Red

Chapter 3

The Trip To Hell

A sudden tap on my shoulder woke me up, and a sickening headache took control of me, making the room spin. Damn this hangover.

In front of me was Lil Joker.

"Ray, what happened? Why did you agree to something like this?" He asked me innocently as memories of last night flashed in my head.

"I was drunk and had a stupid dare," I answered.

"You know that now you have to follow through as Dad won't accept excuses." A single tear fell down his face.

He cried while I comforted him. I'm scared, but I can't let anyone know because weakness isn't something I can show. I don't blame anyone but myself for this.

I don't know when I am leaving or what to do once I'm there. Honestly, I am petrified, but I won't allow it to hold me back.

I will not accept weakness in myself.

Sometime later, at noon, Lil Joker and I went to the bar downstairs because my shift was about to start.

After three hours of serving people who were already drunk mid-day, the Joker asked me to come to his office.

This time it was just the two of us, I couldn't read his face, I don't know if he is mad at me or something.

"You leave Friday, you will be playing the part of Lei Maggisbury, daughter of Lord Maggisbury," he said to me.

"Why exactly is she leaving?" I ask him because I need to know my part well.

"She is rebelling against her father," he answered with no emotion in his voice, "She has a brother too, but her mother died 6 months ago," he continued handing me a file with all of her information.

"What exactly do we need to do to become the king's champion'?" I ask and he looks at me briefly.

"I don't know, It's a competition for the best of the best, I only got you in because of a favor someone owes me," he said and I turned to leave.

"In the castle, trust no one," he said with a hint of sadness in his voice which echoed sternly throughout the room stopping me in my step.

I turn and nod my head with a straight face letting him know I fully understand what he said.

Sitting on my bed, I open the file.

There is a picture of a girl, she has the same green eyes as me, has straight dirty blonde hair, which isn't the same as my dark brown wavy hair.

She is paler than me but I could just say I was tanner because of the sun. We don't have that many similarities other than that as that were probably the best he could do in such a short time.

I looked at the documents in the file which contained her birth certificate, death certificate of her mother, address, and some other important documents.

I read all of it and spent the next few hours memorizing it.

At eight, my second shift of the day started. It was slow and boring. Ezekiel came to apologize, even though he didn't need to and I had a meeting with my King of spades.