Those Who Lie Destroy the World, Those Who Lie Watch it Happen

This story contains slight mentions of alcohol. 

I was sleeping on the hillside next to my parents' home when it first happened. I was pondering the answers to a game that my siblings and cousins were playing at the time. You see, our parents' idea of a family get-together was sitting outside on the back porch of one of our houses, drinking and laughing about the crazy neighbor around the block, or the stupid, irrelevant comment that grandpa had made some time ago. Since the parents rarely paid attention to us, the kids played our favorite game, a sort of remix of Two truths and a Lie. It was simple, really. Whoever was "it" hid a particular object that they owned or loved, and in order to find it, the rest would have to ask questions about the location or the item itself. The person would tell you two things about either, one being a truth, and another being a lie.

The thing is, you couldn't ask about both the item and the location. 

Once you asked about the location, you could only ask about the location. Once you asked about the object, you could only ask about the object. Me, being the distant, out-of-focus cousin that I was, decided to ask about the object. My cousin, Sandra, had given me one description already: The thing was vibrant orange. I decided to take a break from the game after a while. I was just too out of it to think. So, I was there, taking a nap along the hillside, dozing off as the heat from the sun seeped into my face. The sunlight combined with the smell of the late night due was starting to make me nauseous. I was starting to regret coming outside, but I was already laying down, and I didn't really want to talk to anyone at the time.

That's when the stars started flickering.

I believe it started before I even came outside, but the first one I noticed was the second star in the handle of the Big Dipper. After that, I noticed about four or five others flashing on and off. At the time, I was so tired, I didn't bother getting up to investigate, or tell somebody else. I know it sounds dumb, but I just decided to wait it out, see if they would stop after a while. After a while of hide-and-seek stargazing, I got up and started to head back inside. The front door felt miles away, so I decided to round the corner and take the back door. I knew I'd have to walk past a dozen drunk parents in order to get through, but I was tired, and, to be honest, wasn't thinking clearly. You can imagine my surprise when I entered the porch and found nothing. No laughing and yelling adults, no loud music pouring through over-sized speakers, not even the faint sound of cicadas. Just me and the small space of empty noise. Without thinking, I walked over to the white and blue ice chest and pulled out a Dr. Pepper.

The inside of the house told a different story. The lights were still on, and the sounds of shoe-covered feet stomping up and down the stairs were very prevalent. My little sister, Maggie, ran past me, towards the hall. I think I had overheard my oldest cousin, Mark, tell her that the location of the object was in a dark, narrow place in the middle of the house.

"Man, I wish I asked about the location." I whispered under my breath. Well, I had nothing better to do, so I decided to look around the house for my thing. Something bright Orange.

I gave up after ten minutes. I had checked the kitchen, the attic, the dining room. I had even looked in between the four couches in the living room. There was just nothing bright orange in the entire house. I had thought about going outside again, but I was to tired and did not want to feel sick again. It then hit me that what Sandra could have said was a lie. So I spent the next five minutes beating my head against the nearest sofa. I wanted to stop and get my half-drunken Dr. Pepper, but I just could not find it. Today was just not my day. I decided to get up and search for Sandra and ask her my other question. At least I would have a full a better idea of what to look, or not look for if I had both answers. As I headed for the living room door, I took a glance out the window. The Inky blue sky full of tiny, diamond-speckled stars had now gone pitch black. I had to strain my eyes to even find the moon.

"Huh. That's odd." I said to myself. I quickly exited the living room with three couches.

It took me another seven minutes to find Sandra. On the way, I had seen my sister crying in the hallway, possibly frustrated that she hadn't found Mark's object yet. "It's not fair! Mark always hides his stuff in the Hall! That's why everyone is able to find it!" Either I didn't have the heart, or the energy, but I didn't tell her that Mark usually gave away what his object was in the first question, not to mention he always told the truth on his first question. However, given the time she had spent searching, it seems he lied for the first question. I wonder what inspired him to change this round. Anyways, I found Sandra sitting on the fifth step of the main staircase. The little brat was smiling ear to ear when she looked up at me, her light brown hair swaying to her slow motion.

"Hey Cuz, did you find it yet?" God, she was annoying.

"I want to ask my second question." Her smile widened, which I did not expect to be possible.

"Ask away."

"Okay then. Hmm.." I thought long and hard about what I wanted to ask. Something that would give the object away immediately after I had my answer. Finally, I got something.

"Do you use this object often?"

"I don't use it much, but it is found on one of my favorite things."

Dang it.

Here I was again, back at square one. I don't know how an eight-year-old can be so deceptive. Whatever. On her favorite thing? Was that I lie? Was the orange thing a lie? Did she find a loophole so that both these things were technically true? Technically lies? This was it. This game was going to be the thing that drove me crazy. I was ready to go outside and mingle with the adults at this point. Or at least, I would, if I could ever find the adults. Last I checked, they weren't outside, and I couldn't hear their laughter throughout any of the rooms. Speaking of which, where were all my siblings and cousins? I could've sworn I had passed three rooms without hearing so much as a giggle or a step. I even found myself looking for my shoes, or my baseball cap, which I didn't even remember taking off. What was going on? I started to think. What was bright orange that wasn't on Sandra's favorite thing. What wasn't orange that was on her favorite thing. I took a second to look down. That's when a bright light flooded the room.

Experiment 11257: Failed. Test Subject: Incapacitated. Rebooting System. System ready in three hours, nine minutes and sixteen seconds. The two people stood in the blank room, overlooking a strange dome full of white space.

"Maybe we should give the kid a break, Todd."

"We can't stop now, Marge. We're on the edge of a breakthrough. The kid almost found the object before time was up."

"It just seems so...inhumane to put him through this many trials in one day. We've already done twice as many as usual. Excellent Work, Cassie." The woman directed to the small girl who exited the dome.

"I did my best. Can I go to sleep now?"

"You may. Be sure to wake up your sister on your way there."

"If we get him to find the object in time, we can upgrade him to more challenging tasks. Then, we can use him to find food and resources up there, in enough time to escape being spotted."

"Can we please use something other than a shirt this time? It gets frustrating and sad watching him search for something that's always on him."

"Maybe he'll learn to not be so lazy and be more observant. So little of us are like that these days."