The Game

(Edited 19/11/18)

It was just a game. That's all it was supposed to be... Three weeks ago we decided to play a game. The red book game. It was a joke, that's all it was supposed to be. We were all messing around looking at silly '3am scary videos' and we decided to try the red book game. We searched the house for an hour before we found some red candles and a book. The rules stated that the book could only have words in it and it must be red. It also stated that we mustn't ask any questions that could anger the spirit so it meant that asking about our deaths were off limits. We got everything set up, got some drinks and turned all the lights off except for a lamp in the corner and lit the candles.

We were all giggling when 3am rolled around. We re-read the rules and to start the game we all had to ask the spirits if we could enter their game but we had to do it with our eyes closed. I closed my eyes and asked the spirits "Red book may I enter your game?" I kept my eyes closed as I turned to a random page in the book and pointed to a random line. I opened my eyes and read the line 'the door is open, the opportunity yours'. I interoperated that as a yes and moved out the way for my friends. They all got a yes from the spirits and this is how it began. Just a game. That's all it was meant to be.

We all had a few questions written down that we decided would be fun to ask and some of them were, bearing in mind we were all a bit tipsy now, 'How did you die?', 'how's Satan doing down there' and, you know we all have that one friend, 'How will I die'. I hoped they weren't going to really ask that, it said in the rules we shouldn't anger the spirit. My question was 'Red Book will I ever get married?' We decided that we'd go in the order we were sat, so I was first. I asked my question and turned to a page. The line I got read 'sometimes it is harder to let go than it is to move on', I didn't really know how to take it so I took it as it would be a possibility.

Next up my friend asked their question of 'How's Satan doing down there?' When they were asking I felt uncomfortable and it felt wrong to be asking that but on top of it, in their drunken state, they opened their eyes and then turned to a page. Theirs read 'be careful of your actions, they all have a consequence some more severe than others.' Everyone started giggling but in my more sober state I didn't really find it funny. Before any of my other friends asked their questions, I grabbed the book and asked it to leave. My line said 'the path is made from the will to do it' and I took it as I was free to leave. My other friend was starting to feel tired and asked to leave and the word they got was a simple 'yes.' I stayed in the room with my friends because I didn't have a ride home so I was stuck here for the night. Next up was the question 'Red book how did you die?' The second the words came out of his mouth one of the candles went out and the light flickered. The page they turned to and the line they picked read 'boundaries pushed too far will break.'

It was at this point that he decided he needed the toilet so he went across the hall to do his business. We could all see the light shining from underneath the door and here him messing around and hitting the door and pretending to scream before he started laughing. I turned to my other friends and said that we should probably stop and ask to leave. We all had a moment of sobriety when we realised that they had not asked to leave. Before any of us could even move, the sound of a scream echoed through the house and doors slammed downstairs as the bathroom light went out. One of my friends and I got up to go and check on what had happened when the lights went out but before we even made it across the hall we heard 'Red book how will I die?' We both froze. We heard a whoosh of air and all the lights went out as a pop sounded when the lamp went out. My friend and I stared at each other and we agreed that we would stay together.

We wanted to check on our friend in the bedroom first but the door slammed shut and the mirror next to the room shattered so we decided to check on our friend in the bathroom in hope we might be able to get in. Before I reached the door, I slipped and my hands landed in something wet, warm and sticky. I couldn't see what it was so I told my friend to turn the light on and when she did, we both screamed. The whole carpet was red, my jeans, my hands and our feet were covered in it. Screams ripped from the bathroom and thudding and scrapping sounds ensued. I reached for the handle but instead of turning it, it burned my hand and fell off. We were both panicking so we turned to get our other friend but when she grabbed the other door handle, it did the same thing the bathroom one did. We hoped he would be able to get out the bedroom as there wasn't any blood coming out form the door.

We got the shock of our lives as the door broke and the top half of our friend's body hung from the hole in the door. He croaked out 'help' but before we reached him and unearthly screech shredded the silence that had fallen and our friend was dragged back into the room. We both decided that we needed to call the police so we did. We ran outside, covered in blood, tears and the burns on our hands. The police arrived after five minutes and went to investigate. An ambulance arrived shortly after to help clean us up and help with our burns. When we were cleaned up and our hands wrapped we asked the police where our friends were. They looked solemn as they informed us they were both dead. We asked how and they gave us the bare details that the one form the bathroom had been gutted and the one from the bedroom had been torn in half. We told the police everything we knew and what we could in our hysteric states. That's what I expected to happen but this is what they really said.

The police arrived after five minutes and went to investigate. We asked the police where our friends were after they came out. They gave us confused looks and said 'there wasn't anyone else in the building, your home is fine and so are you.' We began to panic and scream 'what about the blood, look at the blood and the burns.' The officers gave us both confused and concerned looks before glancing at each other. 'There isn't anything on you, are you sure you weren't drunker than you thought?' After that, the officers began to gently tell us they were going to take us somewhere safe.

I'm just reminding myself of it all now. The white gets so boring, I need something to keep me sane. This room where they keep me, the doctors they give me. None of them help. It was just a game. That's all it was supposed to be.