Set thirteen, boring as I like my sets to be, came and went. One half of the couple didn't make it through her gate in time. The other half was outed in that thirteenth set. Justice was done, right? I call it karma. For the fourteenth inning, I'm the meat in the sandwich for am I not the most average of all average players?
Talking about meat sandwiches, the sibs are driving me crazy. I haven't heard from Jaz in sixty-eight days. What an ugly number.
Rule 20: Except for positioners, all other referees agree to remain in secured locations during setup times. Offenders will be kicked out of the competition/employment and ban for life, and, if applicable, offenders' names will be removed from Competition's Wall of Fame.
I am so fed up with this shit. The Capital. The Competition. The bar. The company. I have a confession to make. I don't think I was ever in love with Kendrick. But a promise is a promise.
When I feel the ground vibrates a nanosecond before the boom of the explosion reaches my ears, selfishly, all I feel is relief. An all-consuming, all-encompassing, bone-deep exultant relief. Tonight it ends. I win. Phase one completed.
I know the stats. Only thrice has a two-player set been played. Somehow the third man out takes another with him. Thus, all that is left is for one of us (hint, that would be me) to take the odd man out and (for me) to win the standoff.
Sorrow crashes down on me in the next breath. Oh, but what to do with Jasper, I briefly wonder. The worry is fleeting. What do you do when you love someone? You let him go. I just have to figure out how to make him unequivocally understand that we were not meant to be. That is, if I ever see him again.
Set fourteenth. I should have anticipated it. Fourteen is, after all, my second favorite number.
Four players started the set.
One blew up.
One will be incapacitated.
One won't make it out.
I will win.
Piece of cake, right?
YOU ARE READING
Opus
General FictionI left out the real reason I'm here. Kendrick, my ex-lover, is dead. He was the game's winner three and two years back. On the Competition's Registration Form, at question 78: Why are you participating? Answer in 100 characters or less. I si...
