Chapter Thirty-Seven
The Clock Is Running
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The ringing of the clock echoed through the entire house as if sounding out that
someone had just died. In reality, no one had died, yet, but the group who were
down on the first floor felt like they were going to. The clock next to them had
just chimed out 8 AM, only 2 hours left until ‘The Game’ was over and they
would find out whether they won or lost it. A heavy silence was hanging over the
group, all distressed with thoughts of their three friends and the thought of what
was going to happen to them. The night and the morning seemed never ending
and they wished for it to end, so they could go back to their normal lives.
Though, their lives would never be normal if they lost ‘The Game’.
Teri shuddered from fear when the dark thoughts of losing entered her mind.
She glanced at the others who looked as grim as she did. Tears pricked at her
eyes and she frantically blinked them back, not wanting anyone to notice how
much of a baby she was being. She sighed deeply and started when she felt a
hand on her shoulder. Teri looked up to see Justin’s blue eyes staring down at
her with concern.
“You ok?” he asked softly.
Teri silently shook her head and looked away from him. Justin knelt down next
to her and wrapped her in a hug while Teri finally let her emotions go and cried
into his chest. The others watched them silently, not saying a word and
completely understanding where Teri was coming from, for they all felt the same
way.
Suddenly a bright light flashed in front of everyone and Teri and Justin jumped
back from each other in surprise. JC lay on the floor next to the two of them,
unconscious.
“What the hell?” Chris said when he saw JC, “where’d he come from?”
“Does it really matter?” Laura said, a little annoyed.
Chris looked at her startled and then realized how dumb his comment was,
blushed and mumbled something under his breath.
The others rushed over to JC to help him. Brian and Joey dragged him carefully
over to the wall so he could sit up. Joey then begin to hit JC lightly on the face
to wake him up.
“Come of C, wake up man,” the others heard Joey mutter.
Finally, JC’s eyes fluttered slightly and he shrank against the wall at first in fear
until he saw who was in front of him. He then gave a sigh of relief and stared at
them with grateful eyes.
“Are we ever glad to see you,” Nick piped up, “we’ve been worried sick! What
happened to you?”
JC opened his mouth to talk but nothing came out and he remembered what Ms.
Calhoun had done to him. His eyes welled with tears slightly and he pointed at
his throat and shook his head sadly.
Emily’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Oh my God, he can’t talk! That damn
bitch must have done something to him! Am I right?” she asked, looking at JC.
JC nodded quickly and then frowned with worry. How was he to tell the others
that he defeated ‘The Game’ also? That him and Laura had both done it and it
wasn’t a fluke before.
“It’s all right JC,” AJ told him calmly, “you’ll be fine once we defeat ‘The Game’.
Your voice will have to come back by then since her power will be broken.”
“That’s true. AJ’s right, it’ll come back C,” Howie reiterated.
At that moment a slightly muffled sound came through the hall they were in and
then stopped. “What was that?” Teri asked fearfully. She quickly grabbed on to
the hand of the person next to her. Justin looked at her curiously when she did
but held her hand tightly. Nick sent them a funny look also but quickly turned
away.
Everyone stopped and stood silently. The same noise went through the hall
again, a little louder this time, and then faded out. “Sounds like a siren to me....”
Laura said, trailing off.
The siren noise got louder and this time stayed within the hall, getting louder
and louder. Everyone put their hands to their ears, desperately trying to get the
awful sound to go away. The house around them begin to shake and they
suddenly began to notice a change in the room. The walls turned gray and dark
looking. The whole area around them turned dissolved away and then the noise
stopped. They all stood in shock to see that the room was all concrete and
nothing at all filled the room except for them and a couple candles which was
the source of light.
“What the fuck just happened?!” AJ sounding half annoyed and half scared.
No one answered for they were still too shocked to answer him.
Oh my God you guys! Look, it’s Kevin and Lance,” Howie yelled, startling all of
them.
They looked over at the wall Howie was pointing at and saw he was right. Lance
and Kevin sat up against the wall, unconscious and tied up. They all tried to rush
over to them but suddenly, Ms. Calhoun stood in their way.
“Get out of the way bitch,” Emily yelled angrily.
“Ahhh....tsk tsk, no yelling,” Ms. Calhoun said, waving her finger at Emily.
The next thing they knew, they were all sitting up against the wall like Lance and
Kevin, their hands and legs bound together. “Holy shit,” Chris sputtered, “what
the hell is this for?”
“To keep you all under control and out of my way,” Ms. Calhoun told them, her
eyes narrowing as she stared at them. “Any ways, this is just so the final part of
‘The Game’ can be played.”
“F..final part?” Brian said slowly.
Ms. Calhoun turned quickly to stare at him. “Yes, final part. The part of ‘The
Game’ where each of you who didn’t defeat it get to play again and see if you
can defeat it this time. It’s a rule though I’d love to make it where if you lose the
first time you lose altogether.” She smiled evilly at them and they all shuddered.
She continued explaining. “To make it all fair, I don’t want any of you to help
each other so this is just a way to keep you under control. You will go in the
order you each played ‘The Game’ so I guess,” she turned to Teri with a weird
smile on her face. Teri only stared back fearfully, “you’re first up.”
Suddenly Teri disappeared, catching them all by surprise. “Damn you,” Justin
muttered under his breath.
“Don’t say too much yet, you’re next after her. Unless she loses, which I bet she
will,” Ms. Calhoun told him with a smirk.
“You better hope each of you can win or you lose your life along with everyone
else’s. Not all of you have to play though since I have three here that defeated
‘The Game’ already. It’s a shame really, I wanted to put you all through torture
again.”
Ms. Calhoun turned to leave but suddenly spun back around towards them. “Oh!
And remember, you don’t have much time to defeat your part. Remember....the
clock is running.”
She snapped her fingers and disappeared and in her place stood a stool with a
clock counting down the time on it. The red numbers glowed at them eerily, only
reminding them of how much this part of ‘The Game’ meant to each of their
lives.
As of that moment only 1 hour and 23 minutes remained until ‘The Game’ was
over. Not much time at all until their fate would be decided.
Go back to 'The Game'