I glance around the room I am in. I have no idea where I am. I have no idea how I got here. The last thing I remember is waking up here, and that was just moments ago. I feel fresh, rejuvenated, as if I have been asleep for weeks. My body is eager to move, but I am confined in this tiny room.
The room I am in is completely white; the walls, the ceiling and the floors – although not a clean kind of white, a faded, old-looking shade of the colour. The room is almost bare. There is a single bed, with a skimpy blue blanket tossed over it and a featherless, deflated pillow. There is a small table in the corner, with a folded piece of paper sitting on it as well as a neatly folded change of clothes and sitting on the floor beside the table is a backpack.
I slowly pace around the room. It is windowless, and the only entrance to the room is a door made of steel. There are no knobs on it, and it secured tightly shut. It appears to be a sliding door. Its steel is cool to the touch, and judging by the lack of movement when I press my hands against it, it is thick, sturdy. In other words, it would take a lot more than just an eighteen year old girl to get through it.
I approach the table in the corner of the cramped room and lift the piece of paper up from the desk. It is sealed with a small dollop of hardened maroon-coloured wax, with some sort of an emblem I don’t recognise printed onto it. The emblem consists of two letters, ‘M’ and ‘H’ printed beside each other. It obviously stands for something, but I cannot guess that at the moment.
Cautiously – as to not rip the paper itself – I use my fingernail and slip it under the wax. I then push my thumb forwards and remove the wax from the paper, it slides onto the table. I then take the paper and return to the bed, perching on the edge. The first thing I notice is that it is printed; it is not hand-written. The second thing I notice is that it is addressed to me.
Dear Alice,
You may be wondering why we have brought you here and perhaps where exactly ‘here’ is. Well we are pleased to inform you that your parents signed you up to participate in a new TV game show. In this game show, twelve teenagers will participate as two teams of six for the possibility of winning a grand sum of one million Euros for each member of the winning team.
The game you will be playing is a slightly modified version of a game called ‘Man Hunt’ which you may or may not already be familiar with. The aim of the game is to find members of the opposing team and find out their letters. Each member will have a single letter to guard, which will piece together to make a word which you must guess before the other team have guessed yours.
Which brings us to you Alice; you are one of six members of the blue team and are therefore opposing the red team. You will be assigned a letter (which is printed at the bottom of this page) and you will have to guard it with your life – hypothetically speaking of course! For your sake, and the sake of your team, it is wise to keep this information to yourself. In other words, don’t tell anyone else, even if you think they can be trusted!
You will notice that there is a metal bracelet on your wrist; this is for us to keep track of your location, monitor your heart rate and finally, make sure you have a healthy blood rate. As well as this, it is to make sure you do not lie to your opponents about your assigned letter. We will be monitoring you via microphone which is installed in the bracelet and we will make sure that you do not try to deceive the opposing team. If you lie to them about your assigned letter, the bracelet will blink blue, informing them of your dishonesty.
On the floor beside you, you will also notice that we have left you a backpack containing some survival gear as well as a change of more suitable clothing. We ask that you change into them soon – before you exit the room. We also want to ask you not to be alarmed by the contents of the bag; we have packed items for you that may or may not be necessary, so again, don’t be frightened. They are just there in case they are needed.
Finally, we wish you good luck. This game will not be easy, but earning such a huge sum of money never is. Also, we ask that you leave this letter here in the room when you leave, to make sure no other candidates get their hands on your letter, as keeping it safe is imperative to your well being. So with that, we wish you the best of luck once more, the door of the room will be opening shortly and then you may meet the rest of your team and get on with the game. We will provide you with further instructions shortly once you have met your team.
YOUR LETTER IS A
Kind regards, MH.
I stare at the piece of paper in my hands, unsure of what to think. I don’t know how I feel at the moment. Worry? Excitement? Fear? I cannot tell. That was a lot of information to take in all in one go. I re-read the letter again, allowing the words to fully sink in and to properly familiarise myself with the rules of the game.
I understand the game as I did play it when I was younger. It involves two groups of children who basically beat the crap out of each other until the victims finally give in and tell the opposing team their letter. It was quite a brutal game, but I was reared in a rough neighbourhood.
So many thoughts flood my mind, pushing the rules of the game from it. I’m going to be on television, which is completely absurd! What is even more surreal is that I will be competing for the chance to win one million Euros for myself and my family, a life-changing amount of money for anyone to receive, especially during the economic downturn our country is barely crawling through.
I raise my arm and glance at my wrist. I hadn’t noticed the bracelet locked around it previously, it is practically weightless. I examine it, although I cannot seem to figure out anything from it. It is a thin ring of metal with a small section slightly larger than the rest – a screen – which is blank. There are two tiny letters engraved into it just below the small screen, the same two that keep appearing everywhere, ‘MH’.
I read the sentence printed in bold over and over despite the fact that I know I will never forget my letter. It is too memorable. It’s the first letter of the alphabet, it’s also my initial.
‘’A is for Alice,’’ I mutter quietly to myself, ‘’A is for Alice.’’
I get up off the bed, placing the letter addressed to me on the bed beside me and getting to my feet. I approach the table again and grab the clothes from the table – which are folded neatly in a pile.
There is a pair of sturdy-looking hiking boots, along with some grey hiking trousers and a blue vest. There is also a blue and black anorak folded neatly beside it. I also find a belt and a blue bandana in the pile.
Once I am confident that there are no cameras in the room after a thorough examination, I quickly strip off and pull the new set of clothes onto myself. I pull on the top and trousers and slip on the boots and secure the laces. Then I adjust the belt and tie the bandana around my wrist, it’s not something I’d wear on my head. I place the thin anorak on the bed; I won’t need that for the moment.
Although I am only wearing a vest, I am by no means cold. It is quite warm in the room. Although I cannot remember what time of the year it should be, the temperature indicates it is either late spring or early summer.
‘’A is for Alice,’’ I say once again in a whisper.
I pull the backpack from the floor and empty the contents onto the bed. Quite a strange assortment of items pours out before me. I identify a sleeping bag – indicating I will be here longer than just a day, and I won’t be returning to this room. I also find a small water bottle, unfortunately empty as well as a small lunchbox containing some bread and ham. There is a set of flint and steel, a torch, a small map and also a coil of wire. The last item that drops out causes my jaw to hang low; this must be the item they talked about that may cause alarm.
I gawk in confusion at a large hunting knife.
Why would we need this? Are there animals near us? Judging from the map supplied, I am currently on an island completely water-locked. Does this island house animals that could be a danger to us? Surely the TV programme has our best interests in mind; surely we can’t be harmed while under their control.
My train of thought is interrupted by the door of the room I am in. It slowly begins to slide open, allowing natural light to enter the room. I quickly grab my letter and stow it under the covers of the bed. I then quickly shove everything back into the backpack – including the anorak – and throw it over my back. I get to my feet, release a short and shallow breath and approach the door.
I peer out of the doorway, allowing only my head to creep into the hallway. I look both left and right cautiously, unsure of what to expect. About five meters to the left is a doorway that leads outside. The area beyond the threshold is green; thick grass is growing and a few meters away from the building are large oak trees.
To my right, the hallway extends about fifteen meters; there are two other doorways on the side of the hall my room is on and three on the side opposite me. The closest room to mine is the one on the wall opposite, although the room is not parallel to mine own, so I cannot see inside.
I glance up the hallway as a foot steps out from a room situated at the end of the hall. The foot soon extends into a leg and then the rest of the body appears. I glance at a boy that looks about my age, with a caramel coloured tan and wavy, blonde hair. He is quite tall and well built and he is dressed in similar attire to myself – a blue tank top and grey hiking trousers. His bandana is tied around his neck and it hangs loosely.
I must have made some sort of a noise, because the boy turns to look at me and I gasp in shock for no apparent reason. As we make eye contact I slip back into my room.
What are you doing Alice? You look like an idiot! I silently scold.
The noise of his heavy hiking boots thud as he makes his way down the hall towards my room. I stand just inside the door, cursing myself and having a quiet debate within my own head about whether or not I should step back out to meet him, or let him come to me to find me cowering in the room alone.
Do something Alice! Orders the inner voice of my conscience, although I do not move.
His footsteps get louder until he is just outside, he knocks on the wall of the room and I gasp once more. His head then appears and he smiles weakly, nervously at me.
‘’Hi,’’ he says cautiously.
‘’Hi.’’
‘’Do you have a name?’’ he questions, I nod my head.
He grins at me.
‘’Alice.’’
‘’Nice to meet you Alice, I’m Aaron,’’ he says.
‘’Aaron,’’ I repeat and he smirks.