Very “Hunger Games” with a bit of a twist because she seems way more willing to go through this challenge.

The letter seems to be very symbolic. As if it is her future, no matter whether it turns out horrible or filled with riches.

Nice images and significance tied by her feelings to the letter as an object of comfort. The challenge definitely implies some interesting possibilities.

Wow… I would love to know how she ended up in that situation, where she’s willing to risk her life to get her sister out of her hair. Intriguing. :)

Totally agree with Emilou.

Interesting to have her find comfort in a somewhat threatening letter – or, at least, a passport to danger.

Very nicely written, this story draws us in! The ambiguity of her feeling also comes through well.

I’ve not seen or read Hunger Games, but this one looks a bit like Battle Royale to me. Exciting, dark and mysterious all at once. I love it.

One little note, though, “beware whom you trust”, not “who you trust” (whom being the accusative form of who).

I love the title, first and foremost. Makes me think of good ol’ Barney Stinson. :) The story was good, made me want to read more! You should write a sequel, imo.

Agreed Shamaliane – How I Met Your Mother was my first thought. I watch way too much TV!

The story developed very cleverly. Plenty red herrings in the beginning. The invitation originally made me think of a wedding. I love brutality paired with elegance in a story and your piece presents that well.

Refreshing to see a character who seems completely motivated by selfless love for someone although the hint of regret in that last line threw me a little.

Very much enjoyed it =) Thanks for entering the challenge! Remember to comment on all the others – it’s appreciated.

Is it bad that I immediately thought of “Gymkata” while reading this? (I may be dating myself a bit here.)

Intriguing beginning. I wonder what it means that she always gets excited about the last line of the letter. Has she seen this letter before? Has she participated in the past? I particularly like how the language of the letter is decidedly different from the narrative voice— as it should be. It’s one of those things that makes a piece of writing stand out, when each character sounds like they are their own entity and not just a faded variation of the same voice.

Ooooh! This is great! AHHHH!

I love this. facescreen yesthisisyes.

Moar pls.

(Excuse my lack of proper use of the English Language. I believe I am broken now.)

I’m kind of wondering how old Rachel is…I would have assumed she was an adult until I read the references to her family, which made me think she was younger.

The tags helped, but it still made sense. There’s another movie this made me think of, I think it’s called 13, about a russian roulette challenge. Here, I really liked the conflicted feelings towards the sister, the caring desire to see to her needs against a somewhat dismissive desire to have her out of her hair. I thought that was a very realistic, human touch.

I like the idea of this, would like to know where it’s going. Kind of gave off a feel of perhaps the Hunger Games or Battle Royale with the ‘one of the few to survive’ line, apart from there being more survivors from what I can determine :P

Brilliant. The way we don’t really know the nature of the story until the very end is one of the greatest, most creative writing techniques in the book. I too was on the whole wedding lines at “invitation” coupled with “embossed letters”.

It does have a hunger games feel to it. Is it wrong that I’m already figuring out the logistics of the scenario in my head? I’m sure that if you wanted to inspire the participants to eliminate each other (nowhere does it suggest killing), the million dollars is going to be shared among the survivors. Beware whom you trust tells us that alliances are allowed, but nobody said anything against backstabbing either.

Another thing crossed my mind. Understand that I am still at school, and more than once I have talked with my friends about how awesome it would be to play a massive game of paintball on the school site. I figure if we pay them a lot of money, they’d let us do it. Anyways, in my mind I had the image of a giant overnight paintball game. For a million dollars.

Curious intro to a curious plot. I hope you keep the story rolling!

The night of the thirteenth huh? Would that happen to be a Friday?

Love when the reader has an open book to use their imaginations…can’t wait either for the ball to keep rolling with this one!

Mysterious and cool. This could be the start of a series that I would like to read.