The Game

It begins innocently enough, I suppose. You'll be doing something, anything. You could be sitting in your chair, at your computer, reading creepypasta, or watching porn, or playing Counter-Strike. You could be playing basketball, or football, or hanging out with friends. You could be laying down and listening to your favorite band, whether it be Rush or Ozzy Osbourne or Eric Johnson.

It rarely happens during those activities, though. Ninety percent of the cases that have been reported started with the victim laying in bed, unsuccessfully trying to fall asleep. Drifting in and out of dreams and nightmares, you just can't doze for more than thirty minutes.

Then, you hear it. The sounds of children playing. "How wonderful," you think, "at least someone's having fun." You smile a bit, now reassured that you'll be able to drift asleep with no problem next time. And just before you sleep, it dawns on you. There are no children where you live. Furthermore, it's 4:17 AM. What kind of children are going to be outside playing at 4:17 AM?

You're wide awake now, almost as if you've been drinking a gallon of espresso. You sit up in a cold sweat, looking around your room. Ah, there's the window, good. You strain your ears to hear it. After all, it must have been a dream. No one's gonna be out at 4:17. Not even a god damn serial killer would be out this late. I won't hear it then I'll go back to bed, you think.

But, unfortunately, you hear it once again. Children. Laughing, playing, having a good time. Okay, this is fucking ridiculous, you think. I'll just block them out and won't hear them. I'll ignore them, and go to bed. Due to human curiosity, you'll begin to want to just take a peek. After all, maybe when you don't see them outside, your brain will stop registering the sounds, and you can just go to sleep.

You'll get up, dressed in next-to-nothing, and take a peek out of the aforementioned window. There's children outside, alright. They're in a ring-around-the-rosie circle right now. The laughing, the playing, it seems so innocent. Yet, you're terrified by it. The children slowly stop, and turn to face you. They stare at you, unmoving.

You shut the blinds quickly. No, this can't be right. I'm dreaming, you think. This can't be possible. This is not happening.

Then you wake up.

Thank god, it was just a dream, you think. Then you look at the alarm clock. 7:00 on-the-dot. Time to go to work.

You begrudgingly get out of bed, yawning, and cycle through your morning routine. Brush your teeth, take a shower, eat breakfast. When all is completed, you get dressed and head out for work. You work in a cubicle at a local company, writing reports to make someone else rich. It's an 8-5 job, long hours, but it pays well enough. You arrive at work, park your car and head inside.

A couple hours later, you're standing by the water cooler, having a drink and taking a break, when another guy walks up. You know him, he's a snob. Doesn't talk to people much, but recently, he's been a lot happier for some reason. You put on a depressed and worried look, and hope he'll go away.

No such luck. He stands next to you and takes a sip of the water. "Hey, buddy, what's wrong?"

Having no choice but to answer him, you pull out a reason from the back of your mind. "Weird dream last night."

The man laughs.. "I don't dream anymore. Hey, what's your name?"

"Matthew", you lie and tell him. You don't want this creep to follow you around or anything. Hopefully he'll leave you alone after this. "What's yours?"

"My name is..." Then he stops. He frowns and furrows his brow. He looks at you, and a look of fear flashes in his eyes. "Please, get away!" He shouts.

"Huh? What?" You mumble back, surprised by his sudden outburst. What the hell is this guy smoking? And almost as fast as it arrived, it's gone. He's back to his grinning, creepy self.

"Sorry, I don't know what came over me. Say, let's play a game." And before you can mumble out an objection, he says "Well, it's more of a competition. See, whenever one of us does something, the other one has to do something related to it, but not the exact same thing...for example, if I were to drink some water right now, you'd gain a point by drinking some soda instead."

Hell, why not? You like games. This might be fun, you think as you nod and say "Okay, let's do it."

The game is pretty tame for about a week or so. Sometimes you both forget that you're playing, and the other will gain a point for a missed action. It's actually quite fun, and you quickly become friends with this guy. However, somehow, you never get his name, but it doesn't matter much.

Every night you have the dream. Of the children. And for each point you gain, the dream shortens just a little bit.

Then it takes a turn for the worse. You become obsessed with gaining points. You'll do anything. You call him up and go do stuff for the whole purpose of gaining these points. It's an unhealthy obsession, bordering on downright insanity. With every point gained you feel great about yourself, like everything will work out alright.

So, naturally, when your friend throws a dart into a dartboard, you throw a knife into his skull.

The dreams stop, and you feel the happiest you've ever felt in your life. It's great, the dreams are gone, and you have all the points! You don't even feel a shred of remorse for your friend, it was nessicary to keep your points. You're a better guy now. You approach life with a healthier attitude, and are happy most of the time.

Then one day, at work, while going to a watercooler, you see a guy standing there, sipping water. This guy is a snob, doesn't talk to most people, and you're about to ignore him when you glance at his face and see he looks sad. You take a cup of water and stand next to him, and ask him what's wrong.

He tells you that he had a weird dream. You laugh and say that you don't dream anymore and ask his name. He tell you James and asks yours.

And then the illusion of happiness is shattered. You remember the dreams, you remember the guy you killed in an attempt to end the nightmares. You shout out at James to get him to go away. Dumbfounded, he stares at you like you're crazy. Then, something comes over you. You feel much calmer, and explain to him that you don't know what happened. Then, you have a stroke of pure genius.

"Say, let's play a game..."

sorry about it being a bit sloppy

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