"You will have six months to complete the dare. I will compensate all of your travelling and living fees during this time. You must record all of your attempts to complete it. Your failure to complete the dare will result with me revoking the funds I have gifted you. If you are able to complete my dare, you will receive 500 million dollars at the end of the six month term.'
I don't know how I am going to go about this dare. All of my other dares are straightforward; I know what I have to do, then I do it. Easy. Quick. Simple. Two weeks was my longest dare term. But this one is different. I have to find a fear. I don't even remember what fear feels like, let alone know what I'm afraid of. I'm concerned I won't be able to find a fear.
I have to go through with this. 500 million bucks is a lot of money. Theo needs this money, and if I finish this dare successfully, I'd never have to lift a finger again. That would be beyond amazing. Six months will be enough time.
"Sounds reasonable." Theo tells me. I nod in agreement.
"So we have a deal?" We nod in synchronization. "Sign here then." He states. I pick up his pen, which glides as smoothly as the flawless, cold metal feels in my hands.
••• • •••
Theo and I are sitting on my living room floor, discussing where to start. How does one find a fear, if they can't even remember what it feels like to be afraid?
"We should start with the basics. We already know you can deal with crazy tasks, because I've watched you do them many times."
'Yes.' I sign.
"And we know that you aren't quite afraid of the things that general people are," I gesture for him to continue, eager to hear what he has to say. "Then again, normal people aren't generally exposed to the extremes of their fears. For example, how often does an arachnophobic person experience hundreds of spiders crawling on them at once? Or an acrophobic get pushed off of an Olympic high dive?
"I guess what I'm saying is we know that you aren't afraid of normal things, so let's heighten normal fears and create a list of extremes circumstances that could possibly induce fear in the fearless little person that is you." He teases and pokes me in the arm. I like his idea though. It seems logical enough, and well what other options do we have?
'If you're saying what I think you're saying, we're going to manipulate common fears into something more up my alley?'
"That's exactly what I'm saying."
'I like it.'
"I thought you might." He grinned. During this exchange I feel a serious sense of déjà vu. I think back to when I first knew Theo, back when he was eighteen and I was nineteen, back when he proposed the idea of us becoming business partners, selling my dares as entertainment and a form of gambling for rich people.
••• • •••
'So you're saying, that because I claim I'm not afraid of anything people will pay to prove me wrong? That they'll find watching me complete their dares amusing enough to pay for it?'
"That's exactly what I'm saying."
'I like it.'
"I thought you might."
••• • •••
'Remember when when we started all of this?' I sign, feeling a bit nostalgic. He sighs. I continue, 'Back when we would do anything for a bit of money to keep us going?'
He smiles, looking into the distance while almost completing my thoughts, "Yeah, back when I thought I was such a genius for coming up with the idea of our business. We were so young."
I playfully slapped his arm and rolled my eyes. 'That was a year ago, you idiot, we still are young.'
"Kidding, I was kidding!" He laughs, holding his hands up and back as if surrendering.
'Afraid, are we?'
"No, I'm not afraid of you, October Waters." He shrugs, holding his head high. I draw my fist back, and sure enough he cowers away.
'Thought so.'
He mimics my signs and does an immature impression of me. I raise my fist once more and that shuts him up.
'Oh Theodore.' I sign, getting up.
"Crazy woman." I hear him mutter under his breath.
'I'm mute, not deaf. I'm going to go make a sandwich.' I sign while walking to my kitchen to fix my sandwich.
"Can you make me one too? I'm feeling famished, but I'm too lazy to get up. The floor and I are just getting acquainted." He calls after me. Sighing, I comply.
I begin to think about fear more deeply than I ever have before, which is strange considering my job is to complete dares, and find myself lost in what the word itself actually means.
fear (noun)
/'fir/
An unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.
I felt hopeless because I knew that even if I were to look death in the eye, I wouldn't flinch.
