Teen Life

(13) Teen Life

Chapter 13

Elimination night

Joel Campbell

The first week had gone smoothly, except for that one incident with Tailynn. I have no idea what really happened. Everything happened so fast that at first when she started screaming I wasn’t sure why. When she claimed that she saw something in the mirror I had rewinded the tape and watched it over and over again in slow motion until I was sure that I to had seen something in that mirror.

Now I’m not a superstitious man that believes in ghosts and curses but even I had to admit that it was really weird. After this happened our ratings almost doubled. People thought it was a stunt from us to scare the kids but it wasn’t. The next day when Mr. Romero came in I showed him the tape and the messages that we’ve been receiving from our worldwide audience.

“Maybe it’s just a reflection off of something,” he said, referring to the image of the thing in the mirror. He blew off the fact that it might actually be a ghost of sorts and told us all to go along with the story that it was a stunt that we had planned. I didn’t like the idea of lying about something like this but I needed my job so I kept quiet and did as he said.

Luckily there have been no other incidents which made me feel a bit better, maybe it was just a reflection or something.

Today was the first Monday since the show started which also meant that it was our first elimination. People around the world could vote for their favorite contestants by means of voting online, phoning or sending a message from their mobile phones. The contestant with the least votes will be eliminated each week until there is only one person left in the house. They will have to live alone for the last week and if they make it through without quitting they will be announced the winner.

All the contestants will gather in the living room tonight at six. We will announce the person who has been eliminated and he will get thirty minutes to pack his things and say goodbye before he gets escorted out of the house by Mr. Romero himself. After the elimination the contestants will be congratulated for making it through the week and then there will be some sort of party or dinner for them to celebrate.

The day after they had found the key we didn’t give them any task wanting to give them a day to rest but every day after that they have been given tasks to complete. Nothing major, just things like building puzzles, answering questions and playing games. It is these tasks that determine whether they lose or gain points. The tasks were small and didn’t take up more than an hour or two every day. We didn’t want to keep them too entertained.

At around four o’clock this afternoon I announced that none of them were to go into the back yard and that they should close all the blinds on the windows that showed into the back yard. If anybody were to try and peek they would automatically lose ten points.

The contestants did as they were told. They were curious about what was going on but nobody was willing to take a chance and lose their points.

At exactly six o’clock we went live again. Mr. Romero was standing on the platform in front of the house and I focused the camera on him. He talked a bit and then announced that it was time for the first contestant to be eliminated.

I split the screen at this point with one camera focused on Mr. Romero and the other on the contestants sitting in the living room. They all looked really nervous except for Rafeal and Diago. From what I could understand by reading their files and watching them over the last week Diago didn’t care whether he went home or not and Rafeal was so sure of himself that the fact that he could be voted out never even dawned on him.

“The first contestant to be eliminated is Rafeal Roberts,” Mr. Romero announced, faking a look of surprise. As he announced this I focused the whole screen on the camera watching the contestants. I’m sure the viewers were much more interested in seeing them then Mr. Romero.

The look on Rafeal’s face was priceless and I have to admit that I enjoyed each and every second of it. He is such an arrogant little prick that nobody in their right mind could possibly like him. He looked shocked at first and then the look of disbelief was replaced by one of anger. He got up from where he was sitting and stormed upstairs to his room. I kept the cameras focused on him knowing, that people would want to see him in his misery.

He finished packing, throwing his things in his suitcases but didn’t go downstairs until I announced that it was time for him to leave. He grabbed his bags and made his way downstairs and to the door where he yanked on it. It didn’t open since we locked it with the special lock system we have installed. It was all operated through a computer.

He let his bags fall to the floor and just stood there looking at the door. The other contestants tried saying goodbye to him but he just flat out ignored them. He might have a high IQ but he is really stupid, acting like that was only going to make people like him less then they already do.

I focused the camera back on Mr. Romero as he approached the door, when he was close enough I pressed the button that would unlock the door and watched as he easily pushed it open. He escorted Rafeal out of the house, only stopping to close the door behind them. I locked the door again not wanting any of the contestants to be able to open it and see what was going on outside.

I could tell that none of the contestants liked Rafeal by the way they acted around him and spoke of him behind his back during the week. They all looked quite pleased that it was him that was eliminated.

“You can all go into the back yard now, there is a surprise for you,” I announced over the intercom and watched as they all ran towards the back door.