Page 77 of Forever is the Sweetest Con
Garrett nods. “Like an ‘If you build it, they will come’ situation.”
“But none of this has actually been on TV?”
Garrett shakes his head.
“Which means—”
“None of this is real.” Sue-Ellen’s mouth sets in a hard line.
A sombre silence settles over the group.
“But why leave?” Valeria asks. “Why not just tell us and then we could all go?”
“Well, they killed that guy, so they were panicking. And Tyler kept saying the lancers were going to come.”
“The lancers?” Isa says, the word unfamiliar on his tongue.
“I think that’s what he was saying. He was rambling, wasn’t making a lot of sense, but he kept saying how they’d be dead if the lancers came.”
“Hold up,” Sid says, standing. “The lancers? Are you sure it wasn’t theLansas? Because if it was, we’re fucked.” He starts to pace, holding his head with both hands. “Oh my god, oh my god.”
“What?” Trina pulls at his shirt.
“McFarland. Bobby McFarland. Oh, holy fucking shit, you guys.” Sid’s face in the darkness has turned ghostly white.
“Please,” Trina whimpers. “What is it?”
I have the sudden urge to stand and say, “Thanks very much, folks, that’ll be all for this evening,” but I can’t make my legs work, and my voice seems to have been swallowed up.
“The Lansas,” Sid says, speaking very slowly, like he wants to make sure we understand, “are the hired thugs of the Calaois gang. And Bobby McFarland is their boss.”
The campers are all registering some variation of the same reaction— slack-jawed shock, wide-eyed disbelief, brow-contorting confusion. But me, I feel like I’m zooming out, like I’m watching the scene from above, detached but curious.
“He’s an infamous motherfucker,” Sid continues. “I listened to a true-crime podcast about him. He’s done some dark shit.”
Kei closes his eyes tightly, shakes his head. “Wait, wait. So they owe money to god knows how many people, one of them being a mob boss, who they end up killing, and so they make a run for it in the middle of the night, leaving us here—”
“To die,” Isa finishes.
I can’t even process this revelation about the Silver Fox, or the fact that we’ve most certainly been left for dead; I’m stuck on what Sue-Ellen said.None of this is real.
Which means all of this—the cameras, the challenges, the votes—has been fake.
Which means I’ve been scammed. Again.
This time, I was supposed to be the one doing the scamming. This was not supposed to happen to me.
You can’t scam a scammer.
And yet.
I pray to disappear, for my limbs to petrify and become one with the log I’m sitting on, so I don’t have to face the truth of it all.
Because the truth is, I’m nothing but an idiotic, naive woman. I should have seen all of this coming, but I let myself get lost in my own story. I took my eye off the prize and I let myself get stupid because I had a crush on a boy.A crush.
I make myself stand up; the only force more powerful than my shame is my need to not be here. I shuffle toward the path, vaguely registering both Harmony and Kei calling my name. Harmony comes to me, takes my arms and pleads for me to stay and help plan the search for Damian and Giovanni. I tell her I can’t, I’m sorry. I’m on autopilot as I find my way to my bunk, where I pull the blankets over my head.Under the covers, the sounds of my shallow breath and beating heart are amplified, creating a comforting rhythm. I feel the world moving further and further away. Finally, sleep takes me.
I wake up to Kei’s smiling face, and for the briefest moment, I’m flooded with happiness. “Time for breakfast, let’s get you up,” he says, like he’s speaking to a small child. And then I remember. I close my eyes again. After a little while, I hear another voice. Trina.
