Never Have I Ever

Chapter 3

We sit around the fire, listening to Chelsea tell her story. the only thing we need to make this any more unsettling is flashlights underneath her face like six-year-olds at summer camp. Ember looks at her intently, searching for something with dark eyes.

"It was a few months ago, late February when the nine entered the house, five girls and four guys. They chose their bedrooms, except for the three that had known each other before, and already knew where they were staying. One girl spent a lot of time looking around the bedrooms and the rest of the house, almost suspiciously, savoring every detail, no matter how small or inconsequential. One of the others noted where she was at all times, overly protective of her. He barely kept it a secret when he saw her read his diary. However, it wasn't important, so it remained a secret from the rest of the group. But her name was Emilia Grey. Half of the group were in relationships with each other, but they have almost no bearing on the story of the nine as a whole, even though they were complex and destructive, and people who were unmatched together. Three of them were close friends and had been for a few months, and the other six were part of a different group of friends who had been together for years. They'd only met as a nine the night before, at a high school party hosted by one of the most popular kids in the school.

"The group slept well the first night after they met, before they got to the house, and hung around for the next afternoon, just chilling in the garden and getting closer as a group. Emilia was suspicious of the other three, and her friend Olivia was equally as cynical. They thought there was some kind of plot to get them somewhere, but were too scared of being laughed from the house if they voiced their opinion. They had finally been inducted into a cool, rich kids group and weren't ready to let that go. But that evening, around a fire, one of the girls suggested they play Never Have I Ever. Her name was Jamie Daly. They agreed and played after one of the other girls told a story; whose name was Missy Kessler. She told a story of a game gone wrong, of disaster and strife befalling the group who were stupid enough to play the game in the house.

"They played the game anyway, starting with innocent things that didn't cause any major problems. Naturally, they dismissed the story, presuming it to be complete fiction and something Missy had come up with on the spot when prompted, she'd been seen as a slightly unhinged person to begin with, and capable of having such a disturbed imagination. But the game forced a twist on them. If one of the boys stated that he had never been beaten with a table lamp, he was forced to complete the challenge. There was no proof of force, their eyes just went blank and they carried out the challenge, no matter how much they tried to fight inside.

"The game gradually got worse. The dares and challenges got more dangerous, and some of them bordered on being lethal. But there was nothing they could do. The game continued on.

"The first to die was Olivia Adams. She was decapitated by David Hayes, with an ornamental sword," says Chelsea, and Ember seizes up and gasps. Chelsea glares at her and continues, ploughing on. "Her head was found by the other group on a cabinet, on display. David looked over, paralyzed with fear and remorse at what he'd done against his will. Her blood painted the wall in a grotesque fan, almost as if an agonized dance had been performed in the last few seconds of her life.

"The second to die was Jamie Daly. She branded herself, her chest, with red-hot metal from the barbecue. It scarred through her lung tissue, stopping it from expanding and contracting the way it should, and she died from lack of oxygen to the heart muscles. Some people can survive with a lack of oxygen to the lungs for six minutes. Jamie was lucky. Her heart stopped after three. It was a long, drawn-out death, and her friends watched her breathe her last, powerless to stop the unfolding chain of events that they'd brought upon themselves.

"The next to die was Toby Bennett. Upon seeing the first two people from his group die, he couldn't bring himself to watch anyone else die from events they cannot control, so he took that choice away. He took himself up to an attic room with a coil of rope and hung himself from a chandelier hook. He stopped himself from being able to witness the deaths of any more of his friends. His body rested in the heat for almost an entire day, and the sight was something terrible to behold.