Short Scary Stories

The Stairs Game.

"It's called the stairs game."

"The stairs game?"

"That's the only thing we were able to get her to say, the parents will be here in about an hour they caught a red-eye back from Houston. Try to get something else out of her because we have to hold her until they get here anyway."

"What do you think I'm going to be able to extract if you couldn't get anything?"

"Well you're younger, have less receding hair, and those pants aren't tighter by regulation are they David?"

"Fuck you man."

He actually smiled a little, despite being a dick I think he genuinely thought I might be better equipped aesthetically to get more information.

"Please try, you saw the coroner's report. We can't just tell the girl's parents she played some stupid game."

"I'll try."

"Good, I'll get an ETA on the parents and check back in later."

She still wasn't looking at me directly, it's like something would disappear or she would lose track of something were she to make eye contact.

"You're saying a game killed your friend?"

She didn't respond.

"Look, we know that you are in no way responsible for Sara's death. That's not what this is about, and I know discussing what happened to her with a complete stranger is not ideal. But if you know Sara you know Sara's parents; they deserve to know what really happened to their daughter."

"And I already said what happened."

"Your official statement is too vague to be considered as a satisfactory explanation."

"So you're saying that I need to elaborate or there will be... complications?"

"Kelly, the only thing you told us was that she played the stairs game."

"And that's all I can tell you."

"Kelly be reasonable..."

"Reasonable...?"

I didn't say anything.

"Look I'm sorry. It's not that I don't want to, it's that I can't. I could be.."

"You could be what Kelly?"

"I'm sorry."

He knocked on the glass and pointed to his watch, clearly I didn't have much time left until the parents arrived.

"Kelly, we need to find a way to talk to each other. I want to be completely honest with you, Sara's parents are about 15 minutes out. Even though we don't consider you a suspect at all, we have to rationalize based on the limited evidence we've gathered. If you can't shed more light on what happened tonight, it's possible Sara's parents could file charges that would indicate you as being an accessory in Sara's death."

"Give me your phone."

"I'm sorry what?"

"I can...show you a video that kind of explains."

"You're telling me you can't directly tell me what's going on, but you can show me something on YouTube?"

"Do you want answers or not?"

Reluctantly, as I'd bought it literally the day before, I pulled the iPhone out of my pocket and handed it to her.

"Thanks. What's the password for wifi here?"