TW: Blood, knives, stabbing, burning people alive, murder, torture

I ran through the streets, pickpocketing anyone who looked like they were rich. I needed to sell the valuables that I stole.
For Mother.
For Father.
For my baby sister who was never born.
They were slaughtered when the soldiers came to town. The arena had been built three kilometres away from the giant staircase that led to the Stage of Honours. I was only five then.
"Welcome, welcome," a short, plump man with white hair had said, stood up on the stage. His beard was long and wispy, and it looked like it was as thin as smoke.
His grey tuxedo looked horrible on him, but he kept on brushing it smugly like he thought that it looked great.
"Welcome to the Arena Entrance! 1500 of you will be very lucky, as you will pass through these doors to enter the Battle Arena of Justice!" He pumped his fist in the air, but no one cheered. The people of the town all knew what the requirements were. "Every family must contribute one family member, or the whole family, children and elders included! Ha! This year is going to be interesting!"
"Meri," My mother had ushered me into a corner the day before the Arena was open. "I'm volunteering as the offering for this year's Arena Battle,"
"NO!" I had screamed with tears in my eyes. 
"Meredith," My mother had said in a calm clear voice. "They said this year was different. They're not going to kill me. They're just going to leave me there for a day and see if the gods like me or not. If they don't, the Arena Guards will get me out of there,"
She didn't look scared that day.

She should've been.

Once she had reassured me that no harm would come to her, I felt like everything was going to be fine.

I was so wrong.
So young.
So stupid.

If the Arena Guards were crazy enough to contribute to a cult like this, of course, they didn't care about the safety of citizens. Their job was to make sure most of them died.
One by one.
They were all crazy for power and money.
So was I.

I kept on running wiping away my tears as I remembered that day. I needed to do this. 
I remembered the unusual feeling my Mother had radiated. Like there was some reason why she needed to live, like to continue a generation, like her life depended on it.
I remember stopping on the path, terrified for my mother. Then I realised, Oh shoot. She's pregnant.

I remember screaming, punching everyone nearby. I was angry.  I was scared. 
I winced as I remembered the worst thing I've done in my life-- I grabbed a box of matches, and I burnt the Stage of Honours to the ground.
I saw my mother running away with my father, looking at me with terror in her eyes.

I had looked around, and I had seen bodies. Dead, burning bodies. Even the announcer was there, dead.
All of them, dead, dead, dead, dead.

I was a monster. I was a killer.

But my family still allowed me to come home that night. 

And to this day, I have no idea why.

But two weeks passed, and the Arena Offering was going out. Tonight.
I had cried, and cried, and cried, lying in my bed. 
My mother was going to die.
The offering didn't go to the Arena.
She didn't know that though.

She was so happy, like sunshine.

Why, why did I come outside to watch the Offering Ceremony?
Apparently, my father had too.
The bonfire was lit.

My mother strode calmly up to the wrecked stage-- that I had burnt down.

The soldiers positioned her in front of the bonfire to say her speech.

Then, they pushed her in.

Her screams still echo in my ears.

My father shouted and ran up to the stage, punching the soldiers. They stabbed him with their knives and walked away.
"Where is your daughter?" One of the soldiers asked.

"She's only six, please don't hurt her!"

I'm not six, I had thought. Wait... Is today my birthday? It is, isn't it?

The soldiers walked through the streets, looking for me.
I ran up to my dying father.
"Meredith!" He had whisper-shouted, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see the Ceremony."

"You know," My father had said, "Your mother was pregnant with your baby sister."

"I know."

The thought of a baby sister had brought tears to my eyes. That would have been amazing.

"Happy Birthday," My father pulled out a box from his pocket.
Then the light faded from his eyes.

I grabbed the box and ran away.

I carefully removed the wrapping paper from the box and lifted off the lid.
Inside was a note, and a necklace with a blue sapphire pendant engraved with runes.

The note said;

Dear Meri,

Happy Birthday.
Here's a sapphire necklace.

The runes on it mean: Friends are a wave of hope. You will need them to find your family.
-Mum and Dad <3

Back to present-day- five years later

I ran and ran through the streets, pickpocketing people.
A diamond ring dropped to the ground, and I picked it up, running away.
This would sell well.
Then, a horse with a man riding on it stopped in front of me. The man's hat read 'Police'.
Oh, shoot, oh shoot, oh shoot. I started running away, but he caught up to me.
He held an electric spear and jabbed me with it.

I screamed.

He poked me again.

And I screamed, and screamed, and screamed.

Then, I blacked out.

When I woke up, I was lying on something thin and soft. I slowly opened my eyes and looked around.
I was in a small room with a toilet, a bed (that I was lying on), a mirror, a loudspeaker, and a desk.
I pushed myself up from the bed and walked over to the mirror. 
My usual black clothing had been replaced by a puffy orange suit with black markings on it. On the back was a few numbers and letters. S-M239. A loud voice came over the loudspeaker. 'Cell S-M239 please report to the cafeteria, I repeat, cell S-M239 please report to the cafeteria.' I quickly fixed up my messy long brown hair, and thought, Welp, I guess that's me, gotta go.

I walked over to the door of my cell and pushed the green button that was on the pad next to it.

A boy with short light brown--almost blonde-- hair with blue eyes was standing propped up next to the door. Instead of the orange suit, he had black jeans, a blue T-shirt, and a grey jacket on. His black watch on his pale wrist read: W-1L98.

"Took you long enough," He said, pushing himself off of the wall.

(A/N: This conversation is gonna be confusing, so I'm putting the guard's speech in bold.)

"Who are you?" I asked.
"I'm your guard."
"Why do I need a guard?"
"'Cos you're a criminal, and you're in prison."
I rolled my eyes at him, "I'm not a criminal."
"You steal stuff,"
"Yep."
"You lit the Stage of Honours on fire five years ago,"
"Yep."
"Which killed 37 people and left 348 to go to the hospital."
"Yep"
"You also killed three police officers last year."
"Yep, yep, AND yep," I replied, "What were we talking about again?"
"Oh my gosh," He facepalmed.
"I was kidding."
"Oh, yeah? What were we talking about then?"
"Uhh..."
"Exactly."
"Why do you have a cell number?
"You're trying to change the topic."
"WHY DO YOU HAVE A CELL NUMBER?"
"Gee, It's just because."
"BECAUSE WHAT?"
"Stop shouting, they can probably hear you in the next cells over, and I'm not even supposed to talk to you!"
"WHY?"
"STOP SHOUTING!"
"Look who's shouting now huh?"
"I hate you."
"Yep, me too."

(A/N: BTW, I'm gonna stop with putting the guard's speech in bold.)

"Let's go," The guard started walking down the hall.
Man, I gotta stop calling him 'the guard' in my head. I thought.

I started jogging after the guard, as I was lost in thought and just standing there.
"Hey, what's your name?" I tipped my head to the side.
"That's classified," He didn't turn around or stop, he just kept walking along.
"Why?"
"Because."
"Why? Why? Why?"
"SHUT UUUUUPPPP!"
"Wow," I said, "And you told me not to shout."
"What is your name though?" 
"Just call me W-1L98," He said, turning around.
"Eh, that's too long, I'm just gonna you Wil."
An emotion quickly passed across W-1L98-- Wil's face, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. Sadness? Fear? Annoyance? Anger? I couldn't tell anymore.

"Where are we going?" I asked as we arrived in front of a door.

"Straight to hell, buddy," He buzzed open the door, and inside were many other kids, teens, and adults, all wearing the same uniform as her, just with different numbers on the back.

"Cafeteria," Wil stated, "Room where the most scheming goes on. Sewage pile, Pigsty. Whatever you call it, there's probably something in here that smells like it. This place is unforgiving, boiling hot from all the people in here, and basically hell in our Overworld."

"Woah," I looked around.
There were so many people! Some were watching holograms (I have no idea where they got them from), some were having arm wrestles, and some were just eating and talking.
"Where'd they get the holo's from?" I asked Wil.
"Don't ask me," He shrugged.

I walked over to an empty table and sat down.
"Bye," Wil said, "I have to go."
"Er, bye, I guess?"
Wil walked away and I just sat there.
I reached up to scratch my neck, then I realised that I still had my sapphire necklace on. I pulled it out and looked at it.
"Friends are a wave of hope, and they will help you find your family," I mumbled.

I heard a commotion from the other side of the room and I looked around. There was a short girl with long white hair who was punching some guards. I squinted. Not Wil, okay. Kinda disappointing, I sorta wanted to see him get beat up. 

I look at the girl again. She's short, maybe 4'10, and her wavy white hair goes down to her waist. The number on her back was L-17L5, and she had... wait a tail?

Oh, boy, I thought, This is going to be fun.

(Woohoo, done chapter 1)

1.6k words

Sorry for not starting this book sooner, writer's block, you know?
This is probably the longest chapter, I'll try and update once a week or every two weeks.

Anyways, any tips or suggestions? I'm all for it.\

Have a good morning/afternoon/evening/day/night, and sleep it's good for you.

- Warrior :)