[ WP ] Presidential candidates are the new monsters under the bed that children fear . You wake up in the middle of the night to your kid having a nightmare about them .

I was woken by the skittering footsteps of my son, Sebastian, wearily looking around for the light switch. 
 
 `` Same nightmare?'' 
 He head bobbed lightly. 
 
 `` Oh.'' 
 
 It is quarter to twelve, a peer through the window showed the darkest of night. I got up to get a glass of water. He followed. In the kitchen, Sebastian still looked tense. I decided to try and take his mind off it. 
 
 `` Would you like a glass of water?'' 
 
 `` Yes please.'' 
 
 He looked around the room, closely examining the dark spots of the kitchen- behind the fridge, mostly. We both drank in silence, the occasional scratch could heard in the floorboards. I put my glass down on the counter and walked towards the lounge room. The television looked like a prototype of a typical flat-screen, about the size of a table on its side. I was about to turn it on, when Sebastian started stuttering. 
 
 `` I-is... mom... doing, th-that th-'' 
 
 `` Yes, Seb. She is. Right now.'' 
 
 `` Will Mom come home?'' 
 
 `` Maybe, son. Maybe.'' 
 
 I reached for the remote, cold from the fabric of the couch. The television flickered for a short moment, before showing some midnight infomercials. 
 `` Time to go back to bed, Seb'' 
 
 `` What about mom?'' 
 
 `` You'll find out tomorrow.'' 
 
 He walked back to his room, looking very unsatisfied with my answer. I surfed through several stations, until I found channel 67: *PRESIDENTIAL JUDGEMENT -- LIVE ON 67*. I pressed watch. 
 
 The elections work a bit differently, now. You need to stay up after 11 to see them. Sebastian saw part one of this election three weeks ago; we had a celebration. Someone left the tv on when we went to grab a couple of drinks, and Sebastian saw the whole thing. It was brutal, but not as brutal as the one I was watching right now. It did n't seem humane. The tasks were mundane and consuming, but that was my wife. My wife is a presidential candidate. 
 
 In elections nowadays, you vote AGAINST candidates. The candidates with the most votes gets eliminated. This happens until the final two, where their knowledge and acquired set of skills would be tested beyond belief. Two candidates stood side-by-side, exhausted and kneeling below a shadowed figure. 
 
 `` Looks like we have our two final candidates.'' 
 
 The silhouetted man walked around the two, observing their work in the midst of night. 
 
 `` Have yous got what it takes?'' 
 
 `` Yes, Don.'' faces down, they replied in sync, barely audible over their heavy breathing. 
 
 `` You have been tested, you have fought, you have succeeded, only so that one of you shall fail. However, there is a *crack* in this wall...'' 
 
 The two looked up in desperation, then down with respect. The man held his chest up high. 
 
 `` I will repeat myself. Have YOU, got what it TAKES?'' 
 
 `` YES, DON!'' They replied, but one of them fell from exhaustion. 
 
 `` Mr Cruz... you're fired. Congratulations, Mrs Hart. You're the winner of Presidential Apprentice!'' 
 
 
 

