• The following links are links to prior chapters in this story:

    Playing the Game






    Usually, when a random stranger waltzes up to you and says, "Hey, climb into my car. I got candy" you whip around, dart away as fast as you can, and scream bloody murder. But when some random stranger walks up to you and says "Dude, your best-excuse me-only friend just died a few seconds ago" you usually just gawk at the guy, and just kind of blank out.

    That's how I felt, or more of, that's how I acted. I was mortified, petrified in place, unable to think clearly, or really more precisely, unable to think at all. The world just was still for a moment, and everything in it dissapeared for a second, and I was just...floating.

    "He-lO-ooo?" cued a teasing voice. Which was very strange, given it was a masculine voice. Suddenly, I snapped to reality, and my eyes focused on the first thing that caught my eye...

    That stalker dude. He had long black hair dangling down shoulder, and an old tuxido on. What a weirdo.

    "Whoah. Thought I lost you there, too." "Too"? Suddenly, all the flashes of the memories that only happened a few moments ago barged into my mind.

    "Sarah...she's...she's..." I stopped mid-sentence. I couldn't finish it.

    "Dead?" the man said, and I could've sworn he was grinning. "Yep. Dead as a door nob, right? Isn't that what people say when..."

    "Shut up!" I intervined quickly. "You're lying!" The strange man laughed.

    "Lying? No. Not really, atleast." He paused for a second, and then made a wide, mishcievious grin, followed by the devious words,

    "I was joking. See? Not lying. JOKING." Holy...Man, give me a geart attack for the sake of a joke, will ya?

    "That..." I searched for words, trying to come up with a good diss, but all I could come up with was, "That wasn't funny!" I think I need to work on my burning skills. The man chuckled, and then said,

    "It was extremely funny...to me." This guy was getting me pretty ticked off.

    As I turned around to make a run for it, the guy said again,

    "But she is gone."

    "Shut up! I'm not listening to you." I looked around. "Yeah, she's probably...probably just hiding somewhere, ready to scold me for talking to some stranger." Again, another frikken laugh.

    "Stranger! I'm stranger than a stranger!" He was totally right about that.

    "You're totally right about that," I said, irritated.

    "Did I say I wasn't? You see, I know where your little girlfrien--"

    "She's not my girlfriend!" I interrupted so quickly, I almost surprised myself. The man chuckled.

    "Ah, the romance of youth. How entertaining. Regardless, I know where your friend is."

    "No, you don't, you liar."

    "Right, please tell me where in the world she could've gone in those few seconds you turned around." I thought about it, but I couldn't figure out a reasonable answer.

    "Uh..."

    "Nowhere!" the man exclaimed. "Not in this world atleast."

    "Oh, give me a break."

    "I think there's hardly a chance of that to happen." He hesitated, and continued, "Say, would you like to play a game?" I made a forced laugh.

    "A game? A video game? Chess, perhaps? And that's gonna help me save Sarah from certain...certain..." I tried to find the words, but I couldn'e.

    "Certain death," he gave.

    "Yeah, whatever. What I mean to say is, I don't even know why I'm talking to some whack on the street."

    "That's what you mean to say? I thought you were talking about ga--"

    "Shut up! I'm gonna leave now...because...because I'm not allowed to talk to strangers!" The man shook his head.

    "You don't give me much of a choice, do you?" And as I started to walk away from him, all the people and pets strolling down the sidewalk...dissapeared.

    Dissapeared...like Sarah.