GOOD GAME

Layla Greene wasn’t supposed to win.

Lost in her train of thought, Selena Gold, standing at the large ivory trailer, almost didn’t notice her friends calling out to her from behind. Turning her head over her shoulder, she looked at them, wide-eyed.

“Selena! Want to come grab a bite with us? Did you see how well Layla did?” One of the girls behind her asked. Selena’s mouth opened, as if she were about to speak, but instead she looked down and shook her head, a second place ribbon pinned to the back of her navy coat. She had been regularly hurling herself over wooden poles for nearly five years, but ever since Layla arrived at the barn two years ago, second place was the highest score she could get.

Great. Of course Layla rides my horse better than I can. She turned away, her gloved hands fumbling with the rope as she continued tying her horse to the trailer. Her teeth were tightly grit.

She normally took failure with honor and a ‘maybe next time,’ but she’d had enough.

The horse beside her was a Palomino Hanovarian, and his agility was hard to beat. The riders at the barn called him Mercedes, but the name called out every time they entered the arena was “Ace of Diamonds.” She half leased him, sharing with someone she couldn’t remember the name of, and she only managed to get her hands on him at all because she paid with the money she won at shows. But despite his skill, Layla Greene had a strange habit of beating her time and time again. Layla used to ride the large bay Appendix who was often out of line and out of control. He wore red tail ribbons during the flat classes to warn others to stay away, and when he was asked to trot, he always cantered and kicked out.

Now Layla rode the shiny bay Appendix with the grace of a swan and the speed of a lightning bolt. Selena went to the barn daily, and it seemed Layla had just snapped her fingers and he transformed into a horse fit for a goddess. No training involved. And that was why Selena underestimated how hard the Derby Challenge in the MTHJA final was going to be for her. Everyone had to switch horses, and she and Layla were chosen to swap horses with each other to compete in the competition.

That horse was completely unmanageable when Selena rode him. He hardly moved, and his thin bay coat was covered in scars that no fur grew over, especially his stomach which had dry blood covering the entirety of it. He attempted to bite, and during their warm up he resisted every jump they tried. Yet based on what she’d seen, they’d done better than everyone else in the Derby challenge. Except for Layla.

Selena adjusted Mercedes’ fly mask, turning suddenly, hearing footsteps from behind her.

Layla Greene, in the flesh, leading her Appendix over. Holding his reins in one hand and a crop in the other, she wore the same navy coat with a speck of dirt covering the side and a white shirt that barely peeked out beneath. Her helmet was loose, and her gloves appeared to hardly fit her. Multiple first place ribbons were pinned to the back of her jacket. Without a word, she strolled forward and tied up her horse next to Selena.

“Good game,” after tying the knot, she finally spoke.

Selena could feel her hands balling up into tight fists, but she didn’t dare say a word.

“How many second place ribbons do you think you’ll get next time?” Layla spoke without a hint of emotion in her voice. Selena couldn’t tell if she was questioning her, or if she was simply stating some sort of confusing fact. Taunting her. Layla was naturally soft-spoken, everyone liked that about her.

“Three maybe. . .” Selena responded and looked away to avoid eye contact. Her eyes traveled back to Mercedes, who seemed more agitated than usual. She bent her knees and leaned down to inspect him, finding a small burn scar that looked a lot like the Appendix’s scars. Tilting her head to the side, she touched the spot where his Palomino coat had been burned off. The horse flinched, turning his head to give her the equine equivalent of a death stare. Mercedes wasn’t one to bite. He was often used to teach little kids how to ride and tack up horses due to how gentle he was. Selena cocked her head to the side, looking down at her hands, she noticed a drop of blood staining her thin black glove. She had no time to think before Layla spoke again. She didn’t seem to notice Selena’s interaction with her horse.

“I talked to the judges. They mentioned your form was off during that canter on the flat. You were ten seconds late, and your eyes were down for far too long. Would it be useful to move down a level or two?”

Selena finally looked over at Layla, glaring directly into her bright blue eyes that she fluttered everytime she waved after she’d won. “Thank you for your advice, Layla.” It was clearly sarcasm, but Layla smiled at her warmly and responded.

“No problem.”

Selena breathed in, opening her mouth, before turning and simply walking away, both fists clenched as if she were a toddler having some sort of temper tantrum. Layla knew when she was ticked off. She always knew. Selena’s mind traveled back to her own horse, the way he flinched was as if he were preparing for a great deal of pain in response to the touch. It wasn’t normal. And he only acted that way after Layla rode him.

She noticed her friends sitting at a nearby picnic table, eating homemade sandwiches out of plastic bags with barbecue chips on the side of their paper plates. She looked away, her tall boots carrying her over to the arena, where a flat class appeared to be taking place.

“All riders, canter!” the judge called.

The horses amidst the ring, being watched by the judges, were almost completely unable to be seen, covered by a blanket of dust that their hooves picked up. Selena could only see the shadows of the horses and their riders in the golden sand. She watched the shadows intently, as if she were a judge, but she found no faults. She had never been good at observing. That was until one of the shadows on the other side of the ring stopped, stared her dead in the eye, opening its mouth and growing large teeth and horns. The eyes of the shadow glowed gold, and the thing charged at her. Golden lightning flowed through the thing’s flank, mouth gaping so wide open she feared the creature’s jaw was about to snap straight off. The creature galloped at her. The shadow of the rider had large horns on her head. The shadow hit the fence with a clang and -

Selena dropped down, falling back into the crowd of people, staring up to see -

Nothing.

“Selena? What’re you doing here?”

The voice of her riding instructor.

She turned and looked over at her, “Uh - do you know where Layla’s mom is?”
“She’s over at the benches, why? Did you get to see Layla ride?”

“Oh no reason - I just…wanted to get Layla’s phone number!” She stumbled and stuttered over her words, making things up so quickly, she hardly thought before the words came out of her mouth. Her instructor had been riding for thirty years and teaching for twenty of them. If anyone suspected foul play, it would be her.

“I didn’t think you and Layla were friends…” the woman’s eyebrows furrowed, and she tilted her head to the side, putting on a more cynical expression.

“What? Of course we’re friends! We’ve been having joint lessons ever since she bought her horse.”

“I’ve never seen you two talk.”

“I just get really focused. We’re close though.”

“Then why don’t you have her number?”

“I - we just talk a bunch in the barn. I’ve never really gotten the chance to get it until now.”

“Is everything okay, Selena?”

“I’m grea-”

“You know you don’t always have to be the best at everything. Just try your hardest and don’t worry about what anyone else thinks.”

“I’m…” Selena’s voice cracked. “I’m fine.”

Before her instructor could ask anything else, Selena turned around and dashed her way through the crowd, making her way up the nearest hill, trampling through the flowers and grass. The flat land out before her was covered in tents set up by different barns. Selena looked down at her own shadow. The creature in the ring almost reminded her of Layla’s horse and what it felt like to ride him.

Was the rider with horns and glowing yellow eyes who aggressively charged, clanging against the fence her?

What if I’m wrong?

What if Layla did nothing?

Passing tables with snacks set up and ribbons galore, she continued on.

Maybe I’m the problem.

Walking over to her barn’s tent, she slid inside to glance around.

There has to be an answer. Everyone thinks Layla is great.

A woman she recognized as Layla’s mother stood inside, holding a plastic red cup in her hand.

But why did Mercedes act so strange? Why did he have those scars?

Layla and her mother had almost identical faces, but her brunette hair was far shorter, and her blue eyes were smaller. If their faces were made of clay, Layla would have been sculpted softly, her head circular and her jaw weak, while her mother had been sculpted with sharp angles and a fierce jaw. Her eyes piercing, her tone sweet as honey, but her voice was that of a western movie villain.

Maybe it’s just my problem. Not hers. What would everyone think if I made such an accusation? What would my friends say? What would my instructor say? They wouldn’t believe me, would they?

Selena slowly walked up to her. “Er - excuse me, ma’am, do you have a video of Layla riding this afternoon? It was so good, I heard, but I was busy tending to her horse. Y’know, due to the swap. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see it because we were up next.”

The older woman stared at her with her head tilted to the side.

Oh no, oh no, oh no. She’s doubting me, isn’t she?

“We’re frie-”

“Of course, sweetie,” the woman smiled warmly and nodded to her. “What were you saying?” She had a thick, rough southern accent that was far different than Lydia’s. Less hypnotizing and infuriating. Selena liked it.

“Nothing.”

“What’s your number?”

Selena pulled a vibrant pink sticky note with her phone number that she always kept handy out of her pocket and handed it to her. Layla’s mother read it a few times, pulling her smaller Nokia phone out of her pocket and audibly typing the numbers in. “Just sent it, the internet is a little cruddy so it might take a second there. I’ll tell Layla you came by!”

Oh great.

“Thanks!” Selena couldn’t hold back a momentary frown, which she hid by quickly turning away and walking out of the tent.

What would Layla’s mother say?

She removed her gloves and stashed them into the pockets of her jacket.

My mom put my phone in the barn.

She said it was in the tack room.

She looked down beneath the hill to see the trailer where Mercedes was tied up. The large trailer had been parked along the rocky road beside all the other parked cars. The bay appendix was still beside Mercedes, but Layla was nowhere to be found. Probably being praised and worshiped by all the other kids for ‘her greatness.’ She groaned at the thought and turned away.

Like always.

Left in the dust.

What do they see in her?

What do they see in me?

Do they see horns?

A few meters into the distance stood the old barn where the show was being hosted. A few porta-potties were lined up outside the doors. The barn was newly painted. She’d heard somewhere that they had done a revamp of the entire thing recently, and it showed. As she entered, the floors were a clean wood, and the stables were freshly painted in a bright purple color. The only place they hadn’t renovated was the tack room.

Exactly where her phone was.

Panting once she reached it, the doors squeaked when she opened them. She walked directly face-first into a wall of cobwebs. Her eyes quickly closed, and she let out a small yelping sound, almost falling backward against the door. She blindly held her arms out and swatted the cobwebs away. Her eyes opened, but it was hardly any different from when they were closed. She searched the wall for a lightswitch but found none.

The moment she stepped inside, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, as if a ghost had walked directly inside of her. She felt herself shiver. The tips of her fingertips stung in the coldness of the barn. A terrible squeal could be heard from the other side of the barn. It sounded like a pig being slaughtered. It made Selena’s hands tightly form into fists. She grabbed onto the nearest wooden wall, her fingertips scraping across the rough wooden board, the skin breaking off slowly and roughly, rolling into small balls of dead skin. Selena looked up to see a large bat flying above her. She immediately ducked down and covered her head. Breathing heavily, she pulled herself back up to her feet, and ventured deeper inside. Her tall boots clicked against the floor loudly, like a pair of heels dancing on concrete. She held her hands out in front of her so she didn’t run into anything, and she kept her eyes completely squinted, which only helped her with sight a little bit. The air smelled like musky, rotting wood or a drawer that hadn’t been opened for years.

Everything she could see was almost illuminated in a dark brown outline of color. As she moved deeper and deeper into the barn, it grew colder and colder. It was like exploring deep into the depths of a cave, and Selena began to feel like she might not ever come out of it.

She couldn’t hear a thing. Not the crickets outside, or the wind’s dance. Not the sounds of the kids talking about their dream horses at the picnic table, or the adults bragging about how well their kids were doing. Not the deep voice of the commentator who announced the show names of the horses and winners. All of it had been drowned out by completely nothing. She had almost entered another dimension.

A dimension with no Layla.

In the darkness, a spark. Selena’s eyes widened as she finally noticed her phone lighting up with a notification on what had looked like a brown blob before. She rushed toward it and picked her phone up. The notification, a text from an unknown number. Quickly, she allowed it to scan her face and open the video. She watched it time and time again with the volume up. Layla and Mercedes were perfect. The way they danced in the ring, moving as one, it was beautiful.

But what she had seen near the trailer wasn’t beautiful at all.

After watching it at least five times, she found that she could zoom in on the video once she had paused it. Finding a clear freeze frame, Selena zoomed in on Layla’s boots, and finally noticed something attached to her heel. She zoomed in on her hands and noticed her holding some sort of device. Zooming in further, she found a wire that was just barely visible, hidden under her clothes, but visible in the gap between her gloves and the cuff of her navy jacket.

Bingo.

This changes everything.

Holding her phone in her hand as if it were gold, Selena turned around with a large smile on her face.

“Boo.”

Layla stood behind her. Her sudden presence prompted Selena to hit the floor, dropping her phone on the wood, screen-down. Selena could only see Layla’s shadow, and as she stared at it for longer and longer, it became clear to her.

Layla’s the one with horns.

Grabbing onto her phone, she noticed a large crack piercing the middle of the screen. Selena looked up at Layla and grimaced. “What is wrong with you?”

Layla still didn’t have a hint of emotion in her eyes. “Whoops…”

“No! Not the phone! I saw the video of you riding. You’re using electrical spurs? Do you realize how much those are hurting your horse? How much you hurt my horse? You’re insane!”

Layla looked at the floor, almost as if she were guilty. “Good game, Selena, good game. You almost beat me.”

Selena, still clenching her cracked phone in her hand, stood up and shoved Layla out of her way. “I have beat you. I’m talking to the judges, I have proof.” She held her phone up.

As she was about to walk past her, Layla grabbed her by the cuff of her jacket and pulled her back. She could feel a stinging in the back of her shoulder blades, but it took far too long for her to realize what was happening. Blood oozed out of the wound created by the knife in her shoulders. She could feel it running down her back and staining her clothes.

“I need this money,” Layla whispered in her ear, still holding onto the handle of her knife. Her other hand rested gently on Selena’s shoulder.

“So…so what?” Selena could feel her throat beginning to tighten and tears running down her cheeks. “You’re just going to kill me?”

“If that’s what it takes to keep you quiet. We can go home and never speak of this again, or. . .”

Selena took a shaky step forward, turning around to look at Layla, who pulled the knife out of her back and now held it in her hands. She used all of the strength she had to hold herself up. Panting heavily, she opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say a word, Layla’s eyes filled with panic, and she shoved the knife into her mouth. Selena choked on it, the blade piercing through the back of her throat. The point of the knife slid out and stabbed her in a different place in the throat. Taking the knife out and cutting a large slit in her tongue along the way, Selena grabbed onto her neck, but it was far too late.

Losing all sense of strength, Selena felt herself hit the floor. Completely unable to breathe, gallons of blood spilling from her mouth, she coughed out onto the floor. She could hear Layla’s tall boots clicking against the floor as she walked out of the barn. Selena closed her eyes, feeling the life she once had beginning to slip from her cold fingertips.

The doors to the barn closed. Layla had gotten away with it.

Again.

Good game, Layla Greene.

Drakon Troyer (They/Them) is a 13-year-old who lives in Virginia. They love writing horror, psychological thrillers, and tragedies. Most of their work focuses on queer issues/the queer community, disability representation, and subverting tropes and expectations. When they’re not making their readers sob, they’re riding horses, enjoying metal music, and daydreaming endlessly.