I Dare You To Read This Book.

I Dared My Best Friend to Ruin My Life - He's Succeeding PART III

Hello again everyone

So many positive replies! Thank you, I haven't smiled in months, and you're definitely all making my days easier. I love how almost every notification has given me a count down every couple hours: "!RemindMe 8 hours." Thank you for making me laugh, seriously. I needed it. I had a close call and David almost found me today. I caught a bus out of town, which is where I wrote this.

Now we continue.

"Hello Zander," he growled. "Out for a walk?"

"Fuck you," I spat, my cheek jammed against the table edge.

"Why so hostile?"

"You know why, jackass!"

"Not so loud. We're having a nice, quiet conversation."

I struggled to push my head off the table, but he was so much stronger than me.

"Stop struggling and listen. I want to clarify the rules of the game, since you've finally caught on that we're playing."

"This isn't a game! You ruined my credit, stole my money, hacked my accounts, and stole my shit! I'm going to kill you!"

"But I'm not going to kill you. That's the rule. I will not kill you, Zander. That would put an end to your ruined life, and that's not the goal. Now, you haven't put any effort into ruining MY life. Why not?"

"Because I'm not a sick psychopath," I hissed.

"Clearly not," he said coolly. "But this is boring for me. I'm doing all the work making you fight for life, while you're doing nothing to improve me. Not that I haven't learned anything, but it would be more fun if you'd fight back. I'll even let Clark help you. But I think you need motivation."

"You think I need motivation to hurt you? As if."

"Yes, you do need it. Because despite everything that's happened to you, your only attempt to fight back was pathetic. I need you to up your game and fight harder. So, that's where some motivation kicks in."

He reached his left hand into his pants pocket and pulled out a smartphone. He tapped on it a few times before holding it up to his ear.

"It's me," he said when the other line picked up. "Put her on." Then he held the phone to my ear. Someone was crying.

"Say hello," a gruff voice said.

"H-hello?" Katie. Jesus Christ, he'd kidnapped Katie.

"YOU MOTHER FUCKER!" I yelled.

"Easy on the language, Zander," David smiled, talking as if he'd asked me to eat my vegetables.

"Katie, where are you?" I said desperately into the phone. David took the phone away and hung up, sticking it back in his pocket.

"Do you understand the rules now, Zander? Are you motivated?"

"I'm going to kill you, you son of a bitch. You'll burn in hell!"

"Now, now, this isn't a theological discussion," David tutted. "You and Clark do your best to ruin my life. Do whatever you want. But if you kill me, I kill Katie."

"Can't kill her if you're dead," I growled.

"No, but my friend will. It's amazing the kind of people you can meet online. He's just as excited to play as I am. Do you have any questions before the game really starts?"

"What the hell happened to you?" I asked. "We were best friends!"

"Things change," he said. "I'd been dreaming of this game for years now. You were my only real friend I could do this with. One day I decided to just... go for it."