Down Come Seven (ReWrite 2018)

U N O

"UNO!" I cheered.

The Brat slammed his cards down on the table. "How could you possibly have UNO?! We've only been around the table twice!"

"Ah, So naïve. We're stuck in a supernatural game world Brat." I waved my one card flippantly. "Anything can happen."

"No." Teeth gritted, The Brat picked back up his cards. "You're just cheating."

"...This is so anticlimactic." Smiley Face sighed, placing his card down on the UNO pile, changing the colour to red.

"What's this?" I gaped at the red-head. "You. Mr Boring Mr I-don't-care-if-it's-lame-just-stop-complaining Mr No-seriously-Joker-Chic-Shut-up... Are feeling disappointed with these mediocre turns of events?"

Smiley Face slowly turned his head to look at me.

"...or not."

"As I was saying." The tall boy leant back in his chair." After everything we went through to get up here, I was expecting something...else."

"Something at all would have been better than this." The Brat muttered, placing down a reverse after the Staring Girl took her turn. "There's nothing up here."

"Eh? We have cards, right?" I defended. "Imagine what life would be like without UNO."

Trick question. Without UNO, there would be no life.

The Staring Girl placed down her second to last card.

"UNO." She declared quietly.

Tsk.

"Playing UNO doesn't get us anywhere." Smiley Face said, using his own card to change the colour to green.

Teeth clenched in frustration, I picked up another card.

Radiating smirk, The Brat placed a card on the pile.

"This place is so messed up... It has to be the Joker round." He muttered, reminding us that UNO wasn't the only game we were supposed to be playing right now.

"Nah...My bet is on Victim." I shuffled my hand distractedly. "It certainly feels like it, after what happened to all those dancers in the end."

Under my intense gaze, The Staring Girl picked up another card.

"Regardless of what round it is, we have no way of progressing." Smiley Face was also forced to add a card to his hand. "Nothing to fight. Nothing to do. We're just trapped here."

"...maybe that's the point." I spoke softly, placing one of my cards down on the pile. "Being the victim, it's more than just having bad things happen to you. It's a way of thinking. A feeling of being trapped...unable to fight back.

The Staring Girl set her cards down on the table.

"...what do you do?" She asked.

I glanced up at her, surprised that she had spoken at all.

"Well...Um..." I stared at my one remaining card.

It was completely blank.

No way to move forward.

"...I don't know." I confessed.

We sat in silence...Then the Brat spoke.

"You forgot to say UNO."

Doesn't matter.

I can never win anyway.

Smiley Face sighed, dumping his cards on the table and standing to his feet.

"Come on. We have to find a way out of this place."

"But we've already looked everywhere in this house." The Brat protested. "Tested every single object. There is no way out."

"No...There is a way." I said, clutching my blank card. "It's just not easy."

I stood up.

"It's not about finding a way out. It's about having the courage to take the only road."

As I walked out of the room, I heard the others scramble to follow.

Card in hand, I marched down the hallway, not slowing until I stood in front of the staircase.

The dark abyss it had become.

"....no. Nope. No way." The Brat rounded on his heel, going back the way we came. "You are insane."

Stretching out a hand, I let my blank card fall, out into the open space, watching as it fluttered down into the deep darkness.

"....It's the only way."

"NOPE!"

Ignoring the Brat's denial, Smiley Face place a stalling hand on my shoulder. "If you're wrong about this, there'll be no coming back."

"I know." I turned to him cheerfully. "But it's the only thing I can think of...and yeah... Uno was starting to get boring anyway."

In the case of Death or Boredom...well, I know what I'll always choose.

Resigned to my fate, I took a step forward...only for Smiley Face's hand to slip into mine.

Blushing, I stared down at our intertwined fingers.

"Eh...? Smiley..."

"I imagine it's only a matter of time before we all end up taking this jump." He didn't look at me. "Might as well end the game the same way I started."

The Staring Girl came up and took my other hand....and with a sigh, the Brat took hers.

"Can't play cards by myself." He muttered.

"....heh."

I smiled slightly beneath my mask.

"...Just when I was starting to get good at waking up alone."

Together we leapt into the abyss.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Whoops."

I stared at the others lying unconscious on the black and white checkered floor. And my own body, laying on the ground right in front of me.

"...Guess I was wrong."

Without ME in it.

.... this sucks.