Heart Of Stone

• Alana Murphy, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2020

As the heavy stone door scraped open, the cheer of Rome drummed in my ear and the light of the sun blinded me. The smell of sweat filled the air. Blood stained the tough wall and slowly trickled down as I trembled out. Few had survived this death trap but against my will I had been chosen to compete. Compete! More like commit suicide.

The loudspeaker boomed, ‘10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5…’ My heart was beating faster than it ever had before and the sound all around me was buzzing in my ears. ‘3,2,1…’ On the far side of stadium, the steel gates flung open. The snout of a lion, the horns of a goat. I gasped. The chimera’s snake-tail flicked around like a whip, hissing a reptilian war-cry. Its large, deep black eyes locked onto mine as its golden muzzle transformed into a sneer. It pawed the dirt and let out a thunderous roar that sent the crowd wild. I glanced around, panic setting in, for anything I could use as a weapon. I could feel the eyes of the crowd on me, like a thousand burning rods, but I was determined. ‘Not today,’ I whispered under my breath, ‘not today.’

Thrashed against the wall, bruises on my legs, cuts on my arms, I was barely able to stand. I wondered why I was not dead yet; this beast could have easily killed me multiple times. Across the arena the chimera paced back and forth, growling and snarling. Suddenly I saw a sharp piece of metal to the right of me, I grabbed it in hope of survival. Rapidly the chimera started bolting at me and then at the last second it pounced. I held out the metal shard and closed my eyes… the crowd went mad. I opened my eyes; the chimera was lying in front of me whimpering, but the loudspeaker announced, ‘The beast is DEAD!!!’ I thought of calling out that the beast was still showing signs of life, but as I looked down at it, its black eyes desperately locked into mine, pleading for me not to, so I stayed quiet.

As the chimera was dragged off the field, two guards came and took me up to the podium. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the still body of the chimera being wheeled out of the stadium on a rusty, blood stained cart. As I wondered where they would take him, the emperor himself presented me with a golden cup adorned with silver patterned carvings. All of a sudden, as the cart reached the outside of the stadium, the chimera leapt up and scampered off into the distance. A small smile crept across my face, as I quickly shrunk away into the shadows before anyone could hold me against my will any longer.