This is designed to be a one-shot story, inspired by a certain show.
All spelling and grammar are UK standard (e.g. - teams are plural, not singular in the UK).
As always, all characters are over 18. I hope you enjoy.
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PART 1 - MAX, 21, Student, Youngest child
"It's similar to 'Squid Game'."
I couldn't believe the words coming out of the man's mouth.
"What's a squid game?" asked my confused mother.
My sister was already shaking her head furiously, saying "nope, nope, nope" as loudly as she dared.
"But not for the violence" the man quickly clarified. "In the way that it's a private facility where rich people gamble on you. On your behaviours in....unusual situations. You probably won't meet the celebrities. They'll just watch you on camera. And if you do well in the competition, you'll win your house back."
I should give you some context. I'm Max. I'm 21 and studying a bachelors at university. Or, at least I was. My sister is Helena, 23, and in the middle of her masters. Again, correction - was.
We WERE studying at university until our parents declared bankruptcy last week. You see, my Dad (Will, 47) had a shop selling ice-cream. Until the pandemic. And Mum (Yana, 43) had a beautician's studio. Again, until the pandemic. They took out large loans to start their businesses. Then more loans to try and save their businesses. They used the house as collateral.
So now our house is about to be repossessed by the bank in 1 week. We didn't have the money to finish our university studies. Both parents don't have jobs. We didn't have a rich family member who would bail us out. We were desperate. And someone knew that.
We were approached by a man in a suit who said he knew a way we could get the house back. And now he was sitting in our living room, surrounded by boxes of our packed belongings, telling us that it was a bit like Squid Game.
"Again" the man said calmly. "There will be no serious violence or chance of lasting injury. It's more about...seeing what you will do to get your house back."
"And if we do this, will we get our house back? And our businesses?" Asked my mother, excited for the possibility of bringing back what was lost.
"Your businesses, no. Not directly. There will be different rounds of the competition. After each round, your family will get awarded points. You will get prize money based on your points. And regardless of your final score, if you stay for the entire competition, your house will be returned to you at the end. If you leave the competition early, you will receive your prize money, but the house will be sold by the bank to pay off your debts."
"How long is the contest? And how much prize money?" I asked. "And you promise nobody dies or gets hurt?!"
"Just three days. The last winners made a quarter of a million pounds. Winning the first round is worth around ten thousand pounds, and it increases in each round. And yes, nobody gets physically hurt, though there could be some psychological trauma after."
"A quarter of a million in just three days! Wow!" exclaimed Mum.
"Um...can we talk it over?" My father asked the man. "Privately?"
"Of course. But I do need your answer before I leave this house. We require four families to take part, and the next competition begins tomorrow. If your family are not interested, I have another family to see. And remember, your decision needs to be unanimous. It's either all of you, or none of you."
We went upstairs to Mum and Dad's bedroom to talk more, away from the man.
"OK" said Dad, "Pros and Cons."
"Pro" I started "We get the house back, and we get enough money for Helena and I to finish our studies. And if we win, we might get enough money to maybe restart one or even both of your businesses."
"Con" said my sister "We don't know what they'll make us do. We will effectively be their slaves. We will have to do everything they tell us. They tell us to eat human shit, we'll have to do it."
"That would cause harm," said Mum, "which they said they wouldn't do. And we could always just refuse. We'd get 0 points, but maybe the round after would be better."
After a minute of silence, Dad spoke up again. "Let's put it another way - Does anyone have any better suggestions for how we can save the house?"
After nobody said anything, the silence was a sort of agreement. We would do what they asked. We all walked together in unison back down the stairs, in a sort of sad funeral procession.
"Have you made your decision?" Asked the man, looking at his watch.
"Yes, we've..." Dad started, before Helena interrupted.
"Would we have to eat shit?!?"
The man thought for a second, before calmly replying. "I cannot vouch for the quality of the food they will provide you, but I can say that you will not be required to eat excrement of any kind."
"Then we are in," said Helena. We all nodded in unison.
"Wonderful!" said the man, opening his briefcase. "I'll make the arrangements. A car will pick you up tonight and take you to the facility. I just need you to each fill out these forms."
We were each given questionnaires about twenty pages long. Most were simple questions like name and age. Others were expected such as allergies and medical histories. But there were other questions too. Questions that you wouldn't normally expect. If you were a virgin (I wasn't). How many sexual partners you had had in your whole life (4). Your sexual orientation (straight). Last sexual health check-up (6 months ago). And other questions regarding sexual history. It was clear to everyone there that sex would play a big part of the week to come.
"What's this competition called anyway?" My sister asked as I finished page 18 of the 20 page questionnaire.
"The Family Games" replied the man.
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Part 2 - WILLIAM, 47, BUSINESSMAN (unemployed), FATHER
The car picked up our family that evening and drove through the night. I know we left England and entered Scotland, but I don't know more than that. I fell asleep (like everyone else) and had to be woken when we arrived.
We were all guided into one room. It looked a bit like a hostel room, with two bunk beds placed at opposite ends of the room. There was an on-suite bathroom and that was it. We chose beds. I took the bottom bunk on one side. My wife Yana took the bed above me. It would be strange not sleeping together after being together for 25 years. On the opposite side of the room Max took the bottom bunk and Helena took the top. And we tried to sleep for a couple more hours.
A bell woke us all up. I guess at around 8am. We found green coloured tracksuits waiting for us besides our beds, and took turns to use the bathroom and change into them. Then we all stepped out of the room together. The corridor had twenty small rooms with double doors at each end. I looked at the doorway we came out of, and it had 'GREEN TEAM' Marked on it. Other doors either said '(COLOUR) TEAM' or just 'ROOM 12'.
I've seen clips of Squid Game. And here too, the game Administrators were wearing masks. But not with shapes. Here they were simple black. We were guided together down the corridor, and into a large room. The room had tables, chairs and a buffet breakfast. And already inside and eating were the three other families.
They all looked remarkably similar to us. A Mum and a Dad. Two adult children, one boy, one girl. All were white skinned Europeans, like us. Each family was wearing a different colour tracksuit, and I realised then that our family were the green team.
To begin with we all were eating separately, but soon conversations started up between one another. My wife was originally from Poland (long before I met her) and she found that the Yellow team family here were also Polish. I grabbed a coffee with the father from the red team (Jacob) and found their family were in the same situation as ours. Lots of debt leading to losing their home. Like us, they found this offer was just too good to refuse. So like us, they'd agreed.
After breakfast was finished, the Administrator walked in.
Even with a mask on, it was clear that she was both: an attractive woman, and was very much in charge. She walked like a boss. She talked like a boss. Everything about her screamed that she was the one in charge.
"Welcome, Everyone, to the Twenty First year of The Family Games. I am the Administrator of this year's event. I will be your contact if you have any problems. Everything you do for the next few days will be watched and recorded by celebrities and important businesspeople from all over the world. Every corner and angle of every room in this facility is being watched. So smile...you're on camera."
There were quiet, awkward laughs from around the room.
"We will start straight away with the first task. Please listen carefully for your name and go to the room instructed as soon as your name is called. In the room, you'll find your next instruction."
And at that, the woman began to read out names. "Team Green, Max. Room 2. Team Blue, Willow, room 4. Team Red, George, room 6......"
First went the youngest from each family. Then, the older child. Then our wives. Finally, the fathers were called. "....Red, Jacob room 12. Team Green, William room 4."
I walked down the corridor and into room 4.