The Race

I am dreaming that I am looking around my old province of New York. I try to find my mother, Kassy, Court, Jake and Sarah's bodies. One at a time. Kassy's, my nine year old sister is my priority; I know she is with my mother's. I look all around the rubble. Skyscrapers have fallen and people are looking for loved ones from the race like mine. My mother, sister and I were separated three weeks ago, that's when it all started.

I was reading to Kassy before she went to bed. An old book titled Goldie Locks and the Three Bears, Kassy's favorite. That's when the sirens went off. Over the loud speaker of the city came the voice of President Rain.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please go to your underground bomb and storm shelters. The entire province of New York is under attack, the War of the Nations has reached us"

Kassy and my mother were the first to flip out. I was a little scared but I refused to let it show. My mom took Kassy to her work at the mental hospital when she was called in, so I called my best friend, Jake.

"Hey Jake. My mom and Kassy just left for my mom's work, so would your mom care if you and she came over? I'm here alone. You know how I hate being panicked and alone at the same time." I explained.

Yeah, I'll ask." I can hear him calling for his mom. "Yeah, we'll go through the underground tunnels, we'll be there in about 20 minutes."

"Jake, swear to me that you'll be careful, you don't know what the attackers are going to do." I said starting to cry.

"I swear that my mom and I will be as careful as possible. "

"Good, and please hurry, I'm terrified"

Click. The panic is starting too subtle now that I know I won't be alone.

About 15 minutes later, I'm listening to music; I hear knocking at the door to where the tunnels connect to my house. Jake. I hurry up the stairs, almost tripping three or four times. I open the door but what I see scares me.

Jake and his mom are tied up next to two government officials. One of the officers asks me my name. I think about it slowly and respond by telling him Jessica Harris and that everyone calls me Jessie. Next thing I know, everything goes black to the sound of Jakes muffled screams.

When I awake, I am in strange outfit, it has no sleeves and no pants, and it is purple and sparkly.

"Jessie? Are you awake yet?" Jake asks outside the door

"Jake? Come in, hurry!" I exclaim

Jake comes in the room and is so handsome, and all of a sudden, my stomach feels like it has butterflies in it. "Tonight is the banquet, we were voted in to compete in this year's race with Kassy, your mom, Court and Sarah, we go to this and do two weeks of training"

I remember the encounter with the officer and ask, "How long was I out?"

Jake thinks for a moment and responds," Two weeks, I think."

"Oh… I thought it was longer than that…"

We leave for the banquet and are asked lots of questions about the race and our plans if we win. We are all here… Us New Yorkers, the Cali's from the other half of North America, and all the other people who were voted in from everywhere from Europe to Africa to Asia, almost all of us will die on the first day.

We get back from the banquet and I fall asleep instantly without even changing. In the morning, Jake, Court, Sarah, Kassy, my mother and I all go to training, we eat lunch, train some more and go back to the hotel and go to bed, and this is our new routine for two weeks straight. Finally, after two whole weeks of excruciating training, it is the night before the race; we have to watch a video about the rules even though we watch it every other year on television.

"'In the Race, the,' the announcer says, 'you will have to compete in a maze so dangerous, only one can win, the rest of you will die. The maze has many traps and dead ends with things like tigers that will maul you, guns that will shoot you, water that will drown you, fire that will make you burn and spiders and snakes that have venom that will make you die a slow and painful death. So my advice to you is to watch where you step throughout the maze. This concludes our 'rules for the race' video.'"

That night I have to take sleeping medication to help me sleep, I dream that I am forced to watch everyone I love die while I am trapped in a room and chained to a chair. I wake up screaming and my mother, Kassy, Jake, Court, and Sarah rush in as if they hadn't been sleeping. I explain my dream and so we decide to sleep in the same room.

In the morning, I wake up to an empty room. I get dressed in what seems like my gym clothes; shorts, a T-shirt and tennis shoes.

I go to breakfast but no one eats. I don't blame them.

After, I go to the starting line with a plan to stick with my friends and family.

"Three… Two… One… Let this years race begin!" The announcer exclaims.

My mother and Kassy are trailing behind the rest of us. My mother is trying to be careful but she is being slowed down because Kassy is on her shoulders. The next thing I know is that my mom trips and I hear two gunshots. I dared not to look back, but I shed a tear for them I will have no one … I think as I run, I grab a bag filled with food and water, I toss a bottle of water to Jake. Court and Sarah have abandoned us but not long after, I hear Court screaming Sarah's name. Three more gunshots and the screaming stops. The only people left are Jake, three European girls and an African girl and boy.

"Jake? If you win, try to find our bodies and burry us peacefully, and if I win, I'll do the same, deal?"

"Deal."

The traps are disabled at night, or so we thought. We hear one or two screams of what seems like the teenagers from Europe along with the sound waves followed with a lion roar. This is more dangerous than I thought. The only people left are one of the teen girls, the African boy and girl, Jake and me. That night I fell asleep in Jake's arms.

In the morning, we eat a breakfast of bread with honey and water from the bag that I picked up. Then we are off. As we start running, a package comes out a wall, followed by another, Jake is cautious when he opens them. A gun is in one and a knife is in the other, I trained with guns along with Jake in training but Jake knows how to use a knife better than I do so I get the gun.

We find the last teen from Europe, her clothes torn apart and bloody, probably from the lion. She begs me to kill her and gives me her bow with 10 arrows. I killed her but I felt bad about it, oh well, I will move on soon enough I think. We come across the girl and boy from Africa, we offer peace but they take blow dart guns and shoot at us so we killed them also.

We get to the finish but the announcer says only one winner is allowed, so Jake kisses me and says, "Remember to burry me peacefully next to where my dad was buried."

He takes the gun from my hands; I know what he is doing.

"Jake?" I ask

"Yeah?" He responds with a single tear rolling down his cheek.

"I love you." I say kissing him again.

"I know. I have always loved you."

"I know." I say crying.

Jake puts the gun to his head after praying silently and pulls the trigger. I catch him as he falls to the ground and I whisper goodbye to him.

I take the gun from his warm, soft hands and put the gun to my head, "Goodbye world." I say as I pull the trigger.