Don't say Stockholm Syndrome

The game

Chapter 3

"Sweet Jesus, my head hurts" says Josh, not opening his eyes. "First and last party I'm going to." he adds.

He slowly opens his eyes and becomes confused. He looks around and doesn't recognize where he is. The light was off, but he could see a fireplace burning, which kept the temperature pleasant. The firelight was the only light in the room. He struggled to sit down. A soft male voice says: "There's a glass of water and some meds next to you. Take it to relieve your headache. There's guronsan if you want it to."

A startled Josh says, "Who's there?"

"That doesn't matter now. Take the meds and get better first."

Disoriented, Josh looks at the bedside table and sees what the man's voice said. He, again, struggles to sit up. When he sits, he takes the glass of water , and the meds.

"Thanks.", says Josh. "Can you help me go back home? I feel better already."

The man gets up and approaches the bed, never letting his face be visible in the dim light in the room.

"Get some sleep first. I'll take you home later. You're not in good shape"

Completely stunned by the headache and the remnants of his drunkenness, Josh lays his head back on the pillow and immediately falls asleep.

Josh wakes up and reluctantly opens his eyes. Pleased, he finds that there are no traces of headache or nausea from the previous day's drunkenness. He sighs and smiles.

Suddenly, he remembers that he was not in the dorm, and that a man had told him to take some aspirin and go back to sleep. With his eyes wide open, he remembers trusting a stranger and simply going back to sleep. How could he be so careless? He didn't know where he was and who that man was.

He sits on the bed and looks around scared. A metallic sound makes him look to the side and in terror he sees that his wrists were chained. "What?", he yells, trying to get the chains off. His eyes nearly pop out of their sockets when he looks down at his body. "Holy s**t. why am I naked?".

A chill ran down his spine. "What's wrong with me? How come I just lay down and slept instead of running away?"

Josh was literally in panic mode. He looked around. The room that was previously dark now had light, but it didn't come from the street. In fact, the room had no windows, only a fireplace, which was still crackling, a chair at the back, and the bed where he was lying. The room had a single door, which was obviously closed and inaccessible to him. In the doorway..." Is that a sound column?" With a shudder, he looked to the side and whispered "a camcorder?" his brain, which was now fully awake, went into turmoil. What would have happened? Would that man have raped him? He didn't feel any discomfort in his body, nothing must have happened, but what about that camera? What was it used for? Would it be like to record a rip request? If so, the man who kidnapped him was in for a big surprise. There was no one alive who would give 2 cents for him.

He looked at the camera more closely and "f**k, the camera is on".

"Good morning Josh.", says a male voice. He look around, and no one was there. " Who are you? Where am I? What do you want from me?", he scream.

"Calm down Josh, I just want to play a game with you. The 20 question game. You answer them all truthfully, and you can go home. For every lie, you have a punishment, but, every true answer, you have a reward."

"No, I don't want to play any games. Let me go. I want to go to the dorm.", Josh quickly responds with teary eyes.

A laugh echoed in the room. Now Josh realized where the sound was coming from. It was from the sound column over the doorway. "What makes you think you can choose? You play and win, or you play and lose. Not playing, makes you stay right where you are, until you answer, and before you ask, I see your every move. Remember the camcorder?"

"Damn", Josh curse. "Okay, I play."

"Good to see you're smart. So let's start." says the voice with explicit irony. "The first question is easy. How old are you?"

"What the hell does he want to know my age?", Josh thinks.

"18", says loudly.

"Good boy,", says the voice, with a loud smirk.

The door opens and a man, dressed in a black suit and a mask of a wolf, enters. "Here's your first reward. I imagine you're very thirsty, after..." the voice pauses "after the meds.", says the man, laughing.

"motherfucker", Josh thinks. "That's why I slept and didn't realize anything. I was on drugs.", Josh doesn't say it out loud, but the laughter that echoes in the room tells him that the man read his thoughts.

Josh takes the bottle and when he was going to open it, he remembers that the man could have put drugs in the water, and threw it on the bed.

"You can rest assured, the water is not drugged. How would you answer the other 19 questions if I drugged your water?"

Josh rolls his eyes.

"You can roll your eyes all you want. Just drink if you want to, or not.", says the man, as he takes the bottle, uncaps it and drinks a little.

"Now, time for the second question.", he says, walking towards the door.

"Wait.", shouts Josh, "Why don't you ask the questions all at once, here?"

"Because the rewards are there.", he says, pointing to the door.

"Motherfucker", says Josh.

The man leaves, and again, Josh hears, "Where are your parents?"

"What the hell are these questions for?", Josh thinks desperately. " If I say that they are near by, I risk being caught lying, and I don't know what kind of punishment this guy has in his mind. If I say that they are already dead, he knows that I have no one .... what if he's an organ dealer?". Josh shudders at the thought, "My parents passed away last year.", he ends up replying.

Again, the door opens, and the man comes in carrying a sandwich, which, before handing Josh, he takes a bite.

Turning his back on Josh and walking towards the door, he says, "15 minutes’ break. You can eat and drink. Don't miss me too much.", says the man with a smirk.

Alone, Josh lets his thirst win over his fear, takes the water and drinks. Then he ended up eating the sandwich and drinking the rest of the water. He was still thirsty and hungry, but he felt a little better.

Certainly, more than 15 minutes had passed before he heard the man's voice over the speakers. "Missed me?", he says, laughing.

"Right!", says Josh sarcastically.

"That sarcasm is sexy.", the man says, sending shivers down Josh's spine.

"The easy questions are over. Now you have to try a little harder, or the game gets boring.", says the man.

"f**k you!", yells Josh.

"What's the point of f*****g me if I have a beautiful body like yours in bed?", says the man in an excited tone.

Josh turns white, like the sheets he's sitting on.

A laugh echoes again in the room. "Calm your t**s boy. I'm not thinking about eating you..... at least not today"

Fear takes hold of Josh, and he starts to shake.

"How many p***y did you f**k?"

Josh was silent, his eyes wide open as he stared at the door. The wheels in his brain were turning, and his heart was beating very fast.

"What the f**k game are you playing?", yells Josh. "Let me go home.".

"No, no, no. Answer the question"

"f**k, f**k, fuck.", thinks Josh. "I'm in big trouble."

Josh sighs deeply and says, "lost count.".

The man laughs. "Are you sure that's the final answer?" Josh looks everywhere. He feels that his face is red. "Okay. None"

"Good. That means you're a virgin," says the man.

"s**t. this is getting too dangerous.", thinks Josh. "Virgin your ass!", says Josh.

"Well, I know that. A virgin ass I have. And I'm too young for prostate exams." a malevolent laugh echoes. "So you're gay. That's very interesting."

"I'm not gay.", shouts Josh desperately.

"Well, well. you're not gay, you don't eat p***y and you're not a virgin. I only believe you're not lying if you tell me you had s*x with a goat.", new laughter arises. "It's really funny. I'm enjoying our game, but since you lied, you're going to get punished."

"I did not lie. i told you none."

"True, but that was not the first answer."

Josh saw that he f****d up. When the door opened, Josh was on the verge of tears.

The man advances to the bed, moves something Josh couldn't see, and the chains that bound his wrists are pulled, until Josh is lying on the bed, with his arms open.

"Beautiful picture.", says the man ogling Josh's naked body.

"Prevert!", says Josh through clenched teeth. The man laughs and goes back out.

"Fourth question. When you jurk off, do you think about boys or girls?".

"OMG", Josh said. "What's up with these questions? Let me go."

"I advise you to tell the truth.", says the man. "I do not jurk off. I don't have the time or feel the need."

"You really expect me to believe it? I think I'll consider that answer a big lie".

Again, the door opens and the man, with great speed, puts a cloth over Josh's mouth and nose... chloroform... and Josh travels to the world of darkness.