The Game

Is The Game really real or is this group of friends just being spooked by their friend, David?

The Game

You can’t escape it, it’s simply there. An unstoppable force with no face or visible human body. The Game.

 

“The rules of The Game are not to think of The Game, if you think about The Game, you’ve lost The Game. When you forget about The Game, you’re back in The Game.” And that was it, our little group of friends were made aware of the newest craze, The Game. You basically had to go around reminding people about The Game but, there was always that one person that took it out of hand.

“Stop talking about this game!” David shouted. “Just stop! I bet you have no idea what it really is!” David was a know-it-all, he had a different sense of humour to most others and, although surprisingly polite, he was very sexist.

“It’s just a game, David, stop being so serious!” Caitlin said, walking in front slightly.

 

The Game. The emotionless essence that refuses to wait to take effect… If only we knew back then… We might have stood a better chance against… I don’t even know what it was; it remains an unsolved question for all of us.

 

“There was an online forum a while ago that let people start up groups with specific topics. One day, a boy of 15 created the group called ‘The Game’, it was originally a joke between him and his friends but, it went worldwide. Suddenly, the group got hacked by someone with the username ‘TheRealGame’. He or she ordered people, in particular the admin, to stop talking about The Game or it would come. The admin refused, saying it was just a joke that escalated. A few days later, the boy who started the group was nowhere to be seen. Not in school, not online. The day after, his mother had returned to his room to mourn over her son being missing and… Well… She was greeted with her son’s reappearance. The 15-year-old boy was hanging from his light, which was slightly pulled out from the ceiling due to his weight. He was mauled, mutilated, dead. You know what the scary part of it is? All over his body, or at least what remained of it, was carved ‘He Lost The Game’; it repeated itself on every inch of his caucus, like a message of some sort.” David explained.

We were all confused about what David was implying by all this, was it just a scary story to avoid his annoyance from escalating? We were all in the same lesson so, one of use was bound to ask about it.

Chemistry.

“Do you reckon it was the user that killed the boy or The Game?” Natasha asked.
“Do you even believe it’s real?” Courtney replied, questioning the few that were there at the time of the small, yet disturbing, story.
“It was well put, yet it’s still hard to believe…” Natasha replied. Throughout all of this, David just sat grinning to himself, making his notes like the rest of the class.
“Where did you find this out, David?” Courtney asked, turning to face the grinning male.
“The internet tells some gruelling stories.” He replied, avoiding eye contact.

Nothing that had happened lesson answered any of our questions about it, which didn’t stop us from playing along with The Game.  It was just a harmless joke to us, something to keep us entertained daily. In a way, it was an inside joke for those who knew about The Game.

2 Days Later

“Hey, have you seen Nick? He was supposed to meet me before school today.” Chloe said. She’d called Caitlin asking about Nick. Chloe and Nick were in a relationship so, it was very rare to see them apart.
“No… I wasn’t in any of his lessons today so, I’m not sure if he was actually in school. Have you asked Courtney? She’s in his English and Maths classes.” Caitlin knew almost everything of what goes on inside and outside of school; she was one of the more popular girls, but without being an attention seeker like a lot of the other popular girls.
“Yes, she hasn’t seen him all day. I’m worried; maybe he’s been hurt or is avoiding me.” Chloe had begun to cry at that point.
“Nick is capable of looking after himself and he wouldn’t avoid you, he’s too nice. Maybe he’s just unwell and doesn’t have his phone on him.” Caitlin had no idea what was going on, it wasn’t like Nick to just up and disappear without telling anyone beforehand.
“I guess you’re right. I’m gonna get some sleep, he’ll probably be in school tomorrow.” Chloe hung up; leaving Caitlin confused and overly worried.

We all had assembly the next day, we hated it. As much as we knew what was said had to be said, we always ended up dying of boredom by the end of it. This time, it seemed different. A few teacher that were already in the hall before my class had entered looked uncomfortable, more so than usual. It was awkward.

“Everyone, quickly sit down and quiet yourselves down.” The head teacher said, slightly raising his voice. Like always, everyone sat down in alphabetical order, or at least as close to it as possible, and went quiet.
“We have two things to talk about today; the first is about our charity, Grace House, and the second… Well we’ll get to that.” The head teacher was pacing back and forward, around 5 steps each from the middle of the front of the hall and back to be precise. He continued to talk about the goal that Grace House wanted to reach and how they could reach it with a little help from us. Then he stopped walking, standing in the dead centre of the front of the hall.
“The second thing.” He took a deep breath and looked around the room at all of us, he eventually came to a stop when he’d found my group of friends, we always sat together since my class sat behind Caitlin’s class, we’re all in one of the two classes.
“You all know Nick, and I’m guessing you’re all wondering where he’s been for the past 3 days.” It was more than obvious that he was directing this convocation at us but, he worded it so it was more for everyone.
“The authorities had advised us not to say anything but, it’s best that you find out now rather than on the news or in the papers tomorrow. Nick has passed away… I can’t go into details in school but, just know we’re all here to talk.” He explained. You could see that many people were on the brink of tears but were trying to contain themselves in school, me included. Chloe ran out of the hall, crying hysterically, Natasha soon followed to try to console her. We were soon dismissed, row at a time as usual. Chloe and Natasha had been taken into student services to calm down before class started.

David, Caitlin, Natasha, Courtney and I had a free period; we all usually went separate ways. I go to music, Natasha and David go to science and Caitlin and Courtney go to history. This time, we all went down to the library; we really didn’t want to separate at a time like this.
“So…” Caitlin said, trying to break the silent awkwardness.
“Chloe must feel dead right now… I can’t believe she had to go to her lesson after this news…” Natasha mumbled, taking a deep breath.
“Everyone had to go back, its news to all of us… Is anyone going round her house later on?” Caitlin asked, looking down to her hands.
“No, but maybe I could go. I’d have to talk to my mum about it though.” Natasha replied, sitting up straight.
“I’m gonna go round Nick’s and see what I can find out.” David said, looking over to me.
“I’ll join you; you can’t just go by yourself.” I added, nodding.

 

The time was around 5pm, me and David had met up at the popular shipping centre known as ‘The Galleries’. We had time to shower and get dressed once we’d got home from school. Nick’s house wasn’t too far from The Galleries, around a 10 minute walk, which gave me and David time to think about what we would say.
“Has Natasha called you at all?” I asked, trying to make convocation.
“Just to say that Chloe was staying at her house tonight, which is good for both of them. Tash might not be showing it but, she actually is really upset.” David replied, taking a deep breath.
“Like us all. We were all close to Nick, you just don’t expect it to happen to someone you know. It’s something you read about in the paper.” We both walked in silence from then on, it wasn’t awkward nor uncomfortable, but it was more or less worrying.
“Wait… You read the paper?” David asked, looking at me confused.
“Yeah, mainly the sport section but occasionally the general news if there’s something that looks interesting on the front cover.” We eventually reached Nick’s house. Even if you didn’t know him, you could see that it was his house from the flowers and small cards hung over the fence. David knocked on the door and took a deep breath.
“Have you ever spoken to his mam before?” David asked.
“Twice. Once with Natasha and the other when I was walking home with Nick.”  Just then, his mother opened the door. You could tell she had just recovered from crying. Her face was pale, her eyes bloodshot and her hands were shaking.
“Um…hi, do you mind if we come in? We know that you’ve probably had people around all day asking but, we just want to know what’s happened please.” I had managed to quickly think of something on the spot, noticing David’s slightly shaken posture.
“Yes…Come in…” Nick’s mother answered.
We were in there for about an hour, I was struggling to keep myself composed; I really didn’t want to upset the woman any further.
“Right… We should probably take our leave now. It’s getting really late and we both need to get the bus home. Take care.” We made a quick leave, feeling a little awkward now.

“I found Nick in his room this morning. He… He wasn’t alive… He was hung up from his light… I don’t know how he’d got up there but, I know he would never have done anything like that as any kind of joke. But then there’s the state that his body was in… It was, in a manner of speaking, unrecognisable. His clothes were ripped to the point where they really weren’t much other than rags covering very little of his skin. He was soaked in blood, it could have been his or someone else’s but, some of it was obviously his from the hundreds of cuts on his skin. It looked like they were spelling out words but, I couldn’t make them out because of the amount of blood. There was one word that I could read though… ‘Game’. I don’t know what it means, do you?”

“Did you not notice something?” David asked me, sitting down at the bus stop.
“No? Was there something that wasn’t right there?” I really couldn’t think of something that was out of place or abnormal.
“Doesn’t Nick’s death sound like the story I told you not long ago about the 15-year-old boy?” David was avoiding eye contact, that much was obvious; it still freaked me out a little though.
“Sort of but, it can’t be linked in any way.” Was he really trying to say that The Game was responsible for both incidences?
“Come on, you’re smart enough to link the two together.” David looked at me seriously, occasionally looking to the side to check for his bus.
“Sorry… I didn’t think it mattered…” I looked down, all of this was just a little too much to take in.
“Both kids were murdered in the same way and both were hanging from their light. I think that’s enough proof. Plus, both were playing along with The Game.” David stood up, having seen his bus come round the corner.
“You can’t be serious…?” I just stood there speechless; I couldn’t put the pieces together.
“I warned you all, The Game doesn’t like to be used for amusement. It’s more than just a game.” David said as he stepped onto the bus; leaving me none the wiser.

I couldn’t just put this down to that little joke that we were involved in. After all, so many others played along with it too. Nothing has happened to any of them… Or are they just keeping things quiet around the world? Who knows… Maybe The Game IS real.

Author's Note

SOOO, I finally got round to posting some writing. Sorry for taking like forever with this one. I'll try to update again soon, I can't promise anything though. School starts soon so, I'll be rather busy.