In Charlotte's Eyes

ONE: The Stars of Charlotte's Life

Charlotte was by herself. She sat alone, staring at the sky. The sky never changed. There was no wind, no night, no rain, no clouds. Despite being on a planet, this place didn't feel anything like a planet. Everything felt artificial; unnatural.

The giant wooden stakes were nearby. They were the only semblance of real life here. She walked up to one of them and touched it. It was as she remembered before; normal wood. She knelt down to touch the grass, so that she could feel the difference between it and normal, real grass.

“Hey, be careful!” A voice shouted at her.

She startled, taking a few steps back and looking around her. But.. nobody was there. Nobody in earshot, anyhow. Puzzled, she looked around again. Then in the air. Nothing. “What..?”

“Down here.” The voice called again.

She wasn't caught off guard this time. She looked down. Nothing. “Huh?”

“I'm right here. I'm Atom. I'm an atom.”

“Uh-huh.” She looked up at the pole again. At least she knew who Atom was now.

“Whatcha doing?” They asked.

She sighed. “Nothing.”

“Oh, okay.”

She looked down, still unsure of where Atom was in the grass. They were weird.

“You guys got mad at me last time for not telling you.” Airy suddenly announced. “So, uh.. I'm gonna eliminate someone.. right now.”

Charlotte turned away from the pole. The competition was resuming now. She headed back towards the main area, watching as the singularity—Abstracty—started freaking out. A loud noise emanated from it as it transformed into a brown and light blue form.

Then, it disappeared. Eliminated. Charlotte felt good about that. Good riddance.

“Well, now that the elimination is done, we can introduce the newwww.. challenge..!” Charlotte thought he was going to introduce more new contestants again. Thank god he hadn't. They didn't need more people here. “Gimme a second.”

Charlotte let out a breath through her nose, looking down at the grass. Somebody walked up to her. “Hey.” It was Circle’s voice.

She glanced at him. “Hey.” She looked back down at the floor.

“You doing okay?”

Charlotte kept her eyes trained to the floor. “Mhm.”

He let out a gruff hum in acknowledgment. “Okay, your next challenge is to draw on these sticky notes. The team that makes the worst drawings in five minutes is eliminated.” Airy explained. Charlotte looked up.

He probably meant up for elimination, but she wasn't going to correct him. He was so incompetent, it was normal for him to not get things right.

“Three, two, one, go.”

She was teleported next to her team. A small pencil dropped from the sky at their feet, closest to Circle. “Where are the sticky notes?” He asked.

“Give them a second.”

Soon after, a small amount of sticky notes delicately floated down from the sky. They scattered onto the floor in front of them, and the team, except for Whippy Creamy, made eye contact.

“Well, are any of you any good at art?” Circle initiated conversation.

“Nope.” Charlotte replied simply, looking down at the blank slips of paper.

“I've never drawn anything before.” Subway Seat said.

Charlotte looked over at Whippy Creamy. The man in question had retreated to his base form. Seems he was tired. Charlotte couldn't blame him. Her internal clock was telling her it was getting late. She sat down. “Didn't you say you made a clay model in that other game show?” She absentmindedly asked.