Family Doesn't End in Blood, But it Doesn't Start There Either

Competition Day

I showed up to the restaurant. "Wild Bill's Western Restaurant" I was so excited. Just days before, I was selected to compete in a competition run by the actors on Supernatural. J2M hosted the competition and I was so excited that we had gotten to the day we actually competed. We were motioned to the side of the restaurant and we were explained how everything worked in the competition. There were about 20 of us and no one was on a team, it was everyone for themselves. We were allowed to help each other, but we couldn't form groups in an attempt to keep it fair.

"Ok. So, here's how this works. You have a total of 20 minutes maximum to complete this course. Anyone who goes over the 20 minutes is eliminated. Everyone who is successful goes straight into the finals tomorrow. The winner of the whole competition will get to spend a week hanging out with us on set and get a small walk on role in an upcoming episode." Jared explained. "If you'll follow Misha inside, he will show you the course and explain the instructions." We followed Misha inside in a herd of people.

"So, this is where it starts." He stated as he stood next to the hostess stand. "You will be given a book that's a small replica of The Book of the Damned. This is your ticket inside and past the hostesses." He led us further in. We were in a room with booths lining both walls and a track for a cart in the middle. The carts looked almost like old mining carts but seemed to be sturdier. "Here you will get in a cart and ride down the rails. In this room, you must knock 3 out of 6 of the customers' fake water glasses on the floor. If they stop you, that counts as a glass you missed. If you don't get 3, then any glass still left on the table adds 5 seconds." We all nodded in understanding at this bizarre game.

He led us to the next room. There was a door opening up into a room down a level but not quite to the basement. It looked almost like a tunnel due to it being dark and dingy looking. "Ok. The track goes down there. You will hit a platform and it will fling you out of your cart and into human sized bowling pins. You have to knock down 5 of the 10 in order to continue on. If you don't knock 5 down, you must push your cart back up and do it again to get the remaining pins. Are there any questions so far?" I raised my hand.

"Won't we get seriously injured being flung from our carts?"

"Good question. No. You will have helmets and some padding, but there is padding under the bowling pins. You'll see when we go down." I nodded. We followed him down the stairs that were next to the track and upon seeing the pins, it made sense. There was a big mat covering the floor and the pins were on top of the mat. It looked pretty safe. "Once you knock over the pins, you have to go up the "down" escalator and go back to the top level." We followed him up the escalator that was currently not moving. "You will get back in a cart and throw an egg through each hole on the wall in front of you as you ride towards the finish line." It looked like the games at carnivals in which you throw a football into a hole, but instead of footballs, we were throwing eggs. "Then you will come to the finish line and we will stop our timers. Any final questions?" We all shook our heads. This was bizarre. "Ok. Let's get started. He numbered us off then picked a random number. I, with my bad luck, went first. Everyone who wasn't going had to wait outside. I got ready. I showed the hostess my book and got in my cart. I knocked glasses off with extreme difficulty. My arms weren't long enough to reach anything but the edge of the glasses. I stood up and was able to reach. I went down the track and hit the pins. Only 2 fell over. Jared was there cheering me on, but I didn't think it was possible. I did it again and hit one. This was taking forever and it was starting to hurt. The pad protected you some, but it wasn't thick enough to help a lot. "Jared, I can't do this. It's impossible and it hurts."

"You've got this. One more time. You can do it." I successfully knocked over 2 on the next try but was slow getting up. I hit my elbow right on the pin and it was in serious pain. "Can we pause the timer?" Jared asked to seemingly no one. There was a beep and the timer stopped.

"Jared, no. I'm finishing this. Start the timer again." I insisted as I got up. They did and I scrambled up the escalator. I was glad that misbehaving as a kid helped me in getting up that escalator. I did that all the time when I was little. I made it up and in my cart. My throwing arm was still fine and I threw those eggs through the holes like it was my day job. I made it across the finish line with a time of 20:01:00. Tears fell down my face at both my elbow and my time.

"I'm sorry. You were 1 second over." Misha stated. "But, because you went first, you get to subtract 2 seconds meaning you made it." A small smile crossed my face.

"Can I get an ice pack? My elbow hurts?" I asked. He nodded. Jensen led me away to the nurse's station.