Lincoln Stone
#22

          I woke up hours ago.  It's just like any normal day.  I dragged myself out of the bed, and sat on the edge of the bed for an hour, just staring at the wall.  I had thought about how I can strategize my battle, who I'll be going against.  I thought about each person and each person's weakness.  I laid out each move on how to beat each person.

          That was hours ago.  Now, all I am doing is playing with my water in the drink cup I was provided.  I molded it into a dagger, sword, a huge water droplet.  I continued to play with it until I was fed up with it. This is about the time I would get called down, but I'm not.  I am huge about routines.  I plan everything out based on the average times on meals, studies, and battles.

I hear a large thumping coming from outside of my room, causing me to jump.  It sounded that it was a couple doors to my right. I'm guessing that it was Andrew being returned after his battle.  I wondered how that went, but I'm pretty sure we all can assume how that went, going against Lindsey Marking.

"Lincoln Stone, please report to room two hundred two.  Thirty-five, and twenty-five,"  the speakers blare for everyone to hear.  I smile, a little bit of enjoyment for once.  This is what I studied and prepared for.  I hear the door scrap open as another announcement comes over head. 

          "Eliza Gething, please report to room two hundred two.  Thirty-five and twenty-five."  As I hear this, I pull up her weaknesses and how to defeat her in my mind.  I lug myself off of my bed, or what seems to be the only piece of furniture in my room to resemble a bed.  Eliza walks down the hall, hair bouncing with each step.  She has a quirky boy hair cut which works well for her. 

          "Eliza.  Hello,"  I say as she catches up with me.  She forces a thin smile back.

          "I think Andrew got severally hurt in his battle,"  Eliza murmurs after a few minutes of awkward silence.

          "Why do you think that?"  I question with a hint of curiosity in my voice, but I already know the answer.  I am just humoring her.  Maybe I wasn't getting the big picture, but when did Eliza start talking again?

          "He went against Lindsey. Anilia spoke to me and told me what happened.  Basically, Lindsey's demon, as I call it, took over and she had no control over herself.  When she transformed back, she was horrified by what she did: almost burning Andrew to death, his skin was charred and everything.  Anilia gave me a picture.  It was bad,"  her voice was flat and monotonous, and after she finished, she just stopped.  She tilted her head down, and closed her mouth.  Eliza must have been embarrassed to talk after going so long without talking.

          We still walk side by side even in awkward silence.  Our feet pad the floor at the same time, completely in unison.  We pass room two hundred one as all I can see is charred floors and blood.  Blood littered the floor.  It was scary how much blood was lost.

Eliza and I both walk into the room next door. Our caretakers were waiting for us with their arms crossed.

"Battle today, get ready to fight," my caretaker says bluntly. I sigh and step up to the red tape as Eliza does the same.

"Eliza, please work on conjuring the electricity from the air. Lincoln, please work on conjuring water from the air," Eliza's caretaker instructs.  "You may begin."

         Eliza stepped forward, and opened her hands to the ceiling.  All the electricity from the overhead lights flooded into her open hands, which turned the lighted room into a pitch black one.  All I could see was the lighting shots sparking from her hands.  She thinly smiles in delight.

         She steps forward and points a finger gun towards me.  Cocking a smirk, I question, "Are you sure you want to do that?"

          "As sure as I'll ever be,"  she remarks plainly.  I snatch up the water from the bowl to my side.  I create a water shield just as she hurled her lighting at me.  I stay put as the electricity hits my water shield, but it does me no damage.  That's because when electricity hits water, water becomes a conductor of electricity, now giving me the power to control the electrified water.

          I hurl my electrified water at her, drowning her in it.  Eliza claws at her neck, trying to grasp for air.  She was beginning to die. So, I release my hold on the water, letting it go to waste on the floor.  Eliza forces a thin, flat, fake smile as she lets her hold on the electricity go back to where it came from.  The lights flash on, blinding us all.

          We both are trying to complete our goals.  I focus on the thin, and tiny droplets of water hanging in the air.  I pull at them, I grab at them, I try to mold them.  Slowly, ever so slowly, the water droplets slither towards each other, creating water out of thin air.  I smile at my triumph.

          While I am hacking on my goal, Eliza does the same.  She closes her eyes, squeezing them shut.  She motions with her arms a pulling motion, as if she's a mime and she miming a tug of war battle.  Then, out of no where, she explodes.  Electricity floods off of her body, sparking from her skin.  Her eyes reflect the light radiating from her body.  I could feel the energy vibrating off of her.  She was one with the energy.  They were one.

          I finally grasp the idea of creating water out of nothing, so I come to the conclusion that using that strategy is too taxing and that I should bring a water bottle wherever I go.  I pull on the wasted water lying on the floor, and every droplet of sweat off of me to form a water dagger.  I hurl it at her.

          Before Eliza could have any time to react, I hurl more water daggers at her on top of that first huge one. I form the water, that just splashed on her, around her neck, arms, and legs, so she can't move. 

          "Who has the upper hand now?"  I ask with a smirk.  She should be showing fear, that results from my actions; but that is not the case.  She glares up at me, defiantly.  I lift her up in the air, for show, a small parlor trick.  Then I lower her back to the ground. 

          "So, how do you expect to keep this one up?  I bet that this is very taxing.  You should conserve strength you know,"  Eliza states bluntly and emotionless as if it's a fact from a published fact book.

          Ignoring her words, I ask, "So, what are you going to do now?  Now that I have you?" 

          "This,"  Eliza grunts as she pulls her two fingers together into her finger gun.  She shoots a blast of lighting so strong it threw me against the wall, almost knocking me out.  Eliza took her time to walk over to me, a slow jump in her step. Probably thinking that she already won, but I still have a couple aces up my sleeves. 

          When she finally reaches me, she bends over, breathing heavily in my face.  "Who has the upper hand now?" she sneers, repeating my words back in my face.

          "Me,"  I grunt as I swing my leg out, knocking Eliza to the ground.  I jump up, and grab her arms while doing so.  I wrap my water around her wrists as I stand.  Lifting her wrists over her head, I smile at her.  She just quietly growls back at me.

          "Give up?"  I ask with a courageous smile.  Eliza refuses to respond. "I take that as a yes then."  I nod to our caretakers.  They nod back, motioning for me to let her go.  Eliza just glares daggers at me as she is shoved out of the room by her caretaker.

         "Good job,"  my caretaker congratulates before shoving me out the door and down the hall.  He walks me down the hall in awkward silence.  As much as I want to murder him, I want to thank him for being so congratulatory.

         We both stop once we reach the door of my cell.  Throwing me back into my cell, he smiles at me and closes the door. There was a weird look in his eyes, telling me there was more to the smile. Maybe he was helping me win.  Maybe he is going to sabotage me tomorrow in the battles.  Maybe he is plotting against me.  Maybe he is rooting for me.

          Hell, he could be in love with me for all I care, but I have all the time in the world to think about it.  I am stuck in this cell until tomorrow.  I have too much time to think.  Too much time alone with nothing to do.  Why hasn't insanity dawned on me yet?

         Maybe I should start thinking about how I haven't gone insane yet.