Cover created in CANVA using free elements.
Prompt: Wishbone.
Skill: The hook.
Holly knew she wanted to kill him. She knew they had entered the arena of life and death, and only one of them would be spared from the lions. They had been drinking, of course. He had surprised her with a vintage which usually her palette could not afford. They had eaten, and between flirtatious looks he had loosened his tie, and she, her top button.
Holly and Lucas sat opposite each other, and while their legs had earlier gently crossed under the table, now there was enmity, and both their postures reflected the enormity of the situation. Lucas had sat upright, and an intensity had spread across his face. Holly had just put KNIFE down. Lucas looked at it and began to count, he knew he was in trouble. He knew that Holly would not allow him any small mercy now, but he would hold his steely resolve. He knew the fatal danger of loss.
In response to her action, Lucas moved his hands to his forehead, allowing his fringe to drape through his fingers. He was planning something quite ominous which would seek to annihilate. He looked up, meeting her eyes and said one word, ‘QUAKE’, and it made her bottom lip tremble. She looked at the space between them, and then back into his eyes.
She could feel a violent surge run through her entirety; she had been so confident of the outcome of their dual only an hour previous. But, looking down, she could see no easy path to victory.
‘SHIBWON?’ she asked her partner. Lucas looked confused at first, having had his trance like concentration broken by the absurdity of the question, but then he realised she was trying to buy time. He knew her tactics, after all, he’d seen them before. He tut-tutted and looked smug.
‘BINWOSH? she asked her partner. He shook his head. Holly let out a groan of mortal agony. She was no longer concerned with the pretence of demure behaviour. She wanted blood. She looked at the space between them and then reflected on QUAKE. It had been a significant moment in the game, as the ‘E’ had landed on the Triple Word tile; luckily the ‘Q’ had missed the Double Letter value which had multiplied the ‘U’. Even so, Lucas had scored 57 points. There were very few tiles left in the bag, and he had stretched out a 43-point lead.
The board had been largely covered, and Holly began the arduous process of trying to find spaces to slot in her letters. A tower of space above the ‘E’ on ‘QUAKE’ gave her access to a Double Letter tile, but the score itself would be pitiful. Sure, she could ‘WINE’ for 11 points. She could ‘SHONE’ for 12, but she could hear those figurative lions roar, and she was not yet prepared to relent.
‘BONE’ she mouthed and added it to 9. Holly pushed her letters around on the small rack, trying to decipher meanings in words never once uttered before and then she exclaimed a single syllable which announced discovery. She began to build her word backwards, emerging from Lucas’ smug ‘QUAKE’ with an ‘E’.
She laid down the ‘N’ and Lucas nodded. She followed it with the ‘O’, and he mocked her, saying, ‘3 points! I’ll tally the score’. She positioned the ‘B’, and spent a moment to adjust the tiles to make them straight. Lucas looked in her direction, with a devious grin. She met his grin and continued to move her hand back to her letter rack. The ‘H’ followed, and then quickly the ‘S’. She slowed down then in placing the ‘I’, allowing her foe to fall on his sword, as her could see the word coming together. The final dagger in Holly’s eyes was thrown as the ‘W’ landed on the Triple Word score. Regaining composure, having her hand slightly quiver as laid the last tile, she began to count the points. The word added to 19 which she would then triple; she had matched Lucas’ 57 and as he picked up the pencil to mark the scorepad, she reminded him of the bonus 50 points awarded for using all 7 tiles in her own hand. Deflated, he slouched in his chair, and Holly pulled the last letter from the bag. The body in front of her was lifeless; she had promised him death, and he wallowed in defeat.