I’m so glad there is another door just for us, the players. It led to a peaceful, long corridor immediately facing a circular garden and I wanted nothing more than to sit on the grass as soon as I saw it.

I tapped my way in and noticed I forgot to turn off the broadcast feature, but I didn’t care. If they saw me sitting on the grass it was no big deal. It was a beautiful day outside and I breathed the air, remembering the park from Round 1. I felt the warm rays of the sun, except this was real, beautifully, and totally real.

I sat on the peaceful park bench, half in shade, half in the sunlight. I thought of my little family, my mum, probably at her desk at work and Kitser, our one-eyed black and white cat, lying in the sun like a lazy, warm potato. I’d been away from them for just a few hours and I missed them, but there was still the nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I had no idea who paid my entry fee into this game. And how did I get here? Would entering the game hurt my family somehow?

It could have been my entry form from the first game, re-submitted. So many people had entered the game before, I was one of maybe a million entrants, maybe my mother had filled in the form again for me? I tilted my face to the sun and breathed deeply. If she couldn’t see me RIGHT now, she would surely watch the stream of me later on. I wanted to send her a message, but how?

Then I had an idea.

I looked straight up and slowly traced a circle around my face, for Princess Daisy. Then I made a driving movement with my hands, as if holding a wheel, left right- right left, for Prince Vroom Vroom. Lastly, I pointed to my necklace three times. She knew what that would mean. She'd been telling the story of her and my father to me since I was little, always with the same hand actions.

I left the park dragging my feet and checked out a few more rooms. There were big, open meeting rooms for the later challenges, a room for relaxing which seemed to just have comfortable furniture and also a gym. Strangely, Marcus was in the gym, facing away from the front door. He was running as hard and fast as he could and for a moment I just watched him in his own world. I wondered what was on the screen as his goal, but that was private. I walked away quietly.

I ended up back in the comfortable room after getting as far as a lovely indoor pool. There were other competitors of other games in there, and I left before they could see me. I picked a recliner with super soft armrests and just closed my eyes for a moment. I breathed deeply and let myself just chill.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I must have gone to sleep because soon a loud announcement was coming over some speakers.

PLAYERS, RETURN TO THE LOBBY

PLAYERS, RETURN TO THE LOBBY

I didn’t want anyone to come in and try to find me so I hurried back. I arrived before the others and a strange lady I hadn’t seen before greeted me.

“You must be Tina, is that what you’re wearing?”

I looked at my clothes: “Yes? Is that a problem?”

She regarded me with a mix of confusion but also what I presume was her “thinking face”. She looked like the woman on the weather channel, but older. Very tight, bright little green dress and matching heels, and strangely tall matching green hair.

“You’ll be FINE, darling, good luck in the mini game!”

She walked away and went towards the security guard and I clearly heard her say, “Well THAT sad little one won’t win. No WOW factor, so bland!”

Wow, another rude, overly made-up person? Is this just my life now?

Seconds later she was fawning all over Speedy Sue, who arrived alone but was still beaming with confidence. Marcus, although the gym wasn’t that far away, arrived last. I looked at the rules of the mini game: It was a basic line-up-four kind of game. I scrolled to the bottom then saw I had to type something in:

SUBMIT POWER-UP

The rules stated that whoever won the mini game would have their power up added to their menu. I thought about it for a minute. This was a chance to add some food to my menu. It was my weakness at the moment and if the next round of the game had a food component, I would finish in last place again.

I thought about the scenario before, the kid who threw the ice latte, the baby and the little old lady… Out of all of those, I think the baby helped me the most. It built up my confidence the most. What if the next scenario involved children again? If the red headed kid came back, I would have nothing to offer him! Maybe that’s why he was so angry at me, I didn’t have anything child-friendly!

So I typed in:

COLD DRINK MENU: ADD BUBBLE TEA

CONFIRM

ADD BUBBLE TEA? Y/N

Y

I stepped away from my screen and looked around; Marcus was busy entering something into his screen, and Speedy Sue was still talking to the annoying lady. Meh, I was happy with what I chose. I double checked the rules of the line-up four game and saw we would only play for sixty seconds, then… we’d start round 2 right away? Oh boy…

I was getting tired of waiting for Marcus and Speedy Sue so I walked up to the podium where I appeared before and the hatch above me activated with my weight, starting to lower the helmet with the neural link.

The others seemed to get the hint and walked up to their podiums and I heard Speedy Sue call out, “What’s your RUSH, MouseFace? In a hurry to LOSE?”

I heard a female voice laugh but I didn't care. I wasn’t exactly kicking butt right now, but I would NOT give anyone the satisfaction of seeing me squirm.

Summoning courage I didn’t know I had, I called out: “Let’s crush this mini game, guys!