Author Games: On Air

Task Four - The Secret in the Shed

Last week On Air:

The housemates were forced to confront their worst enemy, with results that varied from hilarious to downright catastrophic! It was a tough week already, with stress and emotion levels running high, and after a tense conclusion and the closest public vote so far, Amber, Lara, Luca, Kinsey and Hayln were evicted.

We're down to the last ten!

***

6:30 AM.

"Housemates! Rise and shine! Please assemble in the main room in twenty minutes!"

By now the steadily dwindling number of housemates are used to it and a few are already awake, fighting with hairbrushes and razors and cleansing creams. As usual, someone throws a pillow towards the nearest camera. It winks orange in return.

In precisely twenty one minutes the housemates are established in the main room and arranged around the screen. The smiley face beams back at them.

After a few minutes, nothing has happened. The housemates glance at each other. It has been a few days since they were locked in a room with their least favourite person and five of them left. Ten still feels like a small number and a definite sense of paranoia hangs over the room.

The theme song plays, monophonic and catchy, and fades out. It is followed by a small buzz as all the cameras in the room rotate to focus on them. Above the screen, a little red light begins to flash.

"Oh, hello. Thanks for assembling so promptly." A few people look puzzled; this isn't a voice they've heard before. It's male and polite and sounds as though the speaker is considering every single word carefully before they say it. "We hope that you have enjoyed your days off as much as the public has enjoyed watching them. We have a little task for you today."

Groans. The voice of Elpis Regnum makes a humming sound and waits for them to go quiet.

"Don't sound so upset. It isn't that bad. It doesn't require you to suffer the company of others. All you have to do is go about your everyday business. Throughout the day we will be calling out names. When your name is called you have to report to the locked shed at the end of the garden. You will be told what to do when you are there. But don't worry. It's not physically taxing." A short laugh, more like a bark. "We certainly do look forward to it."

TASK:

- Over the course of the day all the characters get their names called. Each visit to the shed lasts about five minutes and when people come back they say that they are not allowed to discuss what happened.

- The majority of your entry must cover the scene in the shed. The shed is empty apart from a chair facing into a camera. Underneath the camera is a screen. Once the character is seated, the screen shows the instruction: 'Time to confess! What is the worst thing you've ever done that nobody knows about?'

- Word Limit: 1,000

- 10PM GMT Tuesday 18th November.