The Hotdog Contest

THE FOLLOWING STATED BELOW IS INTENDED ONLY FOR MATURE AUDIENCES

“Please don’t make me go!” pleaded Sam.

It was October 18, the cool autumn breeze had created a chilly vibe across the town of Cleveland, Ohio. Today was the day of the great Hotdog eating contest. Everybody in the town had to go, it was a city tradition. Sam had hated going ever since the terrible event… but he wouldn’t rather talk about that right now.

“You have 3 seconds to get into the car!” screamed Sam’s mom, Sarah.

“1….” Sam wasn’t going to go, even if his mom was going to pull out the 1..2..3 card.

“2!...” Well, maybe Sam should go. He didn’t want his mom to yell at him, and he was a very responsible kid.  

“3!!!” Sam ran into the car and buckled his seat belt faster than an adult cheetah blazing down the safari on a cool day.

_______

“How did I get here?!” Sam had exclaimed a few minutes into the car ride. His mom had gotten the better of him with her strategy.

“You are one funny kid,” James said.

“Oh my Gosh! You are so annoying dad!!” exclaimed Sam.

“Hey HEY! Settle down, it’s not like you are going to DIE there!”

Sam looked up in suspicion, this was an odd thing to say. “Huh?” 

“Ugh… never mind,” said James, “It is not like you would understand.”

Sam felt very tired because he had stayed up too late last night, he was going to try to stay awake as much as possible throughout the day.

“Are we there yet?” Sam had said groggily after 20 minutes of driving.

“Yes, we are here,” said James.

Everyone got out of the car, Sam’s mom had brought her Polaroid Camera to take pictures of people eating hotdogs. Sam thought that this was disgusting and hated that his mom would actually do this, who would want to have a printed photo of some weirdo stuffing his mouth with disgusting Hotdogs? Sam and his family went over to the canopies set up all around the fielded area.

The first canopy they went to had the smell of rotten eggs and spoiled milk, Sam shouldered at the thought of what those canopy workers used for hygiene. Somehow, he survived the whole canopy experience, Sam just wanted to go home, he didn't want “her” to show up again and ruin his life. It was not a good time for Sam.

The time had come, it was time to watch the Hotdog eating contest. Sam forced himself to stay and to watch all these disgusting people stuff their faces with whatever is in a Hotdog. Sam hated it all the way. Hours upon hours had passed before the end of the Hotdog Contest, where the mayor of Cleveland stuffs his face with those “yummy and delicious” Hotdogs. Sam couldn’t wait to leave, all his stress and anxiety will be gone from not having to deal with “her”.

He tugged on his dad’s shirt to go when the contest had ended, “Come on dad! It is time to go!”

James didn’t budge.

“Son, we have to stay,” James had said solemnly.

“Wait… What?”

“Look, I promise it will be okay, just please stay with us, no matter what happens.”

“Oh…Okay…”

Sam had gotten very confused, too many out of this world things have happened today, he decided to listen to his parents, it was the right thing to do, at least he thought. He followed his parents into a strange alley-way. None of them could see in the darkness, so Sam’s parents got a flashlight out of their pocket. They did it so smoothly, like they knew this was going to happen.

_______

Suddenly, a dark, sinister voice rose from the shadows saying, “Do you have what I asked of you?”

“Uh… Yes! We do! If you come out we will give it to you!” said James.

“Good…” said the voice.

The dark, figure came out of the shadows. Sam let out a scream after seeing “her”, his most feared nemeses. This was getting serious.

“So, where IS it?” exclaimed the woman rudely.

“R-right here ma’am,” said James. He handed the Woman a bag, it was hard to tell what was inside it. James did not want to die, not today at least.

“Okay, everyone EXPLAIN to me what is happening right now!” exclaimed Sam.

“Would you just shush it!?” Sarah abruptly said, “You could get all three of us killed!”

Sam had opened his mouth to speak again, but then he saw “her” with a gun held up high. All the memories of that day of sorrow came back, Sam couldn’t handle it. He decided to hold it in, he was a smart kid after all.

“It seems you forgot about me so soon? You’re lucky I didn’t kill you boy, one pull of this trigger and you will be done for…” said the Woman.

Sarah Interrupted, “May we go now? You got what you wanted…”

The Woman checked her bag.

“Yes, you may go now, make sure no one sees you on your way out of here.”

The family of three started to scramble away – “WAIT!”

The Woman had said that so loud she practically screamed, “What is this?”

“It is what you wanted ma’am,” James said, trying to hide the sweat popping out of his head. He knew that this definitely was not the thing she had wanted. He could remember the day that he was roped into this nonsense. It happened to be the day Sam had the same encounter with the Woman. She had been a teenager then, an insane drunk trying to ruin everybody’s lives.

Sam had been a victim of hers, for a while. Then, came the day of the Hotdog Contest, Sam actually really liked this fun festival before the incident. He and Sarah were aware about this “Woman” before, everyone hated her, the police were still trying to find her. They didn’t care about this though, they went to the Hotdog Contest.

Halfway through the Contest, James had looked down to find that little 7 year old Sam was not next to him like he usually was. He told Sarah that Sam was missing, they had both went looking to find him. They had asked everyone if they had seen a cute boy with brown hair and blue eyes that looked so beautiful you would just stare into them for hours and all your cares would fly away. None of them said yes. They were starting to get very worried.

Then, like as if an angel had answered their prayers, they heard crying,

“Mommy!! DADDY!!” cried a kid’s voice.

They both followed the voice to its source, I dark alley where no one would see. He had not expected their child to be in there, he would have thought little Sam would want to stay into the light. They walked into the darkness, it was to their horror they saw their child being held hostage by none other than the “Woman”, Sarah gasped.

“What have you done with our child?!” James screamed.

“Oh hello, you must be the boy’s parents,” the teen said.

“Yeah we are!! Give our son back you creep!” James shouted, he had suddenly regretted what he had said after the psycho took out a gun and aimed it straight at him.

“Ah… be careful what you say old man… wouldn’t want to murder you…”

“Give us our son please!” Sarah begged.

“Maybe… hey, do you two want to play a game?!”

Those petrified parents, they were two afraid to say no.

“Okay… I want you all to remember me, and give me this specific thing in 6 years tops,” Said the Woman, “If you promise to do it, then you can have your son back.”

“Ok… What if we don’t?” Sarah said.

“Your son will never see the light of day again!” the crazed woman exclaimed.

The woman held out her gun and aimed it close to the crying boy.

“In 6 years, your son may die.”

“What do you want?!” asked Sarah.

“Oh nothing much… Just the key to the police station!” answered the Woman.

“We can’t do that!” James exclaimed.

“Watch what you say old man…” the woman said once again as she held the gun up to little Sam’s head.

“We’ll do it!!” exclaimed Sarah, she hadn’t known she said those words until a few moments later. “We will get you what you want!”

“You bet that right!” exclaimed the Woman, “If you don’t-“

“We know! Please don’t tell us again!” said Sarah.

The Woman gave them little Sam back and as soon as they were out of the lunatic’s sight, they all ran to the nearest Police Officer.

“Officer! Officer!!” Sarah exclaimed.

“What is it ma’am?” asked the Officer.

“D-drunk Girl!” said Sarah.

“What?!” asked the Officer.

“There was a girl, you may have heard of her. Well, she held my son hostage and wouldn’t let him go until we promised to steal the key for the police station!” James said, mostly out of breath. “Of course we didn’t side with her though.”

“Where is the girl?” asked the Officer.

“Over in that dark alley way.”

“Well then, follow me.” said the Officer.

We all ran to the alley were we found little Sam but when we got there, all we saw was that dark, eerie shadow covering up most of the alley. The Officer got out of flashlight and looked around.

“You sure she was in here?” he asked.

“Oh yes! For sure!” Sarah said.

The Officer looked around once more… Nothing.

“Well, I will keep in touch with you all and let you know if I find the girl.”

“Thank you sir,” Sarah said.

“No Problem” said the Officer.

Those were the last words they heard him say. There was never a call back from him. To this day, no one knows where he is or what happened to him.

_______

“This is NOT what I had asked you for!” the Woman screamed.

Sam had no idea what was going on, he wanted to curl up in a ball and hide. He didn’t know what was going to happen to him, he didn’t want to know.

“Yes it is! It is the key to the police station!” exclaimed James.

“It is a card!” screamed the Woman.

“That is the key! Everything got upgraded since the 20^th century! Keys are now Cards!” Sarah exclaimed.

“Okay, I will try it.” Said the woman.

James had regretted going here, he knew that they shouldn’t have come. He hadn’t seen the Woman on the news in 4 years so he had thought it would be safe, so they went to the contest. They had also created a fake card to attempt to save their son. After the contest, he had went to the alley just to make sure they were in the clear. To their luck, the Woman was unfortunately there. Now he and his family had to attempt to lie to a supervillain. Sam didn’t know what was happening, which made matters worse. James had to follow the Woman, he decided that he was going to make a break for it while walking to the police station.

Halfway to the police station, James had whispered to his family,

“We are going to make a run for it in 3…”

“You know, if you are not telling the truth, I can take your son’s life,” Said the Woman.

“2…”

“But you seem like a trustworthy family, wouldn’t want to kill your only son.”

“1…”

“Well, we are here- hey! Where are you going?!”

“RUN RUN RUN!!!” Screamed James.

Adrenaline rushed through Sam’s veins. He ran as fast as he could carry himself. If he could just make it to the end of the brick path and around the building, he would be just fine. He just had to run! Run! RUN! RUN! RU-

BOOM.

Darkness fills Sam’s eyes, the pain he had been feeling while he was running has now spread everywhere, and he fell down.

“SAM!” his mother and father exclaimed.

“Relax” a voice told Sam, “It will be okay,”

Sam suddenly started to float, he knew he had died. He saw his parents get shot as well, followed by screams. It was surprising to see that their spirits didn’t raise up like his did, Sam knew that they would never go “down below”. He must think, where are his parents?  Then a thought struck him like no other thought would.

His parents could have been angels.