Grimm Games

Chapter 1: Sinister Showdown

"Six Contestants Face Death in the Twisted 'Grimm Games.'" I read the headline aloud from my laptop. And to add insult to injury, the daring caption came straight from Arcanum Entertainment's website.

Even though I'd gotten used to the Games' popularity, I was still astonished to see such a nonchalant attitude toward toying with people's lives on television.

"Isn't it so uncannily sadistic?" Jade walked through the narrow doorway with a crisp sheet of paper in her grip. She approached my second-hand desk with urgency. Her usually admiring brown eyes narrowed in disgust. "You see this, girl? We're nearing 100,000 signatures and that's still not enough to get the state's attention."

"That's still not enough, especially since there are over five million residents in this state alone." I sighed, rubbing my temple out of habit. "We knew it was gonna be hard to bring an end to something so popular. But we're making headway, aren't we? The number of detractors is growing."

"No one wants to die competing for a one in six chance at a few million dollars and have their death broadcasted to the masses, their families." Jade scanned the sheet, her dark, kinky ringlets hung from her head to obscure one eye. The urge to swipe it back behind her ear nagged at me. "They yearn for an easier life, a chance at a better future. And whose fault is that?"

She slipped the paper on my desk before meeting my gaze. Her cute button nose was the opposite of my own but complimented her face so well, as the tone of her honey-kissed brown skin contoured her facial features naturally.

I agreed with a nod. "Arcanum gets away with this because the players are volunteers. They willingly sign up. And if desperate people exist, they will play, they'll participate, and even more will tune in."

"The viewers are being manipulated too and don't even know it." Her voice shook with grief, reminding me of her innocence. "They keep tuning in and placing bets on these poor contestants' lives in hopes of winning some kind of fortune of their own."

I often tried to mimic Jade's soft-spoken accent and feminine mannerisms to dodge attention and judgment from others, but my husky voice always took center stage. Until I reveal I have an identical twin sister with the same chestnut brown eyes, deep brown skin, and distinctive vocal inflections, that is.

"But you're right, we are making headway. All the picketing, petitions, and protests raising awareness about the bullshit of Arcanum might actually be working!" She nodded to the paper on my worn and weathered wooden desk. "It's not five million, but this is still the most signatures we've ever got."

"It must be to do with the last season of Grimm Games," I said. "With Tommy Miller out of sight, many people are getting suspicious."

Jade shook her head, and despite her hair obscuring one eye, I connected with the worry that lingered in them. "I wouldn't sign up for that sick competition even if my life depended on it."

"Sounds like an oxymoron if you ask me." I watched her as she fingered her locks before turning my attention to my computer screen. In the search bar, I typed: Tommy Miller.

The results turned up the latest article with an opening line that read: "The winner of season fourteen of Grimm Games and a twenty-million-dollar jackpot, twenty-year-old college freshman Tommy Miller, is stirring up controversy within Arcanum Entertainment's popular franchise."

I skimmed the rest of the info while trying to stay present for Jade. "If we could somehow get a candid interview with Tommy about what happens behind the scenes in Grimm Games, the truth could change a lot of minds."

"We would never get near any of the winners." Jade picked a loose thread from my beat-up shirt. "I mean, all fourteen winners are long gone, out of the country. The best we'll get is the show catching up with them through those where-are-they-now type updates during this month's Games," she scoffed, prompting me to look up into her sorrowful gaze.