Are You The Complete Player?

2/2 TRUTH OR DARE?

Everyone began heading to their beds to get their change of clothes, as instructed. The players who had peed themselves during the last challenge looked relieved and grateful to not have to go to sleep in their soiled pants.

Carmella grabbed the pile of folded clothing that sat atop her pillow.

“Pajamas?” she said, checking them out. It was a pair of pajama pants with a matching button-down shirt that had a Minnie Mouse pattern on them. “I had a pair like these when I was a kid, only much smaller, of course,” she said, turning to Krystupas and Borysko. “Did you guys get the same ones?”

“I think they’re all different characters,” Borysko said, holding his pair up to demonstrate. “Mine are the genie from Aladdin.”

“Those are cooler than mine,” said Krystupas. “I got Garfield. Why WIC decided to give me a cat that is obsessed with lasagna is beyond me.” He shook his head.

Carmella laughed at that and the three walked off together to get in line for their showers. There were two lines forming, waiting for the shower rooms to appear, one for men and one for women. Joanna was also heading from her bunk towards the line when suddenly, Pietro came up to her and grabbed her arm hard.

“Ow!” she said, trying to yank her arm away from him, but he was gripping her too tightly. “What the heck!”

“What were you talking with Lucija about, huh?” he asked angrily.

“That is none of your business,” she said. “Let go of me!”

“Of course, it is my business. She is my girlfriend. Don’t be snitching about things that don’t concern you, you understand?” he said. Joanna yanked her arm harder and managed to finally free herself from his grasp.

“I don’t think it’s me you have to worry about. If WIC told Galyna about Artem’s issue, what makes you think they also won’t tell Lucija about your little hobbies?” she said coldly. He stared at her, realising she had a point. She shot him a judgmental look then walked away.

Shower time came and went without issue. No one had forgotten about what had happened to Charlotte Adams and so everyone hurried to finish as quickly as they could. It seemed that everyone had gotten the same style of pajamas to change into, but each with different cartoon characters on them. As Carmella exited the ladies’ shower room, she thought about how they all looked like giant children.

When she glanced around the main room again, she was hit with even more childhood nostalgia. While everyone was showering, the room had been altered to look like one enormous bedroom filled with toys, bright colors and a TV that was playing music videos of popular hits from fifteen years ago or so when most of the players here were still children.

“EVERYONE, WELCOME TO MY SLUMBER PARTY,” WIC’s disembodied voice said in an excited tone. “PLEASE, GATHER AROUND IN A CIRCLE! WE’RE GOING TO PLAY A FUN GAME.”

Carmella met up with Krystupas and Borysko on the way and they all exchanged a glance. It was clear that they were thinking the same thing: whatever WIC’s idea of “fun” was, it would for sure be something sick and twisted. Carmella sat beside Krystupas. Borysko was about to take a seat on his other side when Selene suddenly shoved him to the side.

“Move,” she said, rudely and took his place next to Krystupas. “Hi, Krys,” she said in a much sweeter tone.

Krystupas looked at her but did not respond to her greeting. Borysko sighed and took a seat on Selene’s other side.

“Has everyone settled down? Good! Now, let’s get started!” said the voice. “As anyone who has ever been to a slumber party before knows, the best part is always the games. And what game is more legendary than…”

An empty bottle appeared in the centre.

“Spin the bottle?” Emerson asked, shooting Carmella a wink. Krystupas gave him a warning glare and at the same time, felt Selene stiffen a bit at his side.

“NOPE!” WIC said and made a buzzer sound. “That was the wrong answer, Emerson. You’re lucky that wasn’t a real question or else you’d be eliminated,” the voice said, letting out a short laugh. “Though we will be spinning the bottle to choose which players get to go next, the game we are playing tonight is TRUTH OR DARE.”

There were a few nervous glances around the room. It was obvious that no one felt like playing this kind of game with WIC, or any game for that matter. The only one who didn’t look so fazed was Luis, who rolled his eyes.

“Thank god. No offence, but I’d rather dump one of those buckets of baby rats over my head than kiss any of you,” he said.

“Careful, Luis, or your wish may come true. Anyway, here are the rules,” the voice said. “We are going to spin the bottle and whoever it lands on will receive a truth question from me. After they have successfully answered the question, they will spin the bottle and whoever it lands on shall receive a dare. Then the next person will receive a truth, and so forth. Unlike the traditional game, you do not get to choose between truth or dare, it is simply a matter of which one is up next once the bottle points to you. Each truth or dare will be a chance to earn points. You will have 30 seconds to answer questions and one minute to complete dares. Do not try to lie in the truth portion, I will know if you are lying, and it will result in your instant elimination. Some of you may get chosen to play, others may not. We will play until someone gets eliminated.”

This last part made everyone nervous. Someone in the circle would die tonight. That much was certain.

“Now, let’s begin!”

Everyone watched as the bottle began to spin on its own at lightning speed and gradually began to slow down. It passed player after player until it finally stopped to a rest pointing at Basil Andino. The other players watched as Basil’s eyes widened with fear and his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed hard.

“Ah, Basil Andino of Greece,” said the voice with a chuckle. “One of our top players who somehow has avoided the spotlight until now. You get to go first with a truth worth 40 points. Are you ready?”

“Um, yeah, I guess,” said Basil nervously.

“Which player in this circle are you the most jealous of and why? You have 30 seconds, go,” said the voice.

“Uhhh, well,” said Basil, glancing around at all the players. “I suppose it would be Miroslav because he is so successful and ranked #1. I could only wish, to be honest.” He chuckled nervously, despite himself. Miroslav shot him a humble grin and nodded to him.

“Good answer, Basil. I can tell that you’re being truthful. Now, spin the bottle,” commanded the voice. Basil let out a sign of relief at getting this over with then got on his knees and crawled to the center of the circle. He spun the bottle and went back to his place.

The bottle spun for a few seconds before finally slowing down and landing on Estere Kavace. Aimilie, who was seated next to her, gasped, and covered her mouth with one hand. With the other hand, she grabbed Estere’s hand and squeezed it tightly. Estere squeezed it back and gave her a “don’t worry, I’ve got this” look.

“Estere Kavace of Latvia, we meet again,” said the voice.

“Unfortunately,” mumbled Estere.

“You’re up for a dare worth 60 points. If you’ll just look down for a moment…” the voice said. Estere looked down and suddenly found a small bowl filled with about 3 tablespoons of a dark red powder laying on the floor in front of her. She picked it up and observed its contents.

“What is this?” she asked.

“It is the hottest chili pepper in the world. I dare you to dump that entire bowl into your mouth and swallow it.”

“What!” Estere exclaimed. “But—”

“The clock is ticking, Estere,” the voice said in a singsong tone.

“You have to do it, Estere,” whispered Aimilie. “It will burn but it will also pass. Just get it over with.”

Estere nodded to her then took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut before dumping the entire contents of the bowl into her mouth. She immediately coughed out a puff of red powder, which got into her eyes, instantly causing them to burn.

“Oh my god, Estere!” Aimilie cried. “She’s choking!”

Estere was coughing up a storm and rubbing her eyes which were streaming with tears from the sting. She couldn’t speak due to the dry clump of powder in her mouth.

“You have 25 seconds left to swallow it all Estere,” warned the voice.

Estere whimpered, sobbing as she tried to generate enough spit to wet the powder enough to swallow it.

“Ten seconds now…nine, eight, seven,” the voice counted down.

Estere hurriedly swallowed what was left in her mouth, then opened her mouth wide and stuck out her tongue to prove there was nothing in it.

“There, I swallowed it!” she cried. She looked awful. Her eyes were red, she had sweat coming out of every pore, and her nose was dripping with snot. She looked like she was about to vomit. “Can I please use the restroom?” she begged.

“Absolutely not, Estere! You know the rules. Only one three-minute bathroom break a day. But good job on the dare! 60 points for you! Now, if you’d be so kind and spin the bottle,” the voice responded.

Estere coughed and gagged her way to the bottle but managed to spin it. It landed right on Galyna Bondar.

“It’s going to be okay, darling,” her husband Artem whispered to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, which she quickly shrugged off. Things were still clearly not right between them after Galyna had learned of Artem’s hook up with an underaged girl.

“Galyna Bondar of Ukraine, one of our underdogs. Lucky you, being picked. We all know you need the points. Truth, for 20 points,” the voice said.

Galyna sat still, eyes on the ground, bracing herself for whatever question she may be asked.

“We all learned earlier about how Artem kept a big secret from you about his past, now we’re all curious what secrets YOU have been hiding,” the WIC voice said. “Tell us, Galyna, what is the biggest lie that you have ever told Artem?”

Artem looked his wife curiously. She immediately looked nervous.

“20 seconds on the clock, Galyna,” the voice cautioned.

“Okay,” Galyna said, trying to control the shakiness in her voice. “Okay, Artem, I don’t know how to say this but…. I guess I just have to come out and say it anyway.”

“Say what? What is it?” Artem asked. He sounded a bit alarmed.

“I love you now. I mean, I have grown to love you, but I didn’t really love you when we first got married,” she confessed.

“WHAT? What do you mean you didn’t love me? Galyna, what are you talking about?” Artem asked.

“I was in love with someone else before you,” she said. Tears were now streaming down her face. “He isn’t anyone you know. He isn’t anyone important, but I loved him, and I wanted to marry him. My father would not allow it though. He pushed me to break up with him and get with you because you are of high status and you come from money, so—”

“What?” Artem said, glaring at her. “You used me?”

“No! I love you, Artem, I just—”

A buzzer noise went off. “Time is up,” said the voice. “Very good, Galyna. That was a very juicy confession.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, not even hearing WIC. “Artem, please forgive me, I’m sorry.”

“That’s enough,” scolded the voice. “You’ll have enough time for drama after our activity is over. Unless, of course, one of you is eliminated, in that case, I am so sorry.” He chuckled, then continued. “Please, spin the bottle, Galyna.”

Galyna muttered another apology to Artem then crawled over to the center of the circle to spin the bottle. Everyone seemed to be bracing themselves for what was to come next after Estere’s dare. She had still not recovered from it and was sweating profusely and gagging while Aimilie tried helplessly to care for her.

The bottle came to a stop pointing at Grace Brown who exchanged a nervous glance with her friend Mira.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t another one of our top contenders, Grace Brown of Australia,” the voice said, sounding amused. “Ready to earn another 70 points?”

“Yeah, I can do it. Whatever you ask of me, I’m ready,” Grace bravely responded.

At that same moment, Estere lost her ability to hold in her vomit and threw up all over the floor, much to the disgust of those seated around her. A few of them scooted several inches back to avoid it. Others covered their noses with their shirts to mask the smell.

“I’m sorry,” Estere cried apologetically and clearly embarrassed.

“I dare you, Grace, to clean up Estere’s vomit,” said WIC voice. “With your clothes.”

“Wait, what? Will I get another pair of clothes after?” Grace asked in a panic.

“You will… tomorrow after your shower. As for tonight, you’ll put them back on and sleep in them,” said the voice.

“But that is disgusting!” Grace shouted. “I’m not doing that!”

“60 seconds on the clock, starting now. It’s your choice…” he warned.

Grace glared up at the ceiling, in place of glaring at the person behind the voice and then removed her Winnie the Pooh pajama bottoms, stripping down to her underwear. She balled up the pants, then went over to Estere’s mess and began wiping it up with them.

“I’m so sorry,” Estere said shamefully.

Grace did not respond. She obediently mopped up the vomit and then took a deep breath before putting the pants back on. The other players watched in horror and disgust, a few of them visibly cringing.

“Wonderful job, Grace! Bravo!” the voice cheered. “Those were 70 points well earned.”

Grace had to restrain herself from throwing her middle finger up at the WIC voice and instead silently, angrily, walked over to the bottle and spun it before sitting back down at her place. The people near her scooted away and covered their noses from her stench.

The bottle landed right on Mia Ricci who did not look too fazed. Pietro, on the other hand, tensed right away. He met eyes with Joanna, remembering what she had said earlier and silently cursed her for possibly jinxing it. What if WIC had heard their exchange and got an idea?

“Mia Ricci of Italy,” said the voice. “For a full 100 points, I would like you tell us which guy from this circle you were hooking up with recently in Rome.”

It was just as Pietro had guessed. He cursed Joanna even harder, resenting her so much.

“Well, there were a few guys that I hooked up with in Rome, but from this circle…” Mia paused, taking look around at all the guys. A few of the girls were throwing her shady looks, no doubt judging her for being so easy. “Him,” she continued, pointing at Pietro. “Pietro Romano.”

“WHAT?” shouted Lucija. “Is that true?”

“Mi amore, I can explain…” Pietro started. Lucija rose to her knees and then slapped Pietro hard in the face.

“You freaking pig!” she screamed. Her eyes were filled to the brim with angry tears. She had been through so much already with losing Nika, now she found out that her boyfriend had been cheating on her too? It was too much. “Save all of your explanations! We are finished! And you –” she said, turning to Mia. “You should be ashamed of yourself. What, it’s not enough for you to hook up with all the single men on tour, you need to go after the taken ones too?”

“I did not know you were still together, Lucija,” Mia explained. “I had seen him kissing Selene and another girl the night before, so I thought he was single.”

“What?” Lucija asked quietly. She slowly turned to face Selene whose mouth was gaping open in shock. She pointed at Mia defensively.

“That never happened, she is lying!” Selene cried. Krystupas shot her a judgmental glance that made her cheeks burn red. “I would never kiss my best friend’s boyfriend.”

“I am not lying,” Mia said. “There was a party the night before and he was kissing both you and another girl I do not know the name of. The three of you disappeared upstairs together.” She turned to Lucija. “If I am lying WIC would kill me, as it is against the rules. I’m sorry for hooking up with your boyfriend but I did not know.”

Lucija shot glares back and forth from Selene to Pietro.

“Both of you can rot in hell,” she finally said before settling down another spot as far away from either of them as she could get.

“Now that is what I call a good truth!” the WIC voice laughed. “Please, Mia, do us the honours of spinning the bottle.”

Mia did as she was told. The bottle landed on Astro.

“Astro Lindahl of Australia, creator of the very interesting nude challenge,” said the voice. “Your dare is also worth 100 points. I dare you to strip down naked yourself…”

“Okay,” Astro said, immediately rising and beginning to take his shirt off.

“…and make out with Borysko Adamovich until your time is up,” continued WIC.

Borysko turned red and opened his eyes wide.

“What? But you said no lewd acts!” Astro protested.

“Oh, but kissing isn’t considered lewd, remember?” the voice teased. “You have 60 seconds on the clock starting now. Strip and make out with Borysko or you’ll be eliminated.”

“Yeah, screw that,” Astro protested. “I’m not gay! It’s not fair!”

“It’s really not,” Borysko said. “I have to let this guy kiss me and I don’t even gain any points from it myself?”

“You can choose not to let him kiss you, Borysko, but if you do, he dies,” said the voice.

“Dude, just kiss him and get it over with. No one here thinks you’re actually gay,” said Adam.

“Shut up, Evans! This is all your fault,” Astro shouted. “If you had just taken my place on that stage like you OWED ME for saving your life, I wouldn’t have had to come up with that nude challenge in the first place.”

“Bro, I am thankful to you for saving my life, but I don’t owe you mine in return. If you’re a real friend you’d never rub that in my face.” Adam said.

“15 seconds left on the timer,” the WIC voice cautioned.

Astro was so angry it was like he didn’t even hear it. “If YOU were a real friend, you would have had my back as much as I had yours,” he shouted.

“5 seconds left…” the voice said and began counting down from give. Astro looked up in shock, realising what was happening.

“Huh? No wait!” he said, scrambling to get out of his clothes, but it was too late. A rope fell down from the ceiling, wrapped itself around Astro’s neck and lifted him twenty feet into the air. Everyone screamed and shouted in horror as they watched him hang to his death, the same way his friend Adam Evans had almost died days ago. WIC’s maniacal laugh could be heard above it all, enjoying the show. Once Astro stopped squirming and was clearly dead, the voice spoke again.

“GAME OVER!”