn't have signed it, the fight till death contract.”

“I killed someone, and… he had a daughter, like yourself, when you were killed,” I say, gently rubbing his grave. “I had no choice, he was going to kill me, I had to do it.”

“I won’t let your killer go, father, I’ll get that animal, and bring his head to you… I promise.”

I love my father so much; he was my only family, the only person who didn't abandon me. Any father's girl would understand the way I feel and why I'm fighting for revenge, even if it doesn’t make sense. I want the one I love so much to rest in peace finally.

I was his world; he'd bring me heaven if I asked for it. And he was my world too; he was all I looked up to.

Trust me, if your world gets snatched away from you, you'll fight too, because for me, revenge is the only way I'll feel I've done enough for my father, compared to what he has done for me; it’s the only way I can sleep at night, move on, and finally be happy.

I want to give him as much as he has given me, and the only thing worth that much is the head of his murderer, on a fucking tray. I might add chili soy sauce to the sides to make it spicy.