Truth or Dare

Truth or Dare 

Gabriella d’Auvergne 

Prologue 

“So, what’ll it be, Leni?” Truth... Or dare?” A smile etched across his face as Asher anticipated my reply. There was no way I was doing truth again. Last time, I’d almost had to confess my feelings about Sarah, and this time she was playing too. I looked up from the crackling campfire and stared Asher in the eye. 

“Dare.” 

Effie 

Who knew how quickly an innocent game of truth or dare could so easily turn horribly wrong? I did. I trusted my instincts, and as soon as I saw the upward turn of Asher’s lips, I could tell he was going to take this too far. I hadn’t even wanted to play in the first place, but Sarah dragged me along. 

“It’s just a little bit of fun, Effie,” she said. “It’s not like anyone’s going to get hurt,” she said. 

Famous last words, I think, unable to tear my eyes away from the lifeless body sprawled before us. 

Sarah 

The rocks were too slippery. The waves too high. The boy too determined. Why Leni hadn’t turned back when it got scary? I have no idea. All it took was one wrong step to slip, and it was all over. 

And it wasn’t like we hadn’t tried to save him. We were just too late. By the time Miles and Asher got to him, the best they could do was fish his mangled body out of the hungry, cascading waves. 

Everyone was silent in shock for a while, and despite my best efforts, I found myself choking back tears. I’d had a crush on Leni for almost a year now, I just hadn’t been able to find the way to tell him. Of course, it was a selfish thought, but I wondered for a moment what might’ve been. 

“You idiot!” I cried, breaking the silence. “Why would you dare him to go all the way out to that rock when you knew it was dangerous!? This is all your fault!” I screamed, hurling my anger at Asher, and landing a punch smack in his face. He staggered backwards, a river of blood running from his nose. 

Asher’s face contorted with rage. 

“How should I have known he was going to follow through with it!?” Asher spat back at me, indignant. 

“Guys!” Effie interrupted before Asher could get close enough to punch me back. “Look, it’s done, okay? It’s horrible and sick, but it’s done. Fighting isn’t going to reverse anything. 

I looked back down at Leni’s innocent face. Effie was right. He was gone, and I couldn’t do anything to change that. 

“Well, what are we going to do?” Miles asked. 

“Should we tell the police?” Effie asked shyly. 

“Of course not!” Asher retorted, horrified at the thought. “We’ll bury him. That way no one will find out. We can keep it between us, and everyone will just think he got kidnapped or something. 

Even though I felt a bubble of guilt rising in my throat, Asher was just like a dog. Annoy him once, he growls, annoy him twice... 

So we all got down on our hands and knees, digging and digging as the night got darker and darker. Finally, well after midnight, the grave was dug, Leni covered up with sand. 

“See?” Asher said. “Nothing ever happened. If anyone asks, he never showed up tonight, okay?” 

We all nod, but I can tell everyone is feeling equally uncomfortable as we go our separate ways. 

Miles 

I am an overthinker. I didn’t get a minute's sleep for the whole night, unable to stop thinking about Leni. I couldn’t help but feel I was partly to blame for his death, that maybe if I was faster, I could’ve saved him. 

Finally, at 5am I gave up and went downstairs to get some breakfast. I played around with my cereal until it all went to soggy mush. My appetite was gone, despite my grumbling stomach. I wondered if Leni’s parents had discovered he was missing yet. I imagined my own mum coming to get me out of bed only to find me gone, my bed unslept in. She would freak. 

Maybe I should take the day off school, I pondered; my stomach had been aching all night and I was exhausted. Never mind, Mum’ll never let me skip school when I have a maths test today. Argh. You know what? School will take my mind off everything. I tried my best to be optimistic. It was a lot harder than usual when one of your mates had just died and it was partially your fault. 

“Up already?” I looked up to see mum coming into the kitchen with a confused expression on her face. “That’s new,” she smiled. “Oh, honey, are you feeling okay? You’re as pale as a ghost!” 

“Yeah, I don’t feel too good,” I said, “I think I'll stay home today.” 

“Ah, not so fast! You’ve got your math test today, and you’ve got to pass this one! No, drink this” – she handed me an extremely unappetizing green smoothie she’d just whipped up out of nowhere – “and you’ll be fine. You probably just had a rough night is all, it was quite warm!” 

“If only you knew,” I muttered under my breath, taking a swig. Yuck! 

Asher 

The final bell rang, and kids of all ages flooded out of the classrooms. I saw Effie, Sarah and Miles standing quietly in a corner, and promptly walked in the other direction. I’d avoided them the whole day. Of course, they all think it’s my fault Leni died. I know sometimes I can take things too far, but I never meant any harm. I didn’t really think that Leni would go out on those rocks, but I guess he was trying to impress Sarah – as usual. He hadn’t needed to confess that he liked her; all the signs were there. 

I started walking home, and everything almost, almost felt like it might’ve just been a day like any other bad day at school, but then I got to my street and saw the police outside Leni’s house. Leni’s old house, I corrected, a stab of guilt panging through my gut. 

I tried to look as unsuspicious as possible as I walked towards the house, seeing a cop outside, talking to Leni’s mother who looked to be having a breakdown. When she saw me, she stopped crying and beckoned for me to come over. The cop turned around. Leni’s mum whispered something into the cop’s ear, and she nodded. 

Did they know? How could they know? My mind spiraled to the worst scenarios, and before I could think rationally, I ran. 

I ran all the way down the street to my house, slammed and locked the front door, and collapsed on my head, just in time to hear the doorbell ring. 

Sure enough, when I opened the front door, the policewoman greeted me with a friendly smile. My heart pounded so hard I was sure that alone would give me away. 

“Hey son, are you alright?” She seemed concerned. I nodded. “I’m officer Jones.” 

“Asher.” I introduced. 

“I know.” How could she know? I’ve never seen her before. Seeing my confused expression, she explained: “Mrs. Baker told me. You’re one of Leni’s friends, aren’t you.” The way she’d asked, it wasn’t even a question. 

‘Why did you run off like that?” 

“I guess you gave me a fright. What happened to Mrs. Baker?” I asked, proud of the excuse I’d come up with. 

 “Well,” she sighed, “this is still all confidential, but their son Leni went missing last night.” She paused to see my reaction. “According to her, he was going out to see some friends, one of them being you.” I nodded. 

“I know.” I said. That much was true. “He never showed up.” The cop scribbled something down on her notepad, before continuing. 

“And where was it he was supposed to meet you? What were you going to do?” 

“He was supposed to meet me at 7:30 at the end of the street.” I paused. I couldn’t say we went to the beach for a campfire – they were banned all year round. Plus, what if they went there and found his body!? So I shrugged. “We were just going to go for a skate, you know, once all the younger kids had all gone home and we could have the park all to ourselves.” I prayed the cop didn’t see through my lie. 

“Of course, this is a very serious situation. If you know anything about what happened, now is the time to tell me. I’m only here to help.” She waited a bit, but I had nothing more to say. “You know nothing else? Didn’t see anything? At all? Has Leni said anything to you in the past while that could’ve suggested he was running away?” Again, I shook my head and remained silent. “Well, thanks for your help. Any information is much appreciated. If you think or remember of anything that could help with the investigation, you know where to find me... Oh, and do me a favor and keep this all hush hush for the moment would you?” With that, she clicked her pen and walked back down the street. 

Practically as soon as she stepped off the doormat I collapsed in a heap on the ground. 

Miles 

Thankfully, the school day went smoothly enough, aside from Asher refusing to make eye-contact the entire time. The math test went okay; it seems the study I’ve been doing with Effie has paid off. Fingers crossed I’ve scraped by with a passing grade. 

I’d been sitting in my room procrastinating my homework for about an hour when I heard the doorbell ring. I listened intently to the voices as my mum opened the door. 

“Officer? Do you need something?” she asked, confused. Officer? Like police officer?  

“Hi there, are you Mrs. Edwards?” 

“Yes, that’s me,” mum replied, confused. “Can I get you something?” From there the voices went too low for me to hear from my room and I felt frozen in place. 

The next thing I heard was, “Of course, take a seat, I’ll fetch him right away.” This couldn’t be good. I followed the sound of mum’s footsteps all the way to my room, and she opened the door, her face considerably pale. 

“Miles? Someone wants to talk to you.” I took a deep breath and followed her out into the lounge, where I saw a middle-aged woman sitting down, dressed in dark blue police uniform, badges lining her top. 

“Good afternoon Miles, I’m Officer Jones.” 

“Hi,” my voice was a barely audible whisper. 

“Now, this might be a bit of shock, but I’m investigating the disappearance of someone you know quite well. Leni Baker went out last night, and never made home. Would you happen to know anything about this?” 

“Of course he does not!” My mother interrupted before I could think about opening my mouth. “He was home all night last night, how would he know anything?!” 

I nodded. 

“I was doing my homework. I had a math test today,” I squeaked. 

“Okay, so why did Mrs. Baker mention you as one of the friends he was going out to meet?” 

I gulped, feeling sweat beads form on my hairline. 

“I-I was going to go.” I couldn’t look at mum. “But then I remembered my homework and decided to stay at home. I really need to get my grades up.” 

“Right, well, did Leni say anything to you about him not being happy... wanting to run away? Anything at all?” I almost made something up on the spot but decided against it. I didn’t want to push my luck. 

“Nothing.” 

So far, so good. 

Sarah 

The whole family was sitting at the dining table, eating and talking about their day, when we were interrupted by a brisk knock at the door. 

“Wonder who that is, knocking at this hour,” dad wondered, getting up from his place. I felt my heart speed up. 

“Hello?” Dad’s voice was uncertain. 

“Hi, would you be Mr. Connors?” 

“Yes, that’s correct, is something wrong?” 

“I’m Officer Jones, and I’m investigating a missing boy. Leni Baker. I was told that he was heading out with some friends, one of them being your daughter, Sarah. May I talk to her?” 

“Of course, come in.” I could hear the anger in his voice, could practically see smoke coming out of his ears when he led the policewoman inside. We’ll be talking later, his eyes told me. My parents had made it clear I wasn’t allowed to go out with friends unless I’d cleared it with them first. I’d asked them, but they’d said no, as per usual. I’d gone anyway, as per usual. 

“Sorry about the timing, I hope I'm not intruding.” 

“No, no, it’s quite alright. Now what did you want to ask Sarah?” I looked up shyly from my spaghetti bolognaise. 

“Hi Sarah, I’m aware you were part of the group Leni was supposed to meet last night before he disappeared. Is this true?” I nodded. I’m totally grounded. For life. 

“And where were you going?” I thought about lying, but nothing came to mind quick enough. 

“To the beach. To play truth or dare. Roast some marshmallows on a campfire. Watch the sunset. When he didn’t show, we called it off. He was bringing the marshmallows.” At least half of that was true. I tried to sneak a look at the notepad she was scribbling away on, but she turned it away. 

“Are you aware of the permanent ban on use of fires on the beach?” I wasn’t. Oops. 

“And do you know anything about where he might be?” 

“No.” She reminded me of a pigeon, with her big eyes and expecting expression. 

“Did Leni say anything to you about wanting to run away, or about being unhappy lately?” 

“No.” 

“Okay. That’ll be all for now. I’ll let you finish your dinner, but you can expect me back in the next couple of days. Thanks for your time.” 

The front door closed, and both my parents stood with hands on their hips, frowns on their faces. 

Effie 

It was almost three days since the accident, and I walked past the lounge to get the worst surprise of my life. Yesterday, the police had announced Leni Baker as missing, asking anyone who knew anything to come forward. Since then, everyone in the city was vigorously checking the news to see the latest update. 

Now, I found myself staring shock-horror at the headlines on the television: Dog digs up body of missing boy. Reward for any further information: $1000 

I couldn’t play this game any longer. I never even wanted to get involved. 

“Dad, I’m going to go see Sarah, I’ll be back soon!” I called out. He wouldn’t mind; I didn’t have any homework. 

“Be back before dark!” He called back. “And be careful!” 

Sarah 

One day into being grounded for life, and I was sneaking out. When I got home from school I found a newspaper on the drive, outlining that the missing boy’s body had been uncovered on the beach by a dog. 

It wasn’t the prize money that was making me turn myself in. I felt horrible for Leni’s parents, and now I was just waiting for Officer Jones to come get me herself. I told them we were going to the beach. They probably think we murdered him. 

I stuffed a couple of pillows under my duvet, threw a jumper over my pajamas and climbed out the window. 

Miles 

Are you really doing this? After doing so well with your interview? Are you sure? Part of my brain was still questioning my decision as I walked down the block to the police station. With Leni’s body found, I came to the conclusion I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t tell the police the truth, so here I was. The sun was almost down, and I was walking down street when I caught sight of someone walking along in what seemed to be pajamas, bunny slippers and a jumper. As I got to the end of the street, I realised I recognised her. 

“Sarah!?” She jumped, relieved when she saw it was me. 

“Miles, gosh, are you trying to scare me to death? What are you doing?” 

“I could ask you the same question!” 

“Oh,” she said, looking down at herself. “Look, I’m sorry, but I’m going to the police to turn myself in. I just can’t anymore. I’m already grounded, I’m just going out the easier way.” My mouth gawped. I think she was waiting for me to argue her point, but I didn’t. 

“Actually, I’m headed there too,” I said, sheepishly. “I’m not grounded yet, but I know it's the right thing to do.” 

For a moment, we just stood there in silence. 

“Well, are we going then?” She asked. 

Asher 

Just as I was about to turn around and go back home. I saw three familiar faces standing at the set of lights just to the left of the police station. 

“Guys? What the heck are you doing here?” 

“Asher?” Effie asked, “You too?” 

“What do you mean?” I was completely baffled. Wait... 

“Are you here to turn yourself in too?” What!? 

“I am, are you guys!?” 

“Yeah...” They all said. 

“Officer Jones interviewed me and Miles.” Sarah explained. “And we all decided it was the right thing to do to turn ourselves in. Besides, we can’t run from the truth forever.” 

I nodded, as I had come to the same conclusion. 

“Let’s get this over and done before we change our minds.” I said, and we all walked inside.