(Ethan’s POV)

    In the hospital room, I sat on the bed, peeling an apple with a knife. The de moved smoothly through the red skin, creating a perfect spiral.

    My phone buzzed. Tasha’s voice came through, trembling with rage.

    “Destroy Olivia’s face,” she hissed. “And I’ll give you everything you want, including ess to her system.”

    I paused, the knife hovering over the apple. “Are you sure?” I asked coolly. “What I want is not to disfigure her. I want her life.”

    Silence stretched between us. Then Tasha’s voice returned, harder now.

    “Taking her life is also fine! You wait for my news!”

    The line went dead. I sneered and muttered to myself, “I never thought my mother and sister had such poor judgment. Mom chose the wrong mate.

    “The deadline is at midnight tonight, so we are probably toote on sending these in! They’ve no doubt already picked out who they want for this Cara – I don’t imagine the government would leave such decisions to the veryst minute, do you?” Iin, knowing that the idea had been a ridiculous one right from the very start.

    Shipping ourselves off to spend some one on one time with maximum security prisoners as a new form of rehabilitation?

    Sure thing.

    But why would I ever even agree to this, you ask? Well because it obviously isn’t for free!

    Having just finished school, struggling for jobs in our shit little home town filled with nothing other than farms, motels and dusty mines, Cara had found this bizarre advert posted upst week when we had been scrolling online – while using our one hour of free WiFi that we got in the public library every week…

    ‘Females wanted for prisoner coupling – $25,000 reward onpletion’

    I had almost choked on my own saliva when Cara said she wanted to sign us both up, adding that the grand total for usbined would be $50,000…

    But dare I admit that as the days passed, she had sessfully managed to talk me around on the idea – listing a number of ways in which the money would change our lives!

    No more drunk and toxic fathers, no more having to live in a damp little trailer and no more living without a purpose…

    “Ok, I’m almost there, we have about four minutes left before she cuts us off!” Cara hums out, wriggling slightly on theputer chair to lean in even closer to the screen…

    She pushed a clump of her thick blonde hair back from her face, as I watch her proceed to uploading the digital photo we had both taken of each other on an old camera she had found in a box back home that surprisingly still worked.

    The pictures weren’t the best quality, but dare I admit that we had somehow managed to scrub up well enough to make ourselves look somewhat presentable…

    I leaned back from my position to nce at the librarian, her age showing through the way she would peer over at us from above her sses – an upset frown taking over her entire face as if wrinkled and creased.

    Why the heck did she hate us so much anyway?!

    We had tried to be polite to her on numerous asions, but had quickly learned that unless we were a young, attractive guy, then she wasn’t at all interested!

    One time, I even recall a guying in to use the inte just as we had, and when it came to being time up, she only shooed us away – stating that he would get longer because whatever he was doing ‘seemed important’.

    Shaking my head at the memory, and refocusing my attention back on Cara, I watched as she clicked the final confirmation button as a ‘Sessfully Submitted’ tab popped up in bold letters on the screen, before the librarian cleared her throat loudly from across the room.

    We’ve evidently overstayed our wee.

    Again.

    “Alright, alright, we’re done, Jesus you would think you were the one paying the damn electric bills for this ce!” Cara mutters out under her breath, mming theptop shut with a little more force than what was necessary.

    I exhale and rub my temples. “Cara wait, this is actually insane. What if they pick us for this?”

    Cara beams at me, her eyes twinkling at the thought. “Then we pack our damn bags as quick as we can and kiss this ce goodbye!”

    I roll my eyes but don’t argue with my own insecurities. It’s easier to let her have her fantasies, since the whole thing felt way too good to be true anyhow.

    What are the odds that we’d actually be chosen for something as important as this? A new idea to reform dangerous criminals, and to think they could be trusting the likes of us to help them? There was no way!

    We both make a move to shuffle out of the library, not bothering to say a goodbye as we pass the desk – knowing that we would be lucky for a grunt in response on the best of days…

    The summer air was heavy with the scent of dust and gasoline from the nearby highway filling our lungs as we stepped out on to the gravel.

    The reality of our miserable life here squashed down on me like it always does — the endless cycle of dead-end jobs and the suffocating predictability of it all.