Written by Tara De Wet
It was supposed to be a joke. It was a stupid joke, but to be honest I didn’t think it would end go anywhere. Let me catch you up to speed. My name is Lester Lewis, but you can call me by my hero name: Table Top. There’s a reason behind the name, I swear. In my world, on your sixteenth birthday, you wake up in a small room that’s just big enough to fit a dining table decked with a vast array of foods ranging from fruits to pastries to gourmet meats. This room is where your future is decided for once you take a bite of anything it will determine the power you will carry. Don’t even think about cheating, though. Whoever’s in charge of this randomises it every year for every person and no one can know what power they got until everyone in the room has eaten something. Whichever power you get is permanent; no exchanges. Whatever you got you’re stuck with for the rest of your life.
On my sixteenth birthday, I woke up in the legendary room and before my very eyes laid the table with five people sat around it. Before the orchestrator had even begun speaking the teens around the table were debating on what they would pick to be their first meal.
“Settle down, newcomers!” bellowed a deep voice. There was no origin, but the sound filled the tiny space. After everyone quieted down, the announcer spoke again. “What lies before you will determine your fate as a hero. Your options are plentiful, but not every outcome is desirable. The first thing you swallow will decide your power, but be warned, not every meal is endowed with the ability to grant you this power. Be wise in your decision young ones.” With that, the voice faded and it was up to me to make the choice.
“I’m going for that tasty looking steak,” announced the boy sitting at the head of the table. He had a confident look on his face, owning the appearance of a hero.
“I’ll go for a strawberry! They’re my favourite,” sang a fair-haired girl wearing flowery pink pyjamas. She reminded me of a fairy, her voice high and squeaky, but every word sounding like a lullaby.
“Well, uh, I’ll have the squid,” muttered a lanky blonde boy wearing the thickest glasses I had ever seen.
“What are you gonna have?” asked the boy sitting next to him. “I mean, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. You don’t want to waste it,” he said, a smile on his lips.
I thought about the question. This day always felt like it was miles away, but with the choice of a lifetime staring me in the face, I knew I needed to act smart about this. I stared at the table full of food, watched everyone around me take a bite.
“Hey, quit stalling!” cried a tall red-headed girl. She looked pretty intimidating, to say the least. Her ginger curls were fiery and untamed, her blue eyes were like deep pools of water that you would drown in if you stared too long. “The sooner you eat something the sooner we can get our powers.”
“Right, uh, sorry.” I’ll admit, I was terrified. You would be lying if you said you would be calm under these circumstances. I stared at the table, looking for an answer, an easy way to know what was coming… I stared at the table.
And took a bite out of the corner of the thin wood, my teeth protesting my carelessness.
“Dude, what are you doing?” cried the red-head.
“That’s unsanitary!” yelled the bespectacled teen.
But I just ignored them. If nothing happened then I’d just eat an orange or something. But I was curious. The table itself wasn’t hard to bite, it was swallowing it that absolutely wrecked my throat. But eventually, I managed to scarf down every splinter. All eyes were on me as I swallowed the last of my ‘food’. “Well?” asked the boy at the head of the table. “Do you feel anything?”
The suspense was killing them, I could tell. Everyone waited with bated breath, but even I didn’t know if anything happened. I was about to admit that my stupid plan amounted to nothing when the orchestrator’s voice boomed around the room.
“Well done children! It is with great honour that I bestow upon you the power you have chosen. Delilah Evans,” the voice said, prompting the fairy-like girl to stand up from her seat. “You have chosen the gift of flight.”
The girl- Delilah- was positively beaming when she heard the news. Her smile looked painful and she looked as if she were about to burst into tears. “Thank you,” she said before taking her seat.
“David Underwood,” the announcer called. The boy at the head stood up tall and proud, awaiting the news. “You have chosen the gift of strength.”
David smirked as if he had been expecting that answer. He gave his thanks then quietly sat down, the triumphant smirk still plastered on his face.
“Marcia Monroe.” The intimidating girl with ginger hair rose from her seat, hard eyes narrowed as if she were challenging her fate. “You have chosen the gift of witchcraft.”
Marcia shrugged. “Not bad. I’ll take it.”
“Kevin Harlow.”
“Yes Sir,” the boy with the glasses stood at attention.
“You have chosen the gift of invisibility.”
Kevin breathed a sigh of relief. “Th-thank you, Sir.”
“Jackson Price.”
“Looks like it’s my time to shine,” Jackson said before standing up to meet his fate. “You have chosen the gift of shapeshifting.”
“Alright! That’s epic!”
“And finally,” the voice said, causing all present to hold their breath in anticipation. “Lester Lewis. You are the first mortal I have seen that ventured beyond the food and chose to eat the table. This choice, while certainly foolhardy, has always been an option. Therefore I am inclined to tell you-”
“Would you just give him his power already!”
“Alright, alright. You chose the gift of illusion.”
“Alright, that’s neat. Guess we can go home now-”
“The gift you have chosen is unique, in that you are the first to possess it. While the table feels, looks, and probably tastes real, it is simply a figment of your idle imagination.”
“So you mean I didn’t just destroy my oesophagus by swallowing a lump of wood?”
“Oh, no, you definitely did some damage. What I’m saying is that your bold recklessness has made you one of a kind.”
So what's the takeaway you ask? Well, uh, I'm not too sure. Make of it what you will, I guess.
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