FLASH FICTION CONTEST #1

“Hey, Aria, check it out.” Greg oohed at the photos of piles of money. There was a swimming pool of money, and the kids swimming in it looked like they were in heaven. “The competition begins today in, like, a few hours.”

“Is it open to latecomers?” Aria questioned, unsure.

“Sure, sure.” Greg said dismissively. “C’mon, let’s get ready. We should go over some of the rules or whatever. You like that type of stuff, right?”

“I just do it because YOU DON’T, Greg!” Aria turned over to her computer. “Now start getting ready. We need to study.”

“Can I borrow your computer?”

“No.” Aria huffed.

Three hours later, Aria and Greg arrived at the building. It just looked like a house. “Are you sure this is a good idea? It looks…unprofessional.”

“Sure. C’mon, let’s ring the doorbell!” Greg cheered, happily bouncing up to the front door. Aria followed, wary. Greg’s ideas usually got her in a lot of trouble, whether it was worth it or not. He just sort of brought her along. A little brother couldn’t do these things alone, could he?

“Hello there!” A young man said, smiling. “Are you here for the competition?”

“Yep.”

“Okay, come in, our contestants are waiting.”

There it was--five shopping carts full of money, lined up in a neat row. There were three other kids, one looking excited and the others looking like the competitors in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, smug and stupid.

“Three, two, one, and…we’re rolling! Look alive, everyone! Hello, I’m MrYeast, and today the last person to leave their shopping cart full of money wins $100,000! Contestants, enter your shopping carts.”

Everyone did as they were told. It was a little cramped, but overall it was okay. Aria could tell the bills were fake (obviously), too stiff and thick to be real. She started building intricate walls to shut herself off from the other noisy contestants. The Not-Money worked well.

Meanwhile, Greg and the other contestants were messing around and chatting with the hosts. Aria scoffed condescendingly and continued to make a masterpiece. The walls were perfectly symmetrical and sort of soundproof, the more she added to it. They consisted of arches and towers like a medieval masterpiece.

“So, you guys, what would you like to do if you win the money?”

Several tragic stories spewed out from the other three contestants. Aria heard cars and luxury couches and apparently Greg wanted 3 Yboxes. He had never said anything about that to Aria, but fake tears spilled out of his face as he told MrYeast how much he wanted those Yboxes. Something about “childhood dreams,” but he was still a child.

“And there was Aria, right? Aria, you in there?” MrYeast knocked on the half-built Money Wall. It stayed put. Aria grunted. “Let me work.”

“Okay, okay.”

It was awkwardly quiet for a long, long time.

A loud BANG made everyone look up. MrYeast dropped the plates of steamed potatoes he was going to serve. Aria couldn’t see anything (the Money Wall was blocking her view), but there were shouts from other contestants about how they were all going to die.

“HANDS UP! THIS IS A ROBBERY!” An unfamiliar voice yelled.

Silence, and then MrYeast scoffed, “the money isn’t here. It’s in my bank account, under MrYeast, password 25--”

“Then why is there money right here?” Aria could tell the robber was gesturing to the fake money.

“Fake. Now, be on your way, sir.” MrYeast said politely.

The robber didn’t budge. His evil aura stayed in the air. There was more uncomfortable silence. It seemed like everything had just…stopped. Everyone was still.

Then, without thinking, MrYeast launched Aria’s shopping cart at him. It seemed he forgot there was a person inside. Greg screamed, Aria screamed, the robber screamed.

The Money Wall didn’t budge when it hit the robber. He let out an OOMF and collapsed to the ground. Aria carefully pulled a bill from the wall so the whole thing fell to the ground, and she checked out the damage. He was unconscious.

“Welp, since your parents will probably sue me if they know I shoved you in a shopping cart towards a robber armed with a crowbar, you win $100,000! Just--keep quiet, okay?”

Greg cheered wildly, but Aria was just stunned. She was already splitting the money up in her head--donation, college--until she realized that Greg wanted three Yboxes. It was her money, though. So Greg wouldn’t get three Yboxes.

He would just get two.