THE GAME OF CARDS

PROLOGUE Roe's POV "Who is she?" "What's with that look?" "Wait. New girl?" "Is she even thinking on going here?" "Well, she'll just choose her faith." Di ko mapigilan ang pagrolyo ng aking mata. Di man lang nila tinago o hininaan ang boses nila. Makapag usap sila parang wala ako rito. Tumigil ako sa paglalakad at binalik ang tingin sa mga taong nasa hallway na ngayon ay nakatingin parin sa akin habang nag uusap. "Hey, I can clearly hear you. Shut up or I'll make you." Saad ko nalang at naglakad na papunta sa room. Tiningnan ko ang pulso ko kung nasaan ang room number ng classroom na dapat pasukan ko. Nang nakapasok na ako ay agad kong nakita ang mga taong nakatingin sa akin. Nagsimula na naman silang pag usapan ako. "Oh?" "What happened? New girl?" "What with that look?" What is wrong with the way I look, huh?! "What's with the red highlighter, b***h?" May isa na talagang di nakapagpigil at tinanong ako. She also has yellow highlighter on her hair. She's smirking. It's clear that she's making fun of me. "Di panga ako nakaupo, grabe kana makatingin." Then I smiled. I hate the way she smirk. I know that look. A look of a queen wanna be. "Why are you talking back, b***h? Do you have any right to do that? I'm a queen." Yeah, right. A queen wanna be. "You asked me and I talked. What wrong with that?" She raised her hand. She was prepared to slap me but she stopped when she saw something behind me. Kung hindi siya nagpigil, di lang sampal aabutin niya sa akin. "The Ravens." Rinig kong saad ng isang ka-klase. Napatingin ako sa likuran. A girl and a boy with a mask. Who's this? Pumunta sila sa harapan at pumwesto sa gitna ng lamesa. May dala-dala silang box. Everyone is silent. "As you can see..." saad ng babaeng nakamaskara. "It's time to choose your faith again." Nagkatinginan ang lahat. I could feel the tension. Tumingin ang dalawang nakamaskara sa akin. "We can see that you have a new one here." Saad ng lalaki. "Welcome to the Game of Cards, new one." Saad ng babae. "I'm R and he's V." "This game has been a tradition. Every month everyone will pick a card and the card will determine your faith. The highest position will be King and Queen, then Jack, 10, 9, 8 and so on. The lowest is Joker. If you pick the King or Queen everyone will obey you and you have to fill the responsibility on becoming a King or Queen. Jack is the Captain Knight and along Jack we have 10, 9 and 8 as his member." Saad ng lalaki. "7, 5 and 6 are nobles." "3, 4 and 2 are commoners." "And the Joker. Is the slave. He or she will ober every command that has been given to her or him." "What about 1? I mean the ace?" Tanong ko. "Ace? He or she not applied to this game. Meaning. Free. Free from responsibilities, free from this game, free to obey or not. It's a free card. No one can touch you when you have that card." "And what if I don't participate?" Sabay ngisi ko. Tumawa naman silang dalawa. "I think it's not up to you to decide that because everyone her loves to participate." Ito pala ang nangyayari rito kaya pala gusto nila dito ako mag aral. Too bad I'm just here to investigate this place and I'm going. Bumunot lang ang lahat doon sa box. Ang iba ang napatili at ang iba naman ay tahimik. Nang ako na ang bumunot ay napataas ang kilay ko ng makita ang card. It was a Joker. I can't helped but smile. This is gonna be fun.