The Dream of Menace

They were all standing in a straight line, about ten people, each with a partner standing behind them. I could not see who my partner was, could have been a stranger, my friend, or my mother. They all looked scared but I was too focused and high on adrenaline to feel the same. There were spectacular white lights and lots of buzzing people as if we were on a TV set instead of a dense forest. These people, whoever they were, were literally filming a reality TV show and we were the prized entertainment. Jack was there too— blind folded like the other contestants.

“The first challenge!” yelled the host excitedly. Somehow I knew his name. He was Cesare with blue hair and a too perfect smile.

An image appeared — no, not an image but a video, playing from a screen hung above us in the trees. On the screen was a girl trapped in a burning car. She was screaming and choking on smoke as she fought to get out. I could see her large panicked eyes and her short red hair with thin bangs.

“The first challenge,” Cesare repeated more softly, “is to save your partner before the alarm sounds and your team of two will advance to the next round. You dont want them to end up like our friend here…” he laughed as the rest of the video played out and we all watched the girl scream until her vocal chords had turned black.

“Begin!”

But as I tore my eyes from the screen, I was no longer in the forest but on a dark city highway. It was completely deserted of cars aside from the ten that lay burning with our partners trapped inside.

The first thing I saw was Jack trying desperately to kick open his door and escape the impending explosion of his car. I took a straight route to him, but was shoved aside by his own partner. I heard my own partner’s scream in a car not far from me and ran to get her out; succeeding just as a school bell rang and we were placed back into the forest with only six other teams.

It did not stop; this was an endless game of elimination. After every round we would be placed back into the forest without the competitors who had not succeeded. There were only two pairs left, my own and two faceless bodies beside us. But when the third challenge was over and we were taken back to the forest, our host was missing and my brother had taken his place. Jack smiled when I saw him and gave me a wink before speaking loudly into the camera, “The fourth challenge! Take a look…”

The video started rolling above us in the trees and another girl appeared on the screen. It was hard to make her out in the dim light of the house, but I could see her brown hair and gray baggy sweats as she sat at a table alone. She sat very straight and very still, staring at two little blue pills and a razor blade with dead, beautiful green eyes.

“Here we go.” Said Jack as the girl swallowed the pills together with no water and made a swift cut across both her wrists. She stood up quickly, not taking her dull stare away from what she had done. The girl began to falter as she took two steps back. The video was growing fuzzy and abruptly ended with her smiling at me through the camera.

This time as I tore my eyes from the screen, I had not left the forest. I was standing alone in the darkness. The lights, the crew, and other remaining team (along with my own partner) had vanished and were replaced by an audience of faceless people watching me from the trees. But they were not really watching me; they were looking at something just beyond me.

As I turned to follow their gaze, I found my brother waiting just behind me. He had stopped playing TV host and was now my very own partner. He was a few yards away cradling two blue pills and a razor. He smiled at me and asked me if I was okay, but in a voice I did not know. I tried to inhale sharply so that I could yell for him to stop but suddenly everything was slowing down and I could not force my own tongue to move.

I watched in divine horror as Jack swallowed the pills dry and as he slit his wrists deeply with shaky, bloody hands. I was trying to run towards him, to scream at him to stop, but I was stuck, running as hard as I could slowly and to absolutely nowhere. My whole body was wet with perspiration as I fought with my legs to move — or were those tears?

“I am okay Cole. It’s a game and you just need to save me,” he said, still smiling like the Cheshire Cat as he fell hard onto his knees. It did not reach his eyes, that smile. They were full of pain as he slowly burned from the inside and bled out the flames.

He was looking up at the stars through the forest trees, shaking and repeating, “I am okay Coley.”

He did not stop, even after realizing that I could not save him from the game he had started.

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