Round 1

Chapter 5 

I stared intently at the screen as the phone dings in my palm almost immediately. The speed at which he replied to my message was quite mysterious, it was as if he'd been expecting my message. 

“Great, you will be playing about five different games on different occasions and be rest assured that once you’ve agreed to this game, you aren’t allowed to stop playing. You must complete all five aspects of the game and if you are able to win at the end of it, a huge sum of reward awaits you.” 

I Scoffed swinging my legs in the air as I kept staring at my screen waiting for him to finish typing...

‘And here are the rules of the game which must be observed and followed. Hence the rules are. 

You are quite aware that this game is themed. ‘Can you keep a secret?’ 

Which means 

1. Once you start playing this game you mustn’t tell anyone about it. 

2. You mustn’t ask any questions about the game. 

3. No trace of cheating like trying to track down this I.D it won’t help anyway. 

4. You must complete all 5 five aspects of the game. 

5. You mustn’t ditch any round once you get the notification. 

6: You must strive to win. 

*Failure to follow all these rules will lead to the death of one of your loved ones.’

Running my eyes through the rules, some things seem weird. The rumors about this game are quite different from what I’m seeing here. 

Did those people really ever play the game? 

I mean if they did, they shouldn’t be alive now since it’s somewhat a ‘don’t tell’ thingy. 

That just makes it all fake and I see the rules of the game are really so deadly little wonder they are able to get people scared. 

“Are you in or out.” The message popped in. 

Without wasting much time I typed 

“in.” Sent. 

Shortly after, the messenger background started evanescing, forming a mixture of light green, black and red. 

It got me electrocuted, stupefied and bewildered. 

My eyelids raised to humanly possible as I watched how the background changes mysteriously. At first I couldn’t comprehend the image it was trying to produce until it became crystal clear. 

The background was the image of a forest but as it emerged fully well, sun rays dwindled into nothingness as everywhere turned pitch-black. 

The trees in the dark forest were nicotine-brown, and the leaves were so red. So red that it was producing red liquid. Was that blood? All the leaves were bleeding profusely and following the direction of the slurring lines of blood, it rained on some pale skulls littering around the spooky ground. 

The creepy skulls gave me goosebumps and when I heard a thunderstorm struck against my roof, I almost jumped out of my skin as I visualized myself standing there in the forest. Yes The air was stuffy, making it difficult for me to breathe. The trees were staring at me like silent sentries. My heart was throbbing in my ears and in an attempt to get rid of the terror, I bit my lower lips till I felt the metallic taste of blood in my mouth which brought me back to life. Jeez this is why I don't watch horror movies, I mean if I could really get frightened by a Live Photo how much more action? 

Recovering from my fear, two icons appeared on the screen. A circle green icon and a red icon in the letter of X. 

The green circle had the inscription; ‘Click to start’ 

and the red X, ‘click to exit.’ 

Not giving it a double thought I click ‘green circle’ 

Instinctively, The background duplicated into two with a tiny line dividing it. 

The user I.D was at the top part of the screen while My username; @Agirlyoudontknow. was at the right bottom which means I’m the player at the player below. 

The user at the top started typing.... 

‘The game is about to begin. For the first game, you’ll be given some set of riddles and you have just 6minutes as a deadline for you to answer. We will both play in turns and whoever wins the finals passes but if you fail, it will lead to the death of one of your loved ones.” The moment I finished reading it, it disappeared from my screen.

Okay this is getting a bit creepy but can someone tell this dumbass to stop playing with the life of my loved ones? Can we just get the game started? Pfff! 

Staring intently at my phone screen, an icon which looked like a chat bar appeared across the screen. It was framed with dripping bloods, dry bones and skulls perched around it, the bar was demarcating me and the creepy user. What’s with all these death signals? 

On the chat bar, appeared a text. “I invented it not for my own use. You bought it but don't want it. And he used it but doesn’t know how to feel or see it. What is it?” 

Another smaller text bar appeared beside it with a blue cursor blinking. 

A timer starting from 6 also appeared And an arrow was pointed upward to the user, indicating that the question was met for him. Jezz.... this question is hella complicated. 

6...5...4....and instantly the user typed an answer on the empty box. ‘Coffin’ 

Two green mark appeared close to the text and it showed the inscription ‘passed’ 

The question disappeared and another appeared. The arrow pointed down to me and a timer appeared beside my profile. 

“Everyone hates me because I’m the most impartial thing in existence, I visit anyone regardless of their status and when I do, I’m the last thing you’ll ever see. What am I?” That was the riddle. 

I gazed at the empty chat box which had a cursor that was blinking at me, waiting for me to type something there but what do I type? I don't even understand the question how much knowing the answer. 

I look at the timer and it’s 

4.

3

2. 

Wait, looking at the nature of the riddle it’s talking about something dangerous right? And what could be more dangerous than a snake visiting you? 

With my hands on the keyboard, I randomly typed snake and instantly the timer dropped down to zero. 

A red X displayed under it with the caption. Failed. 

The text wiped off as another appeared on the text box. . “Right answer, DEATH” 

I frowned at the screen. Next it was the other user's turn and a question was again thrown at him. He didn't take quite long before he clicked on the right image. We did this till we arrived at the fifth round which is the finale. I had failed all four past questions while he won all which made it just pure cheating. 

"Despised by unscrupulous men, I rise above all death and fire. What am I?” 

That question was thrown at me and, Boom the timer starts counting.

I didn’t have to think too deep about the question as the first phrase gave me an idea 

I typed. “Truth” on the text box just when the timer drops to 3. 

Two green marks appeared close to it and It displayed. PASSED. 

A wide smile from nowhere crept into my face. Honestly I’ve really enjoyed the game, I know I kept failing but it was sort of a brain tester and I love recreational activities like this one that have to do with the brain and need critical thinking. 

Soon the screen had changed back to normal messenger. 

“Congratulations to you, Miss Clarisa, you just passed the first game.” The user texted. 

Hold on, how did he know my name? Cause I’m quite sure that isn’t my username. 

“How do you know my name?” I texted back. 

“Remember the rules, no question.” 

“Yeah about the game but not my name okay. Who the hell are you” the moment I texted Him that. he went offline. 

Creep!! 

So this is it. I finally played the game. The game everyone has been playing around and I still don’t believe I finally played it. 

So the game is indeed real but those rules, Hell I doubt that. If it were to be me I would have believed, but how can they even know my loved ones and kill them if I break a rule, are they some sort of mind reader? 

That only happens in fantasy books and this is real life. I’ll finally have a reason to confidently stand up to my friends and prove to them why in my own opinion they shouldn’t be scared to play the game. 

I moped on the bed with different thoughts clouding my head till I finally slept off.