The Games

Guy put in so much work to convince Madam Eunice to let Faith play with the rest of the team in June. Eventually, Madam Eunice agreed on the condition that Guy kept it a secret from the overseeing world that she spent most of her nights at travel clubs.

'You're on probation, Faith. If I catch you bending the rules again, you will face even worse consequences. I could tell the authorities up there that you are not ready to leave the dormitory system and so you could be here for more than 2 years." Faith promised that she would be good.

As the global games neared, those participating in the games were allowed to go to Boraland and practice. They even sometimes hosted participants from the other dormitories to make use of Huckleberry's facilities. They were not only representing their country Cher, but the entire Salem continent. Cher was on of the two countries in the Salem continent that went for the yearly global games. There were six continents on the Zelia planet and each continent could only enter two countries in the games. The Salem continent held continental games eery ten years to choose which two countries could represent the continent at the global travellers' games. In 1980, Cher and Jiri were the chosen countries.

The day participants were to leave for Tupot arrived. The host country in Tupot was Zakiya. In Zakiya, there was a whole city guarded by the overseeing world that was unknown to the local non travellers. A lot of travellers from other countries loved to move there, after they graduated from the dormitory system. The city was called Nonubi which translates literally to 'no where.' Nonubi was where the global games were held every summer making summer the season of joy and celebration for the local residents.

The Huckleberry participants made up of the horse race team, the spelling bee team, the eating competition team and the girls' basketball team lined up in front of the dormitory to await their ride. They were all excited at the arrival of the golden coach bus. The bus took them to a seemingly barren land. The land was bare and extended for miles and miles. Not a single tree or building was in sight. There, they met participants from the other four dorms who arrived in golden coach buses as well. Participants in different dorms who knew each other mingled and there was a lot of chatter. Faith went over to Banji and told him about the trouble she was in for having the. t-bands. She gave them back to him and they continued with small talk.

The loud chatter was drowned by the deafening sound of a plane landing. All conversations stopped as everyone's attention was now on the golden plane. There was a lot of excitement in the air as the participants were led into the plane. Soon the plane took off. It was a 10 hour flight. On arrival in Nonubi, all the participants were exhausted.

The Jasmine hotel in the heart of Nonubi was taken over by participants from all 12 countries in the global games. Faith was reluctant to wake up the morning after their flight but the rays of the sun piercing through the windows of the hotel room she shared with three of her teammates made it impossible to keep sleeping. Faith took the elevator to the ground floor. There she met her coach who reminded her of a practice session later that day. Faith planned to have a fun two weeks before going back to Cher.

Faith got off the elevator at the ground floor. Everywhere she looked, there were travellers of all races and sizes who were to participate in the games. She saw people with their tennis rackets, flash cards, duffel bags and more. Everybody that came in and out of the revolving doors seemed to be directly involved in the games that would be happening for the next two weeks. Faith went up to one of the receptionists and asked if calls from Nonubi to the visible world would go through. The receptionist affirmed that they would. So, Faith asked to use the phone and placed a call to the landline at Huckleberry. She had to talk to Sarah. Sarah told Faith that unfortunately, she could not come for the games. She never showed interest in the games until Faith came so she was not aware that non-participants who wanted to attend had to finance it themselves. They had to pay for their own food, their transport and their residence. It was too much for the overseeing world to sponsor every traveller who was interested in going. However, the costs were all subsidized to encourage travellers to attend. But Sarah had no money at all. She was just a high school student and never had a part time job.

Knowing that Sarah wasn't coming, Faith had a bad day on her first day there. She was not even her best during practice. Faith was lying on her bed after the long day when there was a knock on the door. One of her roommates opened the door. It was Namjoon from the spelling bee team.

"There is a girl downstairs who keeps screaming your name." He said. Faith was confused because she didn't know anybody in Nonubi. She went downstairs to see and it was Keisha. Keisha came to show support for Faith and Banji. The two girls had a tight warm hug. Just then, Banji came. Apparently, she had been shouting his name as well.

"Couldn't you have been civil about this? You didn't have to shout our names." He said as he approached the girls.

The three went out the revolving doors and sat on a bench over looking a fountain in the hotel's compound. Faith was sad she didn't have Sarah but she was glad she had those two.

Faith told Keisha about the travel club incident and swore she was not going to travel clubs in any city and was not going to wear t-bands until she graduated from the dormitory system.

"So you're not going to be hanging out with us in Birchmount?" Keisha asked with a pout.

"Oh I will hang out with you, I just wouldn't wear t-bands or go to a travel club."

"Oh okay, I see. But we're in Nonubi we can go anywhere without t-bands because everyone is a traveller. It is not visible to non-travellers, it is like another realm. Let's have fun while we're here." Keisha said burying Faith and Banji's arms in her armpits.

The other two agreed to do so. The next day was Monday and they were all going to be at the opening ceremony for the games. They planned to leave right after the ceremony and explore the city after the opening ceremony since neither Faith nor Banji had a game that day.

Monday morning and the Nonubi sports and concerts complex was filled with charm and colour. It was a celebratory event and even cars at a distance could see all the decorations. The site was lit up with LED lights and music from the sound system filled the complex and half of Nonubi. The opening ceremony happened at the football stadium. There were performances by musical acts and dance crews. Then followed, the most boring part of the opening ceremony, the speeches. There were too many important people involved in the organization of the games and everybody had to give a speech. Faith dozed off during one of the speeches but luckily, Banji's shoulder was there to secure her. After the opening ceremony, a football match, tennis match and basketball match commenced. None of the teams playing were from Cher or Jiri so the trio were not interested in staying at the complex. They went into town.

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Keisha, Banji and Faith got on a random bus right outside the complex and decided to go wherever the bus took them. In the bus, they had a conversation about their previous lives.

"I am from 2016 so I am curious how different the world was in 2020 and 2022. Are bottle flips still trendy? Do people still dab and nae nae?" Keisha asked the two.

"Well in 2020, dabbing is not as trendy as it was in 2016, nor are bottle flips. Instead of the nae nae dance, there are so many trendy dances on social media in 2020." Faith explained.

"Sometime in 2021 or 2022, the creator of the nae nae dance was arrested for murder." Banji added.

"Really?" Faith and Keisha asked turning to him in shock. Banji gave more details about that incident and also gave them an insight into what life was like in 2022.

The trio got lost in their conversation that they forgot they were in a bus.

"This is the last stop and this isn't a roundtrip." The driver called out to the three friends who were now the only passengers in the bus.

"How can such a place be the last stop?" Banji asked as the three looked around to see no sign of life. On the both sides of the road were trees. Trees that had an eery feeling to them.

Faith looked at the bus stop sign in the middle of nowhere and asked. "Do people actually ever alight here?"

"Yes. Now can you please get off? I need to go get some food. My shift has ended." The driver said.

When the three were out of the bus, the driver did a u-turn and sped off.