The Library

Sixth Story

During her morning walk, Gwen was surprised to notice one of the large boulders behind the house, in the place where she usually gathered the eggs every evening, was missing.

Its empty spot looked unnaturally hard and flat, and upon closer observation, Gwen noticed, to her great bewilderment, that it was a poured concrete foundation.

"Oh," No. 7 spoke from behind her, "I see they finally took it for repairs. I thought they were going to put that off until it completely crumbled."

"Who's they?" Gwen asked, feeling like she'd just fallen on her head.

"The tech crew, of course," No. 7 mentioned.

"But," Gwen whispered, suddenly embarrassed, "I thought we were here alone, all that talk about being lost, not being able to find the way back, all of it?"

"I'm sorry, dear, we thought you were the new actress. We're not supposed to get out of character. We never suspected..."

"What the hell do you mean?"

"We're filming a reality show, Ultimate Survival. You must have seen it, it's been running for a very long time, very good ratings."

"A reality show?? I've been stuck here forever!"

"They stretch these things as far as they can, at least the popular ones. This is season thirteen."

"You mean to tell me I could have gotten out of here a long time ago?" Gwen's rage brought all the blood to her cheeks.

"Gotten out of here? Do you have any idea how many people interviewed for your role? People would kill to get this part! You should see the ratings, apparently your naïveté plays very well with the younger audience. They already decided to run the series for another season, and guess what?"

Gwen started fussing, too furious to utter a single word.

No. 7 continued, as if he didn't notice her outrage.

"They are going to cast you in the next season too," he whispered, excited.

"Why in the world would I want to spend one more minute in here?!" she exploded.

"Do you have any idea how rarely that happens?" No. 7 looked shocked. "They are always on the lookout for a fresh face. Recasting is like a miracle!"

"So, they've been here the entire time, watching us?" Gwen's upset rose to new heights.

"Filming, you mean," No. 7 replied. "What part of reality show wasn't clear? Of course they're filming us, that's all the show is about - us. Aren't we the celebrities?"

"So, all that pot and mushrooms and tequila, was it all acting?"

"Well, most of it. We did sneak in a bit of the real thing, you know, for authenticity. I mean, we're declaiming in Ancient Greek, for crying out loud, one needs a bit to take the edge off. Learning those lines was the hardest thing I ever had to do for a role. I feel like I can almost speak the language now," he confessed. "Not!" He laughed it off, with a jolly attitude completely out of character.

"So," Gwen pushed the boundary, "you're not really a bitter old man."

No. 7 let out a hearty laughter which lasted for a while. When it subsided, he answered.

"God no! I'm 37. This is the composition role of a lifetime. Do you mean you bought it? I always worried I overdid it. It's not easy living in stage makeup twenty-four hours a day."

"You made me eat vulture eggs!"

"The director thought that was a great idea, well, selling them as vulture eggs. They have a farm nearby, they keep a lot of fowl. You never had turkey eggs before, I take it. Not the tastiest, but at least they're pasteurized."