Blood Game

Sarah was rushing around getting everything ready for game night with her friends. Every Saturday night, the gang got together and played a game. Usually it was a card game, but tonight she had a new game in mind, it would just take all her skills to convince them to play. The gang consisted of herself, Beth, Pattie, Brad, Jay and Mike. They had lived on the same block since elementary school, and had gotten close. They considered themselves a nerd gang, because they all were in the math club, and loved all things new, dark, and potentially dangerous.

It was dark when everyone started to arrive. Everyone grabbed a soda, and went downstairs to the basement. The basement was cooler in temperature than upstairs, which was a plus since it had been hotter than boiled oil lately. Jay noticed that there was no game on the table. “Hey Sarah, where’s the game?” That was her cue. “Ok, guys, you all know my older brother, Josh is into creepy stuff, and technology, right?” They all shook their head yes. “Well, he designed a new game on the computer. It’s new technology, it’s never been tested, so he asked if we could try it out.” They looked reluctant to be the test subject for another one of Josh’s inventions. The last one had turned them blue for a couple of days. “Come on, pleasssssse!” I pleaded. Everyone nodded yes in agreement, and I went to get the laptop.

“I downloaded it already, but I haven’t opened it yet.” I clicked on the icon, and this creepy piano piece started slowly playing, and then there was a cement wall. All of a sudden blood started trickling down the wall, and a deep voice said “You have now entered Blood Game, where it will challenge your wits, and your courage. The objective is to free yourselves from the glass cage surrounding you. Good luck! Bwaaaaaaa Haaaaaaaa Haaaaaaa!” We started to laugh, because we could leave anytime. We heard an awful sound from the ceiling, and all of a sudden 4 glass walls came down and surrounded us. We all walked over, and pounded on the walls, but nothing budged. “This computer is alive! We better continue, before we run out of air!” Pattie stated. We all walked back to the table, and clicked objective #1.

I read out loud, “there will be a series of challenges you will have to accomplish if you ever want to defeat the cage, and free yourselves. Your first challenge is to prick your fingers with the needle, and scan them with the camera.” We looked for the needle, and immediately it appeared on the table before us. “I’m not your brothers’ biggest fan right now!” Brad stated. We all kind of agreed, but everyone did it, and one by one scanned the picture with the camera. We heard what sounded like a glass breaking, and jerked our attention to the glass wall. There were eight quarter sized holes in the wall. Beth said “well, at least we won’t suffocate!” We each let out a sigh of relief at the implication of not dying from game night. I asked, “Anyone ready for objective #2?” Everyone grudgingly agreed, and we went on.

Objective #2 (there are 24 earthworms in the container, eat them). Mike looked green, “No Way! I am a strict vegan, I don’t eat meat, ever!” There were four worms for each of us, and if we wanted to break down more of the wall, we had to do it. Jay, being the daredevil of the group exclaimed, “Damn, Mike, it’s from the earth, but if you’re going to be a big baby about it, I’ll eat yours!!” And he proceeded to grab eight worms out of the container and ate them like it was a shrimp dinner. Suddenly, a bottle of water appeared before him, he drank the entire bottle, burped and said “DONE!” After a lot of gagging, and near throw ups, we managed to get the worms down, and all got bottles of water. Pattie shared hers with Mike. We heard another big rumble, and a portable potty appeared in the corner, along with four more holes in the wall.

“Are we ready for objective #3? I’m not sure I am,” said Beth. “I guess we should move on” I noted. “Or we’ll be stuck in glass world forever, and even though you’re my best friends, I have things to do.” Everyone laughed at that, and we continued on. Objective #3 (there are six buckets of icy water, one for each of you. At the bottom of the bucket are three cherries. Using your head only, retrieve the cherries. Important: everyone has to do the challenge. Or there will be consequences!) This was problematic, because Pattie almost drowned as a child, and is terrified of water. I always teased her, and asked if she ever bathed. We glanced over at her, and she was white as a ghost. “I’m sorry guys, I don’t think I can do it.” We didn’t know what the consequences were, but we didn’t want to find out. “Come on, Pattie, we’ll be right here for you. We’ll let you hold your nose; you can do it!” She just sat there, silent. So, we proceeded without her for now. Six towels appeared on the table, and Jay started us off by expertly removing the three cherries, like a pro. One by one, we all did it. We were not hot any longer, and it wasn’t so bad.

We asked Pattie, “are you ready yet? Look how quickly we all did it. It even felt refreshing on this hot day. Look, we can’t get out of here unless you do it. We’re hungry, we want pizza.” She looked as though she would burst into tears at any moment. “Alright guys, I’ll do it! But if I drown and die, I will haunt every one of you forever!” We accepted her haunting terms, and she stepped over to the bucket. She held her nose, closed her eyes, and went down all the way to the bottom. She was there for ten seconds, and we were getting worried. And then, her icy head popped up with three cherries in her mouth! We all cheered! The screen blinked GAME OVER, the walls disappeared, and we were free!

It was a very exciting Saturday night, but I planned to delete the game in the morning. We asked Pattie how she got all three cherries, and she told us she only planned on doing it once. And that summer, she took lessons and learned how to swim. So, one good thing came from our Blood Game night.