Cez Presents: The Tournament

Date: 8/13/2018

I dreamt that me, and a hundred others got picked to attend a ten day contest for a cash prize of 100,000 dollars in full. Whoever won the most challenges in all of the ten days would win the prize. However, wining doesnt actually mean winning for most of the challenges- For most of the challenges, the word "completed" applies. But still, pretty hard to do when your up against 100 people, and the slots were very limited. No one would be disqualified, but there could be only one winner. There were team crocus races, ball throws, and riddles. If you were faster than anyone else, then there'd always be someone to outsmart you. In the different challenges, people's pros could ultimately be their cons. I lived in a bunk with 10 other people. One of them most remerably, was a 97 year old woman as thin as a twig. When everyone was done for the day I asked, "why did you sign up for this competition? Wouldn't you rather be at home?" She nodded understandingly and laughed. "Ha! I suppose I did it for the fun of it. I miss being young again. After my husband died, I guess I wanted to live life to its fullest. And if I win, hoo hoo, wait until the girls at the bingo tournament see me now!" She chuckled under her breath. "And you, why did you join the tournament?" I shrugged. "Eh, same as you I guess. I wanted something to do, for the fun of it I suppose." At the ninth night, I began measuring everyone's points. Two beefy guys past me on the way to the dining hall. "Sick! You got Nine? I have eight!!" At this point, I knew I wasn't going to win. Each days competition was worth a point, and we only had one day left. Out of the days I had won total, I only had 3 points. I won dart toss by a fluke because someone got disqualified for hitting another person in the eye, and the hurt person had to leave too. Most kids I had met had racked up at least 5 points, and most salvaged with 6. Although I met a couple with zero points, it was clear that I was doing it for the heck of it at this point. By the tenth day, we were all gathered in a circle a foot ball field long. The stretch was walled in and we were all wearing black athletic wear. A speaker greeted us on the intercom: "Hello, and welcome to your last day! Today's game is called the slapping game!" "Your goal of the game is to out last all of your components until you are the one left standing!" "At the sound of the buzzer, your objective is to slap your opponents shoulder and get them out." The speaker person laughed. "Luckily, most of us have two shoulders! If both of your shoulders are hit, you must sit down on the side lines." " however, there's a catch! If you and an opponent slap both of each other at the same time, then you must both be disqualified! Got it?" "Ready in three, two, one. Go!" At the sound of the buzzer, I stepped forward, instantly to be slapped by the guy nearest to me. "No hard feelings, Right?" The green haired guy chuckled in his soccer shoes. He turned and jogged to the middle of the circle. With only one shoulder remaining, I basically resigned myself to failure, and trudged to the sidelines. Most people were fighting here and there, some even tried cheating, but referee men in red and orange would pull them out of the ring, kicking and screaming. A crowd of sitting people was forming on the edges of the circle, so I walked over and talked to a few of them to pass the time. Fifteen minutes had passed. The crowd of people was starting to thin, but it still wasn't done yet. All around, you could hear the little beeps of the devices in our sleeves going off as someone else was slapped. Some crowds were teaming up with each other, promising to split the spoils amongst friends. Others worked alone. Someone mentioned how tall people had sort of an advantage. I agreed. The monitor blared over static. "Ahem? May I have your attention please." "There appears to be a change in the rules that I had forgot to mention." "Since this is the last day, there is an added bonus. Whoever wins today, will receive an additional ten points to their overall score." They stopped. "That means whoever has five points, their score will automatically become a fifteen. Seven points, a seventeen and so on and so forth. It only seems natural since this is the tenth day, hm? Well then, good luck." The crowd of people in the middle became an all out brawl. People were screaming and punching each other. Civilized teams disbanded and fought on their own. It didn't even seem like they were doing it for the money anymore. They were simply beating each other to a bloody pulp. "Hey you!" A brolic man saw me witnessing the middle. "Comeere!" He caught me by the shirt and was about to slap me when another man punched him square in the jaw. I ducked down and managed to escape between them. Things were getting intense would be an understatement. This was havoc. There were people begging to be slapped by others just to get out of the brawl, pleading with the refferees to eliminate them, even slapping themselves if they needed to. Even the people sitting down were getting squeamish. At this time I noticed the other people standing to the sidelines too, and realized I wasn't out of the game yet. I took my hand and ran by, lightly slapping each of the bystanders in a uniform line without being detected. The match was down to about 14-20 or so. yes! I still had a chance! I thought, until I ran immediately headfirst into someone's back. That's when I blacked out. I opened my eyes wearily. There was now a crowd of people in black and white surrounding me. "Hey!! This one's still moving!!" A man in white said. "Are you alright?" One asked. "You might need to get the stretcher!" The person in white yelled back. I held my head and sat up. "Ugh. I'm f..fine. Wh.. what's happening? What's going on?" "They're up! False alarm! Call it off!" The man in white announced again. A very pretty girl answered, holding my face. "You won. Congratulations." "Ugh. Won what, exactly?" Someone in the crowd piped up. "You won. The game the money the everything. What score did you have??" I tried to think. "Uh..h. Three?" "Thirteen." Someone else whispered. The crowd around me buzzed with excitement. "It was down to two at one point. But they both slapped each other at the same time!" "The judges final decision was to call it a draw and split it even, until they saw that someone's devise was still blinking and then they spotted someone in the crowd! That's you!" "Don't try to stand up right now. You may have a concussion." The person in White advised. The medics in white gave me an ice pack and tested my vitals. When I was cleared, I stood up, bearly making sense of anything yet. Everyone clapped and applauded and someone shot a confetti cannon at my face. A fat guy in a fancy suit applauded and announced he was the mayor of this seemingly unknown California town. Then some extremely tall, thin and extremely bronzed models appeared with my outlandishly large check with my name in cursive. With much finesse, and balloons and what I could only assume was a sash and a gift basket, grouped together to do several shots with me. One accepting my gift, one with shaking the mayor's hand, one with the girls, one with the girls and the mayor. The photographer enthusiastically presented me my photos. I looked terrible in all of them, squinting at the photos and the mayor, still not processing anything. The photographer said that in the gift basket was his information and that the photos would be developed soon and sent to my location. He added that they would also be sent off to every major newspaper in the county, ' just like my legal forms agreed.' I headed back to my dorm, and packed up my things. I passed a few and they congratulated me on the way. I folded up the enormous check, dumbfounded, and stood outside alone in the street. While I waited for my über, I took off my shoes, because the rubber seemed to be melting on the sidewalk. My feet burned at the sensation. And then I woke up.