The Game We Play

My excitement is palpable as I drive home, excited to see my husband. It doesn't matter that I just got fired from the software company or that it's starting to rain and even that I now have no way to pay the bills, because as long as we have each other, we'll make it through anything. He once told me this himself. That no matter what happens in the future, to hold onto our love till the end. I remind myself of this as I pull into the driveway and enter the house. My stomach drops as I prepare myself. I put a brave smile on my face, yet it slowly turns into a frown as all the lights are turned off, except a single lamp on the coffee table. I squint my eyes as I see a letter beneath it. Why is a letter here? Who put this here? I walk forward and pick it up as I call out to my husband. "Dorian!?" "Did you leave this here?" He doesn't respond as I pick it up and flip it open. I recognize my husbands writing. "I'm sorry to leave but your safety, comfort and stability has always mattered most to me." The letter slips from my fingers as my heart beat picks up as I watch it fall to the ground. I turn towards the stairs, calling for my husband again. "Dorian!" "What is this?" I couldn't dare to say more as my foot hits the first step with a thud. Each step rings in my ears as I try to hurry, yet it feels like I'm sinking into quick sand. "I'm almost there." I tell him once I'm outside the door. "Don't come in, for what you may witness will give you a scare." I turn the handle and burst through the door as a gunshot rings off and I see Dorian on the bed, with a gun in his hand and his blood coating the walls. "Dorian!?" I call out as I step closer towards him. My shoes stepping into the blood and on something hard. I hear it crack as I step back and observe what I stood on. It's a mirror that's split in half, yet that isn't what catches my eye but the writing on it. "Emma, you must pay, yet we'll make you pay another way." "The WIC company is here to offer a deal to Mr. Weather, to save both his wife and those close to her." "A life for a life is our offer." What does this mean? A knock resonates through the house as I jump. I race towards it as I open the door and see an envelope with the letter WIC etched into it. "The clue is in your first message as you're now entered in a game to win your life back." I see an address at the bottom, yet recognize to be downtown, in the middle of nowhere. What? Who? "Emma!" I hear as Georgia, my next door neighbor calls out to me as I'm in a daze. "Why are you standing here like this?" "Wait, what's on your shoes?" "Blood, call the police." I tell her as I grab the keys from the table in the foyer and head back to the car. I hop in and type the address into my GPS as I go to the location. Who are these people? Why did they kill my husband? The streets are dark, barren as I drive and yet I can't stop myself as I exit my car, near a warehouse. I know what I'm walking into is dangerous but what other choice do I have? These people have threatened and killed my husband and now it seems they'll do the same to me and those close to me if I don't comply. I see the WIC symbol on a pair of double doors. I open them as they shut behind me. "You dare to enter the games without anyone with you." A voice rings out as I'm surrounded by darkness. "Who do I have left?" "Why your son of course." The lights turn on as mirrors surround me and I see a boy in a hospital bed. He looks to be around fifteen years old. "We know of the child you gave up for adoption and that he's sick and in need of a treatment that costs 5 million dollars." "How?" "We learn the past of all our players." "Our leverage on you just seems to be particularly interesting." "The records are sealed, you can't know who he is." "We can though." The mirrors change as pictures of his birth certificate suddenly appear. Cody Lonon is the name on the records as is her own. "It can't be him." Images of him in the hospital appear again before the everything goes black. "Now we'll play a game, that's if you wish to save your sons life and yours as well." The lights come back on as pictures of her son from all ages is reflected on the mirrors. "What is this?" "The first round, isn't that how most games start?" "The objective is to flip all mirrors to line up from birth till he's lying in a hospital bed." "I do warn that not everything is as it seems as your eyes will play tricks on you." "You have ten minutes to complete the challenge." My mind is racing as the lights change to red and blue, that's when I realize the images are 3-D. "You may see but you won't know unless you find the glasses in the forth row." Everything is blurred together as I stubble into each mirror, looking for a row with glasses. I get turned around along the way until I find a pair of gasses hanging from a string from the ceiling. I pull them down as a minute is erased from the clock on the wall. "I did forget to tell you that sight has a price." "Eight minutes to go." I groan as I put the sunglasses on and see the pictures come into focus. I see three baby pictures near the fifth row as I look between them. The limbs is what I first look at as I see they're larger in the one to the others. I move on to the other two and see a blanket wrapped around the one, much like one from a hospital. I click the button on the blanket one as I flip it over, it turns green as I remove the glasses for a moment and see it's in a normal light that's tinted green. I move on to the other ones as thirty seconds has ticked down. I see a row of pictures being from birthdays. He has his lips pursed as if to blow out candles, yet there isn't a cake or candles to help guide me to the right ones. "All the years you missed." I tried to ignore the voice as I focused on the task at hand. The majority of the pictures are self explanatory as he looks older is some to the others, yet there is a few that look very similar. "Did you know your son looked for you at the age of ten?" "He left his parents home and was lost for three days in the woods." "It's great that he has parents that actually care for him, if only they could afford his treatment." "Stop it!" I yell to the voice as I put two of the younger pictures together, before moving onto the more complicated ones. I look closely this time to the hair styles as they seem slightly different. I'd assume he'd get a haircut after his birthday, not before. I then select the pictures and put them in place as they too turn green. I'm half way there when I look at the clock and see four minutes left on the clock. The next pictures are harder than before as it's now the teenage years. How am I supposed to differentiate between them all? "They say the teenage years are the hardest but you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" I groan as I place my hands on one of the pictures. "Why are you doing this?" "I like to play games, why else?" "Why me?" "Why my husband?" "Why go after a boy I don't even know?" "Why anyone is what you should really be asking." "You're not the first and you won't be the last." "WIC takes pride in it's money and we don't plan to hand it out without someone paying the price for our entertainment." "You make this sound like a joke." "It really isn't though." That's when I see nails come up from the ground in random places. "Three is the next number and do be cautioned not to be a stumbler." I see only three minutes on the clock as I pick the picture with the worst hair cut, making sure not to step on any nails as I maneuver around them. We all make hair cut mistakes in 7-8th grade. The next few are closer to his age now. He looks to be around 14-15 years old in all of them. "How am I supposed to guess these ones?" "A real mother would know." The man snickers as the voice cuts out. I take the one in the middle and watch as it turns green. The next three are very similar as I pick out the colors of clothing, his facial expressions and the way he's posed. I flip over the next one in which he appears less confident and smile as it turns green once again. I'm left with the last two in which he's wearing the same clothes but it looks like it's been taken days apart. "The final two..." "You're almost done." I sigh as I look at the time of day as one looks slightly lighter, while the other one is darker. This may have been taken the same day. I flip the lighter one first and then the darker one and wait patiently. It doesn't turn green right away as I look at the hospital picture. "It seems your instincts are still intact." The lights turn green as I look up at the clock and it read thirty seconds. "You've passed the first round, now how about a prize before you move on to the next." "Prize?" "Emma dear." I hear as a video is played on the wall of my husband. My hand goes over my mouth as I gasp. "I know if you're watching this then that must mean I'm dead." "I know you must be looking for the reason behind what I did." "I'd like to tell you I did this of my own volition, that I had been depressed or couldn't see any way out and while the later is true, the former is not." "The company I was transferred to just a few weeks ago had promised me a big sign on bonus." "They had many benefits to be included with working for them and so I took the job." "I haven't been working in over 6 months, though I'm sure it isn't a secret since you more then anyone knows of the financial crisis we're in and soon I learnt how bad it is as well." "I didn't tell you of the new job in fear of it not working out as I know you've seen the way I can't hold down a job, yet things started looking up." "I was about to tell you today, when they sent me that message and soon they called from an unknown number and told me everything." "I'm not angry baby, that you have a son." "All I care about now is keeping you safe." "Keeping me safe?" I look around, with tears in my eyes as I take in my current situation. "They wouldn't tell me the details but they said that a life must be paid for you to have a chance at saving your son." "You'd call me foolish for thinking this way but I'd trade my life for yours and those you care about in a heart beat and so I agreed." I watch as tears poor down his face as he looks at the camera. He then picks up a picture frame of us, that was on our bed side table. It's the one we got made just last year, after we got married. "My life with you has been amazing." "It may have only been three years but it felt like a lifetime of us making memories and plans for our future." "My only true regret is not fulfilling everything you asked for." "I know you wanted so much more but sadly our story will end here..." "Emma, I love you." "I don't ever want you to think otherwise." "The WIC company has promised that you'll be safe, that you only had to pass a simple test of theirs and you'd receive the money to save your son and yourself." "Myself?" I question as he continues. "I know about the bills, all the late and extended payments." "I thought I'd be able to dig us out but you never told me just how bad it had gotten." "The WIC company knew though." "They had all of our bank statements, copies of our bills and even knew exactly how much we're in debt." He seems angry as he says this and all I want to do is reach through the screen to hug him but an image of his dead body flashes through my mind. "I thought I had found a job that could save us." "I believed in something that I knew deep down was too good to be true." "Don't say that." I say to him, even though he's nothing but a video on a screen. "I wish I would have spent more time with you, made our last days count." "I wish I could have hugged you as you got home today and told me you got fired." "How?" "The company knew about that too." "It's like they were waiting until all hope was gone for us to give into them." "All I hope now is that you can pass their test, whatever that may be but more then that I want you to survive." "I may be gone now but I don't wish for you to join me any time soon." "Get through the test, fight for your son and take care of yourself." "Don't let them win." "You must save yourself." He starts to cry harder as tears fall down my cheeks. "Why didn't you tell me?" I ask to no one as the video ends and I hear the eerie voice come on. "It was our plan." "We did think he'd fight harder for his wife, to stay alive but he complied with our demands like all the rest." "Money isn't worth him life or mine." "It is worth your sons though." A picture of him is back on the screen as I think about how much he must have suffered. He had parents that love him but to never know why I gave him up and without having anyway to contact me, it did truly feel selfish. That's when red arrows are lit up on the ground and I slowly follow them towards a door. "Answer the next question honestly and you'll get through to the next round, lie and you'll belying on top of the nails." I look behind me and see all the sharp nails still out, with even more then before. "The question?" I ask as everything goes dark, with only a red question mark above the door. "Why did you give up your son?" I couldn't say I was surprised since the one thing this company didn't know was the real reason behind me giving up my son. I had been fifteen myself at the time and while most people would assume it was because of my age or because my parents didn't want such a burden, it was rather the opposite reason. My parents were more then happy to take it on, yet I didn't want my child to be raised by the same people who had raised me. I've made many mistakes in my life and I wanted my child to experience more. My parents weren't wealthy and while money shouldn't buy happiness, it does buy comfort and I wanted that for my son. I wanted him to experience everything I never did. I could have just as easily kept him but I knew his life would be difficult and he'd never get the same opportunities, so I gave him to people who could give him everything he wants and more. The pictures of the game come to mind as I'm reminded of all his happy memories. He has an amazing life, not because of me but because of his real parents. I know now even with knowing where he is now, that I wouldn't change a thing. It may have broke my heart to give him away but I'd still do what's best for him over what's best for me any day. "You have a minute to state your answer." My answer isn't simple though. "I wanted him to have a better life, the kind of life I never had." "Are you sure that's the real reason?" "We have files on you attending college, getting a decent job at a software company and climbing your way up, that is until you started stealing other peoples ideas on how to improve the company and eventually your boss saw through your charade." "What charade?" "You act as if you did everything selflessly but didn't you also give him up to have a better future for yourself?" "I didn't." "You make yourself sound like you're full of love." "We'll see if that's the case with the next challenge." The doors open as I hear something eerily similar to the sound of a heart beat.