back. I had been asking myself the same question all evening, but it still didnât make any sense .
âI donât know.â Tiff typed a little slower than usual. âI must admit that doesnât make any sense. I didnât even think twice after discovering that Chimera was the name of a vacation company. Thankfully, there are lots of websites for booking Chimera vacations. They have a lot of info on the company and the CEO.â
âLeona Palm a , â I typed out.
âDuh.â Tiff replied with a picture of the woman .
She looked vaguely familiar like I had seen her on television promoting her resorts, with her golden skin, thick brown hair, and bright, honey colored eyes. She reminded me of an older actress, a stern mom on a family sitcom , or something like that .
âI guess we should send Mitch the picture to see if itâs the same woman , â I suggested.
âGood idea , â Tiff replied. âIâll keep looking stuff up.â
A few hours passed, and Mitch never got online. Tiff found some interesting information, though. Apparently Chimera tried to create the first competitive games resort where people could enter in gladiator-like competitions during their vacation. The volunteers who won the games would get a free vacation. Other guests could buy tickets to see the games. The proposed games varied from obstacle courses to mixed martial arts combat .
Some humane group decided the idea was unethical , since a lot of vacationers and employees were getting hurt and even dying , and forb ade the company from further developing the resort. Apparently Leona Palmer built a smaller arena somewhere in Peru and was fined and j a ile d for twenty years for breaking the law, even though people were paying to stay at the resort and watch the games .
âTwenty people died participating in the combat.â Tiff finished typing her story. âThey also caught her underpaying the workers. The judge decreed it was murder and borderline slavery.â
I couldnât believe what I was reading. Why would someone want to bring back gladiator stuff? We learned about coliseums and things last year; those gladiators had to go through som e serious trials. Why would any one want to watch, much less participate in, those sorts of things? I opened the picture of Leona Palmer again and imagined her wearing some sort of toga and a crown, ordering people to fight against each other .
âDevon, are you still up?â My mom knocked on my door. She could probably hear the fan on my laptop or something quiet like that .
My mom had crazy hearing when she wanted to. I blamed the contact her ears had with her cell phone. It probably permanently mutated her hearing. I looked at the clock and saw it was almost midnight .
âGoing to bed, Mom , â I called back. I typed to Tiff that I needed to go .
âWell, be careful , â Tiff responded. âTry to stay up if you can. I donât like this Leona woman very much. And Serpentine sounds creepy, like she really isnât human.â
âI donât think she is , â I agreed. âIâm gonna stay up as long as I can, and Iâm definitely not meditating tonight.â
âGood idea. Iâll stay on a little later to see if Mitch gets online , â Tiff typed. âAlso, Iâll keep researching. If you find anything else out, let me know.â
âSame to you. Good night.â I signed off the computer.
I stayed up for a few more hours, playing video games and reading. Around 5 :00 a.m. , however, my eyelids were beginning to feel like heavy bricks pressing down on my face. I reminded myself that I did have work in the morning. Life still went on outside of the creepy dream world .
Halfway reluctantly and halfway relieved, I crawled into bed. I clutched my baseball bat, though, just in case.
Iâm very glad I did .
Chapter 6
Day 6
Morning
First thing in the morning, I flew out of
âI donât know.â Tiff typed a little slower than usual. âI must admit that doesnât make any sense. I didnât even think twice after discovering that Chimera was the name of a vacation company. Thankfully, there are lots of websites for booking Chimera vacations. They have a lot of info on the company and the CEO.â
âLeona Palm a , â I typed out.
âDuh.â Tiff replied with a picture of the woman .
She looked vaguely familiar like I had seen her on television promoting her resorts, with her golden skin, thick brown hair, and bright, honey colored eyes. She reminded me of an older actress, a stern mom on a family sitcom , or something like that .
âI guess we should send Mitch the picture to see if itâs the same woman , â I suggested.
âGood idea , â Tiff replied. âIâll keep looking stuff up.â
A few hours passed, and Mitch never got online. Tiff found some interesting information, though. Apparently Chimera tried to create the first competitive games resort where people could enter in gladiator-like competitions during their vacation. The volunteers who won the games would get a free vacation. Other guests could buy tickets to see the games. The proposed games varied from obstacle courses to mixed martial arts combat .
Some humane group decided the idea was unethical , since a lot of vacationers and employees were getting hurt and even dying , and forb ade the company from further developing the resort. Apparently Leona Palmer built a smaller arena somewhere in Peru and was fined and j a ile d for twenty years for breaking the law, even though people were paying to stay at the resort and watch the games .
âTwenty people died participating in the combat.â Tiff finished typing her story. âThey also caught her underpaying the workers. The judge decreed it was murder and borderline slavery.â
I couldnât believe what I was reading. Why would someone want to bring back gladiator stuff? We learned about coliseums and things last year; those gladiators had to go through som e serious trials. Why would any one want to watch, much less participate in, those sorts of things? I opened the picture of Leona Palmer again and imagined her wearing some sort of toga and a crown, ordering people to fight against each other .
âDevon, are you still up?â My mom knocked on my door. She could probably hear the fan on my laptop or something quiet like that .
My mom had crazy hearing when she wanted to. I blamed the contact her ears had with her cell phone. It probably permanently mutated her hearing. I looked at the clock and saw it was almost midnight .
âGoing to bed, Mom , â I called back. I typed to Tiff that I needed to go .
âWell, be careful , â Tiff responded. âTry to stay up if you can. I donât like this Leona woman very much. And Serpentine sounds creepy, like she really isnât human.â
âI donât think she is , â I agreed. âIâm gonna stay up as long as I can, and Iâm definitely not meditating tonight.â
âGood idea. Iâll stay on a little later to see if Mitch gets online , â Tiff typed. âAlso, Iâll keep researching. If you find anything else out, let me know.â
âSame to you. Good night.â I signed off the computer.
I stayed up for a few more hours, playing video games and reading. Around 5 :00 a.m. , however, my eyelids were beginning to feel like heavy bricks pressing down on my face. I reminded myself that I did have work in the morning. Life still went on outside of the creepy dream world .
Halfway reluctantly and halfway relieved, I crawled into bed. I clutched my baseball bat, though, just in case.
Iâm very glad I did .
Chapter 6
Day 6
Morning
First thing in the morning, I flew out of
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