Ultimate Challenge

            by Emma Schnur

 

            “Welcome contestants, to ‘Ultimate Challenge: The Island’.  During this 47-day adventure, you will be tested in all aspects.  You will have to find food for yourselves, build a shelter for yourselves, and compete to become the Ultimate Champion. The person who lives to see the end of these 47 perilous days will not only receive 5 million dollars, but also gain eternal fame as the Ultimate Challenge Champion. But this year there’s a twist,” the host paused.  He looked over at the contestants standing in a single file line fifty feet away from him.  He was pleased to hear gasps emanating from the contestant’s mouths as their jaws dropped.  Every single one of the challengers looked either frightened or dumbfounded.  All except for one.  The host peered at this unfazed contestant.  At 5’9”, she stood tall, slim, and proud. Her voluptuous blonde hair was whipped about by the wind; her ocean blue eyes stared fiercely straight at him.  Her eyes told it all.  No twist was going to sway her from winning.  She was ready….

…“Mom! We’re home!” the door slammed.  Feet scuffled on the newly waxed floor as two kids ran into the kitchen.

“Oh my God Mom, it is so wet outside.  It’s like a hurricane or something.  Today, Violet had these cute rain boots and everyone was looking at them, even Billy-”

“Evie and Billy sitting in a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g.  First comes love, then comes ma-”

“MOM! Danny’s making fun of me!”

Sylvia blinked.  In front of her was a pan of steaming cookies she had just taken out of the oven.  She sighed as she brushed back a strand of mousy brown hair that had come loose from its place in her ponytail.  “Danny, stop teasing Evie and come sit down.  Look – I just made cookies. Triple chocolate macadamia nut.  Your favorite.”

“Ewwww! I hate macadamia nuts! They’re gross.”  Evie scrunched up her face and shuddered.

“You’re gross.”

“Mom! Danny said that I was gross.”

“Why don’t both of you go upstairs and change out of those wet clothes and I’ll put these cookies on a plate for each of you.  Now scoot.”

Danny and Evie shuffled out of the kitchen and began the climb up the stairs to their rooms…

…“For your first challenge, you will have to eat this island’s delicacy: raw shark left in the sun for eight hours marinated with the small intestines of a cow.” The host pointed to the fly infested tin bucket beside him.  The smell of rotted flesh wafted over to the contestants.  “Eww, that’s gross,” Sylvia heard the person next to her murmur.  She smiled slightly.  “Sylvia, you’re first.  You have 30 seconds to eat your portion.  Ready, set, go!”  Sylvia stepped forward from her place among the contestants and reached into the tin bucket and pulled out the slimy piece of fish, then easily placed it in her mouth.  It effortlessly slid down her throat.  Sylvia opened her mouth to show that she was done.  “Wow! I can’t believe she ate that without even flinching!”  Sylvia glanced over at her awe-struck competition.  She knew that she now owned them.  She gave the host a flirtatious smile and then steadily walked back to her place in line, confident that all eyes were on her….

…“So anyway, like I was saying, Violet got these cute new rain boots and everyone was just so jealous of them.  There was a sub in math class today so we all just talked and Sarah told me that Vanessa told her that Emily told her that Janice liked Ned.  It’s so crazy because she’s never going to get him,” Evie took a deep breath in. “Do we have any cereal I could eat instead?”

“Yes, hon. Let me get it for you.”  Sylvia looked at the top shelf where one lonely cereal box stood.  “Honey Bunches of Oats okay?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Sylvia stood on her tiptoes and tried to stretch her 5’6” body to the top shelf to grasp the object.  “Oooof.  I think I need to go to the store.”

“Are you going to tonight? Cuz its Marsha’s birthday tomorrow and if you’re going to the store, then you could get me some cupcakes to bring to her.”

“I could go to the store tonight.  Let’s just wait for Daddy to come home and then we can make definite plans.”

“Definite plans for what?”  A man wearing a long overcoat holding a suitcase appeared in the kitchen doorway.

“Dad!” Evie said, the admiration in her voice audible.

            Sylvia stopped dead.  She watched as John leaned over and kissed Evie on the head.  “Honey, what are you doing home so early?”

            “I finished my work so I decided to come home early and spend some time with my kids.  Evie, want to blow off your homework and spend some time with your old man?”  John looked at Evie with amusement.

            Sylvia wiped her hands on the front of her apron.  “John, the kids have to do homework.  They can spend time with you but first they have to-”

            “Oh, come on Sylvia,” John sighed.   “I’m usually never home this early.  What’s the problem with letting me play with my kids just this once?  Hey, are those cookies over there?  You didn’t eat any of those, did you?  Remember what we talked about.”  John patted his stomach and looked at Sylvia.

            Sylvia pulled down her shirt.  “The problem, John, is that the kids have homework to do.  If they don’t do their homework tonight, then tomorrow in class their not going to understand the material and then tomorrow night they’ll have double the amount of homework.”

            “I just want to spend an afternoon with them!  I don’t think that an afternoon is going to ruin their GPA.  They’re my kids too.  God Sylvia, don’t you want our kids to have fun?  With all the pressure that you put on them, they need to come up for air once in a while.”

            “John, please don’t.  You know that I-”

            “LET MY PEOPLE GO!”  John stood with his arms in the air.  Sylvia hesitated and continued, “Well, I mean, I know tha-”

            “LET MY PEOPLE GO SYLVIA!”  This time John was on his hands and knees begging.  Evie snickered.  After a moment, John sighed, stood up, and walked over to Evie and put his head right next to hers.  “Sorry kid.  I tried.  Pharaoh’s heart could not be melted.”

            Evie looked at her mother with cold hatred.  “Mom, don’t you have to go to the store or something?”  Evie spat.

            A force punched Sylvia in the stomach and knocked her breath away.  Sylvia stumbled and tried to regain her composure.  Sylvia took a deep breath in and felt a warm, salty wind hit her face. Sylvia stared at the girl standing under her father.  “Yes I did,” she said.  “I’ll go right now.” 

Sylvia walked to the hallway closet, picked up her coat from where it had been hanging listlessly in the closet, went to the living room, grabbed her purse, and was out the door, just as a little boy came running into the kitchen yelling “DADDY!!”…

… “Contestants, welcome to your first assembly.  Here is where all of you were forced to face your failures in front of your teammates.  Each of you voted for the person that they feel is the weakest person on this team.  The person voted out will be asked to leave the area immediately, and the rest of you will head back to your shelter.  I’ll ask for your votes now.”  The host took out a basket and walked over to the contestants.  Each contestant dropped a piece of paper into the basket.  As they did so, Sylvia looked around.  She looked to the person on her left and they gave her a knowing smile.  Sylvia looked down to the person in front of her.  He was staring into the fire.  He must already know his fate.  The host had gathered all the votes and now stood before them.  He pulled one piece of paper from his basket and cleared his throat.  “First vote, John.  Second vote, John.  Third vote, John. Fourth vote, John.”  The host pulled the last piece of paper from his basket.  “Eleventh person voted off the Island: John.  John, grab your statue and come stand in front of me.”  Defeated, John slowly stood up and slumped over to where his statue stood.  As he trudged over to the host, he glanced over to the contestants.  Sylvia made sure to give him a look that was clear he would not be missed.  John sighed and stood in front of the host just as a mischievous student would stand in front of the principal.  “John, you’re out.”  The host pulled out his knife and whacked the head off of John’s statue.  With a satisfying thud, it hit the ground…

…The sharp cold wind hit Sylvia, snaked its way into her jacket and prickled at her spine.  She hunched up her shoulders, crossed her arms and headed towards her car.  The keys jingled in her hand and successfully found their way into the lock.  As Sylvia bent to get into her car, she hit her head on the car’s roof.  Sylvia’s head throbbed and the car began to spin.  Big pink spots appeared, clouding her vision so she leaned back on the headrest and closed her eyes.  An overwhelming anger came sweeping through her.  Damn this car for being too small!  Damn her clumsiness and her ability to always bump into every goddamn thing!  Why was she so clumsy? Why did John come home so early? Of course he had to be the children’s favorite; he never disciplined them in anyway.  She was the bad one; she was the one who was hurting them.  The kids wouldn’t learn anything from John, except maybe how to shoot peas out of their nose.  A small tear slid out from underneath Sylvia’s closed eyelids and made its way down her cheek.  Sylvia took a deep breathe in, wiped her face, and started the engine.

It took half an hour for Sylvia to find a parking space, and once she was out of her car, she could feel the anger in her start to rise again.  Why was everyone shopping?  She hated slow people who got in her way, and there seemed to be a lot of them out tonight.

Forty-five minutes later, Sylvia triumphantly stood with her groceries tucked under her arm.  It had been a battle to get the cupcakes, as some woman had picked up the last box, but she was able to outsmart and overcome that obstacle.  Standing still, Sylvia decided to look at this week’s home and garden magazine.  As she scanned the magazine covers, she noticed that one had a picture of a beautiful blonde woman.  The woman was tall and slim, wearing only a bathing suit.  The caption under the picture read, ‘Sexy Sylvia favorite to win Ultimate Challenge’.  Sylvia blinked.  She looked back at the magazine and was met with the same picture.  Sylvia stood petrified.  How was that picture on the cover?  She was the favorite to win?  Wait no.  This wasn’t real.  This couldn’t be real.  But yet again Sylvia stared at the magazine cover and was met with the same image.  The woman behind her picked up the magazine and started flipping through it.  “Hmph,” the woman said and leaned closer to Sylvia, “You know, I heard that Sylvia’s banging the host and that’s why she’s winning.”  Sylvia’s heart skipped a beat and her breathing intensified.  The woman continued,  “But you know, you gotta do what you gotta do.  That’s what I always say… hey, where are you going?”  Sylvia dropped all of her groceries and ran for the exit….

…. “For your final challenge, you will be racing against each other.  The person who gets to the finish line first will win.  You will start when I shoot this gun.  Remember, the outcome of this race determines who will be the Ultimate Challenge Champion.  Good luck.”  With that, the host stepped back.  He looked at the two women in front of him.  “Challengers ready?” BANG!  Sylvia was off…

… “Hey, watch it lady.  This isn’t a race or anything.”  Sylvia didn’t even look back at the man that she had run into.  Nothing would sway her from her course.  She was so close…

…Panting hard, Sylvia came to a clearing.  There were many different cars in front of her, but Sylvia knew that she only had to pick one.  In front of her was a silver Audi that would be sufficient, but where were the keys to start it?  After a moment’s hesitation, Sylvia leaned over, and began digging in the ground beneath her.  Her keys had to be there, somewhere.  After an agonizing amount of time, Sylvia finally found them.  Quickly, she inserted the key into the Audi, threw open the door, and started the ignition.  She peeled out of the clearing and started down the beach….

… BEEEEEEEP! A car horn sounded and Sylvia slammed on her brakes.  The car in front of her was too slow, much too slow.  Sylvia’s eyes gleamed wildly as she swung into the other lane.  She was almost there…

… She could see the finish line in front of her.  She looked over her shoulder and saw that her competitor was right behind her.  She had to go faster.  There was only twenty more feet until she won.  She could do this.  She could win this right now …

… Sylvia ran as fast as she could through the snow.  Her legs screamed with pain, telling her to stop, but she couldn’t.  She would never be able to stop.  With all of her remaining energy, Sylvia sprinted up the final steps…

… “Congratulations Sylvia! You have won the Ultimate Challenge!  You lasted for 47 days and now its time for you to receive all the prizes you have won.  Everything you have been waiting for is right behind this door.”  The host stepped to the left and revealed a wooden door behind him.  The door opened…

… John stood in the doorway.  “I heard the car come in the driveway.  My God, Sylvia you’re panting.  What’s wrong?  Where are the groceries?”…

… She had won.  She was the champion.  She had won five million dollars and eternal fame.  It was all hers.  “Sylvia,” the host touched her arm, “Follow me down these steps.  Let’s go meet your fans.  They have been waiting for you.”…

…“Where have you been Mom?” said a young voice.

“Sylvia?” John touched his wife’s arm.  “Sylvia? Sylvia!”…

… “Listen, you can hear them calling your name.  They love you.  You are their favorite.  Go to them.” The host turned Sylvia around and began to lead her down the steps.  The chanting of her name was now audible to Sylvia.  The host was right; they loved her…. 

… “Sylvia, where you going?  Come inside.  It’s cold out.”  But Sylvia could no longer hear them.  She was standing in front of her fans, all of them excited to just see her.  She could not go inside.  She could not disappoint them like that.  A big smile spread across her face and she descended down the steps, while the flashes of hundreds of cameras lit up her face.