The game that never ends: Part One

Have you ever taken a deep breath, and thought about life.  About how it’s all about chances. There’s always a choice, and a consequence.  Good or bad. It’s like rolling dice. If you roll, you have no idea what’s coming.  Life is a game. A game that you can never win . . .

It was late November, when it happened.  Almost eight terrorist attacks were targeted at the local mall.  Hundreds of lives were lost, including my best friend, so my parents decided to get a fresh start.  So we moved to Seattle, WA, which wasn’t terribly far away. But the car ride seemed to last a lifetime.

When we arrived, my little sister  and brother ran inside immediately, as I sat back for a few minutes.  “You coming champ?” my dad asked. I just shook my head, and said, “Give me a minute.”  I was still thinking of my friend Alex. How I could have helped him, and how I failed. I wouldn't worry about that though.  I didn’t want to put my family in that position, for for the next few days, I tried to enjoy the new time. It was different, but I couldn’t decide if it was good or bad yet.  But I tried to make the best of it anyway.

That night I had the weirdest dream.  It was like I was walking through the hallway, and I stepped on a really creaky spot.  The carpet was cut there, so I pulled it up, and there was a doorway, with a box infront of it.  I took the box out of the pit, and tried to open it. It was locked, so I just blew off the dust from the top and I saw something.  There were strange symbols on it. In the middle there was the infinity symbol, with other ones around it. There was one with a single odt, and another with two dots.  The next had three, so you probably get how that goes. Then I opened up the box, but I couldn’t see what the combo was. When I opened it up, a dark mist flowed out, and that was when I woke up.

I crept slowly over to the door, and to my surprise, there actually was a cutout in the floor.  I opened the trapdoor, and lowered myself into it. I pulled out my phone from my pocket, and turned on the flashlight to be able to see.  When I looked around, I saw nothing, up until I tripped on something. When I looked down at my feet, there was a box. The same box I had in my dream!  “How is this happening?” I muttered to myself. I had on idea what was happening, but I swore then and there that I would figure it out. No matter what the cost.

In the morning, I quickly put the box under my bed, then had breakfast.  Every single time we visit our grandparents’ we have cereal that our parents never let us have.  I didn't really pay attention to my cereal, though. I just thought about the strange symbols on the box.  Or at least until my mom said my name for the sixth time. “Ben,” my mom said. Then I looked over at her. She smiled, and said, “Just making sure you're okay.”  I nodded, and replied, “I think I’m just gonna take a nap or something.” I headed up to my room, and out of the corner out of my eye, I saw my mom and dad look at each other in confusion.  Probably because I NEVER take naps, ever. But they went along with it, like they go along with everything I do.

When I got upstairs, I decided I was going to take a leap into the unknown.  Whatever was behind that door, was something impossible. So when I opened that door, there was no going back.  I stepped into the darkness, embracing for what was about to happen.

I turned on my light and saw that it was just a room.  It had a nice bed, two recliner chairs, a bunk bed, a projector, and an XBOX One. I nearly fainted.  I was expecting something creepy or mysterious, but apparently, it was like the hotel room you have always been waiting for.  It was flawless, so I called dibs on the king bed before I got my siblings to come. While my siblings were still coming, I really needed to use the bathroom.  So I went inside, and it was so shiny! The glare on the glossy walls literally blinded me. But it was perfect, so I couldn’t argue. When I washed my hands afterward, I couldn’t help but notice the faucet kept dripping after I turned it off.  When I looked over at it, it wasn’t dripping anymore. I tested it again, just to make sure that I wasn’t going crazy, and I soon figured out that it was legit. When I looked through the mirror at the faucet, I could see it dripping, but when I looked back at it, it just stopped.  “Maybe there’s something in it.” I thought, so I reached my hand under it, and reached up inside.

When I reached up, a stream of hot water came out and burned my hand.  I didn’t want to try to turn the water on in the faucet, so I did what any person would do.  I dipped my hand in the toilet. You have to be willing to do whatever it takes, so I had to.  Then I threw a roll of toilet paper in the sink, and the hot water sprayed. I then quickly grabbed the dice, and bolted out the door.  I kicked the door closed, and examined the weird dice with my non seared hand. It had the same symbol as on the strange box. “There must be more,” I thought.  But I didn’t let it pester me too much. I called for Lily and Adam and they came running down in an instance. When they came down, I told them the whole story, and they listened.  I decided then and there that they were the only people I could trust.

“If you find any dice in weird places, don’t try to get them.” I ordered.  “It can really hurt you, and I don’t want either of you ending up in the hospital.  Especially right before school starts.” They nodded. “Just tell me if you think you know where one is.”  I told them. I knew I could count on them. I bet they were the only people that would listen. I actually had a good night's rest that night because I knew I could count on someone.  Finally.

In the morning, my mom woke me up.  I didn’t really know why, but then I remembered there was school.  I had forgotten there was school! I tried to convince my mom in letting me stay home that day, but it was no use.  There was no stopping her. “Get ready fast or else you’ll be going to school with no lunch!” my mom chuckled. I rolled my eyes, even though she was probably right.  Lunch is the best part of the day. Especially when you transfer schools in the middle of the year. There’s nothing better than a nice turkey sandwich.

When the bus pulled up, I thought my life was ruined.  I had so much stuff to do at home! I had to find the dice.  See what is so important about them. “At least Lily and Adam are home,” I thought to myself.  “Maybe they will find some.” So I tried my best to make it through the day with no trouble. I didn’t get even close to my best.

So let's see, during Math I said my name was George.  That’s not too bad of a start, but not exactly the impression I was hoping for my teacher.  In English, I intentionally spelled everything wrong, and in History I got in a fight with this football player kid.  He said his name was Rufus, but I call him Doofus just to get a rise out of him. Also not to mention in PE, I broke a light.  It’s pretty bad right now. They didn’t give me any lunch detention because it was my first time, but I know that my teachers are watching me.  In Science, I was just done and jumped out the window and ran home. The teachers kind of hate me, but the kids love me. That’s a nice fresh start for me, but that’s also not what I needed.  I was done with friends after what happened to my pal Alex. I didn’t want to risk any more loss, so I decided that I didn’t want to make friends. Even though I knew I was safe here, I also knew anything could happen.  That’s what will haunt me the rest of my days.

After I got home, it was almost ten minutes after the end of the school day.  I actually made pretty good time for running home. But anyways, when I got home, I went into my room and locked the door.  I pulled the box out from under my bed and looked at the engraved symbols. When I took the dice out of my pocket, it had the same symbol on one of the sides as engraved on the box.  My eyes grew wide. The symbols on the dice are the same symbols on the box! I ran into the secret room, and looked on the faucet. The same symbol was there! It had three dots in a triangle shape with two water droplets on each side.  This would help me find all of them. Then I could finally find the secrets inside of the mysterious box.

For hours, me and my brother and sister searched for the dice.  We were about to give up, when I looked at the fireplace, and on the wall behind, there was a dot with flames around it.  I remembered there was the same one on the box. I quickly ran upstairs and brought down three cups. Me and my siblings all filled up a cup in the bathroom, and doused the fire.  I reached into the fireplace and looked at the symbol. I noticed that one brick was a different color than the rest, so I pulled it out. Not surprisingly, it was there. The number one dice with flames on it.  We had found yet another one, and that was just the beginning.

We searched almost all night, but we found the number 5 dice, the number 2, number 4, and number 6.  We didn’t even know what they did until the next day.

In the morning when I woke up, and put all the dice in my pocket.  When I went downstairs, I didn’t even bother eating breakfast, so I just packed my bag and waited outside for the bus to come.  While I was waiting, I looked at pictures of me and my best friend. We didn’t really get along, but he was still my friend. I spaced out so long that I almost missed the bus.  Good thing the driver honked at me, because if he didn’t I would’ve been left home.

Today was the first day that I would be getting lunch detention for bad behavior.  They gave me one day to warm up and get in the system, and I probably blew that chance.  “I just have to be good today, and I’ll get in the habit,” I thought. At least I was pretty sure that was how it went.

I swear, every time I say I am going to do good I jinx myself.  Today was even worse than yesterday. I only got 5 lunch detention out of my 6 classes, so it’s not the worst.  But the detentions were worth it. I figured out a little secret about the dice. They’re special. I don’t really know how to explain how, but all I can say is, it’s awesome.

In Math, I figured out that the number four dice could charge my phone.  It also can boost my Wi-Fi to 5-G, and I can also get free stuff from the vending machine.  All you have to do is roll the dice and make it land on a four! “But what if it also worked on the other dice?” I thought to myself.  This school year is going to be great!

I used the number one dice in English to burn my homework.  Instead, it just set off the fire alarm and made us all go outside for almost an hour.  I melted snowballs, and charged a buck per. I got like seventy dollars. In History, we only had a couple minutes left, so I decided to use the number three dice to wet the teacher’s pants while he was napping.  He probably suspected it was me, but who cares. In PE, I used the number two dice to make it snow so that I wouldn’t be so sweaty, and in Science I used the number five dice to trip the teacher with a flower. In Band I also used the number six to blow my trumpet for me.  I couldn’t wait to tell my brother and sister.

  When I got home, I air popped popcorn with the six dice.  I also used the two dice to chill my soda because all the ice melted while I was using the number six dice.

I was about to turn on the TV, when I heard the most peculiar sound.  It was like whispering. I looked around, but nobody was home. “Hello?” I called.  I didn’t know where it came from so I followed the voice. I listened to it carefully, and it was coming from upstairs!  I ran upstairs, and went into my room. I heard it under my bed, so I looked under, and saw the box. The whispering was coming from the box.

When I pulled the box form under the bed, the voice stopped.  I tried to open it, but I then remembered that there was a combination lock.  Suddenly, these numbers rushed through my head. The voice said, “Three, one, five, two, four, six.”  It repeated that over and over. The voice was overtaking me. The rest of the world was blocked out, and all I could hear was those numbers.  Three, one, five, two, four, six, over and over, and over again. So I put the combo into the lock box. I heard gears clicking, and snapping inside of the box.  Finally, the latches came undone. The voices drifted away from my mind, and I took a moment to breathe. It was then, when I noticed that was the same order that we found the dice in.  Someone was watching us, and all of the answers were inside of this box. So I slowly crept my hands forward, and raised the box lid.

To Be Continued . . .

  (Some other time, maybe next week)