The big show

“What’s going is that you’ll put on a show for us. Each member of the coalition has chosen a task that you will perform on stage, live-streamed, and you won’t be able to leave until you finish. For starters, the basketball team will like you to pull a three-pointer, and each time you fail, you have to do ten jumping jacks.”

“Why would we do that?”

Lily lifted a little tablet. “We found your tablet, Mimi. We know you have been stealing money from everyone´s bank accounts. If you don’t play along, we’ll go to the cops.”

“What’, that’s not true!” Mimi looked at me with wide open eyes. “I swear I didn’t. That wasn’t me!”

“Oh really, then explain this transaction that happened just an hour ago, hmm? It says right here that I “transferred” fifteen dollars to your account, but we both know that even if you were destitute, I would not give you a cent of spare change.”

Yeah, that doesn’t make sense… I was watching Mimi with the cameras all this time. She didn’t do it, which meant I couldn’t just arrest her on the spot… No matter how much I wanted to bail and leave this little show.

The curtains opened. Mimi gulped at the wall of people staring back at her. All the people that hated her were there. The lab tech, her classmates, and a girl dressed like a cheap lion. Everyone was grinning in anticipation.

A basketball hoop was set up, and Lily passed her a ball. Her goons made us stand next to an arbitrarily placed line on the other side of the stage. Mimi stood with her bare feet behind the line, flexed her knees, and concentrated. Cold sweat poured down the sides of her head.

I stood right behind her, both to hide my body and to keep scratching myself with her back a little bit. Mimi lifted her hands and tossed the ball, but I never knew if she managed to score. The wood underneath our feet opened and we fell under the floor.