When It's Time to Move On

Door 4 - Chapter 57 - The Exhibit

Huey began humming as he usually did. Only this time he had the correct tune.

"Oooh, Baby...Give me one more chance..." Huey sang under his breath, then repeated it again as he couldn't recall what came after.

"Won't you please let me...?" Zafina correctly uttered the next line, much to Harris's surprise. She also wasn't able to complete the song after that one line.

Zafina and Huey recited together several times, eagerly hoping to get it right.

"...Back to your heart..." Harris heard himself complete the sentence, it was the other two staring at him in surprise now. "That is the line, right?"

"Yes!"

"Tryin to live without your love is one long sleepless night... I want you back!"

They all completed the song together and even applauded their own performance. Such was the relief in finally identifying the song that had been haunting them the entire trip.

"So after all this time, the song that was stuck in our heads was a Michael Jackson song," said Harris, slightly bemusedly. "And here I was thinking it was some hidden message."

He peeked out the window. Up until now, within each door, he'd faced a recurring motif. An object such as Roslin's plaque, or a sound like the ticking of Jake's watch. Each time he'd uncovered the mystery, something big had happened. Yet now, it all seemed the same, the only difference was the enthusiastic singing of his two companions. Perhaps this was the light giving him a break for once. And with that thought, Harris cheerfully joined in with the reprisal of the song.

They were nowhere close to figuring out what the plan was for Huey. They'd decided to attend the exhibit, then worry about their problems.

"If only you'd let us see the pictures. We'll know how you are compared to the competition,"  Zafina complained, eying the camera.

"I'm not scared at all." Huey bragged. "I can bet we're winning..."

"...We are so losing..." Huey moaned as soon as they entered the massive exhibit hallway.

The exhibit was extremely modernized. Participants only had to upload their pictures to the database, and their images would be streamed publically along the digitized walls, completely anonymous.

A podium was placed on the stage. Each participant would have to individually speak about their pictures. The place was abuzz with hundreds of people circling around to survey the photos, cameramen snapped the contestants and interviewers, while the judges stood huddled in their own corner. A feminine and robotic voice echoed around the hall, announcing each entrant's name; it was quite a sight to behold.

"Don't worry, maybe these pictures are photoshopped," Zafina offered hope, as they glimpsed a gorgeous backdrop of an Amazon forest with birds flying across the horizon.

Harris could tell they truly wanted him to win this, even more so apparent when the reward was displayed before them.

"A contract for Captivate magazine?" Huey read, awestruck. "Anywhere you want to go? Wow!"

The idea of winning was something he hadn't let his mind wander to at all, but now he couldn't help himself imagining how proud his sister would be if he could pull it off. And just like that, a nervous tingling entered his chest. Huey and Zafina pretended to be uninterested in the other entries, which he appreciated even though they were entirely unconvincing.

The exhibit began shortly. A participant would take the stage and their respective images would be displayed behind them. A few weren't able to bring to life what the picture conveyed, which was a shame considering most of them were very striking to look at. Harris changed his game plan repeatedly in his head based on the response every participant received.