Do you take Truth or Dare?

Sam threw an empty can at Tom, "Dork, pass me the popcorn."

In a dull demeanor, Tom continued to surf through Netflix, ignoring Sam. 

Sam yelled, "Hey, fart-face, Can't you hear me?"

Mike interjected, "Tom doesn't listen to jackasses."

Mike then hooted and laughed, making Sam's face red with embarrassment and anger. 

Milly stood up, "Cut it off, guys," and passed popcorn to Sam.

Mike jeered, "I present to you all the mother of our group, Milly."

Milly made a hopeless attempt to fake laugh and replied, "This mother was there when you had shit your pants last year and needed someone to phone your butler."

Sam cheered for Milly, "Ohhh, Savageee."

Audrea pushed Mike and Milly aside, and called Mike out on his attention-seeker behavior, and said to Milly, "We can do moral policing later. Can we now enjoy Netflix?"

Milly instantly regretted saying what she had said. She whispered sorry to Mike.

Everyone became silent and sat back in their seats. 

In a sluggish tone, Tom said, "Eh, What was happening? Anyways, I found the perfect watch-"

Before Tom could finish, the power went off.

Tom exclaimed, "Shoot!"

 Mike started to panic and took heavy breaths. He moved his hands randomly in the air, hitting stray objects. Mike had nyctophobia and became anxious when it was completely dark. On hearing the clattering and breaking sounds, everyone immediately switched on their flashes and looked around. 

They found Mike in a corner, kicking in the air, and sobbing. 

Sam said, "So much for being a stud. Are you a baby? Even they aren't afraid of a little dark."

Audrea, who was covered in sweat, elbowed him and said, "Not all are made the same. Some people are afraid of the darkness. It gives them the creep."

Tom found the conversation intriguing and joined it. In the entire time the gang had known Tom, he never talked much, let alone joining an argument. 

"I find both darkness and light the same. Although, I will admit that I find darkness to be more intimate and it has an increased feeling of security."

Sam counted the number of words Tom spoke and said, "Congrats, Tom. You spoke more than 15 words under a minute. That's a Guinness worthy."

Tom reacted in his usual indifferent manner and headed back to the couch. 

Milly broke off the discussion and brought in a blanket from Tom's room and wrapped it around Mike. She offered lime water to Mike to help him feel better. Audrea suggested Mike rub his hands to warm his body. 

After Mike partially recovered from the trauma and had settled in a chair, Milly looked out of the window and said, "Strange. It looks like the whole city's power went out." 

For a city like Bridgeport, where power never went out, power going out was strange and the whole city's power going out was murky. 

Mike stuttered, "Tom, Wh-why isn't the genera-generat-generator kicking in?'

Tom went down to the basement and replied from there, "Wierd. The generators aren't working."

Sam commented, "How could they? They look at least a hundred years old."

Milly shunned him.

Audrea shrugged, "What to do now? Let's go back."

Sam protested, "Let's watch something on our laptops." He turned to Milly, "Go get your laptop."

She replied that Mike had drained her and Tom's laptop batteries playing Valorant.

Sam's lips curled. He pressed his lips together and stomped his feet. 

Audrea clenched her hands over her head, "Now, what? We all should go back to our houses. Mike needs to be around a familiar environment to recover better."

Mike nodded in disagreement and expressed his desire to be with the gang.

Tom interrupted them and notified them that his battery was running out and would be dead any second.

Milly agreed with Sam that they couldn't keep their phones' flash on for long. She instructed Tom to get a candle. Mike looked distressed and kicked his legs, and grunted in disapproval. Milly helped Mike relax and promised him that they would not turn off their flashes until they had lit the candle. 

As soon as Tom was back with the candle, Milly lit it in the center table.  

Audrea glanced at Sam and asked, "So? What do we do now?"

Sam said, "Don't look at me. It was this idiot," he pointed at Mike, "who decided to drain the batteries of the laptops."

Audrea coughed and said, "Show some sensitivity," she showed him her closed fist and gestured that she could punch Sam if necessary. 

As usual, Milly cut in, "Hopefully, that won't be needed. I am sure we would come up with something."

Sam commented, "Not with our phones running dry."

With the support of a stool, Mike got up. In a soft and feeble tone, he suggested, "Truth or Dare."

Tom reacted in his typical manner, "Cool."

Audrea shrugged her shoulders and said, "Whatever."

Sam said, "I like the sound of it. What do we do in it?

Everyone looked awkwardly at Sam. Mike slapped his head. 

He remarked at Sam's lack of knowledge about 'Truth and Dare,' "That's what you expect out of a chimp."

Sam was about to come up with one of his infamous derogatory ripostes when Milly said, "I don't want to play this game."

Through a mix of coercion and persuasion, Mike and Sam got Milly to play the game. She still had a hint of reluctance, but she was never known to go against the collective wish of the gang. 

Milly explained the game's rules to Sam and added these rules to make the game more mature- 

                          ***

1. If someone chooses to tell the truth and lies, they will summer ghosts who have terrible icy hands haunt them. 
2. If you choose to dare and don't complete the task or don't answer the question, you will have to take a cold water bath for five minutes. 
3. No cringe questions like who is your crush, whom do you find most attractive in this room.

                        ***

On hearing the first rule, Sam remarked, "Bullshit!" Everyone choose to ignore him and sat around the center table. Mike spun the bottle. It stopped at Milly.

Milly crossed her arms and smiled awkwardly. She chose, 'Dare' and Sam dared her to slap Mike. 

 Milly frowned and said, "No. No. I can't do that."

Mike said, "If it's Milly who is gonna slap, then I would gladly get slapped."

"No, it is wrong, Mike."

Audrea continued chewing her gum instead of reacting. Tom looked blankly at Milly, expectantly waiting for her to slap Milly.

Milly closed her eyes and softly slapped Mike. 

Miike remarked, "If only Mr. Anderson too had such soft hands. I can get slapped by Milly all day long."

The group broke into laughter even Audrea laughed. Milly looked down and avoided eye contact with Mike. In a sarcastic tone, Audrea said, "So, Milly isn't such a goodie gal after all."

The bottle was spun again. This time it stopped at Mike. 

He chose, 'Dare.' Sam acted out of the turn and dared Mike to spend half an hour in complete darkness.

Mike reacted, "Yes, no. I cannot do it." Audrea and Milly collectively objected to Sam's dare. Tom, too, commented, "Not cool, bruh.'

In his defense, Sam said, "I had the freedom to dare him whatever I wanted."

Audrea aggressively said, "You jumped chances. It wasn't even your turn.'

Mike said, "It is alright, Audrea. I don't want anyone to make exceptions for me. I will take the ice bath even it wasn't Sam's turn."

Sam emptied the ice trays into the bathtub. Mike took a deep breath, remembered Jesus, and jumped into the bathtub.    

Sam cackled, "Let's give this lad some privacy and continue the game."

Milly looked concerned for Mike, but Mike assured her that he would be fine and pressed her to continue playing the game. 

The bottle stopped at Tom. He chose 'Truth.' It was Audrea's turn to ask the question. 

Audrea waggled her eyebrows and asked, "Tom, have you ever killed someone?"

Tom slightly raised his eyebrows and looked ahead for a minute, lost in his thoughts. 

He said, "N-No. Why do you as-ask?"

Audrea snickered and replied, "I was joking around with you, but you should have seen your face. It was like I had caught you doing the act."

Sam winked and said, "Dark!"

Milly's mouth twisted, and she exclaimed, "Enough!"

Tom wasn't paying any attention to any of them. He was lost elsewhere. Suddenly, he felt a cold hand on his shoulder. He couldn't think but believe that Milly's fabled tales about the summer ghost were real. He was flushed with guilt and repentance. Everything around him seemed to fade, and his hearing sense started to deafen.

Everything was about to go blank when he heard a faint noise. "Tom, Are you all right?"

He snapped out of it. He felt weird. He asked, "What is happening?"

Mike said, "I had placed a hand upon your shoulder when you started to lean to the side, and before I knew you passed out. Everything, ok?"

Tom nodded and said, "Continue with the game."

Milly asked, "Are you sure, Tom? I am concerned for you.

Tom nodded again.

They spun the bottle again, and it stopped at Audrea. She chose 'Truth.' Milly asked her first question, "Why are you always so gloomy and depressed? Are you like this with everybody or only around us?"

Audrea looked down. She grabbed her arm's chair and confessed, "Ok, I accept. I am clinically depressed. I was diagnosed last year. I didn't tell anyone, even my parents, because I wasn't sure how anyone would react to the news. Also, no one neither says anything about it to me nor offers advice, or else I am going to break some necks today."

Everyone felt uneasy. There were obvious signs, but they failed to see them. Milly wrapped her arms around herself. There was a lot each one of them wanted to say to Audrea, but they looked around and decided to respect Audrea's threat. It was her own decision, after all.

Audrea spun the bottle. It stopped at Sam.

Sam groaned. 

Mike asked, "Do you take Truth or Dare?"

"Truth, bitches."

 It was Mike's turn, and he didn't want to lose the opportunity. He said, "Mhm, with those questions out of the list, it is hard to select one, but I have something that I wanted to ask you for a long time. Why do you have to be so mean to everybody?"

Sam replied, "Good question, but I choose not to answer the question. You can shove it right up your ass.'

Audrea said, "Rules are the same for everybody. No exception."

Sam said, "I wasn't expecting these things when you proposed to play this stupid game. Anyways, I will take the ice bath."

Milly said, "Come on, Sam, Answer it. It is something even I wanted to know.," and she passed him some popcorn.

Sam always had a soft spot for Milly because she was always good to him. Thus, he couldn't refuse her. 

He said, "It's cold."

Mike cut in Milly and said, "It's alright. I think we all can handle it."

"Idiot, I was talking about popcorn."

Mike said, "Stop with your puns and answer the damn question."

"Alright, if you want to hear it so bad. I act so mean to everybody because I had realized in middle school that it is better to act like a dick. I have been on the other side, and I know what it is like to feel humiliated. I was the class clown, and everybody used to tease me...tease me and call me Kappa! I had realized by the end of middle school that the world is full of bitches and dicks, so I decided to be one myself. That's all."

Sam had tears in his eyes by the time he had finished. Mike was in tears. Milly looked upset. Audrea looked disgusted. Tom looked listless. 

Mike went to hug Sam, but he broke away from the hug.

 With beady eyes, Milly asked Sam, "Why did you never tell us? or let us help you."

"For one, you had accepted me as I was without judging. Hell, I would have been surprised if you hadn't. We are nothing but a group of misfits. Secondly, it was my very own so-called friends who used to tease me. And you didn't have any reason to believe you would be better."

Milly and Mike hugged him, and this time, he didn't stop them. 

Milly chuckled, "Duffer."

Sam announced, "Let's not get all emotional and touchy. You all had asked for it."

Sam was in no mood for sob exchanges, so he spun the bottle. 

It stopped again at Milly, and she chose 'Truth.' It was Tom's turn to ask the question, but he passed it onto Audrea. 

Audrea's forehand wrinkled. She was trying to find the perfect question to ask Milly. Finally, she decided to ask her, "Why were you reluctant to play the game?"

Milly wasn't expecting that question. Her feet turned cold. Sam had to snap her out of it. 

She gasped, "Oh, yes. The question. The thing is-"

The power came back, and the lights turned on. The television started again. 

Milly hurriedly changed her reply, "Netflix is back, guys! I can't wait any longer to watch some cool series."

In the excitement of Netflix, everyone forgot about the game. The seemingly idiotic game brought the five friends even closer. When Netflix was turned on and everyone forgot about the game, Tom and Milly sighed.