Winnie Is Not Okay

1.27

Winnie woke up when somebody shook her and immediately looked into worried brown eyes belonging to the person shaking her, "You have to get up now or you're immediately out."

"Huh", Winnie groaned as she got up. She didn't even remember falling asleep none-the-less in a tent, between two work benches in- on the set of the Great British Bake-Off?

"Get up", the woman walked away from her, to her own work bench and Winnie pulled herself up to stand at hers.

"What the-? Am I on the Great British Bake-Off? What is this?"

"We're live in ten-nine-eight-seven-", as a producer counted down, an android and two elderly people walked in and Winnie looked around to see her fellow candidates at their work benches, looking terrified, "Three-two-"

"Welcome bakers", the android greeted, "For today's challenge you will be making a three-tiered cake, each tier must carry a different flavour, complementing the others. Former Winners Will and Carol will be judging your creations."

"You mustn't worry, everybody", Carol assured them, "I'm sure we will enjoy each of your creations."

"You will pick your least favourite creation and they will be disqualified."

Carol's eyes widened in fear at the android's words and she looked back at the bakers, trying to show an encouraging smile, "It will be all right."

Winnie was confused. Was there something to disqualification? But before she could wonder the person in front of her freaked out, "I've never baked anything in my life - how could I down on Earth? This isn't fair!"

"You will bake", the android replied.

He breathed like he was having a panic attack, then he dashed for the middle aisle, making his way to the back where a steel-door made it apparent that they weren't actually in some beautiful park in the English countryside. However, before he reached it, the android opened its mouth, revealing a small tube out of which it shot a laser, disintegrating the candidate to ash.

Winnie's eyes widened and her jaw dropped, "What the-?"

"Your four-hour-clock starts now."

The weight of the sonic felt heavy in her pocket as she looked at the range of possible ingredients and she immediately picked cherries, walnuts and bananas. She picked out some more ingredients she knew were needed for a cake and saw everybody else struggling. Apparently none of these people actually knew how to bake.

Some tried to do what she did and two bakers seemed very determined with a skill they must've learned watching the show. Because how could they learn on Earth? Where had she landed that Earth wasn't a place for baked goods?

"Winifred, what are you making today?", Carol asked, standing next to her now.

"Uh", Winnie gulped looking down into her bowl of mashed bananas. Play it cool, "Banana bread. The, uh-, the banana will be the red string so I can be liberal about the other flavours. I've picked cherries and walnuts for the top, chocolate chips for the middle and plain for the bottom."

"And where'd you learn this?", Carol seemed genuinely shocked.

"Well, uh, my mum loves this show", she pulled her lips between her teeth.

Carol smiled, "Let's hope she isn't watching."

"Yeah, let's", Winnie breathed out an insincere laugh and got back to work when Carol left.

She cut the cherries and walnuts into small chunks and felt at the sonic in her pocket through the fabric. Was it even possible to amplify the sedative properties so much that Carol and Will would fall asleep? And did she even want to do this? After all it wasn't them she needed to worry about. It was the android - and probably the producers. Maybe she could distribute her cake.