The Eclipse Games: Survival Island

blessing

"Wait!" Parker called out before the woman could hang up. "Can I ask you a.. a favour?" He asked and the line seemed to go silent causing his previous muted excitement to begin fading, but against the odds and his terrible luck, the woman remained on the line and sighed as if annoyed at him.

"What is it?" She asked him, and looking around as if searching for some kind of hidden camera on the walls and in the trees he took a breath and then looked back at Ti-Sue who was there staring at him, she had yet to ask or understand what was going on, and it felt like he was making some major mistake to help his sister.

"My sister," Parker spoke softly, as opposed to his previous sharp and impatient tone. "She needs the surgery as soon as possible, whether I win or not won't matter a month from now because she'd be in an even worse and irreversible state or dead..." He seemed to slow down and pause as he heard what sounded like a hum of understanding from the other side of the phone.

"You need not worry about any such problem arising from now on Mr Carter, we here at WIP take care of our assets, so while you are under our wing we will be seeing to your personal problems, after all, you are entering a game of life and death for your family's sake." She responded and Sue saw Parker unwind and calm down after an entire day of being the most tense human being she'd ever laid eyes on.

"So you're saying..."

"Your sister's surgery and medical bills will be handled promptly and with care by us, and we will take care of your parents' cremation and mortuary bills as well, we will also take care of the rent of your small apartment and any other financial problems you had so far, aside from your debt to the loaner, that you will have to handle on your own should you survive the games, unfortunately, you becoming our hundred and first player means that the roster is overpacked, and as such we will start the Eclipse Games a week ahead of schedule, to accommodate the extra player, for you that means you have exactly one day to get your affairs in order before someone comes to pick you up." She explained all he probably had on his mind and then went silent again seeing if he would be as presumptuous as he seemed to be, knowing full well that all she had just explained was actually going to come from her own pocket after pitying him. "Do you have any other... requests, Mr Carter?"

"I'll win."

"Pardon?" She asked after his little declaration of victory.

"You've done for me what nobody else could dream of, you're saving my life and the life of my sister, so understand me well; to repay this and not owe you as well, I will win, I'll do whatever it takes to win the Eclipse Games, you can count on it, and even beyond that, if you ever want me to do anything else, whatever it is, I'll not bat an eye, you need only call me." Parker declared, looking at Ti-Sue who was staring at him shocked at what he'd just said... the card had been too damaged for her to recognise the logo on the back of it, but most people knew better than to mess around with WIP, they were bad news, and that Eclipse Game they annually held was an absolute disaster each and every time, holding a different name on the streets among the normal people.

"You're gonna participate in the Suicide Games?" She asked Parker and he looked around at her after hanging up with a composed and focused face. "Parker that game has an average of ninety percent death rate, that's ninety people dying every single time it's held, are you insane?" She asked him, and he actually nodded in the affirmative causing her to go mute wondering what was going on in this man's head.

"WIP is taking care of Amy's brain surgery, even if they're bad people they are helping me, and my parents just died too, plus I'm in debt, I don't know what else to do aside from selling myself to this cause, it's basically the same as organ trade since I might die, but at least this way my sister will have a large paycheck from my participation, a legal check at that, you might see this as an attempt at suicide, but I see this as an act of heavenly mercy, a chance at redeeming myself after all the things that have happened to me over the last year." He explained to her leaving her speechless, since she didn't know what he was referring to or how exactly how his year had gone, she had no way to reply, but while she was there standing with him outside of the booth her co-worker called at her.

"Sue, when are you getting back in here?" She shouted from the corner. "Your shift started back ten minutes ago!"

"Just another minute!" She shouted back to the distant woman who grunted and went back around the corner.

"Are you sure though, it just seems like you're selling your soul for a happy meal to be honest, once you die, if you die... there will be nothing afterwards you are able to control."

"C'mon, control?" Parker asked her as they began walking to the corner again. "I haven't been in control of anything at all in over two years, my fiance ran away with my business, my house burned down, my dog was shot after she attacked a policeman, and I have been living off my sister because my parents disowned me for losing their life savings, they were literally just killed today, and my sister is cancerous with a tumour in her head, I owe people money I can't make because nobody wants to hire me thanks to my reputation, if I don't do this I might as well go sell myself, so this to you might look like suicide, but to someone who has lost everything; who had given up hope, this is every bit a blessing."