For Ransom

Chapter 30: No Regrets

Masika

"Masika, come play a round with me," Soraya gestured to her, her speech slurring. Masika sighed, placing her jacket on the chair before sliding into the seat across from the headmaster. She had returned from a long day of work to find the woman sitting alone, laughing to herself.

"Soraya, have you been drinking?"

"Yes. Would you like some?" She poured herself another glass, smiling at Masika's poorly concealed disapproval.

"No thank you. I don't like alcohol." It fogged her thinking and frankly, Masika would choose a clear mind over a couple hours of hazy chaos any day. Being drunk never sounded appealing to her.

"Of course you don't. I do know you would like Jenga though. Ever played?" Masika noticed the carefully stacked pile of stone blocks, configured into a perfectly vertical tower.

"No, what is it?"

"It's a game they played in the Modern Age of the Preoceania Period. Basically, you pull out a block until the tower topples over. Whoever makes the tower fall loses. Why don't you give it a try?"

"I don't understand. Why not just keep taking the top blocks? That reduces the chances of the tower falling." Masika drew from the top. Soraya just cackled.

"You're no fun. Let me tell you something." The woman leaned forward, a lazy smile on her face as she brought her glass up again for another swig.

"You want to take from the bottom." Soraya drew and suddenly, the tower tilted ever so slightly to the right, a hundred times more unstable than it had begun.

"You know why? Because if you don't do it, then someone else will. And they will beat you. You have to be the one who does the unthinkable." A couple more turns went by, each round growing exponentially more difficult, each move more nerve-racking as the tower hung on by a thread of stability. Masika drew, yelping when the tower crashed down onto the table, the impact still ringing in her ears as she looked up to meet Soraya's triumphant gaze.

"See. Your moves were perfect. But it didn't matter because I had already made the key move. It didn't matter what you did. You couldn't have beaten me. The game was over the moment I dared to draw from the bottom."

"But what is the point of winning this game? All you managed to accomplish was to destroy the tower," Masika asked, genuinely confused at the purpose of such a simple game. Soraya laughed, chuckling until tears were streaming from her eyes.

"What's the point, you ask. Look at all these blocks now." Masika jolted as Soraya slammed both her hands onto the table, standing up suddenly.

"They're all on the same level. No block is higher than any other. They are all equal. We are all equal. But that's not how the world works. So I will be the block on the bottom that brings us all to the ground."

"And so what? What's the point? We are equal and so what?" Another episode of laughter from the woman.

"I don't know, Masika. What's the point of anything? All these years I've suffered, all these years others have suffered because of me. What was the point of it all? I don't know."

Masika didn't respond at first, unsure how to answer.

"That's life. There isn't supposed to be a point. We just do what we can to live," She answered at last.

"Hah. I've done everything I can to live. I'm rich, I can go wherever I want. Yet, all these years, I have had no desire for life. And now that I want to live, I can't. What's the point of it all?"