The cruise

Jack Parks and Kim Johnson had been dating for a little over 2 years. For the past several weeks, Kim had been talking about a contest she wanted to enter for a chance to win a cruise for herself and her girlfriends. With her birthday approaching, Jack thought if he won the cruise, it would make the perfect present.

At 5’ 5” tall, 130 pounds, and long blonde hair, Jack wasn’t exactly a manly man. He often wondered what Kim saw in him.

On night while they were watching TV, Kim was scrolling through her phone. During a commercial break, she set her phone down and went to get another glass of wine. While she was gone, Jack grabbed her phone. Realizing he only had a few minutes at the most, he saw that she was in the process of completing the form. Acting quickly he saw the 2 names she had already added to be included if she won. Adding his name between the 2, he was about to set her phone down when an alert popped up saying that more information was required for the latest entrant.

Knowing he needed to finish before she came back, he panicked. The form was extremely long.

NAME:

EMAIL:

STYLE:

GOALS:

And that was just the first few lines! Entering his name in the form and putting in his Email, he quickly copied and pasted information from the first half of one and the second half of the other name. Thinking he was finished, the phone then prompted him for a picture of the latest addition. Snapping a quick pic, he scrolled to the end of the form and replaced Kim’s phone moments before she returned.

Pleased with himself, he grabbed his own phone. Kim returned, with wine in hand and asked, “Awfully quiet in here, what are you looking at?”

“Oh, just saw a commercial for a new game, so I’m checking it out,” he replied nonchalantly.

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Unknown to Jack, this wasn’t a typical 14 night cruise. This was 30 days. And the winners were specifically chosen based on their particular needs. The company sponsoring the contest was a biochemical producer, and they used the cruises to test new on willing participants. Every possible thing was taken care of for the participants, including clothing. Psychology needs were also taken into consideration and acted upon.

The company prided itself on guaranteed results. In the course of these “test” cruises, only one adverse outcome had ever resulted, and that was quickly and quietly covered up.

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The form that Jack had so blindly filled in was specifically for women entering the contest, and was considered legally binding in the event they won. Reimbursement, fines and court costs totaling over half a million dollars would need to be paid. This was to ensure that the company didn’t lose anything, should anyone decide not to participate. Winners would be notified individually by email, should their entry be chosen.

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One month later, Jack received a congratulatory email saying that Kim’s group had win a trip on the cruise. A PDF with his boarding pass was also included in the email.

Kim also received an email. However her said that each girl in her group was contacted individually and they should all meet before being allowed to board.

Two weeks later, Kim, with nothing more than her boarding pass left to meet her friends for what she hoped would be a life changing experience.

Jack waited until she left and then headed toward to docks himself, hoping to surprise her on the ship.