Race Through Fire
an excerpt

RACE THROUGH FIRE
CHAPTER 1
I put down the book I was reading, I knew I shouldn’t be but it was just so good. There were footsteps on the stairs, it was Chloe.
“Onyx are you going read every book before you organize them?” Chloe said
Chloe and I lived with Miss. Dave, an old widow, in her cottage (it had a three story tower which looked like it belonged in Repunzle’s time) reorganizing her private library, floors one and two of the tower. Chloe and I lived in the very top of the tower and Miss. Dave lived in the cottage part of the house. My parents were both astronauts and one of Chloe’s parents died when she was two, but no one knew where the other was. I couldn’t stay with my parents because of their work as astronauts; it was top secret and took all their time. So for different reasons Chloe and I ended up here.
“No it’s just that one book cover catches my eye and I pick it up to see what it’s about, and if it’s any good I just can’t stop reading.” I replied
She stepped closer and took a good look at the book I had put down. “What’s so interesting about that book cover?” I had been reading a book with nothing on the cover of it and no name on the spine even.
“Um, the thing is I had to pick it up and read it because there is nothing interesting on the cover, for that matter there is nothing on it that tells you anything about it.”
“Whatever then. Put the book down and let’s go eat dinner, Miss. Dave is waiting for us in the kitchen.”
I went through the door that connected with Miss Dave’s cottage part of the house. I could smell potatoes being cooked in the oven and a steak frying in the pan over the stove. I went to go join Chloe at the small table in the kitchen by the window. Miss. Dave, having got all the food ready, brought it over to us and sat down herself. Dinner passed uneventfully the three of us exchanged some small talk about this and that then Chloe and I went off to our rooms.
As we passed the front door we saw that the mail had arrived, I went to go grab it. On my way back I shuffled through to see if Chloe or I had got anything. I dropped most of mail on the kitchen counter, taking a couple things addressed to Chloe or I.
When I got upstairs I saw that Chloe had flopped over onto the bed, I imitated her and also flopped down shuffling the mail and tossing what was Chloe’s over to her. Chloe and I lived in the top of the tower so there was a nice peek, making the small room seem a little bit bigger. We had it decorated with some frilly fabrics, a couple book cases, and a chair in addition to our two beds.
I looked at the mail I had gotten. A short note that appeared to be from my parents, a warning from a magazine that said I only had one issue left, and a small package that looked official.
I opened up the letter from my parents (I usually got one every week of so) and took a look at what they had written (they thought that it was nicer if they sent me real mail instead of e-mail because it was more “formal”):
My darling Onyx,
How is everything going? You aren’t bothering Miss. Dave too much? Of course you aren’t.
I wish you could have seen the earth from the moon; it was truly an amazing sight. The photos I mailed you don’t even come close to expressing the beauty of it. And to think this is where we live everyday of our lives.
I love you so much, and as always wish you were here with us. Your father sends his love too.
Love Mom and Dad.
P.S. Your father says to tell you that astronaut food is really improving. We don’t have to eat out of toothpaste tubes anymore! It’s really not that bad, we even can eat rehydrated shrimp cocktail. That’s the new theory; make everything dehydrated so we can add the water back, or partially dehydrated, like beef jerky.
I looked back inside the envelope for the pictures, there were three. I smiled as I looked at them, they were the classics, but it’s true even more amazing. They also sent a picture of them standing together next to the American flag on the moon’s surface. I grabbed a couple push pins and pinned the pictures up on space behind the head of my bed.
I went back to going through my mail, ignoring ONLY ONE ISSUE LEFT letter I tossed into the recycling bin. I moved on to my small official looking box. I ripped open the seal and found a letter, I took it out. Chloe had gotten the same box and letter and was doing the same. I read the first couple lines of the first piece of paper and almost feinted. I looked over to Chloe to see what her reaction was. She had the same stunned look that I'm sure was the exact same one that I had just had. Then at the same time we both stood up and started jumping up and down on the spot waving our hands and shouting with joy at each other.
“You, you g – g – got too?!” I stammered
“Yah…” Said Chloe with a glazed over look
“We got to go read the rest, OK?”
“Yep I'm on it.”
I went back to my bed to finish reading the letter.
Congratulations. You have been chosen from a random drawing to participate in “The Great Race”. You may have heard of it, you may not. It is a reality TV show of a sort, the catch, it is a life threatening race, you are stranded in the desert with no adults and everything you will need for next month on you back. Enclosed in the box is your primary outfit. You have another set of clothes in the back pack you will receive later. You are permitted to bring three items of your choice, restrictions apply, items not permitted are; radios, cell phones, TVs, etc. The items that you choose to bring are purely for your personal enjoyment, all items that you NEED are provided for you. You will be picked up by helicopter in your front yard at exactly 1 am. If you are not there when we are we leave without you. Oh, and one last thing, you are divided into teams of five, each team get a power of an element (i.e. earth, water, wind, fire). Unless there are five people that call them self a team you won’t have any power, this means if even one of you is lost or dead you don’t have a power any more.
Johnny Gray (director of “The Great Race”)