Webcam
Luca and Harris spend the entire summer indoors. They spend most of their time playing video games on the internet while hurling slurs that always involve mothers and genitals.
…
Harris is taking down a 3-headed monster when his messenger beeps. He ignores it. The monster isn’t dead yet.
Another beep. More gunning. Then, more beeps.
Irritated, Harris pauses the game to look at his phone. It’s from a Hydra_207. Curious, he opens the message.
“SUMMER TOURNAMENT — DIGIBOIZ
Participate in an underground bid to uncover a secret reward. Link here — “
He is just done reading it; Luca’s text appears.
“Hey, wanna bid in a secret online auction?”
“You got it too? You sure this is a good idea?”
“It could be a million dollars!”
“It could be a pink teddy bear!”
…
Harris opens up his messenger on his computer browser to click the link.
A website appears — DIGIBOIZ.com.
A message in huge big red letters “SECRET REWARD FOR HIGHEST BIDDER. DARE TO WIN?
ENTER USERNAME TO PROCEED”
“mansfeild2121,” he enters.
There is a disabled video frame in the centre of the screen. Above it is a scale that shows the current bidding capacity. Below the video frame is a comments section that has two buttons:
- Load
- Enter
Harris’ phone buzzes again.
“It’s an underground event. It’s gotta be cool. I’m coming over in 10 minutes.”
A countdown timer appears on the screen immediately — “Bidding starts in 10:00.”
…
With just a minute left on the timer, Luca arrives and Harris has half-changed his mind.
Timer says 00:15.
“This should be fun,” Luca quips.
The boys sit down in front of the computer ready to get started.
Timer says 00:00.
Random people start bidding. The comment box fills up. It looks like there are bidders from all around the world.
The bid meter starts filing up.
“Oh! this is interesting” — Luca smirks. The bid meter is quickly crossing $100,000.
The screen freezes —
Press F to Enter the Tournament.
The boys look at each other. Harris presses F.
“Congratulations! You get $20,000 on joining the tournament.
Good luck”
The bid meter is at $500,000 now.
Ping — a message from Hydra_207.
“Hey, you can win the bid. Just put your $20,000 when I ping you next. You’re welcome ;)”
“That wouldn’t hurt!” Luca says.
They watch the bid meter slowly go up to $800,000.
Ping — a message from Hydra_207
“NOW.”
Harris presses “Load” and a meter fills up — $20,000 coins. He clicks on enter.
The bid meter immediately hits a $10,000,000 and freezes.
A pop-up appears:
“UNLOCK SECRET REWARD”
Harris clicks on it.
The video frame in the centre opens up.
They find themselves in the video.
For a moment, Harris thinks it’s a glitch. He checks his camera.
It’s turned off!
The video is a live feed of them. Alarmed, they try to exit the website, in vain.
A countdown timer appears on the screen — “Bidding starts in 00:05.”
They boys stare at the screen. Their horror is mirrored in the live video.
The comment box opens up. Bidding starts while their LIVE feed plays in the video section.
Harris and Luca stare at each other in shock as they realise THEY ARE the secret reward of the tournament.
