Game of Death

13

   I sit at the kitchen table waiting for Maggie to come home. I begin absentmindedly tapping my fingers on the table tops; I've never been a patient person. I'm not sure what is taking her so long. She just said she had to go somewhere but that she'd be back soon. In case you haven't figured it out, today is the day our game ends. To say I am nervous would be an understatement. I don't want to lose, not at all, but I'm not too sure I want to win either. Winning would mean killing Maggie and honestly, I'm not too sure I want to. Fine, say I've gone soft, but I actually like having Maggie around. 

Over the past month, I've realized how lonely my life has been. Maybe we could be teammates. I always thought I'd just want to kill by myself but working together sounds like a good idea now. I wonder what she'll think when I suggest it. If I lose, she'll think it's because I don't want to die but if I win, what will she think? Before I can continue torturing myself with thoughts of what might happen the front door swings open. Looks like I'm about to find out how things are going to go. She walks into the kitchen and I'm starting to wish I had one of those spinning desk chairs and a cat just so I could make an entrance. 

She looks at me. I wait for her to say something but when it becomes clear that isn't going to happen, I speak up. "I've been waiting for you." "I know." She replies. "Aren't you going to say sorry for keeping me waiting?" I ask, still not breaking eye contact. "I would but I thought you didn't like it when people lied." She smirks. "True, true." I chuckle. "Wait, are you saying that you aren't sorry you kept me waiting?" "Nope," She laughs. "Not at all." I place my hand on my chest and give her the best fake hurt look I can. "I am shocked Maggie, truly shocked, I can't believe this." She starts laughing and sits in the seat opposite me. An awkward silence falls over us. I ask the question we both know is coming. "How many people have you killed?" She jumps back up. "One minute." She says holding up a finger before running back out of the room. She returns about a minute later with a stack of photographs. She drops them down in front of me. I pick them up and flip through them. I count 32. That's not too bad, I guess.  

I smirk up at her. "I've won." Her face drops. "What?" I pick up my pile of photos from the ground. "Fifty-three kills." She picks up the photos and slowly flicks through them. I see her mouth something along the lines of wow. "You know what this means?" I ask. She drops the photos and backs away. I grab my knife from the table, tightening my fingers around it until my knuckles turned white. I follow her down the halls. She sees me coming but doesn't run like I would expect. She stands there as if waiting for me to come closer. I walk up to her, holding the knife in my hand. "You know what this means, don't you?" I repeat, more to myself than to her. She stares into my eyes. I can't see one trace of fear in her expression. "Well, what are you waiting for?" She replies. I step forward, edging closer to her. "Come on, you know the rules." She smirks. "The winner gets the honor of killing the loser." She says in her best interpretation of my voice. "You haven't gone soft, have you, Cole?" I shove her against the wall, pressing the knife against her throat.

 It's not cutting her but if she were to move she'd probably decapitate herself. She still hasn't broken eye contact with me. There are a thousand thoughts running through my head right now. I've never had problems killing people before. I mean, up until about a day ago, I didn't think I was capable of feeling any emotion. I look for a sign from Maggie, something that will help me make up my mind. She closes her eyes and lowers her head slightly, as if in defeat. I lean closer to her. One flick of my wrist, one flick. That's all it would take and then she would be dead. "I-I can't do it," I whisper. Her eyes dart open. I throw the knife down the hall and it clatters as it hits the floor. She stares at me, she looks as if she wants to say something. I can see a million questions in her eyes. A million questions that need answers. Answers I don't have because honestly, I have no idea why the fuck I did that. 

She opens her mouth to speak but I don't want her to say a word. Speaking about it means acknowledging what happened and acknowledging what happened means admitting that I think I may like Maggie a lot more than I ever planned. "Cole" She breathes. I'm not ready for what's about to come next so without thinking, I do the first thing that pops into my mind.