Dear Mama

[Laurels]

The morning was just like any other. Well, except for the fact that Shoshanna had had a major fight with her parents the night before. She didn't talk to them for the rest of the evening. She was too angry and depressed at the idea of downsizing her already fairly crappy life to do that, and she was committed enough to stew in her bitterness to remain curt and silent at breakfast the next morning. She left the house that morning without barely saying anything to her parents and high tailed it away from her siblings once they got dropped off at school.

Shoshanna's mind had been drifting throughout first period. She could hardly remember what was being talked about in class, not like it would matter since she'd probably have to leave this school after the year ended. It wasn't until she heard some hushed whispers from the people around her that there was some concern. She heard that someone was picked up for SOTF. Word was slowly spreading through the various social media channels.

It was then that Shoshanna realized there were some empty seats in class. That's when she suddenly forgot all about the fight with her parents.

When the bell rang, Shoshanna hurried out of class. As she did, she saw two adults escorting a student out. She didn't have time to register who it was. She just hurried into the nearest ladies room. She pushed past other students and locked herself in a stall. She quickly got her phone out and checked the feeds. There were already rumors of SOTF being in Miami, and that students were being grabbed from Mangrove. Quick cellphone videos of students being taken from the halls or outside the school. Shoshanna felt a lump in her throat.

She quickly opened the group text room she shared with Oskar, Simon, and Marya.

"SOTF is at Mangrove. Be safe."

Shoshanna then quickly opened her Twitter feed. She felt her hands shake as she started to tweet a message out.

"#SOTF is picking up people from my school. If I don't check in in 12 hours, you can assume I'll be on TV soon."

It felt stupid to send a tweet like that out for a few thousand followers, but Shoshanna had no idea what was coming. She couldn't tell what class was being picked, or if it was a mix of classes.

Before she could make any more tweets or texts, she quickly switched to make a phone call. Her dad would be on his way to work, but her mom should be home gettingr ready for her first piano lesson. She dialed her mom, and held her phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Mom, it's Shoshanna."

"Shoshanna? You're supposed to be in school right now."

"I know. Look, I think SOTF is here. People are being taken."

"What? Do your siblings know?"

Shoshanna heard a ping on her phone. The other three were chiming in. Oskar saw someone in his class taken out. Marya was talking about ditching school. Simon was in denial.

"They do."

"Oh god," she heard her mother say. "Shoshanna, should I come get you?"

"I don't know if they'll get me or when," Shoshanna said. "And even if you did, they might take us away anyways. Fuck."

"Shoshanna-"

"Mom, listen to me," Shoshanna insisted. "Look, I was a bitch last night, and if I never get to talk to you again, then I want you to know I'm sorry. I shouldn't have talked to you and dad like that."

"Shosh-"

"Mom, please, just let me get this out. Listen, I don't know if any of us will get picked, but if I do, please know I love you. I love all of you. Mom, Dad, Chava, Oskar, Simon, and even Marya. Fuck, especially Marya, that dumb bitch."

There was a pounding on the stall door. Shoshanna lept in her spot a bit.

"Shoshanna Kowalczyk!" a voice outside called. "Open up!"

"Oh god," Shoshanna said into her phone.

"What is it?"

"It's me. They're picking me. They must have seen me come into the bathroom."

"Oh god, Shoshanna."

"OPEN THE DOOR!"

"One second, asshole!" Shoshanna yelled.

"One second is all you'll get!"

"You've clearly never changed a tampon, so just wait until I'm finished!"

It got silent. Good.

"Mom, I'm sorry. For everything. Please don't be mad at anything I do on TV. I'll try my best, but I won't be a monster."

"Shoshanna!" she could hear her mom cry.

There was another banging on the door.

"Ten seconds or we're knocking the door down!"

"Fine!" Shoshanna yelled.

Shoshanna sniffled.

"I have to go. I love you."

"I love you too. Oh god, Shoshanna."

Shoshanna hung up the phone. She quickly changed to her text app.

"Okay, I'm coming," she said to the people outside the stall.

She typed the quickest message she could to her siblings.

"They're taking me. I love you guys. Stay safe. Take care of Mom and Dad."

She sent the message, unlocked the door, and stepped out as two figures grabbed her. They took her phone out of her hand as they took her out of the bathroom. She could hear the sound of text alerts coming from her phone, but she'd never know what they said.

((SB12: Shoshanna Kowalczyk: START))

Shoshanna moved her fingers over the keys of the piano. She never really got into playing the piano, despite her mom being a piano teacher. She learned a few scales, but quit when she was eight. She figured they placed her unconscious body on the piano bench as a joke, but it wasn't really funny to her. None of this was. Not being abducted, not being forced to fight to the death, not being under the watchful eye of Stephanie Fucking Cahill. Not a single iota.

As a superfan, she was quite disappointed. She was supposed to be an observer of the game, not a participant.

Shoshanna moved her fingers over the keys and began tapping them. She could barely remember any piano songs, so the best she could muster was "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." The banquet hall filled with the sounds of the nursery rhyme. As she reached the end of the song, she moved her hands onto her lap, tilted her head back, closed her eyes, and let out a long sigh.

After a moment's pause, she spoke.

"Yeah, fuck this. I'm escaping."

[AnimeNerd]

Jasper’s first words on national, probably international television, should’ve been something profound. Really making a statement or something, you know?

Instead, they were a string of curse words, dipping into both Spanish and English.

[JL06: Jasper Suárez-King — START]

And you know what? He didn’t mind one fucking bit.

He didn’t even want go to this school in the first place, and now attending it was the reason he was going see people die, as well as the reason why he very likely could die.

He knew that wasn’t really her fault, but the thought made him want to smack Grandma if he ever got home. If she had just let him stay in Spain, this would’ve never happened.

But...that was a thing to focus on later. In the small chance that he did go home. Now he needed to try and do shit. Make sure Catalina still had a big brother to see and didn’t become an only child. Not force his family to bury their son, their grandson. Make sure Grandma wouldn’t deal with the guilt of getting her grandson killed.

Because it didn’t matter how slim of a chance it was.

A gambler should always play to win, after all.

After getting out from the table he was left under, grabbing his issued backpack and...whatever this weapon was, he was ready to start trying to find...he wasn’t sure yet, but he needed to find something to get him out of this mess.

“Yeah, fuck this, I’m escaping.”

...well, shit, that was easier than he thought.

“Any chance there’s a plan behind that, or is it a general idea right now?”

It wasn’t overly critical or anything; a genuine question, really. Plus, even if it was an unlikely alternative, it sounded better than gutting his classmates with the hook he stood beside him.

Not to mention, what kind of gambler plays without taking risks every now and then?

He just hoped the charming smile he’d put on was enough to keep the girl from freaking out.

[Laurels]

Shoshanna's eyes snapped open and her head quickly turned to the voice that responded to her exclamation. She had to quickly bite the inside of her cheek when she saw who it was. She didn't know the guy personally; he was probably a senior, but his look nearly made her laugh at the absurdity. Here was this buff Hispanic dude in an open Hawaiian shirt and with a man bun. He wasn't her type, but considering she just woke up in a death game, the sight of such a blatant himbo helped lighten the mood.

Not that she'd let him know nor would she show that feeling to the guy. He still could probably break her over his knee if he wanted.

But otherwise, he wasn't immediately trying to kill her, and he seemed intrigued by her decision to escape, so she could humor him.

"Well, it's early stages now," Shoshanna explained to the guy.

She noticed the bag with her name on it by her feet. She quickly leaned down and picked it up, setting it on her lap.

"I've only been awake for about five minutes or so, so I don't have an exact plan yet," she told him as she began rifling through her bag. "But if there's anything that's been made clear from the successful escape attempts of the past, it's that they want us to try to get out of here, and that they've provided everything for us to do so. We just have to figure it out ourselves."

Shoshanna pulled out an odd looking gun from her bag. She was somewhat thrilled to get a gun, until she saw the paper that read "Webley & Scott Mark III Flare Pistol." That's not awful, but she didn't see extra flares in her bag, so it was definitely a one-time wonder weapon. She put the gun on the piano as she kept rifling through the bag.

"Believe me, I've read Emilie Brown's books enough times and watched enough episodes of Ashley Ex Machina to have a few leads on how to escape. But there's still some things to do first before I can really commit to a plan."

Shoshanna then found a pink bandanna with a dark pink skull and crossbones.

"Man," she groaned to herself. "Pink?"

She sighed and began to wrap the bandanna in her hands. It wasn't the optimal team color, nor was she happy to know she'd have to wear it or she'd die, but at least it'd make a good hair tie.

[AnimeNerd]

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t much of a plan that the girl had. Maybe it was just a claim of her intentions in this game. Maybe this was just another person in the sea of people that they could escape just because other people could, not realizing how hard it actually was.

But...fuck it, murder wasn’t really Jasper’s thing.

If he needed to, absolutely needed to, he’d probably be able to do it. He was going to try his damnedest to get off this floating Hell, and the name was literally Survival of the Fittest. Death has to happen at some point, and what difference did it make that he killed someone over someone else killing a person?

But as much of a fan he was of the show, he wasn’t ready to get stab-happy, slasher smile, play it up for the camera and all that mierda. He might eventually get to that point, but until then? He’s playing nice, or repetitively polite anyway.

“Well, if you want some muscle for this future plan, I’m down. It sounds better than figuring out how to kill with this thing.”

He tilted his head toward the hook next to him, smile never faltering. Pile on the charm.

He didn’t make any comments on the bandana. He just hoped the black and red one just above his elbow didn’t raise any concerns.

[Laurels]

Shoshanna put the bandanna in her mouth as she started to move her hair over her right shoulder. Himbo was immediately offering to join her and help her with the escape, which was almost too good to be true. Shoshanna knew there was always an element of distrust to this game, and that some offers were potentially laced with conditions and betrayal. She'd have to really vet this guy before she'd let him join.

"Well, muscle would be good," Shoshanna said, taking the bandanna out of her mouth.

She began to tie the bandanna around her hair, tying the bandanna to make her giant mass of hair into a decent side ponytail.

"But muscle alone can't solve everything," she continued, tightening the bandanna around her hair.

Shoshanna zipped up her bag and grabbed the flare pistol. She stood up, putting the bag around her shoulder and putting the pistol in the back of her shorts.

"I mean, just having that long hook-pole would help us reach things out of range, and you're clearly fit and willing to intimidate others with that bod. But on the other hand, I don't know you at all, and we're on different teams, so convince me you're a good ally. Convince me you want to get out of here without adding me to your body count."

Shoshanna locked eyes with the boy.

"I guess introductions would help. I'll start. I'm Shoshanna Kowalczyk. I'm a Polish-Jewish junior who reads too much SOTF literature. And you?"

[AnimeNerd]

Okay, the girl definitely seemed smarter than he thought. Trusting Jasper right off the bat was probably a stupid move. Hell, even he thought it was a bit of a risk when they were both on separate teams. He would be hesitant if he were in her shoes.

Didn’t mean it wasn’t a bit of a pain, though.

“Alight, fair enough I suppose,” he said, smile still not wavering. “My name is Jasper Surárez-King. I’m a Spanish-American senior who may or may not have some questionable tastes when it comes to the best season of SOTF, depending on your opinion.

“As for what makes me a good ally, other than being athletic, I’m better at keeping a cool head than most, in my opinion, and I would prefer that any kills that I do score be self-defense and the like. Just...staying away from being the bad guy.”

He knows Catalina will never watch this. He still doesn’t want the rest of his family thinking he was a psycho in disguise or anything.

“And if you’re wondering why I want to risk the escape route over just winning the normal way, let’s just say that any gambler worth his salt has taken some risks.

“Don’t see a bigger one than this, at the moment.”

[Laurels]

Shoshanna nodded as Jasper introduced himself. The Himbo had some brains under all that manbun. Now she couldn't mentally call him such derogatory terms. He seemed to understand the point of escaping from the game, and he seemed self-aware enough that he could definitely balance out her unathletic ass.

Shoshanna smirked and stepped closer to him.

"Indeed," Shoshanna said. "It's pretty gauche to try to kill your way out of this game. You'll get physically fucked up, and everyone will abandon and hate you when you get home. I don't know if you got to read Jewel's memoir before we ended up here, but it makes survival all the more hollow if you go for 10 kills or kill your way to be the sole survivor. And I don't want to do too much here that will result in me spending the rest of my life on meds and in a shrink's office."

Shoshanna brushed her ponytail behind her shoulder.

"If these are the last few days of my life, I'd rather spend them trying to do something that really makes my brain work. They've created a puzzle for us, so let's solve it."

Shoshanna stopped walking. She was now only a few feet away from Jasper.

"And plus, if there's going to be a lot of money made of our images and licenses, we may as well get home to enjoy some of that. My family can barely fit in our current home, and I gotta get to college somehow."

[AnimeNerd]

Jasper let out a small chuckle at the initial part.

“Yeah, definitely not my style. Need to keep the money maker in working order and all.”

He gestured to his face at that. A little joke to lighten the tension.

“Plus, even if you’re wrong and my family still accepts me, I don’t plan on bankrupting them for therapy or counseling.”

Oh, apparently she wasn’t that wealthy or something? Well, considering how things were in his life...

“Tell you want; if we get out of here alive, I’ll give you ever cent of my earnings from this. No bullshiting.”

He was already rich. The money wouldn’t exactly do much for him, lifestyle wise, and if Shoshanna managed to actually escape and get him out of here? He sure as shit owed her, and that was a good way of repaying that debt.

[Laurels]

Shoshanna chuckled at Jasper's offer. She couldn't imagine someone willing to turn down free money, but that was definitely her biased opinion. Even a lot of the winners who speak out against the show probably donated the majority of their winnings or only accepted it begrudgingly. Jasper would probably have his reasons for turning it down, so that wasn't for Shoshanna to judge him for.

"Alright, we can put a pin in that and negotiate once we're back home," Shoshanna told Jasper.

Shoshanna looked around. She hadn't gotten the chance to look at the arena map yet, but the room had a bit of a sway to it, so she figured they were on a boat. It looked like the sort of banquet room you'd expect Rose and Jack to have dinner in.

"Anyways, I think we should get out of here. We should go outside and get a look around and figure out where we are in the arena. I know we've got to have a map, but it'd help to position ourselves and get a look at where we'll need to go. So uh..."

Shoshanna held a hand out to Jasper for him to shake.

"Partners?"

[AnimeNerd]

Laughter is usually a good sign. Jasper had either done something right, or something very wrong, and he knew he didn’t do something wrong, so that meant things were going as well as he wanted them to be.

He shrugged. “Yeah, better to focus on the current situation and all that.”

Always good to have some extra incentive, though. Getting out of here was already a big one, as well as the money that would come from surviving this thing. Doubling the money, though? Might just be a once in a lifetime deal.

But that was neither here nor there at the moment. Focus on the now and get your ass out of here.

Jasper took that hand, a grip not too tight but just firm enough as he shook it. A completely genuine smile was on his face now.

“Partners.

“I’m assuming I’ll be scouting ahead to check out the area around us? Make sure it’s safe and there’s no one that immediately tries to kill us out there.”

He doesn’t sound bitter or anything. He knows exactly what this game is like. How bad it can really get. He’s not about to let himself or Shoshanna get killed right after leaving this...ballroom, probably.

They’re getting out of here alive, as long as he has anything to say about it.

[Laurels]

Shoshanna accepted Jasper's handshake. It was a nice, firm, handshake.

"Mr. Suarez-King, let's make waves."

Jasper suggested he take the lead and scout ahead. Shoshanna shifted her bag over and opened it up

"Well, you can do that since you've got the better physique and better weapon between the two of us," she said, rifling through the bag. "But, I don't want to be too far behind you. Would hate to get separated or to not be able to help if needed- oh, here we go."

Shoshanna pulled out a folded piece of paper and opened it up. She glanced at the paper, showing the map of the arena. Her eyebrows raised at the sight of the playing field.

"Holy shit," she said to herself. "We're in a spiderweb of boats."

She turned the paper over to show Jasper.

"This definitely changes everything," she told Jasper. "Let's get to an open deck. We're gonna have to orient ourselves."

[AnimeNerd]

Oh, he liked this girl already.

“Don’t worry, I’ll probably just be a few feet ahead of you whenever I need to check ahead...”

Um...well, this was definitely a new playing field. Jasper couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow and lose his smile as his mouth became a straight line, the right end being raised a little bit to be the real life version of the :\ emoticon.

“Well...at least we might have an easy escape, then.”

At the very least he couldn’t see the escape itself going wrong. Yeah, the collars were still going to be a problem, but as soon as they got them off, it seemed like all they had to do was jack a boat on the outer edges and get it out of range. How long that would take until they were officially escapees, he didn’t know, but a basis was always good.

“So, head out now or start making a plan?”

[Laurels]

Shoshanna looked over the map again. It was still pretty difficult to comprehend the arena. Obviously, they were in the middle of the ocean, likely the Pacific. There were a few boats marked on the map, including a cruise ship (which is where she and Jasper probably were currently in), a submarine, a "ghost ship," a house boat, and something called the "RocketBoat," whatever that was. There were a lot of lines connecting the boats, so they'd need to see what those were first.

"I'd like to get outside first," Shoshanna told Jasper. "There's obviously a need to plan, but I think it'll help if we have an idea of the scale of the environment, can orient ourselves to specific locations, perhaps draw a route we'll need to go to find supplies, and then figure out how we'll execute our plan."

Shoshana folded the map up and pocketed it.

"C'mon," she told Jasper. "Let's go outside."

Shoshanna started to walk to the nearest door. Her mind was already buzzing with ideas and thoughts on how to escape this place, and observing the arena would be the first step.

"Don't forget," she told Jasper, "you promised to walk ahead of me, so don't fall behind."

((Shoshanna Kowalczyk continued in Puzzle Boxes are Meant to be Smashed Open))

[AnimeNerd]

Yeah, that made sense. Just because they had a map layout of the area didn’t mean they knew everything about it. Was the submarine submerged, or out in the open? Could they actually drive any of the boats, or were they all stationary? Was the RocketBoat an actual rocket propelled boat, or was that just what it was called?

The last one may sound ridiculous, but with the reach Survival of the Fittest had?

It was best to have an open mind, let’s just say.

His charming smile came back as he followed along, keeping a good grip on his hook...thing, as he tried to jog ahead of her.

“Don’t worry, I remember. And I don’t go back on my promises.”

[Jasper Suárez-King continued in Puzzle Boxes are Meant to be Smashed Open]