Chapter 9: Murder Gone Viral by Stephen Simpson
The next morning, the first thing Richard does, is rush to the computer. He does not know the password, so he urges Gareth to, “Hurry up.”
Gareth enters the long, encrypted password and then after he connects to the internet, he opens their video channel.
Disappointed Richard notices they have only had two thousand views, and most of the comments are insulting and derogatory. There are some votes with smiley faces after them.
Richard sulks, “Nobody is taking us seriously.”
Gareth consoles him, “They will tonight after we add the extra five seconds. I told you by the end of this week this video will be viral, and people are still sharing it. You cannot become an internet sensation overnight.”
“Get a pen and paper,” Gareth tells Richard.
When Richard comes back, Gareth reads the votes from the hundred or so people who jokingly voted for either Max or Alex. Richard writes the numbers in two columns.
After they reach the end of the comments, they lean their heads closely together and add the numbers.
Disappointed Richard leans back as Gareth says laughingly, “Well, well, who would have thought the boastful Alex will get more votes than the poor Max. I thought Max would get all the sympathy votes.”
Richard says upset, “The kid did not have a fair chance.”
“Yes, but we have a plan we must stick to, and unfortunately we cannot break our own rules. The one with the lowest number of votes are out of the competition.”
Hopeful Richard asks, “Maybe we as producers can have a mercy vote.”
Gareth laughs heartily. “No. We have to add the five seconds today, so people take us seriously.”
Richard sighs. “You’re right, but I really wanted that Alex out of the way.”
Gareth considers that for two years he and Richard have been roommates, and in all that time they have been friends, never did he ever get the feeling Richard does not like him, yet here Richard is now loathing Alex, who has the same arrogant nature as Gareth. Gareth feels proud of himself for being able to hide his true character, to pretend to be charming and enigmatic, instead of being conceited.
Gareth asks, “So how are we going to do this. Who is going to tape the killing and who is going to do the deed?”
Unsure Richard hesitates. He does not mind being rough, to be violent and forceful, but he does not know if he will be able to actually kill someone.
Gareth says, “My hand is steadier than yours for the camera work.”
With a sigh Richard says, “How are we going to do it? I suppose we are in it already; it is not as if we can let them go after the six days with a lollipop and a pat on the back.”
They spend the next half an hour sitting across from each other and discussing various methods of murder. Distractedly Gareth nibbles on a breakfast biscuit while Richard eats a bowl of cereal when they finally decide on the most gruesome method to boost their viewing numbers.
They dump the coffee mugs and dishes in the basin and then Richard starts the ritual of bringing each one of them upstairs to use the toilet.
Exhausted, he slumps down on the couch after he takes the last one back down to the basement. “You would think someone with as much money as your dad would have installed a toilet down there by now.”
“He does not think about anything other than making money. If it does not inconvenience him, it is impossible it could ever be a problem for somebody else.”
Richard gets up off the couch, and then in the kitchen, he gulps down two cans of beer in quick succession. He burps loudly. “Okay, let’s do this. I’ll fetch Max.”
He pulls a protesting Max up the stairs. Richard yells loudly, “It is not my fault they did not vote for you. I had every faith in you to beat Alex, but you didn’t, so shut the fuck up and move.”
When they walk out into the quiet sunshine, Max gets a resolute look on his face and he pulls his shoulders square. He stops in the middle of a dusty clearing and bravely he keeps his head up. The metal chain is wrapped around his arms a few times. Even if he ran, he knew he would not get far.
Gareth opens the digital video camera and focuses on Max.
Richard moves to stand behind Max and then he swings the spade in a wide arc. The flat side of the spade hits the side of Max’s head with a loud, dull noise.
Gareth zooms in to Max’s face and videotapes his big, sad eyes go dull as all the life is sucked out of it.
Max slumps down to the ground in one fluid movement.
Richard steps over the lifeless body and bends down to take Max’s feet. He takes a foot in each hand and then he drags the body across the light brown, dusty ground into the gathering of trees circling around the cabin.
When he walks back to Gareth he asks, “So who do you want to interview today?”
Gareth turns to him and they walk back to the cabin.
“Let’s do Scott, the drug dealing kid and that disabled girl.”
“They are both black though.”
Richard laughs humorously. “That will keep it fair, won’t it? We both know if a white kid had to go up against a black kid, the white kid will win hands down every time.”
As soon as they walk back into the cabin, Gareth moves to the computer to upload the footage and to start editing the death of Max. Richard goes down the stairs to the basement.
He unlocks Scott and drags his skinny emaciated body up the stairs. He pushes him to the chair and then he bumps him so that Scott falls back onto the chair.
Gareth moves the webcam while keeping his eyes on the screen. When he has the perfect perspective of Scott, he looks pleased with himself. The lighting is perfect. Scott looks back at him on the screen. His big brown eyes look at him scared, and tears start to roll down his dirty cheeks, leaving glistening tracks on his brown skin.
Gareth explains to Scott why he is here and why it is important he states clearly why people should vote for him.
He looks across the room at Scott kindly and he smiles.
Scott looks back at Gareth and he smiles a nervous smile, his bottom lip quivers.
“So, Scott, why should people vote for you?”
His soft voice says quietly, “If I die my sister will be all alone. I do not sell drugs because I enjoy it. I do it because I have to, so I can feed my sister.” The crumpled hundred-dollar bill in his pocket got him here in the first place, scratches against his thigh. “Please you have to let me go, my sister will be scared without me, my mom and dad is no good.”
“Are your mom and dad your best customers, Scott?” Gareth asks with a smirk.
Scott lowers his eyes, embarrassed. “No, they can’t afford what I sell. When I take the money I make, to my boss, he takes the drugs as well, so my parents can’t steal it from me.”
“Anything you want to add to plead for votes.”
“My sister is still very young, and she has always only had me. Please. You must let me go.”
Gareth smiles reassuringly. “You have my vote, Scott. Hopefully, the rest of the world will feel the same way.”
Gareth nods his head to Richard, indicating he can take Scott back to the basement.
Richard feels sorry for the kid, so he walks him back to the basement after he takes him to the bathroom without pushing and prodding at him meanly.
He shackles Scott and then he walks across the narrow passage to Samantha’s cubicle.
After he unlocks her, he throws her across his shoulder with a grunt. Uselessly, she hits her fists against his back while his arm wraps around her lifeless legs in front of his chest. He feels a shiver of disgust scamper down his spine at the thought of holding onto her dead legs.
Upstairs he puts her down on the chair, and he pulls her up so that she is sitting up straight on the chair.
Gareth is getting bored of telling the same story twice a day, but if he did not convince them of why they should give a compelling reason why they should be chosen as the perfect kid, everything he and Richard have done so far would be wasted and ineffectual.
He avoids looking directly at her accusing eyes as he tells her. While he speaks, he looks at the monitor, and he moves the webcam until he has the ideal image of her. Her black dreadlocks frame her small, fragile face perfectly, and her full lips are naturally rose coloured.
He prefers to look at the virtual image of her, rather than the real image. It is more detached, and he does know this girl personally, have spoken to her many times. He knows she had a crush on him, like so many other girls.
After he explains the reason why she is here, he asks her image on the screen in front of him, “So why are you the perfect teen?”
She says nothing and her image stares back at him defiantly.
Exasperated, he sighs. “Sammy, come on. Don’t you want to win this thing?”
She continues staring at him silently.
Ten minutes later, when Gareth cannot stand her accusing eyes boring into him any longer, he exclaims, “Fine! Richard, you can take this bitch downstairs again.”
Richard hauls her over his shoulder roughly and then while she is hammering her fists against his back, he takes her back to her cubicle.
Like the afternoon before, he fills the water bowls and food bowls silently. He cannot suppress the urge when he walks into Alex’s cubicle and he kicks him hard against the shin.
Alex yells in pain and starts to rub his leg vigorously. “What the fuck you do that for?”
Richard kicks at him again, but Alex moves fast and out of the way of the large black combat boot.
Gareth calls his name and after a moment of hesitation while he considers going after Alex in the corner or not, he turns around and after he switches off the light, he walks up the creaking stairs.
He slams the basement door shut behind him, just as Gareth says, “Look, the views have gone up. It is nearly ten thousand already. I told you it takes time for people to catch on.”
Richard rushes forward and peers down at the screen. He feels an immediate sense of accomplishment.
Gareth laughs, delighted. “Wait till we upload the piece with Max. It will sky-rocket.”
Richard walks away to the kitchen to get a beer. “It is a pity we have to keep uploading a new video.”
“I am going to add a link to the other video’s page to the new video. So, as they finish watching the one, they will click on the link and watch the new video.” Delighted, he adds, “We might have more than one video go viral.”
Richard slumps down in front of the TV and watches the screen without really watching anything. He is elated his wish is being fulfilled, but he is upset it must be anonymous. He needs the public acknowledgement that he has accomplished something everyone else with a video still wants to do.
Gareth edits the video and after half an hour he calls Richard to come and look.
“That was fast.”
“I didn’t have to do all the intro music and graphics again and I just added the two new edited videos onto the introduction I saved last night.”
Richard watches the screen intently as the ominous piano music starts playing on a black screen, and then with an explosion of sound, a yellowish skull exPLODES out of the black background. The words: The Death Factor shimmer above and below the skull.
Again, the echoing voice announces excitedly, “Six days, six contestants and only one survivor. Who will win the ultimate price, their life? Who will be your favourite? Is it the delinquent fourteen-year-old black kid who sells drugs on the street corner to feed him and his abused younger sister?”
Ten seconds of edited video show Scott, the tear tracks on his cheeks are clearly defined, as he begs for his life so he can take care of his sister.
The voice continues, “Or will it be the black disabled freshman college girl with a bright business career ahead of her?” Ten seconds play across the screen as Samantha stares defiantly back while the words—Please vote for me—scroll across the bottom of the screen.
The rasping voice says cheerfully, “Last night you saved Alex.” A picture of Alex flashes across the screen. “But unfortunately, Max had to leave us and here is his swan song.”
The camera follows the swoop of the spade in slow motion and then as it hits against Max’s head and his head recoils slowly, the video cuts to Max’s eyes as the light fades out of them.
The screen fills with red, blood-like graphics oozing from the top to the bottom and the words—Voted Out—flashes across the screen until the video fades to black. The voice implores, “Your vote is important, so if you want your favourite to be the sole survivor you must vote.”
Richard smiles pleased. “It’s perfect.”
“I am going to upload it quickly and then add the hyperlinks to yesterday’s video.”
Gareth uploads the video and then he joins Richard in the kitchen.
Richard is frying a couple of eggs and bacon. They have been snacking on junk food all day and Gareth cannot wait to have a decent meal in his stomach for a change.
Continue reading Chapter 10/12
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