THE RULES BENEATH THE RULES
887 Words
📱 02:01… 02:00…
The countdown burned on Ada’s screen like a fuse.
Tobi didn’t move.
Didn’t breathe.
Didn’t look away.
Kunle clapped slowly.
Once.
Twice.
Like he was enjoying a show only he understood.
“This,” he said, smiling, “is my favorite part.”
Tobi snapped. “Shut up.”
Kunle ignored him.
His eyes stayed on Ada.
“You think this is about choosing?” he said softly.
“It’s not.”
Ada’s grip on her phone tightened.
“Then what is it?” she asked.
Kunle stepped closer.
Lowered his voice.
“It’s about what happens when you don’t choose.”
Tobi frowned. “What does that even mean?”
Kunle’s smile faded.
Just a little.
Enough to let something darker slip through.
“Let me show you something,” he said.
He raised his phone.
Turned it toward them.
📱 PLAYER HISTORY: KUNLE
A list appeared.
Names.
Dozens of them.
Each one with a status beside it.
ACTIVE
ELIMINATED
ERROR
Tobi’s stomach twisted.
“What is this?”
Kunle’s voice dropped.
“Players.”
Ada’s eyes narrowed. “Obviously.”
“No,” Kunle said. “Not current players.”
He tapped the screen.
“Past ones.”
The air shifted.
Tobi looked closer.
Some of the names felt… familiar.
Not people he knew well.
But people he’d seen.
Around.
At school.
In passing.
“Wait…” Tobi said slowly. “These people…”
“Yeah,” Kunle said.
“They used to play.”
A cold silence settled between them.
“What do you mean ‘used to’?” Ada asked.
Kunle didn’t answer immediately.
He just tapped one of the names.
📱 STATUS: ELIMINATED
The word glitched.
Flickered.
Then changed.
📱 STATUS: REMOVED
Tobi felt his chest tighten.
“Removed… from what?”
Kunle looked up.
And this time—
he wasn’t smiling.
“Reality.”
The word hung there.
Heavy.
Wrong.
“That’s not funny,” Tobi said quickly.
“I’m not joking.”
Kunle stepped closer.
Closer than before.
Close enough that Tobi could see it now—
the exhaustion behind his eyes.
“You think the game punishes you by embarrassing you?” Kunle said quietly.
“You think losing ‘trust’ or ‘points’ is the worst it can do?”
He shook his head slowly.
“That’s just the beginning.”
Ada swallowed.
“Then what happens when you really lose?”
Kunle hesitated.
For the first time.
Then he said it.
“You stop existing.”
Silence.
Not disbelief.
Not confusion.
Just…
silence.
Tobi laughed.
But it sounded wrong.
Forced.
“That’s not possible.”
Kunle tilted his head.
“Then where are they?”
No answer.
“Think,” Kunle continued.
“Have you noticed people missing?”
Tobi’s mind raced.
Faces.
Voices.
Moments.
There was someone…
A boy who used to sit two rows behind him.
Always tapping his pen.
Always there.
Except…
he hadn’t seen him in days.
And worse—
he couldn’t remember his name.
Tobi’s breath caught.
“No,” he said quietly.
Kunle watched him.
Carefully.
“Exactly.”
Ada shook her head. “No. That could just be—”
“Coincidence?” Kunle cut in.
Her voice faltered.
“Then why can’t you remember them properly?” Kunle pressed.
“Why does it feel like they’re… fading?”
Ada didn’t answer.
Because she felt it too.
📱 01:10… 01:09…
The timer snapped back into focus.
Tobi turned to Ada.
“Don’t listen to him.”
Kunle smirked slightly.
“Too late for that.”
Tobi stepped forward.
“Even if he’s right, breaking the alliance won’t save you.”
Kunle chuckled.
“Oh, it will.”
Both of them looked at him.
“What?” Tobi said.
Kunle lifted his phone again.
📱 PASSIVE SKILL UNLOCKED: SURVIVOR’S EDGE
“High-level perk,” he said.
“Once you reach a certain point… the game gives you options.”
Ada’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of options?”
Kunle’s smile returned.
Slow.
Sharp.
“The kind where someone else pays instead of you.”
The words landed like a punch.
Tobi’s chest tightened.
“You’re saying…” Ada started.
Kunle nodded.
“If you break the alliance—”
He looked directly at Tobi.
“—he becomes your penalty.”
Everything stopped.
Tobi felt it.
That shift.
That c***k.
The game wasn’t just forcing choices anymore.
It was turning people into shields.
“That’s a lie,” Tobi said.
Kunle shrugged.
“Try it.”
Ada’s hands trembled slightly.
📱 00:42… 00:41…
Time was slipping.
Fast.
“You see now?” Kunle said softly.
“It’s not about winning.”
He stepped back.
“It’s about surviving.”
Tobi looked at Ada.
Really looked.
And for the first time—
he saw it.
Fear.
Not of losing.
Not of the game.
But of what she might have to do.
“You don’t have to do this,” he said.
Ada’s voice came out barely above a whisper.
“What if he’s right?”
Tobi didn’t hesitate.
“Then we prove him wrong.”
A beat.
📱 00:15… 00:14…
Kunle watched.
Waiting.
The game watched too.
Silent.
Hungry.
Ada closed her eyes for a second.
Then opened them.
And made her choice.
📱 00:03… 00:02…
Her finger moved.
- Writer
