I looked at her though my blond bangs nervously. She had moved her queen to my bishop. I struggled to keep myself calm, trying to ignore the adrenaline pumping in my veins. Peace, peace, I scolded myself. Being jumpy wasn’t an option in this game. Losing wasn’t an option, either. My life depended on this round. There would be no more chess in your future, I reminded myself futilely, if you won this. They would never enter your life again, and you would forever live in peace, without them interrupting your plans. Maybe you could even start a family and be quite successful in your career. But it was to no avail, and my sweat dripped onto the chess pieces. My competitor frowned at that. The men crowded around the table, cheering and booing. The clinking of money echoed though the small, dark room.
I picked up the bishop and set it behind my knight. She gave me a rare but mocking smile, and spoke for the first time since we set foot in this cursed place. “You have quite a penchant for fleeing my solders, Edward.” She lisped at me with her lilting Irish accent. I looked at her, surprised that she knew my true name. I used a different name in these parts ---which was Richard, a far cry from my real name--- and when I was forced into this agreement, I used that name. So she wouldn’t have known my real name. Unless you knew her a long time ago, I thought. Maybe you were even friends with her. I shuddered at the prospect. Maybe it was true, that she had known me, that she had even been friends with me. I couldn’t remember anything from my childhood, only some flashes from my teenage years. I only remembered everything from two years ago ---when I was eighteen--- to now. Shut up, brain! I thought. She just wanted to scare you, and make you move the wrong way. There is no possibility that you would have known her.
She flicked her waist-length, red hair back and seemed to sense my discomfort. “Of course I know your true name, Edward Gardiner.” My questioning grey eyes met her triumphant green ones. She cocked her head to the side. I started sweating again and my thoughts swirled all over in my brain. She looks like she knows who I am! Do I know her? Oh God, I’m being a sissy. Is that her intention? Yes, it must be that. She just wanted to distract me, and she is really good at it. “Come, Edward. Let us not play any games. I can’t read minds, so please ask me whatever your question is.” Does she know what I’m thinking? Lord, I hope not.
I cleared my throat and spoke. My voice was rough from long disuse, and my throat was dry. “Who are you, and what do you want with me? Please don’t tell me the same crap your guards told me, about you being the best chess player of all time, Madame. I need to know.” Why did I say that? Now I’ve provoked them. The men booed at me and threw something that smelled on me. Their dung, I suppose. I wanted to get the stuff off me, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t make any sudden movements, or else my existence would be taken from me. That was in the contract.
You can take away my pride, my dignity, my home, my love, and even my family, but you cannot take away my life. I made a promise to myself: I would never die on other one’s hands. I would die on my own terms. Call me selfish, call me stupid, but that is the way I live. Perhaps the reason why I was so depressed was that I knew my life was threatened, and I couldn’t even lift a little finger to help myself. Not that it would have helped.
“Now, Edward, why are you so formal with me? We have been good acquaintances for a long time. We are on first-name terms, are we not? So, repeat the question once more and say my given name out loud.” She folded her arms and glared, challenging me to disobey her. We are on first-name terms? What does that mean? I really am now suspecting that I knew her, a long way back in my younger years. Why did she say that? I stared back, pondering what her name was. The game itself had been long forgotten and the men crowded around us, wanting to hear more. The only light bulb flickered, sending shadows all around the gloomy room. The torn posters and blood stains all over the room gave it an eerie atmosphere, but it was very familiar, for some reason. Suddenly a memory from my childhood flashed before my eyes.
It was a bright, sunny day, and I was standing in front of a small building. I was holding hands with a red-haired girl. She was very beautiful, and very familiar. She had a wonderful Irish accent. “Edward, go inside! The house won’t kill you.” I shook my head. “No, the building won’t kill you, but the rats will.” She threw her head back and laughed. She had a wonderful laugh and she smelled of strawberries and cream. She pulled me into the building and we explored every single corner of the eerie house. Before we left, we found a hidden side room on the left of the entrance. There was some light coming out of the holes on the steel door. We immediately walked inside since it seemed welcoming. The room was dark and gloomy, but it had a warm aura. We then decided to use this room as our hideout from our parents, and we gradually turned it into our study room and playhouse. We would paint posters and pictures of each other, and we would paste them on the wall. In a sense, it became our sanctuary from the cruel world.
A long time passed with us glaring at each other and taking in each other’s features. I surveyed her flaming tresses, emerald eyes and lithe build; she observed my golden locks, steel eyes and tall frame. Not until the clock struck five did she speak. “You don’t know my name, do you?” She said softly. Her face was sad, but her eyes told another story. “You really don’t know my name, do you?” She repeated, with more urgency. Now I really have provoked her. Oh well. I nodded slightly. She seemed not to notice what I answered. And then, she snapped.
“Answer me, for Christ’s sake! Do you know my name? Answer me, once and for all!” She screamed, her fury lashing at me. I cowered and ducked. She pushed the rickety table and the cheap chess set to the floor. “You don’t remember me, do you?” She shouted, stamping on the still unbroken chess set. I stood up, and answered her once and for all. I really need to do this. I can’t let a madwomen kill me.
“No! I don’t know you! I don’t even know where the heck I am!” I shouted back. Lord, if this doesn’t convince her to set me free, nothing can.
“You bastard! How dare you lie to me? You promised you would never forget me! You even cut yourself in a blood oath to me! Or was all that a big, glorious game to you?” She roared. The room seemed to wobble at the sound of her voice. She pinched the bridge of her nose in what seemed an apparent attempt to calm herself down.
“What?!” I said incredulously. How come? I don’t even know her!
“A promise is a promise, Edward. You understood that ten years ago. But now……you don’t even admit you made that promise. You promised me something, you know. Now I have to take it away from you by force. I don’t like that at all.”She licked her lips and stepped a little closer to me. I jumped back, startled. She came closer and closer to me, whispering. “You promised, Edward……” I looked for an escape route, but there were none. She had me cornered. I looked down at her beautiful face and asked what I promised her. Money, love, whatever, it doesn’t matter. The only thing is to get out of here alive!
The girl simply drew a gun from her big trouser pockets, pointed at my sweaty forehead and said, “Your life. Goodbye, Edward.” She clicked the trigger and the roar of the gun was heard throughout the whole house.
Whilst my life and energy was slowly draining away from me, the girl had opened the door and called out, “It’s all over now. You can come in.” The men, slow and sinister, came into the room. “My lady, you have done well. The whole business is finished,” The men said, bowing to her. She dismissed them with a wave of her hand. “You all may go now,” She said softly. She followed them out of the door.
But as she closed the door, she called out, “Checkmate.” That must have been addressed to me. I thought so.
And then, the world turned black.
), how he wound up at this chess game, etc.
"I cleared my dry throat and spoke with a voice rough from disuse."