Sabotage

Chapter 1 | Jess

When my eyes opened again, I was sitting in a green bedroom.

I could practically feel the cameras watching me; for the next three weeks, they would tail my every move. Privacy was a word that meant nothing when it came to Sabotage.

I was familiar with how the concept worked, and one game of Sabotage in particular was frozen in my mind; the image of Lana waking up in her new apartment to watch the introductory video was permanently burned into my retinas. My throat felt very dry as I wondered if Dad would be watching the same image tonight, this time with his youngest daughter framed on the screen.

I shook my head. I couldn't afford to ponder on the past - if I wanted to find out about Lana I had to focus on the present. I was currently in enemy territory, with no clue where to start. My idea had seemed simple at the time, but in reality my mission of finding out what happened Lana was complicated. I hadn't thought too much past the stage of actually reaching Sabotage, which was proving to be a huge oversight now. How was I supposed to find answers if I didn't even know where to start?

I jumped slightly as a TV screen began to rise out of the end of the bed I was sitting on. Very expensive, very high-tech, very Gilmore Girls... I had no doubt that the budget for this year's show had been ramped up for the anniversary special. As the TV rose up and flickered to life, I scanned the room around me. Each year, the filming location changed, and the flats the contestants stayed in were completely new. But I had never seen decoration quite so green before.

Everything, the walls, the ceiling, the carpet, the bedcovers, the wardrobe, was a light green. As I glanced down at myself, I realised my clothes from earlier had been discarded and I was now wearing black jeans with a soft green jumper that matched the shade of my room exactly. To celebrate the occasion, a special edition of the show will be released with many twists and turns on the original concept... I shivered. Could this be one of the twists? If so, what did it signify? Why did everything seem so confusing when I'd watched this show a million times before?

I jumped again as the introductory video began to play, and immediately cursed myself. There was always ten contestants in Sabotage, and to mark each of their distinct personalities, they got a nickname. By the looks of things, mine was going to be 'The Jumpy One' or 'Scared Out Of Her Wits'. Tonight, everyone's eyes would be on me, and whilst I had come here for a purpose I definitely didn't want to humiliate myself on the most-watched TV programme. It was just common sense.

"Lies. Deception. Trickery. Welcome to Sabotage." I shivered as the voice from the TV screen flooded the room. It sounded more human than robot, adult female at the least, but it was so cold, so emotionless. I had never considered it creepy before, but now I was properly experiencing it, it was creepy as hell.

The words popped up on the screen as they were being read out, framed against a happy cartoon picture of a house with blue sky and sunshine. "Sabotage is the reality TV show that's sweeping the nation. Contestants compete in a total of eight tasks, and are eliminated until there is only one left, who wins the grand prize of one million pounds.

"Except Sabotage is no ordinary show." The bright picture disappeared, lost in a swirling whirlwind of dark pink colour. "In Sabotage, your main aim is to take down the other contestants, and to prevent them from doing well." The whirlwind landed on an apartment block, with ten silhouetted girls standing outside. The screen zoomed up on one, showing a pair of sunglasses perched on her nose. "Sabotage mirrors real human nature, and your efforts to eliminate others are what counts.

"This year marks the tenth anniversary special of Sabotage." The screen began to pan out again, the other girls making their way back into the equation. "So there will be some changes." The screen didn't stop expanding when it reached ten girls; it continued out, doubling, tripling the size, until my mouth fell open. I tried to count the amount of figures, but the voice got there first.