The Last Survivor

Chapter 1

My name's Patrick Stump and I'm 17 years old. I live in Glenview, a suburb of Chicago. I lived a really boring and normal life, until that one night I made the biggest mistake ever.

My parents divorced when I was 7. Kids in school used to say that to have divorced parents was cool because you had twice more presents for your birthday and Christmas, but when you live in a family as poor as mine, you actually have twice less gifts. My dad spent all his money on beers and my mom could barely pay the bills of her own house and take care of the children she had with a second marriage. I was at my dad's house most of the time and once or twice a month at my mom's. I decided to get a job besides school to help my mom and collect enough money to buy me a new guitar and for college.

One night, after work, I was walking in the cold streets of Chicago as I was unpacking these new headphones I just bought - since I lost the old ones at my mom's about a month ago and never found them again - with what little money I had left from the last payday, a guy stopped me.

This tall guy put his hand on my chest. I looked at the gloved hand and looked up to see a man wearing black beanie on top of his head.
"Those are nice headphones you have there. They must have cost a lot." He said with a slight chuckle at the end.
"Yeah. Yeah they did." I said and looked down at my feet. I tried to leave but he stopped me again.
"Hey, kid." He placed his hand on my shoulder and turned me around. He looked me up and down, touching my jean jacket that I had over a hoodie, "Your parents don't have enough money to buy you warm clothes or what? Looks like you have ten layers of clothing under that hoodie."
"Actually yes. And not ten but five." I answered as I looked up at the man.
"You want money?" He asked me.
I tilted my head slightly to the side and knitted my eyebrows together in confusion, "What do you mean?"
"There's this new game called 'The Last Survivor', it'll be shoot in a month. The winner gets a million dollars. Wanna participate?" He told me as he got a handout out of his jacket pocket and handed it to me.
"A million?" I repeated, almost not believing what this guy had just said. I took the handout and my eyes widened as I saw the amount written in big letters on the piece of paper.
"Yep, you heard me." He said with a smile on his face.
"I-I don't think my parents will accept if I..."
"You don't care of them." He cut me short, "They have nothing to worry about. It's safe." He said, looking at me in the eyes.
"But what if I lose?" I said, trying to find an excuse to not participate to that game. I mean, this guy's weird, why should I trust him?
"Then you'll lose. It's okay, you'll just come back home after. But I'm sure you can win, you got all your chance." He said and patted my shoulder.
"I'll think about it." I said a little hesitant as I folded the paper and put in the pocket of my jean jacket.
"Yeah, think about it. What would you do with a million dollars?" The guy called as I was walking away.

****

I was sitting in the not-so-crowded bus, going back home. I took the handout out of my pocket and looked at it again, the words "1 million dollars" written in big characters on top of the piece of paper. What would I do with a million dollars? Well, I wouldn't be sitting in this shitty bus, that's for sure. And to be honest, I don't really know what I would do. Yeah, my life was shitty and boring, but...I couldn't imagine it being different.

I entered the house and walked directly toward the staircase, leaving trails of snow behind me. I put my foot on the first step and heard the voice of my dad coming from his usual spot on the couch. "Your mom called."
"What'd she say?" I asked, looking at the top of the stairs.
"She found the headphones you lost. Your brother had them."
I sighed and looked down at my feet. I walked toward the living room and stopped at the threshold, "Couldn't you have told me earlier?" I said, pissed, "I just bought new ones. I could have kept that money." I waved the brand new headphones in the air. "You know I have a phone. Fucking call me next time!" I stormed into my room and slammed the door behind me.

I took my cap off and threw it on my bed, along with my jacket and backpack. The piece of paper flew off the pocket and landed on the floor. I picked it up and read it another time. I wouldn't be living with the asshole downstairs anymore. I looked at the handout, analyzing it and found the name of a website on the bottom of the page. I turned my head and my gaze landed on that old computer I got a few years ago. I sat at my desk, turned on the old machine and immediately went on that website. I found the page to register and started filling the file.
"It shouldn't be that bad." Oh, I was wrong.