The Game for Sinners

It was a calm, spring morning. A bit cloudy and cold, but not more than all the days since the end of the winter. The only actual difference between March and January this year was the snow. It was quite a lot of it in January and not even a snowflake in March, but if not for that no one would be really able to tell which month is it, without a help of a calendar.

Addie was slowly making her way towards the school she attended to with even bigger pain than the day before. She understood that her matriculation examination was getting closer and closer, but piles of homework and tests weren’t very helpful if she wanted to do some individual work as well.

Sometimes it made her wish she could burn the place down.

Addie sighed taking a turn left, wishing deeply that she could just stay right there for as long as she pleased and forget about everything.

Oh, yes that would be more than a good break. With no one telling her what more should she do, not even herself. Just silence, crisp air and an empty pavement…

“Hi Addie, how’s it going?” She heard suddenly from behind her back and despite the fact that she was just interrupted, which she deeply hated, her expression turned a bit brighter immediately.

“Elena.” She smiled at her friend and turned around just to see a light smile on a dark-skinned face hiding behind dark, curly hair and a thick, red scarf. “You’re normally already in school by now.” Addie commented.

“My dad wasn’t going to work today so he didn’t want to drive me here.” Elena shrugged and joined her friend on a pavement in a way that now both of them could walk side by side. “Two hours in a bus were a nightmare.”

“Christ.” Addie shook her head with compassion. “How long have you even slept today?”

“Too short.” Elena laughed sharply. “But it’s not like I ever sleep long enough.” She paused for a moment and then, after a bit of consideration added. “It’s not like any of us do.”

Addie sighed deeply, nodding her head in silent agreement.

“At least it’s Friday.” She commented, trying to look on the bright sides.

Elena frowned in a weird way which would probably escape Addie’s notice if not for the fact that her friend practically never frowned. Not even when they had five tests a week, not even if besides those tests they had to do two projects on the same week.

“Not in a mood?” Addie asked, trying to sound sympathetically despite her own tiredness.

Elena shook her head and the frown was gone almost immediately.

“No, it’s nothing.” And then she smiled again, glancing at her friend with a bright look back in her eyes. “Actually, I was just thinking if you wouldn’t like to visit me today after school? We have a family game night, it would be nice if you joined. I would have a pair to play with, otherwise I’m always left in trio or alone.”

“Yeah, you’ve mentioned something.” Addie laughed friendly. “I think I can, actually. It’s not like I was going to learn tonight anyway.”

Elena laughed as well and as they were coming through the school gates, she added.

“That’s my girl” Before walking in and finishing the conversation to greet with their other classmates.

***

The evening this day was almost the same as morning. Cold and cloudy, no sun and a bit dark outside. Darker than it should be, this time of a year, at this hour.

But perhaps, thought Addie standing on a doorstep of Elena’s house and waiting for someone to open, it’s only because of the clouds. It’s not like the sun is going to fall soon or something.

At least she hoped not, otherwise all her efforts put in learning would turn out to be completely useless. After all there was so many other things she could do except for reading school coursebooks. For example spending time with Elena, playing the sims, singing some karaoke, running around her neighborhood, reading about producing bombs and other chemical stuff that blows up…

Addie moved away, as she finally heard that someone is opening the lock and then, when the door opened, she saw Elena standing inside with a bright smile stick to her face and wrapped up in some blanket.

“Finally. Late as always.” The dark-haired laughed friendly while moving away to let Addie in. “Everybody are ready to begin.”

“Sorry.” Addie went in the hall and after closing the door behind her, slowly started to take off her outer clothing. “The…

“...traffic was terrible.” Finished Elena in the same time as Addie making them both laugh for a moment. “Yes, I hear that every day when you’re late to class.”

“This time it’s the truth.” Addie looked challenging in Elena’s eyes, before putting her cloak away making her way to the living room, with the dark-haired friend by her side.

They shared a few more comments while walking down the really long hall – Elena’s house wasn’t one of the little ones – before they finally reached their destination, just to see all of the family – parents and two younger siblings – waiting for them and sitting on the two, huge sofas in front of each other.

“Oh, hello.” Elena’s dad smiled at Addie once he saw her. “We were already going to start without you.” He joked, making Elena frown at him with pretending disappointment.

“Dad, you were supposed to pretend we didn’t.” She scolded him and then snorted quietly, seeing him making a funny face, probably mostly to make the youngsters laugh, which didn’t work as well as it was supposed to, because both Elena’s younger brother and sister were busy fighting over who will get the blue pawn.

But Addie, on the other hand, laughed kindly and with a bit of shyness, which was always there where it came to first contact with the adults she didn’t know so well, sat down on one of the sofas, next to the two youngest members of the family and in front of two oldest of them.

“So how about we play Dixit?” Proposed Elena sitting next to her parents and smiling nicely in Addie’s direction. “Victor and Eve are always really excited about that game.”

“Yeah, sure why not?” Addie smiled back and after a moment took a cookie from a table between the sofas and started to eat it, while waiting for the children to lay out the board and deal the cards.

“So how are you, Addie? I’ve heard you have a lot of work lately.” Began Elena’s mother politely. “All we ever hear about is how tired all of you are.”

“Oh, well.” Addie waved her hand seemingly nonchalant. “Just a few months more and then off to university.”

Elena nodded at her friend and then turned to her mother.

“Addie wants to study chemistry.” She said that with weirdly pressing tone and the older woman answered with slightly threatened sight, but Addie didn’t notice that, because just then Victor put down the last card and announced loudly.

“We can start.” His words stopped the silent exchange of comments between Elena and her mother and made everyone focus on the game.

Addie took her cards from the table and quickly examined them before asking.

“So who goes first?”

Elena’s father smiled at her in a welcoming gesture and answered.

“The guests always go first.”

“Oh.” Addie laughed slightly. “Okay then.”

She focused on her cards again and after a few dozen seconds of wondering she picked up the card with a lonely, dark-haired person walking through the snow, from which there grows a lonely rose.

“I would say it’s…” She paused for a moment longer. “Adult Little Prince.”

Elena laughed.

“Well that’s a though one.” She looked in her cards. “Wasn’t the whole thing about him being a child?”

“Whatever, they won’t give it to us on the exam. It would be too merciful.” Commented Addie with a note of irony in her voice.

Elena snorted.

“Point taken.” And then finally picked up a card. “So, you all ready?”

And when everyone finally were, they gave their cards to Addie, who mixed them and then lay down on the table, in a way all the pictures was visible.

“So.” She started. “Which one is mine?”

A moment later all the players chose the token with a number of a card they thought was the best choice and when Addie said ‘now’ they put it on a table.

“Elena and Victor are correct.” She smiled on the boy, as he threw himself to move the pawns of the three of them.

Once he did, Elena’s father cleared his throat and decided.

“Seems now it’s my turn.” He said and then gave the ‘title’ of his card.

Just like that, they were playing for a longer while, having great fun. Addie even managed to forget about the piles of homework waiting for her at home and the weekend full of work ahead of her.

It was all great and nothing at all seemed to be bothering or threatening or wrong in any way. At least not until Elena didn’t suddenly say that she needs to go to the toilet, but they shouldn’t interrupt themselves and just continue to play.

So as she left, there was Eve turn. Trough all the other rounds picking up the fitting title was taking her an awful amount of time, but not this time. As soon as everyone were ready, she said with a voice much too serious as for a joke and much too serious as for a ten year old girl.

“Addie is dying.” Then she put out the card on the table. It was a dark card, presenting a sharp knife and a puddle of blood.

Addie opened her mouth and waited for the girls mother to correct her or maybe for all of them to start to laugh, but instead all of the family was just looking in her direction with death serious expressions.

“Excuse me?” Addie laughed finally nervously, completely not knowing what to do.“I don’t think it’s very...”

Suddenly she felt that someone closing her arm in so strong grip that she could feel their nails sticking painfully into her skin and before she got to do, or even say anything a sharp blade cut straight through her throat making her black out almost immediately and then fall dazed on the floor.

***

Addie opened her eyes to see nothing. Or maybe something which just didn’t have any shape. It was empty. Or maybe just full enough for her to think it’s empty. It felt like there was no time there, no space or not anything at all. Just like she wanted some moments to be, never ending, permanent, silent. But in those moments she was supposed to feel peaceful and now she only felt disorientated and scared.

“Am I dead?” Addie felt her throat aching as she spoke up and she couldn’t keep her eyes in any point for too long, cause everything was getting really blurry, really fast. She didn’t actually have any reason to think she wasn’t alone there, but it felt like she wasn’t so she wanted to hear an answer.

But no one answered at least not at once, so she tried to move, but she couldn’t. It was like she was hanging in clay modeling mass, which made it impossible to move very fast. So she started to pray, something she didn’t do for a long time. Just to get out of there, even if it meant nothing, nothing forever.

But then she heard someone saying something from very far away, but clearly enough for Addie to understand all the words.

“You’re not dead. You never will be.”

She wanted to turn in the direction of the voice, but the space she was in efficiently provided that from happening.

“They slit my throat, why? How?” The teenager asked finally only to be answered by a choir of laughter, coming from all around her. It seemed like there were over a dozen people or maybe even serval dozen.

“For sins you haven’t commit yet.” She heard an answer, this time coming from the other place, which she couldn’t see as well.

“They can predict the future.” Said someone else.

“Or are on the good terms with the gods.” Added another voice, very dark, but also kind of bored just like all of them.

“We only know one thing.” Added another voice, this time from somewhere really near her. “We are all here, because we were going to be terrible people.” It said “And now we won’t hurt anyone, we won’t kill anyone. The Word will be a better place.”

Addie felt that she is getting dizzy. She didn’t understand any of this, nor did she want to understand it.

Right there, in that moment she only knew one thing.

She never should have trusted Elena.

No one should ever trust anyone who smiles all the time.