Paintshark (11 page)

Sabrina screamed, “WELL, WHEN ARE YOU? IN CASE YOU HADEN’T NOTICED I HAVE SCALES ON MY ARMS!”

Aphrodite sucked in her lips and remained calm. “Just trust me, will you? I know what I’m doing, let me speak to my dad and see what he says, ok?”

Sabrina nodded.

“Cool! I could really do with some ice cream now, do you want some?” The girl scrunched up her nose whilst shaking her head. “More for me then,” Aphrodite said, clapping her hands. Her phone started to ring and vibrate.

“Oh, I have to get this, could you get my ice-cream for me?” Aphrodite blew her a kiss as the young girl left the bedroom. She slumped back on her bed and shouted out to her departing friend, “Sabrina darling, can I have sprinkles on mine please?“

Sabrina stopped to hear the request from her and then headed down to the kitchen. Aphrodite pressed the green button on the phone. “Hello you, wondered when you would call and what can I do for you? Yeah…yeah, I’ve heard of them…ok…do I know of any?…might do…why?…How much?…I can’t…Because I know her…she’s my best friend…ok…ok…I’ll try…I know

…leave it with me…yeah…yeah…ok…bye.”

Aphrodite threw her hands by her side and drew in a deep breath, she slithered down the side of her bed and sat spread-eagled on her bedroom floor, shaking slightly she groaned and looked to her ceiling, before shouting down to the kitchen. “SABRINA, LEAVE THE ICE-CREAM…WE’RE GOING BACK OUT.”

Cassandra opened one eye and then the other, she still didn’t know where she was. It was a small room with a table and lying on the floor next to it was Kimberley. Cassandra went over to her straight away and shook her. Kimberley opened her eyes slowly and whispered, “Where are we?”

Before Cassandra could answer, a huge flat screen TV slowly came down from the ceiling, it was so big it filled most of the room, the screen flickered and then the image of ‘Big Man’ appeared.

“Hello ladies, allow me to introduce myself–”

Cassandra cut him off immediately. “We know who you are, everybody knows who you are, you’re the Network boss, the ‘Big Man’.

We would be idiots if we hadn’t heard of you…and you were at my school earlier.”

Big Man cracked his knuckles. “Was I? I shut down so many schools today I’ve lost count. Who was your headmaster?”

“Who
is
my headmaster, you mean?”

Big Man laughed. “Yes, my apologies, what’s their name?”

“Elias Glaucas.”

The man was impressed. “Really? I’m not surprised that a strong, spirited man was your teacher.”

“
IS OUR TEACHER,”
Cassandra snapped.

Kimberley looked around and remembered. “Where’s Felcey? What have you done with Felcey?”

Big Man paused and bit his lip.

“Oh the nerd? He’s had his fifteen minutes of fame but to be fair I don’t think he even made five minutes.”

Cassandra leapt to the TV screen and glared at the image. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?”

“I simply put your friend on the TV as a taster for my viewers, if he survives it’ll be great for the older ladies who vote as they all love ‘a nice young man’.”

“YOU’RE SICK,” Cassandra snapped.

“Why does everyone keep saying that to me?”

Kimberley stood up and clutched her friend’s hand, her voice was barely a whisper.

“What are you going to do to us?”

Big Man obliged to her question and pressed a button on a remote control by his side, instantly another screen appeared in the left hand corner of the original, a screen within a screen.

It showed footage of Kimberley’s hands boiling the swimming pool and Cassandra’s face change at the Chicken Shack. Tears welled up in Kimberley’s eyes as she watched, while Cassandra stood straight-faced.

Big Man hit the STOP button. “Now, I kind of know where you bunch of freaks came from, and have an inkling on how you got those freaky-deaky powers.”

“WHAT DO YOU KNOW? WHAT HAPPENED TO US?”

Big Man cut Kimberley off. “Like I’m really going to tell you.”

“Please sir.”

Big Man stared at the shaken young girl and paused. “No, but what I do know is you have a talent, a talent that the nation has to see. I could have left you with the police who would have turned you over to the science authorities who don’t work for me, and they would have opened you up like a game of ‘pass the parcel’, but with me I can put you on the small screen with an audience of millions, where you’ll be adored.”

Cassandra shook her head. “You’re crazy.”

“Am I? Did you see those clips? Those people were running away from you because
you
scared them, you freaked them out because they don’t know you, but if you go on my show I can make you stars, I can make you legends.”

Cassandra wasn’t budging. “We’ve seen your shows, we’ve seen those monsters you’ve bred in your labs…THEY EAT PEOPLE.”

“But not Gods…which it seems you are.”

Kimberley realised the severity of their situation. “You can’t do this to us, you can’t force us to.”

Big Man agreed. “Usually we can’t, but for you two girls I’ll make an exception.”

“But what about signing release forms? What about our parents?”

Big Man roared with laughter. “Your parents? You’re not kids, you’re eighteen years old, when they see you on the TV screen, they’ll probably think you’ve done it off your own back, most parents only see their kids on TV when it’s their court appearance, look at the world we live in, it’s more fascinated by reality TV than greatness, and that’s where I come in.”

Big Man pulled out a folder from his side and threw it on the table in front of him.

“This is off the record but we’ve got your files here and we’ve forged your names on the application forms.”

He sifted through them. “So we have Kimberley Watson and Cassandra Paintshark? That’s an unusual name…how did you get that name?”

“From my parents probably.”

Big Man wiped his brow. “So you’ve gone all cocky now? Paintshark? It does sound a bit silly.”

“Oh I’m sorry ‘BIG MAN’, What were you expecting? Cassandra Potter?”

Cassandra fiddled with her hair, her face still not worried, but her voice oozed sarcasm. “A very long time ago my great, great, great, great, great–”

She stopped. “Let’s just say great times five. Well, my great granddad was a fisherman and he used to catch many fish to sell at the local market, he caught a particular shark once, a shark no one had seen before, a shark he thought looked beautiful so he put it on his stall, thinking the other townsfolk would love it and called it the ‘Tavia’ shark after his own Grandma…people came and bought the shark…and didn’t like it. Day in and day out he caught the same shark and it was the same result…nobody ate it.”

Big Man leaned forward on his table. “Go on.”

“Well I don’t know why, but he decided to paint a shark once, he painted it in the most extreme bright colours and the town’s folk flocked to see this new magnificent shark he had bought, it looked fantastic hanging up on his stall with the dawn sun throwing its early rays upon on it and suddenly they bought it in their droves. Apparently this new shark looked better than the last one, it looked so bright and stunning but it was the same shark, the same shark people hated before, the same shark that no one had bothered to buy….but dress it up? Change it around? And they loved it.

“He painted so many different colours on those sharks and people swarmed to buy them…even though it was the same bland taste, the same boring shark…dress it up…and people loved it, hence that’s why his family called him Paintshark.”

Big Man leaned back in his chair. “So what are you saying then?”

“I’m saying that no matter how much you try to dress something up and disguise it…it’s still the same old thing…still the same old crap and people who are easily fooled, those who don’t know any better…lap it up…just like your crappy game shows, – never judge a book by its cover.”

Big Man wasn’t that impressed. “Never judge a book by its cover? Don’t be stupid, that’s why books have covers so we know what’s in them, if I go to the shop and see a magazine with a tank on the front, chances are it’s going to be about tanks, same applies for cameras, boats and fish…
always
judge a book by the cover.”

Big Man clicked closed the file and then wiped his brow and leant back in his chair, respectful of his young prisoner.

“You’re quite the thinker, Cassandra, my audience will love you in the games.”

“DROP DEAD!”

“GROW SOME BALLS, CASSANDRA!”

The outburst from Big Man startled the girls. “YOU’VE GOT POWERS, YOU’RE A BUNCH OF FREAKS AND YOU’RE GOING TO FIGHT IN MY SHOW, SO NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU BITCH AND WHINE…YOU’LL BE APPEARING ON MY SHOW AND YOU WILL BE FIGHTING MY MONSTERS.”

Cassandra’s body tensed up. “Listen here you dumb ass, whatever you do to us, we’ll bounce back. I don’t know what happened to Kimberley and me and I don’t know what
will
happen to us, but we’re not trapped in a reality of fame, we won’t bow down to your regime, THROW US IN YOUR GAMES AND WE’LL FIGHT BACK, YOU WILL SEE ME AGAIN.”

Big Man cracked his knuckles again. “Only on a Best of box set.”

Cassandra took out her earrings and showed them to Big Man. “You see these earrings? They were a gift from my best friend and when I’m finished here, I’m going to come and take them back, look after these…you big stupid idiot.”

Big Man smiled.

“That’s what I wanted to hear, but you won’t be seeing these earrings again. Bit of a waste really, still I’m sure I can find a home for them.”

Sleeping gas began to fill the room, unbelievably Big Man tried to hold back his laughter. Despite the girls’ terror he spoke outright.

“This gas should knock you out for tomorrow’s show. I like you, Cassandra, you have some fight about you, but no matter your beliefs, no matter what you hope for…young lady, you are about to have a very bad day.”

As the gas swirled around the room, Kimberley moaned as her vision grew bleary. Cassandra shuffled her back to the wall, she remembered her music headphones were still working and she put the earpieces in place and nodded to the music as she faded away. She saw that the TV image of ‘Big Man’ was gone and Kimberley had already passed out, as the gas began to take Cassandra, her head rolled back and she had time to smile and murmur her last words for the day. “What a load of bollocks.”

The audience yelled and rocked in their seats as the comedian ‘warm up’ man had them rolling around the aisles and eagerly anticipating the main event.

The ‘Beetle Battle’ was a dead loss and the figures proved it, when news broke that on the main bill tonight were the ‘Swimming Pool Perisher and the ‘Chicken Shack Scarer’. As the media called them, then ticket sales went through the roof. People flocked outside the Big Man’s TV studios.

It was called the Messiah complex and was the main base for Big Man and his production company.

There were studios and cameras all over the country, everybody who entered the various quiz shows and reality TV programmes for the more popular shows were mostly filmed beneath the vast tower.

The programme operators fiddled with their dials and production managers barked orders to the crew. Everything had to be perfect, this was the most important broadcast in their history. Big Man and his scientists had given some teenagers powers overnight and now they were competing in the most popular TV show in the world, Big Man had kept his part of the grafting process with the teenagers quiet from the public. The producers of the show had to get it right – their jobs and their lives were definitely on the line, they could not let Big Man down.

So the crowds were in place. The people at home watched in their millions. The studio audience cheered until their voices broke…it was show time.

An announcer’s voice boomed across the studio, it was a women’s voice – confident and excited.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, IT’S TIME FOR THE MAIN EVENT, YOU MAY HAVE SEEN OUR NEXT CONTESTANT ON THE NEWS EARLIER, SHE BOILED THE WATERS OF A SWIMMING POOL AND FRIGHTENED EVERBODY OUT, SO WHAT DO YOU THINK CAN STUN THIS SIZZLING STUNNER? WHICH CREATURE CAN DEFEAT THIS POOLSIDE PARIAH? THE CHOICE IS YOURS.

“IF YOU WANT KIMBERLEY TO FACE:

THE ‘LEVIATHAN’ CALL 080 225 01

THE ‘MANTICORE’ CALL 080 225 02

THE ‘FENRIS WOLF’ CALL 080 225 03.

“AUDIENCE MEMBERS CAN VOTE BY USING THE KEYPADS UNDER THEIR SEAT.

PHONELINES ARE NOW OPEN AND SATELLITE VIEWERS CAN VOTE BY PRESSING THEIR RED BUTTONS NOW.”

The audience reached under their seats and in a frenzy pressed down hard on the keypads.

The comedian came back out to entertain the crowd, followed by a boy band, singing in unison and dancing in tandem, the crowd liked this. After they had sung their song, which was written for them by the Network, the female announcer’s voice came back even more excited.

“WELL THE PHONELINES ARE NOW CLOSED AND ALL YOUR VOTES HAVE BEEN COUNTED AND WE CAN TELL YOU THAT THE CREATURE YOU CHOSE TO FACE KIMBERLEY IS…LEVIATHAN.”

A huge TV monitor in the studio came to life and the lights faded, as did the noise from the audience. They sat back and stared at the screen as an image appeared on it.

A picturesque huge lake and not a soul at all on the water, but then a small boat rowed into the audience’s view with two people in it. A teenage girl lay asleep as a boy around the same age struggled with the oars.

She came to and flashed her eyes dimly at the lad.

“Denton? What are you doing? Where are we?”

Denton threw his hands up in defence. “Hey, one question at a time.” He rested the Oars. “We’re in ‘the game’, the main game at the Network”

Kimberley tried to shake of the effects of the gas, which had knocked her out for a while. “I can remember being with Cassandra in a room, where is she?”

“No idea where she is, but I’m here to take care of you.”

She looked around, unsure of her surroundings. “What are you talking about? Where is this place?”

Denton sighed, knowing that he’d have to calm her down before she would understand a word of what he was saying, he reached for her hand and she gave it to him.