by Haidji
As her body touched the stadium ground, she died.
The platform went down slowly, with the two last candidates hanging from it.
And then up again, with the two last candidates celebrating.
The public was amazed. Their adrenaline levels very high. They needed a Suicide Dog before they left the Stadium.
And the Hostess declared the end of this Third day of the last Game step.
Chapter 36
Step 3 – Day 4
The Hostess announced the last day of the Game.
‘Welcome again to the Stadium of Night, to the last day of this amazing game.
We have now only two candidates: Anthony, and The Scientist! Who will win the game?
Special thanks for you that have been here with me for many days, here in the Stadium, and at home, at your work places or even in the shopping centers, or helicopters, or walking the street…thanks for being here with me.
Here they are, for their first jump in this last day:
The Scientist! Anthony!’
The spotlight fell over the two last Game Candidates.
‘With no delay, the countdown is starting…welcome to
SUICIDE GAME!
The new game
The new mania
8000 candidates and now only 2!
Only one will survive
Only one can win!
Live from the Night Stadium
Nothing compares to what you'll see here
Nothing compares to what you'll watch
You have already chosen your candidate
You have Made your bet
To be part of a
New and unexpected game
Now it’s time to leave it all in the laps of the gods
And when the bell rings…it is time to jump…for your life!
10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1!
JUMP!’
Anthony and The Scientist jumped.
They jumped two more times before lunchtime, and did not die.
The crowd took a break to eat some suicide dogs, wondering if one of them would die today; they were both tough souls.
After a few jumps more, the sun was almost going down over the Stadium.
The Hare Krishnas were selling lighters again. The crowd used them like candles, for the now still alive, for one of the two candidates, for the last candidate to drop out the game. R.I.P., but rest, finally, was what the crowd was saying, speaking with the voice of their lighters’ flame.
Alessandra was with Dawn, Wow, Cassandra, John and Tim, watching the jumps of the day. Already habituated to the game atmosphere, she left the baby close by, playing with Wow, around her.
With no body to bring up, Demir himself took the elevator to the street floor. He wanted to buy a suicide dog. What a game! He was happy with the results. He had forgotten to wash his hands, which smelled of blood, as would blood be his own private perfume. In a reflex, he cleaned his hands with an old cloth, which he threw on the elevator floor.
Wow smelled blood as the elevator door opened, and started to go in the direction of the elevator.
Demir saw the dog; a suicide dog, what is he doing here inside the stadium? Who brings a dog into a game like this? In the rush to go out of the elevator to buy his own suicide dog, he did not see Dawn following the dog into the elevator. The baby went quickly inside and the elevator went down.
Alessandra was chatting with Cassandra and the others, and had not seen Dawn walking away, following Wow.
The dog went out of the elevator and started to walk around, sniffing the gray sand.
Dawn saw the Hostess in her beautiful Femme Fatale red dress and Alexander McQueen red shoes, and followed her onto the platform.
Between the Hostess, the models all dressed in blue, the champagne glasses, Life in a Wire, and the two last candidates…nobody noticed Dawn crawling onto the platform.
The platform stopped at the height of the principal row of chairs, 51 meters from the Stadium ground.
The Hostess announced:
‘Now, here, especially for you, after this long last day, is our favorite band, Life in a Wire, performing a new song, with only two candidates left…in homage to all who have died in the Game.
Life in a Wire, alone on the platform, will sing for you, a new song! And the candidates will come later, to jump for you, until only one of them survives.’
Life in a Wire began to play and sing. Softly.
Death on Death
I say good-bye
You’ll watch me die
Will I be dying too?
Deep inside of you?
You say good-bye
And you think you’ll be free
But I’ll be awaiting you
In your final destiny
Because death on death
Is our favorite color
Death on death
Is our only mystery
Death on death
Is a powerful drug
And Death on death
Is the only way to be
We all say goodbye
And we all want to die
‘Cause our peace it never lasts
And our life goes by so fast
Because death on death
Is our favorite color
Death on death
Is our only mystery
Death on death
Is a powerful drug
And Death on death
Is the only way to be
Does anyone ask why
Does anyone even try?
If all we can do is cry
Then we should all want to die
Death on death … favorite color
Death on death … only mystery
Death on death … final destiny
Death on death … is alive inside of me.
Nobody had just died, but tears were flowing everywhere now.
Only two candidates remained.
They were on the platform, getting ready to jump.
Anthony was thinking about Diana.
He was busy winning everything and lost…her.
Because.
Happiness is just a dream.
A death dream that I lived with.
To be happy, without myself trying to be happy without you.
Because you and me were two, too strong, forces together.
An explosive love that, only when separated, survives our passion.
Maybe I was just afraid of the explosion.
But invisible, you’re still there.
And now I know that I will not survive without you.
And when I die, you will die too.
Because I couldn’t see that only together with you, and not apart, could I keep the pureness in my life. And love. Love.
Love always wins, love was my winning card, but I lost it when I decided to stay in the Game.
The voice of the Hostess rang out, awakening the crowd from their melancholic mood, like an alarm clock:
‘It’s time for a new jump. Will this be the last one?
Are you ready for it? We are all anxious. You, me, Anthony, and The Scientist!
Without further delay, let the countdown begin.
Welcome to what might be the last jump, welcome to…
SUICIDE GAME!
The new game
The new mania
8000 candidates and now only 2!
Only one will survive
Only one can win!
Live from the Night Stadium
Nothing compares to what you'll see here
Nothing compares to what you'll watch
You have already chosen your candidate
You have Made your bet
To be part of a
New and unexpected game
Now it’s time to leave it all in the laps of the gods
And when the bell rings…it is time to jump…for your life!
10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1!
JUMP!’
A
nthony saw the baby walking to the edge of the platform. He looked closely, as the baby embraced the Scientist’s legs and the Scientist, in an automatic reflex, took the baby up in his arms.
Just moments before jumping, Anthony realized that he would not survive the game.
As he realized this, he saw among all the persons in the crowd, a person dressed in white, the only person in white, in the middle of the Stadium audience. The cameras focused on her figure. Nobody understood why a woman dressed in white was there, cold and quiet like a statue. She was standing there, while a tear fell from her left eye, running down her face.
It was Diana.
Before he jumped, he saw Diana clearly.
Anthony looked to his side, and saw the baby still in the Scientist’s arms. Without words, he made a sign.
He knew the decision that the Council needed to make.
As the counter showed the number 5, he pointed to himself and then made his finger down. Then he pointed to the Scientist and the baby and pointed his finger up, and nodded his head, as if he would be saying…it’s ok.
In the control room, Morris got an urgent message to change the program for the jump in the computer. Could be done with a single touch. The wireless way to cut wires was perfect and fast. This all happened in seconds, before the jump.
In front of Alphabot and the seven Council members, with Black now in his new life without any transgenic skin, Morris touched the screen.
The Scientist jumped, seemingly kind of away from there, holding the baby in his arms, thinking about how beautiful jumping was.
And Anthony jumped. Seeing Diana’s image in the crowd and on the screens. He closed his eyes to keep her image in his soul.
The public was speechless.
Diana had seen Anthony’s sign and understood his message. She knew that he had paid to win. And she saw what he did.
She cried and went through the crowd, searching for the elevator to go down. They would not have his body. He had already paid too high a price for his jumping experience. Higher than even he had expected it to be. He deserved to win. Diana realized that real love touched his ambitious heart.
Alessandra had seen the baby’s image on the screen, and ran as fast as she could towards the elevator, to go down.
Both women had gone towards the elevator together, while the bodies were falling.
Both worried about persons they love.
The Hostess had tried to run onto the platform to take the baby away from the Scientist’s arms. Almost falling with her high heels.
But it was too late. They jumped already.
After falling…the atmosphere in the Stadium went misty with dry ice again. Silence overtook the crowd, while a song started to play, at first very slow and low, to the drumbeat of a funereal march.
We all gonna die
Someday
Some way
We all gonna die
Someway
Someday
One day on the subway
A man comes with a gun
He shots for your money
And then you’re really done
And we all say goodbye
We all gonna die
Someday
Someway
We all gonna die
Someway
Someday
One day on the beach
You wanna make a swim
But a shark comes too fast
And in peace you need to rest
And we all say good-bye
We all gonna die
Some day
Some way
We all gonna die
Some way
Some day
Don’t wait for the day
Take your life, make your way
Jump into your destiny
And be part of history
And we all say good-bye
We all gonna die
Some day
Some way
We all gonna die
Some way
Some day
No matter how you die
Or what action you take
Since you’re born
Life is just a Suicide Game…
The platform started to come up, in the middle of the misty atmosphere. The Stadium lights were still diffuse. Suddenly the music started to play faster, louder; the vocals coming through more, ‘Since you’re born, life is just a suicide game…’
Spotlights fell over the platform. The Hostess stood there, wearing her red Femme Fatale dress. In a circle, models all dressed in blue were dancing, as would they be petals of a big flower, hiding whatever was in the middle.
Circles and circles of models in blue, coming from the middle, to the edge, of the platform. Once closer to the edge, they sat on the floor. The lights went completely off. And then, on came a single spotlight.
In the middle of the platform…was…
The Scientist. With a new spark in his eyes. Holding Dawn in his arms.
The public stood up to applaud. Tears were in each person's eyes.
The Hostess didn’t need to speak. But she would say good-bye.
Diana was on the ground, next to Anthony’s body. She covered him with her white scarf. No usher would carry his body away. No diamond would be made. They could give a fake one to the winner. She would, herself, spread his ashes over the sea.
Alessandra was worried about the baby. She didn’t even realize that she had, along with another hundred persons, won the bet. It was more than enough money to live in peace for the rest of her life. Only one hundred persons had bought the Scientist ticket. But for now, she did not realize that.
She was happy as she saw Dawn on the screen, in the Scientist’s arms. Happy and alive.
Even if she was only twenty years old, the last moments, more than all the days together in which she was more like an older sister, had turned her into Dawn’s mother. She embraced Wow, who was also in the ground of the Stadium. Yes, they were her family…Dawn and Wow.
On the platform was the real diamond. Waiting for the raffle winner.
The winner of the diamond came to the platform, to shake the Scientist’s hand. The signed poster would be sent to his home address later.
The Hostess said good-bye.
The models said good-bye.
The Scientist himself said good-bye, but in a kind of faraway manner, because the milk of amnesia was still in his system.
And Dawn said softly, ‘hi’.
Dawn said ‘hi’ again, this time looking at the Scientist, smiling safely in his arms.
And then, from the Scientist's arms, Dawn looked straight ahead, and said, ‘Hello’. And smiled.
This was the last image, and sound, from the Suicide Game.
The Game’s last image and sound was frozen on all the screens, inside and outside the Stadium and on every mobile and fixed device.
The crowd started to leave the Stadium, and then the streets around it.
The night covered the City like a blanket. Not a blanket like some persons might imagine, but a blanket with infinite small holes, to let the star shine come through and bring new dreams to the Earth’s surface.
No, the stars are part of the blanket, the part that brings the warmness we need to sleep in peace. Like dreams, the stars are part of our reality, and are part of us.
The shiny part.
Sometimes your dream is stronger than you are yourself. And life finds a way to keep it alive.
Sometimes your dream is so special that…you can’t kill it. You can’t die, even if you try. Life will find a way to fulfill it, and a way to keep you alive.
Because the Earth…the Earth needs dreamers…to survive.
The opposite of death isn’t life
it’s Birth
When you die
You just move on to live
Somewhere else
So painful it is
Sometimes a Dream must die inside of you
A Dream that never had a chance to be born
Under a starry sky
Beyond a sunny day
You pray and recognize
That maybe wasn’t a dream
But just a nightmare
That almost killed you
Before a good dream could rise in your life.
Haidji
About the Author
Artist, painter, writer, designer, photographer, performer. Just...Haidji.
Her interest in art began at the age of four when she got a blackboard for Christmas. She then started to draw objects around the house: chairs, tables, and so on. As she was twelve, she started to write her stories and poems. Handwritten and hand-painted books, for family and friends.
Her University education was at the University of Applied Science at Idar-Oberstein, Germany, where she obtained a Diploma (equivalent to a Master's Degree) in Jewelry and Precious Stones Design, and Painting. She is also a qualified and awarding-winning Goldsmith.
Haidji is a talented and creative artist who produces abstract work that resonates with warmth and life. Her stories create images in the reader’s mind, as would a word be a brushstroke painting inside your imagination.
There is a very spiritual feel to her work, almost an otherworldliness. A captiving blend of Brazilian flair, Teutonic precision and Dutch pragmatism makes Haidji's work unique, appealing and thought-provoking.
Since 1995 Haidji has exhibited her work, realised her projects and told her stories in many countries: Germany, Brazil, Italy, The Netherlands, Switzerland, England, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, Australia, and the United States of America.
A personal note from Haidji, for her readers:
Thank you very much for reading my book.
If you enjoyed the book, please consider leaving an online review, even if it’s only a line or two; it would make all the difference and would be very much appreciated.
