I started to walk over to the mysterious red door as the announcement continued to go off in the lobby:

ALL KSK PLAYERS TO THE RED DOOR

ALL KSK PLAYERS TO THE RED DOOR

Speedy Sue was walking up to the door, arm in arm with Katie Bee, while Marcus walked behind her. Considering he’d just won a round, he didn’t look happy. I hadn’t seen him smile yet, even when everyone was applauding him.

There was a button to open the door and Speedy Sue pushed me out of the way to press it. I was getting tired of her aggressive attitude, but I’m not the confrontational type. She sashayed ahead of me into the boardroom.

It was similar to the other boardrooms in the facility but this room had no windows at all, just an enormous, wooden, conference table for about 12 people, with plush chairs around it. It seemed dimly lit on purpose, but why? I pulled one out and sat, while Speedy Sue and Katie sat together at the head of the table.

A tall man in a suit walked in behind Marcus and the door closed after him. “Thank you for coming, players. I’m Mr Stand” (Mr Stand… that's an interesting name. He didn’t sit down, that means he won’t stay long…)

“I won’t keep you, I need to formally announce we’re postponing Round 3, until tomorrow. Normally, we’d have the first three rounds on the same day, to maximize audience engagement, but we’ve had a software issue. Don’t worry, it’s just a glitch. (Is he looking at me? No, not at all… he’s basically only talking to the others.)

“So tonight, when you retire to your rooms we’ll run some diagnostics and have the game ready to go tomorrow. Any questions?”

Marcus looked at me, as if wanting to say something and Speedy Sue called out, “Can we broadcast from our rooms?” (What? Did she want fans to see her sleeping or something? That’s just weird…)

“There’s no option to broadcast in the room, but you can broadcast in many other spaces, just hit the button. Anything else?

“Can we call our families?” (I was going to ask that! I can’t believe Marcus got in before me!)

“Well no, as you know there is a moratorium on contacting home till round 10. That remains in place.”

Silence followed, even from Speedy Sue.

“Ok, if that’s all, I’ll be going. Enjoy the facilities.” Mr Stand left from the same door, he didn’t even look back. He’d said, “enjoy the facilities” in the same tone you’d say, “Beware of the wasp nest.”

I’d figured it out… I was the glitch! They knew about my ice hands because it was in the game. I wouldn’t have them anymore in the next round and I was fine with that. I just wanted to sit somewhere private and figure out if I could still do anything with them.

“I’m going to broadcast, see you tomorrow losers,” called Speedy Sue as she walked out, closely followed by Katie Bee.

Marcus walked past me to leave as I was standing up. “Hey good job winning the beach round,” I said. He turned, eyes drilling into me.

“I can’t tell if you’re being sincere or not,” he murmured, keeping his eyes down. (Why would I not be sincere?)

“I am being sincere, I mean… I mean it. Good job.”

“Really?” (Was he fishing for another compliment? There was a LOT to compliment but this was not the time or place.)

“Yes!” I straightened up, trying to look confident and started to walk out. “We’re competing, I get that, but I’m not… like Speedy Sue, so.. Good for you.”

He still looked surprised but he managed the tiniest ghost of a smile as he looked at me. “That’s a good attitude, I guess. I’ll see you around.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

What was that? I have no idea what that was. He’s very good looking, but I don’t understand him at all. It’s like he doesn’t want to be here.

Back in the lobby, Katie Bee was organising winner photos for the fans, so Marcus and Speedy Sue had to stay behind and pose. I was really glad to be able to leave and explore a little before bed.

The nice security guard pointed out the winners’ quarters to me and I went to check it out. Before the game, I’d never stayed in a room that was so fancy. At home I had a single bed, the same bed I’d had all my life, and here I had a huge bed all to myself. I also had a bathroom that only I would be using, which blew my mind as I’d never had that before. It was the perfect place to figure out what my hands could do.

I closed the bathroom door and turned on the water in the tap. I cupped the flowing water and shut my eyes and focused.

FREEZE.

The familiar feeling shot down the back of my neck and into my arms, then hands, and in an instant, the water I held solidified into a perfect ice imprint of my cupped hands. I almost dropped the ice formation in the sink, it was smooth, cold and beautiful. I marvelled at the water, once a liquid, now a solid. Because of me, I did that!

I placed it gently in the sink to melt. Then I stuck a finger in the stream from the tap and focused again. It was just a finger, so I didn’t close my eyes, I just stared hard and thought.

FREEZE.

The stream froze around my finger and more water flowed, pushing the frozen cylinder of water out of the way. I could do it with ANY part of my hands, but I had to be touching the water somehow. What if my hand was moving?

I poured a glass and dipped my index finger in, swirling, thinking hard.

FREEZE.

An ice spiral formed, tapping lightly against the side of the glass. Wow. Wait a minute… there’s a bathtub behind me… maybe I should…Ok, I’ll do it.

I plugged the bath and began to run the water. I was SO glad there was no evidence of what I was doing, it just melted!

As the bath filled, I looked around the room. There was a small desk with a stack of paper (YAY! Drawing!) with pens and pencils, and a desk lamp. I wanted to change into something to sleep in and found the ordering screen near the empty wardrobe. No matter the game, the facility had to provide whatever you needed, so I typed in:

Long night shirt with a cat on it and matching slippers.

There was no question it wouldn’t fit, the game knew all my dimensions because it regularly made a perfect simulation of me. The parcel would arrive at the door soon and I’d have to think of clothes for tomorrow. I typed in:

Denim overalls, t shirt with kitten on it, loose black cardigan, underwear and socks.

I didn’t understand why Speedy Sue and Marcus had to look amazing outside of the game- I mostly wanted to be comfortable in between the rounds so I could relax. Speedy Sue would probably spend hours agonising over clothes, but it just didn’t matter to me like it did to them.

I finished the order and went to check on the bath. It was almost full: perfect.

Playfully, I picked up a handful of water and focused hard as I threw it. The water touching my hand hardened into a blobby shape and fell into the water with a plop. Ok, so I can’t throw snowballs.

I did manage to make a sort of ball shape of ice, but I need to have my hands making contact. When I dragged my hands through the water, long, solid fingers of ice followed. I shook my hands while focusing and the droplets hit the surface of the water as ice drops. This is so cool! Literally!

But as I played more, I felt myself growing tired. There was beginning to be a pain at the base of my skull where the port of the game connected to the government mandated implant. Whatever gives energy to my “power”, starts to take a toll after a while. Hrmmm…

I went to the small fridge and drank some chilled apple juice, thinking there might be a connection, and there was. The pain went away, but returned when I started playing, as if the ice I was making was coming from fluid in my body, at least partly. I took the biggest drink I could and decided to do one last experiment.

I rolled up my sleeves and thrust both hands into the bath up to the elbow. It felt cold, but good. I focused as hard as I could and internally screamed the command:

FREEZE!

The icy feeling shot down my arms, even colder than the water, but the power obeyed me! The entire tub froze solid, and the sides groaned at the sudden change in temperature. My hands were trapped! The solid ice held me for a moment until I moved my fingers and painfully slid free.

Then… only then did I feel the pain.

Too much. Too much. The base of my skull felt like someone had hit me… and weirdly, my eyes hurt. I almost fell face first into the ice, my head hurt to hold up.

I had to crawl, I couldn’t walk. I put one, cold hand ahead of the other and dragged myself out of the bathroom leaving trails of water.

Too much, must… lie… down…

I barely made it to the bed. I’m… so … tired…