Then Asha stepped forward.
She looked smaller, brown skinned, curly hair.
"I'm Asha," she said.
"Zaara and I actually grew up together. Sector C too. Right near the boundary of D."
She hesitated, her fingers were fidgeting.
"I lost my parents during a riot when I was six. Since then, it's just been me. And zaara."
She glanced at Zaara, and the connection
between them was obvious. Not just friends…family, by choice. Zaara held her arms and squeezed it.
My eyes met Nomi as she scoffed.
"We've survived a lot. I thought the worst was over… but then came this….this stupid game."
And once again, the room fell into that strange silence…the kind that wasn't empty, but full. Full of stories. Of ghosts. Of secrets still waiting to be told.
And somewhere, in the quiet, everyone started to really listen.
To each other.
To the cracks in their voices.
To the truths they'd never spoken before.
And maybe… for the first time, we weren't just trying to survive.
