Unfair

Suddenly very fearful of being spotted by someone, Frankie retreated to a nearby café. As soon as she noticed a lot of people were there, she moved to a different one nearby that was closed.

When Katie finally caught up to her, the two felt equally trapped. Not only was Bozo’s collection of tokens growing far outside of what two cheap tourists could ever possibly earn in a decade at the park, but their plans for the day had been essentially scorched. At best, they could go somewhere else, and challenge another MASCOT. Maybe fail again. Or maybe Bozo could beat them to that one too, with how he and his employees seemed to be able to teleport around the park at will.

This isn’t fair, Frankie boiled inside her head. They didn’t even try to make this fair.

“Frankie, you’re not breathing.”

She awoke from her terrified haze to see the loving eyes of her older sister checking up on her. Unlike her, she didn’t show the same frustration she surely had underneath.

“What now?” Frankie’s only concern at that moment was winning. The only breaths she took were that so she could communicate, a desperate hope of forming some kind of plan the only ledge she had to hold onto.

“What else…? We have to challenge him. Get those tokens back, for ourselves. Er… one of us has to. If we go together, we could be recognized.”

Katie was not any more intelligent than Frankie. This was the very first thing Frankie thought to do as soon as that rich bastard piled the tokens into his palms. It was also the last thing Frankie would ever want to do even if her life was on the line.

“No, that’s… well, there are other ways we could…”

“No.”

Katie was firm in her judgment. She wanted to win more than anybody.

“I… can’t…”

“You don’t have to.”

That was probably the most relieving thing Frankie had heard all year. A very short-lived relief, the second she realized what it could mean.

“But I can’t- put you in danger, what if- what if they find out, what if you get arrested, I-“

“Either way, it has to be one of us.”

The realization hit Frankie a second time. She had to be the one to do it. No one else. She couldn’t endanger her sister like that.

“Then it… has to be me.”

Frankie tried very hard to remember when she didn’t even care about living. But as much as she tried, she still couldn’t entirely quench her fear.

“Can you do it?”

She burrowed down into her heart and took out all the determination she had left.

“I… I can. I can do it. But… I’m just… worried. What if I lose anyway?”

“If we can’t win this, it won’t matter to begin with. You should bet everything, Frankie. Put as much of a dent in him as you can.”

Frankie nodded in agreement.