The Same Direction

16. The Climb

Ananya's POV :

"Do you think you know what you're doing?" I asked my brother.

"Of course I do. It's you who doesn't. I still can't believe you actually came all the way up here just to botch up my plans! What kind of a sister are you?!" said Arjun to me angrily as we both stood inside one of the dressing rooms assigned to us in the hotel.

It was almost three weeks after the commencement of the competition. We were now into the fifth level. Two contestants had already been eliminated. One had been chucked out for engaging in sabotaging of fellow contestants - yes sabotage!

In less than 24 hours of the contest opening, I had realised that I had taken this competition way too lightly. I had assumed it would be fun and light hearted. But I was totally wrong.

All the contestants here, except me and Pooja, seemed to be playing to kill or rather killing to play. Neha Prasad - that was the girl who had been thrown out of the competition, had been caught sending death threat emails to few of the other contestants and she had also tried to strangle Shilpa, during a task.

But that didn't go on to say that the others were all into healthy competition.These guys broke into catfights that were hardly anything less than the ones on Bigg Boss. And there had been a handful of fist fights too. And some injuries, though none were serious. So far.

The kids who came from rich families despised the kids who came from not so rich families and vice versa. But then again, the rich kids didn't like each other very much either.So all in all, it was a very ugly scenario.

It made me feel really sick. I was used to being in a happy space and I didn't like being in a zone where people were intent on pulling each other down. And I might have probably slipped into depression by now if Pooja had not been there. But what could I do? I had to come! I had to keep an eye on my brother and make sure that he didn't win.

But the truth was that, I wasn't happy in this place. I longed to go back to my comfort zone. To the easiness of my usual life. Though we never stayed at Walter's Residency for more than three or four days at a stretch, I'd still come to be wary of the place. Everytime we arrived at the hotel for each subsequent round, I felt like a rope was being tightened around my neck. This violent game playing was so not my thing.

But I hadn't failed to notice that it wasn't the same with my brother. Yes, he was anxious about the game but he was much more comfortable than me. He was very much at home. This was his comfort zone. People, places and noise. Unlike me, who preferred all those things to be minimal. And also maybe his determination to win the game was stronger than any other thought.

And unfortunately for me, my brother is no fool either. He knew all of what I was feeling. He had also found out within a couple of days that I was in the competition just to botch up his grand plans.

"Arjun, I have no intention to spoil your dreams", I told him.

My brother scoffed. "Am I the only talented liar in our family?"

"Arjun, don't be an idiot!" I said "I am not against your wonderful dream. But this is really not the solution. Imagine how disappointed mom and dad will be if you hire a lawyer and turn up at our doorstep to legally emancipate yourself?"

"Don't talk like a moral science teacher Ananya!"

"You don't understand. I am really just trying to fix this for you!"

"Yeah tell me about it", he said sarcastically

"This stupid competition is not worth our family. There's a right way to go about things. And this is not the right way. Stop this before it's too late. You'll have to face the consequences of your actions", I lectured him.