Casting of the Dice

For artistic creations in text format.

Moderators: KingOfDoma, NebulaQueen

bunnygirle78
 
Posts: 1245
Joined: Fri Jul 26, 2002 11:36 pm

Casting of the Dice

Unread postby bunnygirle78 » Thu Feb 20, 2003 12:35 am

(I wasn't sure if I should post this hear or not. Since it isn't realy Fanfiction. Ok so hear it is. I hope you like it. I won a contest with this one. Its up on Fictionpress.net.)

Casting of the Dice

        My life started with the casting of dice against the wall of a city building. Maybe life isn’t the right word to use; maybe I should have said death. For most of my life, I lived under a city’s canopy. I never saw the sky until I left the city slums, I had only heard of it in rumors and from the stories that old men and women told as they sat talking to one another.

        The canopy city was built years before I was born. Built by rich men and women, who wanted to be elevated above their fellow man. I lived in a place called the Rattrap, also known as the Slums. Down in the slums, only the casting of dice could save you from things. I know that all two well, because my life stated with the casting of dice.

        I was what you might call an unwanted pregnancy; in the slums, most pregnancies are unwanted. My father wanted a boy, my mother wanted to die, and both agreed that they didn’t want me. It was the doctor, who asked for the cast of dice. Of course, he had his reasons for wanting a newborn child. All of the doctors that lived in the slums only cared about one thing, their experiments; none of them could know what living was, since all they could cause was death. It was rare for Slum Doctors to save the lives of anyone who sought out their help.

        When he asked for the casting, my father was quick to agree. Win or lose, he would get what he wanted. If he rolled well he would win money and be rid of his unwanted daughter. If he rolled badly he would still be rid of me, so the dice were cast, they hit the wall of the city building and dealt me my fate. I was taken to the research facility in the northern Slums, and given a number for a name.


        Life in the Northern Slums Research Facility was harsh. And I was one of the few
children that survived; this was because I was born healthy. Yes, they thought it was funny to, a healthy baby born in the slums. This made me an oddity among the other children, who were born sick and dying. As I grew up in my home, funny how I call it that. Home is a term used for a place where love, kindness, and pleasant memories are. As I grew up in that place, I came to know pain and suffering, there was never a chance for me to know any pleasant memories. I saw things that still haunt my dreams to this day. So many terrible things happened at that place, one memory, however, stands out above the rest.


Once I saw a boy my age being shot up with some kind of drug. He screamed so loud after the needle was taken from his arm. To this day, I can still hear him screaming, I can still remember how he looked as that drug took effect. I can still see him falling to his knees and grabbing his face, his eyes bulging, and his body twitching uncontrollably on the floor. All of that It only lasted for a few short minuets, but it felt like hours. I can remember the doctor’s looking down at him as if he were nothing.

        “This batch didn’t work either.” Said one as he kicked the boy over to look at his blank face.

        “Is he alive? If he is maybe we can collect some data on what just happened.” Said another Doctor. He knelt down to the boy and touched his neck with two of his fingers. The boy’s eyes were looking strait at the others and me. The doctors would never pass up the chance to see us in fear; they delighted in torturing us in front of the each other.


        “He’s alive but barely,” the second doctor said. “Go on, get rid of the body. Or perhaps,
we should dissect the body to see how the drug effected his organs.”


        “Cast the dice.” Said a woman doctor. We all knew her. She was the only one the other doctors feared, and it was because of this that we feared her as well. “If the dice agree with you then we shall dissect the body. If not then we shall toss him out for incineration.”

        “What an excellent idea Doctor.” I watched as one of the doctors reached into his pocket to pull out two familiar white cubes with black spots. The dice. We all knew what the dice meant; they meant a chance at living. Sometimes, when the dice was cast, one of us was set free. You may think it’s funny to depend on such a material thing such as dice, but remember I’m telling you my story, I would have believed in anything if it gave me a chance for survival. Sometimes in life, we must depend on things that others may deem foolish in order to keep our sanity.

        When the dice were cast for the boy they sealed his death, but then again maybe they granted it to him. He looked like he was in such pain, death might have been a kinder end for him, and his only release from the pain he had felt. We all watched them take him away. It was that night; I over heard some of the older children talking.


        “Tonight,” said Three, a tall girl with green eyes. “We will try to escape tonight.” I couldn’t help but over hear them.


        “What about the doctors?” Six asked as he looked at her threw the bars of his own cage. “They’ll stop us.”


        “Not if we all go. I’m not saying that we won’t all make it.” Three said. “But at least we
will know that some of us can. Once we’re out, we can find away out of this city. Just think about that, we will be able to see the sky.”


        That was when I heard of it, the sky, I didn’t know what it was, and all I knew was that for some reason, I wanted to see it to.


        “I want to go with you.” I said looking at the small group. They all turned and glared at me. I couldn’t blame them, why would they want a younger child along with them; especially one would slow them down.

        “Go back to your spot Twenty,” Three said. “Your too young to go. If you went you would only slow us down.” She walked towards me, but I stood my ground. I wasn’t going to give up she knew it. “Twenty you’re not going with us.” She shoved me down, but I stood back up, determined to go! I didn’t want what happened to that boy to happen to me. I couldn’t die twitching on the floor as others watched me.

        “Let her come.” Six said with a laugh. “If she gets caught then that means one of us will get away. Better her than us.” He spit on the ground and then glared at me. “They won’t kill her, she’s healthy, remember.” The others shot angry looks at me. It was true; I had never come down with any illnesses that the others seem to get, I guess in a small way they envied me.

        “No she isn’t coming.” Three said. “I refuse to take this little kid with us. If we take her then the doctors will come after us for sure. Do you think they’ll want to lose they’re little experiment.”       

        “We’re all experiments.” Two said. He lowered his head to his hands. “Incase you’ve forgotten that, just look at me. No matter what we do we’ll always be hunted by them.” He said
stepping into the light.


        “All of us are experiments, I say we let the dice decide.” I watched as he pulled a pair of white dice from his pocket and hold them in his hands.

        “I stole these from one of the doctors. If they decide that she goes she goes. No one question it.” They all nodded. And so my life again depended on the casting of the dice. I watched as they rolled across the ground and stopped at my feet.

        “She goes,” Two said standing. “If we are going to do this we better do it now.” With those words our escape started. Six created a diversion for us all, screaming and shouting to the doctors that he was going to kill himself. They came running. To this day I’m not sure how they pulled it all off. All I can remember is Two grabbing my hand, and dragging me along with him as he ran. I do, however, remember one thing, the dice. I remember quickly picking them up before we started to run, and holding on to them as we ran through one of the many corridors.

        Escape had been hard; perhaps that’s why I didn’t remember it all. I was young, only six when we escaped. The others were much older. The oldest was Two; he was sixteen and the only one who had known life outside of the research center.

        Therefore, he became our nominated leader.

        Life after the research center was hard, but after we escaped our lives became our own. Growing up was slow, I had to learn how to survive and learn my way around the streets of the slums. One day, Two just up and left us, I remember waking up and seeing his sleeping space empty. No one knew where he had gone, and no one asked to many questions either. He had just left. Soon after that, Three and Six left to find their own ways in life.

        They all left for someplace, they could be dead for all I know.

        After they left I was alone, but I wasn’t scared. I had grown up strong and capable of surviving on my own, to this day I wonder why they all left though, maybe it was to find a way out of the Slums.

        The years passed on, each day I lived thanks to the casting of the dice. They won me my food, my clothes and my shelter.

        One day I found Blast, or rather he found me.

        I was looking for a safe, and warm place to sleep when I heard the whimpering coming from an alleyway. I walked down it and there he was, a small pup with large paws tangled up in an old chain, and looking up at me with large sad black eyes. At first I turned to leave, after all times were hard enough for me with out having a dog to feed and take care of. Then the pup began to whimper again.

        I did the only thing I could think of, I cast the dice, and he’s been by my side ever since.

        I ended up naming him Blast and a day never goes by that I’m not thankful that I took him with me. He’s saved my life more than once. We lived each day walking and hunting for food. Sometimes, we would come across some money and buy food; those times were what we considered the good times.

        Once, while walking through the city streets, I over heard two old women talking about the sky; intrigued, I asked them what they were talking about. They looked at me with worry and quickly got up to leave. I laughed and took a step back. “I won’t hurt you.” I said smiling. “I’m just wondering about this thing. You called it Sky? I’ve heard that word before but I don’t know what it is.” One of the old women shot a worried look at Blast, who was too preoccupied with an old bone that he had found, to pay them much attention.

        “It’s hard to explain.” She said as she slowly sat back down. “It’s above us.”

        “No the city canopy is above us.” I said thinking that the old woman had lost her mind. Even I knew that the only thing above us was the city canopy. Her friend frowned and shook her head.

        “It’s above the canopy. I’ remember hearing about it when I was a young girl.” I was enchanted as they told all the stories that they knew about the sky.

        “So this sky is outside and above the city.” I said petting Blast on his head. The two old women nodded.

        “No one down her has ever seen it. But if you could get out of the slums you might be able to. There are lost of places in the world. Many more cities,” Said one of the old women. “You could find a good life out there. If I were your age and strong I would go and find a way out of these slums, even if it was just to see the sky.” She took on a sad look as she looked around. “Times won’t get any better. This is probably the first time my sister and I have spoken to a stranger.” They smiled at me as they stood.

        “Good bye.” One of them said as the left. Blast lifted his head to watch them leave, momentarily losing interest in his bone. As I watched them go I couldn’t help but wonder if it was possible to leave the slums. I had heard rumors of gates that lead to the outside, but like everyone else I thought they were just that rumors told by people desperate for an escape. But then again I wanted to see the sky; I wanted to find out if there was a life out there other than the city slums.


        With Blast at my side, I started to search for the gates that would lead me out of the city.
It took me two long years to find the gate, once I did I found yet another obstacle. There were Guards standing by it allowing some people in and some out. I watched as they looked at the cards that were handed to them.

        “You there,” said a voice. I was shocked when one of the guards pointed at me. “Come out of there and get in line if you want to leave.” Blast growled at him as I came from behind my hiding place and walked towards the end of the line.

        “I can’t believe that it exists.” Said a woman who was holding tight to her child’s hand. “A better life away from all of this.” The boy looked up at me and then at Blast who tilted his head and barked. The boy buried his head in his mother’s hip. She turned to me and smiled.

        “Sorry about that.” I said. “Blast is just being friendly. He’s not like most dogs, he’s kind.” The woman looked down at him with an uncertain smile. I couldn’t blame her for being scared; most of the dog’s that lived in the slums were wild and unpredictable.

        “That’s ok,” she said. “Timothy is just shy.” She said.

        “Timothy?” I asked.

        “My son, his name is Timothy my name is Martha. What’s your name?” I crossed my arms in front of me and stared at her. No one was ever friendly without a reason, not in the slums. If someone was being friendly to you, it was a sign to be careful.

        “A long time ago I was called Twenty. But I don’t have a real name.” I said as she turned around and hugged her son close. I watched them for a moment. This was what love was. It was rare to see love in the slums; normally all you saw were people looking out for themselves.

        When we reached the gate the guards let the woman go through after looking at a card she gave them. However, they weren’t about to let me go through the gate. “You don’t have the proper clearance to go through. Get out of hear before we arrest you.” He shouted. I quickly grabbed Blast who was barking and lunging angrily at the guard.

        “Calm down boy.” I said. Then something happed that I wasn’t expecting.

        “She’s with us.” Martha said. The guards looked at her with uncertain eyes. “You see, my clearance covered three people me, my son and my daughter Trinity.” She laughed. “Trinity you forgetful girl,” she said walking to me. “I told you to stay near me.” I stared at her. What was she doing? What ever it was I wasn’t about to turn down the chance to get out of the slums.

        “Oh, sorry,” I said standing. Blast snorted and sat down on the ground next to me.

        “Get going!” The guard said to us. I walked through the gate and out of the slums never to return.

        “Why did you help me?” I asked as we walked down a long dirt path. Martha turned to me and smiled.


        “You reminded me of myself when I was young.” She put her hand on her son’s head and smiled. “Besides, I thought that if I helped you, you would travel with us for a while. Your dog looks strong and we could use the protection.” So that was it. No one did anything for anyone out of kindness. I agreed to go with them for a while, after all I was out of the slums and I owed it to Her.

        So that’s my story, I never thought that I would be telling it to anyone really. It may have
seemed harsh but it was my life. To this day, the casting of dice still goes on. And to this day, I owe my life to the casting of the dice.

<p>Sometimes when I se squirls I feel the urge to kill. . .is that wrong?</p>Edited by: [url=http://pub30.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=bunnygirle78>bunnygirle78</A]&nbsp; Image at: 2/19/03 11:36:54 pm

Uncle Pervy
 

Re: Casting of the Dice

Unread postby Uncle Pervy » Thu Feb 20, 2003 1:09 am

Interesting tale.

I'm curious about two things.

1. How did it take so long to find and learn of the gates? My thoughts are that they would be public knowledge, a sort of Stairway to Heaven for the slummers. And even if they were not, two years is an awful long time to search for something in a city. I would think it would be three or four weeks tops. Unless the slums are the size of France. Which is possible...

2. How did Martha get her pass? And, why didn't she use the dice? Given the theme of the story, Twenty should have been amazed to see that she was accepted, no chance involved.

Also, I'd like to see more details of slum life.


Overall, though, a curiously intriguing piece. <p><div style="text-align:center">Image Image Image Image Image ImageImage</div></p>

bunnygirle78
 
Posts: 1245
Joined: Fri Jul 26, 2002 11:36 pm

Re: Casting of the Dice

Unread postby bunnygirle78 » Thu Feb 20, 2003 1:18 am

Thanks Pervy. I was thinking about making it into a series. The city slums are huge, around the size of Texas and New york combined.

I didn't put in how Martha got her pass because I wanted the story to be focused on Twenty. Since she lived most of her life, not talking to anyone, and in a research facility. I didn't think shed know about it. I tried to write it in her perspective as best I could.

Twenty, was surprised, but she also knew that no one ever did anything without getting something in return. Martha, though kind, was more interested in having Blast protect her.

Thanks for the feed back Pervy. I may write another chapter to this and answer some of the questions you posed.

Thanks for the help.

:happy:


Image <p>Sometimes when I se squirls I feel the urge to kill. . .is that wrong?</p>Edited by: [url=http://p068.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=pdrydia>pd]&nbsp; Image at: 6/11/05 17:36


Return to Fanfiction and Other Writings

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests

cron

Yalogank