Clickety-Clack

Racine whispers a soft prayer as she holds the bubble mailer in her hands. There had been so much anticipation and build-up about the arrival of this Kickstarter reward that she wasn't sure if she was happy it was finally coming to an end or disappointed because she had spent so much money on a project that had turned out to be a flop.

She slowly opened the mailer and let the contents fall to the table. Her heart began to ache as her eyes scanned the individual bags. She's one of the unlucky ones.

The dice, which she had paid a considerable amount for, are quite different from what she thought she was buying. The colors are not vibrant. The resin looks yellowed or not quite clear. The numbers are not inked completely on most of the dice. All of them have rounded corners.

"They're horrible," she seethes through clenched teeth.

"Let me take a look," her husband, Luke, puts his hand on her lower back and with the other picks up a set and holds it to the light.

"Wow... they actually sent this out? They thought it was a good idea to have this represent their brand?" Luke shakes his head and puts the dice back on the table.

"Don't worry about it. You paid for those almost two years ago," he smiles down at Racine as she continues to stew.

"They're usable even if they're wonky," he adds as he rolls one in her dice tray.

"Nat one! Really? These might be cursed dice, babe."

Racine is pissed.

She removes all of the packaging and begins to inspect each die looking for flaws. Shaking her head, she scoops up all of the dice and puts them in a bowl on the table.

"Maybe I can return them," she says out loud as she walks into the kitchen.

"Only if you want to."

That night, Racine sat up quickly from a deep sleep. She wasn't sure why, at first, until she began to hear a noise.

Clickety-clack.

At first, she couldn't identify what she was hearing, so she made her way slowly through the house, shining her flashlight in every corner of every room.

Clickety-clack.

At the dining room table, the sound became louder.

Clickety-clack. Clickety-clack.

The beam from her flashlight lands on her dice tray, and she can see the new dice rolling around. The bowl she had put them in was turned on its side, and the dice seem to be rolling in the tray unassisted.

"What the..."

CLICKETY-CLACK. WE WON'T GO BACK.

She hears the chant as clear as if someone is standing next to her.

"Did you..." she starts.

CLICKETY-CLACK. WE WON'T GO BACK.

Racine blinks as the dice continue to roll. She shines her light downward on the dice, and she realizes that every die roll is the same.

One.

One.

One.

One.

One.

One.

One.

"Luke... LUKE!" She yells toward her bedroom, not taking her light off the dice. She can hear her husband fumble out of bed as he runs into the hallway with a baseball bat.

"RACINE! What is it?!"

"The dice are moving," she comments. As she continues to watch the dice roll, a cold sadness wraps around her.

"Whoa," Luke takes the flashlight from her and kneels down next to the table.

CLICKETY-CLACK. WE WON'T GO BACK.

Luke falls back on the floor.

"HOLY CRAP!"

"I know! What can we do about it?" Racine turns on the overhead light while the dice continue to roll.

"I have an idea," Luke replies as he heads out of the dining room. He comes back a few minutes later holding his dice box.

"Remember in our D&D game a few sessions ago there was that whole subplot about the cleric and the possessed little girl?"

Racine nodded.

"Well, in preparation for that I went to a church and filled up a few vials of holy water."

"WHAT!" Racine's eyes widen.

"I thought it would be more authentic," he adds. He opens his dice box and removes three small vials of water.

"You're such a dungeon master," she laughs.

"There are literally cursed dice on our table right now. Let's see if this works."

Turning the bowl upright, Luke pours the holy water into the bowl and without touching the new dice, picks up the dice tray and tips all of them into the bowl.

Steam begins to rise from the surface.

"Should we step back," Racine asks as bubbles rise to the surface.

"That's a good idea," Luke grabs her hand and they step back.

After several minutes, the holy water calms, and it looks like normal dice sitting in a bowl of water.

"Does this count as washing them?" Luke asks with a laugh.

"Definitely."

Luke grabs a colander and sets it up in the sink. He carefully picks up the bowl, walks slowly to the kitchen, and carefully turns the bowl over into the colander.

A few minutes of silence passes. Luke and Racine are quiet, and the only sound is a clock ticking in the kitchen.

Racine grabs his hand and leads him back to their room. They still had another few hours to sleep – if they could.

"What in the hell happened?" Racine asks as she climbs back into bed.

"Maybe they made a deal with a devil for their Kickstarter," Luke suggests as he pulls her close to his chest.

"Why is that even a reasonable suggestion?" Racine laughs as she turns her face into the pillow.

"We play D&D, Ray! All we do is roleplay choices like that. Maybe they just did it in real life."

Racine thinks about it for a few minutes.

"Do you think dumping the holy water down the sink will eventually make it to the ocean and release a kraken?"

"Let's hope not," Luke answers, his eyes wide with concern.

The dice didn't make noise after that night, and eventually they started rolling numbers higher than one.