Cypher

Upon entering the arena I notice something is off. I can’t quite place my finger on it but there is a stir in the air that says something is about to happen, whether that something is good or bad I can’t tell. My friends walk excitedly through the doors but I hang back.
A heavy pressure pulses across my skin, followed by an icy wave through my chest that makes me gasp. I feel my stomach wrench and I buckle over coughing.

“Dessi?” Melody grabs my hand. “Are you alright?”
It takes a moment after Melody takes my hand before I can breathe properly.

“I’m fine. Not sure what that was,” I say trying to smile. I flinch as another cold chill rushes through my body.
My friends exchange worried glances.

“Are you sure you’re ok?” Melody asks still holding my hand.

“Y.Y.Yea I’m fine I just got a cold chill sent through me that’s all.”I reply hoping Melody will just let go.

“Ok come on honey we have to get you signed up,” Fayth says ushering us father into the room.

We walk to the counter where a blond woman sits chewing gum and snapping it loudly as she flips through the pages of Glamour. She look’s less than pleased to be here.

“Wait here,” Fayth say’s to Melody and Harmony as she takes my hand.
The woman looks right at us then turn’s away and continues looking at her magazine.

“We need a new pass for my friend,” Fayth say’s loudly and coldly.
The woman glare’s at Fayth over the top of her magazine.

“We have enough of your so called friends here as it is,” the woman say’s coolly.

“What do you care Marcy?” Fayth growls back. “You and I both know you don’t get a say anyway.”
The woman’s eyes lit up. I feel rather than see Harmony and Melody move to our sides.

“Is there a problem?” Melody asks quietly.

“Yes I think there might be,” Fayth says cracking her knuckles.
I put my hand on Fayth’s. It’s never a good sign when she starts cracking her knuckles. It usually means that she is about to hit someone.

“Whatever. Here fill these out, and take this temporary pass to get into the game.” The bitchy blond growls.
I take a seat at one of the benches and look over the papers. Age. Sex. Bla. Bla. Bla. It is mind numbing to answer these questions. It takes me about ten minuets to get through it all.

Finally I finish it. I return it to the evil blond who glares at us as we walk past.
Fayth flicks her off as we walk past and she watches for the ladies response. I know she is hoping that Marcy will say or do something that would give Fayth a reason to go after her again.

Just outside the door into the arena we are stopped again. The man by the metal detector asks us to take all our jewelry off and then step through. I have nothing to take off but the others do. Melody removes her ring and necklace. Fayth takes off her chocker necklace, two spiked bracelets, and starts what will probably be an almost endless process of removing all her piercings, well most of them. Harmony that always amazes me by the amount of jewelry she wears begins taking off her multiple bracelets, necklaces, and earrings.

“Ok girls, I need to have you walk through the metal detector once everything is off,” the man says gently.

“Why?”Fayth snaps. “I don’t have anything to hide.”

A small squeak from behind us draws everyone’s eyes. Harmony stands there with a smirk on her face trying to hide the laughter playing on her lips.
Fayth throws an annoyed look back at Harmony before walking through the metal detector. Almost immediately the alarm goes off.

“Ma’am, I asked you to put all metallic items in the tray.” The man says sounding annoyed.

“Okay fine!”Fayth says smiling sweetly.
I brace myself for whatever it is that Fayth is about to do.
She begins unbuttoning her shirt.
The man raises his hands and his eyes get wide. “Girl what are you doing?”

“Taking the rest of my jewelry off,” Fayth says pulling away part of her shirt revealing a belly-button ring and two silver chains running up her stomach and under her shirt.

“Seriously, it doesn’t matter. You can keep them in.” The poor guy says fumbling over his words.

The man then proceeds to give us our gear and putting us into teams, being careful to avoid meeting Fayth’s eyes.

Harmony and I are against Melody and Fayth. Personally, I think Fayth could win one to three, but as she has always said, “that’s no fun.”
As we enter the arena the sense that something is wrong becomes more urgent. I begin to notice a sharp distinctive pains’ in both my right and left forearms. My left feels like a heavy pulsing of pressure, while my right is aching from the sharp pointed pain.
I push the thought to the side. I’m sure that it’s nothing. Just like the coughing in the lobby. It doesn’t mean anything other than I need to not push so hard on my morning runs.

Harmony and I station ourselves in a rock wall to the right corner of the room. We ready ourselves for their attack. That’s when it comes.

The pain in my right arm intensifies and a sudden burst of white hot pain passing through my arm brings me to my knees.

“Dessi!” Harmony squeaks in alarm. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know,” I say through heavily jagged breaths. “I t feels like something is clawing its way out of my arm.”

A small flicker of awareness flashed over Harmony’s face. It was hardly there before it was gone again, someone who was not paying attention might not notice, but I have known Harmony for a long time, and I didn’t miss it.

She knows something. I pull away from her slightly. She knows what’s wrong with me.

Harmony calls for Fayth and Melody to stop the game. As the lights turn red to signal an in-game stop, they appear out of nowhere.

The pain in my arm is getting worse and worse, and my thoughts are becoming more unfocused.

Fayth walks over to where Harmony and I are with a look so fierce that shrink away when her eyes fall on me. She tries to soften her face, as she kneels down beside me, but only succeeds in looking annoyed.

“Your right arm?” She asks sounding slightly confused.
I nod.
Without asking or hesitating Fayth grabs my right arm.

“Is this where it hurts?” She asks running her fingers along the inner part of my arm.

“Yes,” I hiss.
Her fingers probe lightly across my arm. I manage to not scream when she runs her fingers over a certain spot that hurts more than all the others, but I can’t help but flinch.

“Right here?” She asks blatantly.

“Please stop,” I beg, as tears begin swelling in my eyes.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart.” Fayth coos. “I won’t touch it again, alright. Do you think that you can walk?”
I
’m not even sure I can stand but I don’t tell Fayth that. Fayth is the strongest of us, and I always feel like I am disappointing her. “I can.” I whisper between breaths.
Fayth smiles at me and stands. She takes my hand and pulls me to my feet balancing my weight against her. “I’ll help you anyway, just in case.”
Although Fayth seems way to calm I try to ignore the surging sense that my dearest friends are keeping something from me.

“We need to get you to the coordinator.” Fayth says pulling me forward. “Don’t worry we are friends.”
Harmony and Melody appear at my side and together my friends set a hurried pace out of the arena and through the lobby.
A burning sensation warns me that the pain has only just begun. My chest constricts with the heightened pain.
When we reach the edge of the lobby Fayth opened a dark wood door. It opened into a dimly lit hallway.
I take the opportunity to look at my arm and my heart drops out of my chest.

“Guys,” I say my voice shaking. There on my arm is a deep black picture of a chimera. It wasn’t very big but the back against my skin made it stand out.
I held out my arm to show my friends. I could tell by their wide eyes that they knew what they were looking at.

Without a word they sped up until we were almost running down the hallway. Everything seemed to amplify around me. The pain in my arm went from a searing burn to a deep stabbing sensation. The pain raced from my arm to my spine sending an electric like shock to every nerve in my body.

I hear Fayth knock on a door and the sound echoes around me much louder than it should be.
The pain is so much that focus on my world is starting to fade.

“Dessi,” Harmony’s voice asks me.
I don’t get a chance to answer her. I’m falling into bleakness of the abyss. I feel nothing, see nothing, and yet somehow I am calm. The darkness surrounds me, engulfing me, becoming part of me.
The gentle swaying of my hair across my back as I fall does nothing but increase my sense of ease.
The pain is gone. All my pain. My chest feels empty like someone has taken all the bad out of me and left it open for the light.
Days and hours seem to pass by as minuets race like seconds. A blinding light in front of my eyes appears out of nowhere. Gently moving back and forth across my perfect darkness and a stranger’s voice whispering my name.