Game Night

Zoey stared forlornly at the frost-tinted window she sat in front of, watching the swirling tufts of snow dance in tune to the sorrowful sounds of the winds. She sighed dramatically and placed her hand on the window, the cold glass biting her hand. Oh what tragedy, to be trapped in this log prison, unable to go out and fly down those fluffy slopes that were just a distant shape behind the howling storm.

   She watched the scenery outside for a while, green eyes and bright frizzy red hair reflected in the glass.

The fireplace in the background illuminating her and everything in her vision in orange and red colors, a stark contrast to the gray and whites outside .  

Then someone suddenly slapped her head, and Zoey jumped and tore her gaze away from the window to look at her friend Samantha staring at her with a dead-pan expression.

Zoey rubbed the top of her head and glared at her friend, “owaa..” Zoey whined, “what the heck Sam, Why’d you hit me?”

Sam rolled her eyes, “are you done being dramatic yet, we’re all waiting for you so that we can start the game,” Sam had an evil glint in her blue eyes, “it’s monopoly.” Sam was a beast at monopoly, it was kind of scary.

Zoey looked past Sam and stared at the three people sitting at the table, mugs in hand and board game already set up at the table. They even set the little cat piece in front of the empty chair where she would sit because they knew it was her favorite.

Markus smiled and waved at her, holding up a steaming purple mug that had, “Don’t stress meowt,” printed on it. Her purrecious mug that he had gotten for her on her birthday. Clever Markus, using a sentimental object filled with the delicious hot liquid known as Cocoa as a lure to get her over to the table.

But alas, for poor Markus, it would not work, Zoey was too deep in despair to even be tempted by the likes of the delicacy that was Hot Chocolate. She sighed again and looked back at the window, pale and bleak compared to the interior of their cabin.

Zoey drew a sad face in the fog coating the window, “what’s the point of games, the point of anything if I can’t be out there. Instead, I’m stuck in here, stuck in this wooden cage that’s our cabin.”

Sam groaned, “oh my god Zoey, we’re going skiing tomorrow, instead, we’re playing board games today, I already told you this earlier.”

   Zoey whirled around and stared at Sam, “but we were supposed to go Skiing today!” She cried.

   “And I can’t help it that a storm snowed us in the day after we arrived,” Sam shot back, “besides, you don’t even know how to Ski, Zoey.”

   “Raquel was going to teach me,” Zoey muttered under her breath. She glanced back at the table and caught eyes with Raquel, who waved at her, then took a tentative sip from her hot mug, pulling back quickly when it burned her tongue. She could wear shorts in freezing weather, but anything above slightly hot was too much for her.

   Next to her sat Jason, grinning as he sorted the Monopoly bucks in front of him, which made sense, since he was always the Banker when they played the game. What didn’t make sense was why exactly he was their Banker, because he was a well known cheat. So it probably wasn’t the best idea to let him handle all their money and houses. But he’s been in that role for as long as they could remember, so no one’s bothered to change it.

   “Raquel was going to try to teach you,” Started Sam, crossing her arms, “but what was actually going to happen was you weren’t going to listen to her, try to Ski without knowing a thing, and break something or get a concussion. Luckily, this has been delayed by a day, so I can beat you at Monopoly and not feel bad about it.”

“But-” Zoey tried to say.

“No buts,” Sam interrupted rudely. 

“Fiiine, but I won’t have fun,” Zoey pouted, standing up and walking over to the wooden table with Sam. 

Sam grinned, “good, now I can finally dominate the corporate empire, rising up to the top and crushing anyone who gets in my way.” Sam took Monopoly seriously.

When Zoey passed Markus, he handed Zoey her mug and smiled. Zoey smiled back, Markus was the Saint to Sam the Devil. Zoey could almost physically see the horns and halo on their respective persons.

When they both sat down, Zoey stuck between Markus and Sam, Markus patted her shoulder, “hey cheer up,” he said to her, “I know you really wanted to go Skiing, but you love losing to Sam at monopoly.” That might’ve sounded mean if it wasn’t the truth.

Zoey sniffed and stared at her little cat figurine, “yeah, I guess…” She took a sip of her Cocoa, and brightened somewhat at the chocolaty taste mixing in with the melted marshmallows floating in her mug. 

She snorted when she looked up and saw that Jason and Sam were already arguing about Jason cheating, with Markus being the mediator of the two and Raquel watching the fight with interest while she sipped her now cooled down Cocoa.

Markus went first since he rolled the highest, with Zoey being next and Raquel being last. And so, the game started with each person claiming their own territory and a fierce battle to see who would come out on top.

In the end, unsurprisingly, Sam won with a landslide victory, she had gotten on top of the table and yelled she was the queen of the corporate empire, and “accidentally” spilled the contents of Jason's mug on him while she was at it. True love at it’s finest.

Markus was right though, as he was most of the time, she did have fun.

The day ended with the five of them sitting on the couch binge watching any sort of movies they had brought with them to the cabin.

Zoey sat at the end of the couch with Markus propped up against her, having fallen asleep five minutes into the movie they were watching and drooling on her shoulder. 

She glanced at the window, the storm still hadn’t let up, a pitch blackness encompassing the brightly lit cabin. But Zoey could still see herself gliding down the glittering white slopes.

Then she looked back at the screen, she could do that tomorrow, right now, she had to see how Tiana was going to turn back into a human.

Yeah, they had to go to the hospital the next day because Zoey flew straight into a tree and got a concussion.