11:15 PM. Salem, Oregon. 5 Tables in One Room.
The room stretched. Now it was huge.
5 tables in a circle.
Center: The Hunger, sitting on air.
The Hunger: _"Round 1. The Writers vs The Authors.
Topic: Fear.
You have 10 minutes.
Best story keeps their table.
Loser... gets erased."_
The Writers’ table glowed. 4 shadows with pens.
They didn’t talk. They just started writing. Fast.
Fritz: "Okay they’re fast. 10/10 scary."
Alex: "Then we’re faster."
Miri: "But not alone. One story. All of us."
Umi: "On 3. Ready?"
Timer started: 10:00
Minute 1-3: Writing
Umi wrote: She was afraid of the dark.
Miri wrote: Because in the dark, you can’t see what’s eating you.
Alex wrote: But she learned to sing. And sound scares monsters.
Fritz wrote: _So she took a photo of the dark.
And the dark got embarrassed and left.
The End._
Minute 4: The Writers finish
Their shadow leader slammed their paper down.
4 pages. One story.
"The Boy Who Ate Shadows"
It was good. Too good. Dark, sharp, no hope.
The Hunger read both stories.
Tasted the air.
_"Hmm. The Writers wrote fear.
The Authors wrote fear... and beat it."_
The Hunger: "Winner: The Authors."
The Writers’ table screamed.
Cracked.
The 4 shadows shattered into ink and vanished.
One chair from their table flew to The Authors’ table.
Now they had 5 chairs.
The Hunger: _"4 tables left.
Next month: The Musicians.
Topic: Grief."_
The room shrank back. Only 4 tables remained.
Fritz: exhaling "We won round 1."
Miri: "But we have a new chair."
Umi: looked at it. The chair was empty.
But on the seat: a pen. Still wet.
Alex: "Trophy or trap?"
Umi: picked up the pen. The book flipped:
_New Rule Unlocked: You can now write for them.
But if you do... you feel what they felt._
Fritz: "Nope. Not touching that."
Umi: "We might have to."