The Contract

I walked out the door and felt it on my neck. Cold steeel about the size of a washer pressed hard against me. I heard a voice.

"Do what I say or you will regret it."

I nodded. Fear welling up in my throat like a piece of dry bread that I wasn't quite able to swallow.

"What do I need to do?" I asked, trembling.

I found myself running down a set of slate steps..you know the kind-old, low risers and long treads...almost floating, faster and faster, to the bottom. As I reached the bottom, I realized I had no idea what my task was. No sooner has I reached the bottom than I was greeted by a goon telling me that I had not done what I was supposed to do. He showed me a picture of my brother. He was laying at an odd angle. Head tilted back, arms and legs splayed unnaturally. I knew instantly that he was dead...and "they" had killed him. I started hitting the goon as hard as a could. I pounded his chest and face until I looked up and realized I was no longer at the bottom of the steps. He told me we were in Tokyo and that I needed to take some time to rethink my situation.

I awoke the next morning, having decided my situation hopeless-I must do what they wanted. I tried again with the assigned task, but as I was completing it, I looked up and saw a friend. This was someone I was interested in romantically, and I felt my whole being lift when I saw him. Because I was in the middle of this life-saving task, I could only wave. He smiled and waved back saying, in the minute we had to speak, that he had to meet a friend and return a shirt. Later that afternoon, I was able to sit for a minute. I was in an amphitheater-like structure, so I chose a "terrace" and sat. Just as I was able to relax, my friend showed up, and saw me again. He smiled, but his smile quickly turned to a look as if to say, "Trust me, I like you, too. You didn't have to follow me here."

He didn't know that I didn't follow him-that I was only on a short break from my assigned task. And, I didn't know that the seat I had chosen was just below his friend to whom he was returning a shirt.

The end of the second day ended again in Tokyo, with a photo of another brother, clearly murdered because I did not complete my task successfully.

Feeling hopeless and helpless, I decided one more time to try to complete the task on the third day. Down the slate steps I went again, realizing upon reaching the bottom, that the goon was there again. Up the steps to the top I ran again, Suddenly, I realized that not only was I moving up and down, but also side to side, in huge, sweeping arcs. I knew what would happen next. My sister would die for the fact that I could not complete my task. I sank to my knees sobbing at the loss I had experienced and was about to, when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

The goon was standing there holding a piece of paper. He told me that the last three days had been a test. I had passed the test, and no one in my family had actually been killed. My sister came out from behind a heavy brown curtain to prove that she was OK. Both of my brothers were on a video conference and alive and well. They were all present when I was told.

The test I had passed was to see if I had the stamina for my own reality TV show. The paper the goon held was a million-dollar contract to begin immediately.

I heard the alarm and sat up. Never knowing if I actually signed the contract. Would you?