Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-26475800-20151210060738

Dave was tired of working such long hours. It was only Wednesday and he had already surpassed thirty hours for the week, sadly he still had three more days before his only day off. Each and every day was the same, go to work for anywhere from ten to fourteen hours a day, most days bypassing lunch, to make money for someone he has never seen.

At one point he had thought hard work would push him up the ranks of Grandles Inc. but he had gotten little to no recognition for his dedication. The most he had gotten was a raise and put on salary, but that turn out to be nothing more than a way for him to be paid less. At one point he thought it meant he was being noticed for his hard work, and he was, he was making far more hourly than the owners were willing to pay.

So he had accepted the raise, which also came with more responsibilities, not knowing he would be working almost twice as many hours a week and getting paid just slightly above what he was making before. Dave knew his future in Grandles wasn’t bright, but he also couldn’t quit. It was a trap, he needed to find a different job, but if he missed a day his work would be backed up so far he wouldn’t catch up for a month. A month of working fifteen hours a day, six days a week.

The sun had already set and Dave wasn’t going to be headed home anytime soon, it didn’t matter that it was December, what mattered was that he had started just after sunrise. His cubicle walls, covered in graphs, memos, and notifications he had to deal with before the end of the week.

The cleaners were going to come in any minute now, Dave knew many of them, but for some reason they seem to change the cleaners faster than Grandles replaces the call center employees. Sometimes he would see someone that he knew, but it was exceedingly rare that a cleaner would work in the building longer than a month before being replace by someone. Tonight was another one of those nights when he didn’t know any of the cleaners he saw.

It didn’t matter that he didn’t know any of the people that were coming in, he was still friendly to them. There was some regret that he didn’t get on a first name basis with many of them. From what he saw they all worked hard and he thought they would be nice people. But the fact that he most likely won’t be seeing them again, or at least for more than a few weeks, offered little reason to get to know them.

Tonight was different though, there was one person who stood out among all the rest he had seen. This cleaner didn’t stand out because of looks, he was an average height, brown hair, brown eyes, wore the same jumper as the rest of the cleaning crew, and just looked about as generic as a person could. But there was something about him, perhaps it was the way he carried himself, or the way he talked. Whatever the reason, Dave took notice.

“Hi there,” the man said to him, “I’m Jeff.”

A smile grew along his face, contorting his features into a very pleasant look. Dave shook his outstretched hand and found that he felt a warmth rush through him. A pleasant warmth that made him remember what his brother had once told him what heroin felt like. A Tranquil warmth. The feeling had almost made him forget to give Jeff his name, but for some reason he felt like Jeff already knew a lot about him.

“Hi, I’m Dave.”

“I know that,” Jeff said, “in fact, I know more than you would think. If you would like to know everything that you could possibly want I can give that to you, we would just have to play a game.”

Dave was certain he knew what it was that made Jeff stand out, he was crazy. There must have been something in his eyes that signified Dave to this, or maybe it was a mannerism. But something that let Dave know to watch out for this guy.

“I am not crazy,” Jeff said. “Quite the opposite, actually. I am also telling you the truth, anything you want to know, you can. You just need to beat me in a game.”

“How could I believe such an absurd assertion?”

“I can prove it, what would you like to know? See, I already know what you are thinking, you don’t even have to say a word. I will rattle off everything you think, starting with I should already know what you would like to know.”

Jeff started to rattle off different thought as the popped into Dave’s head. He was thinking quickly and changing his mind just as fast, so Jeff was a few seconds behind his thoughts, but he was correct with each and everything he had said.

“Seventeen. That was a lucky guess. Wow, are you really reading my mind. This is incredible. Would Jenny from accounting go to dinner with me? You weren’t supposed to say that one. Jesus, it is too much.”

“Okay, I believe you now.” Both men said in unison. Their voices matching so perfectly that they could barely tell whose voice they were hearing.

“So, what kind of game are you thinking of playing?” Dave asked.

“Nothing all that hard, basically it is a game of truth or dare. All you have to do is stay up with me through the night, in this office, and play till morning. That’s it.”

“Truth or dare? Why in the hell would you want to play truth or dare?”

“Well I can either accept that as the first question of the first round, or you will never know if I am telling you the truth or not. Which will it be, Davie boy?”

“I have a lot of work to finish, and although I think a game of truth or dare would be great with you, I really have to get back to work.”

“If you win this game, you won’t have to work another day in your life. You will hit the Powerball, you will already know the numbers so you can hit it as many times as you’d like.”

“So, you’re telling me, if I beat you in a child’s game I can be richer than I had ever thought possible?”

“Not only that, you will know the best way to invest your money, so all you will have to do is sit back and count your coin until you die.”

“What’s the catch?” Dave asked, for the first time feeling like there was something being left out. “Will this be like a Monkey’s Paw kind of gift? Hell, even if it is like Gift of the Magi, I don’t really want it.”

“Nothing like that at all. You win, you get all the knowledge you would want. If you don’t want to know something, you won’t know it. Because, let’s be honest, no one wants to know about their parents sex life, or what granny’s doing with all the men in her old folks home. The only things you will know, are the kind of things you will want to know. Like if Jenny is interested in you, or what the winning numbers are going to be. Other than that, you don’t have to worry about a thing.”

“So you already know the moves I will make in this game. You already know if I will win or lose, so what is the point of even playing?” Dave asked moving closer to Jeff.

“Ahh, that is something that I get asked all the time, but the true answer is I don’t know. For some reason there is a rule that prevents me from seeing the outcome of these games, which is one of the reasons why I want to play so badly. You cannot believe how boring things get when you have all the knowledge of the universe and no real way to be surprised. So I guess the rule makers decided that a game of truth or dare will fulfill our need to have mystery in our lives again.” Jeff said, his face becoming longer as he lamented.

“You don’t sound so happy to have this gift, so why should I take it?”

“Hey, Dave, I was only trying to help you out of a tough spot. If you don’t want to play, that is fine. Just remember, this is the one and only time I will ever offer you this gift. No one ever gets more than one chance to have the knowledge of the universe. So if you turn my offer down you can continue to work the same job, for as long as you will, and die as you are going to. But if you decide to take my offer, you will be able to change your life forever. So what do you say, do we have a deal?”

Jeff extended his hand to Dave, a smile creeping across his lips as Dave slowly reached for his hand. As soon as Dave gripped Jeff’s hand a charge ran through him. It wasn’t a strong current, but it was still noticeable, and strong enough for Dave to jerk his hand free.

“Glad you decided to play. I’ll go first with an easy one, but as we go on the dares and questions will get harder. So truth or dare?”

Dave looked at him for a minute, truth didn’t seem like something he would want to test with Jeff, but at the same time he wanted to test his abilities. “I’ll take truth.”

“Good,” Jeff said, “What was the saddest day of your life?”

Dave knew the answer immediately. He also knew that Jeff knew the answer as well, he had provided sufficient evidence that he could at least read minds.

“I believe you already know, but because you had asked it was when my son died.” Tears welled up in Dave’s eyes.

“Thank you for being honest, Dave. But I have to admit, I didn’t know the answer to that question, it is one of the rules. I cannot know the answer to any questions I ask you before you give me the answer, but I do know if you are lying or not. Otherwise, how could anyone be a judge for this game? But I know that was truthful and I am glad you decided that play the game by its rules. It must have been hard for you to tell me that answer, but don’t worry, you can also always choose dare.

“But now, it is your turn to ask me the wonderful question, ‘truth or dare’.”

Dave did what he was asked to do, and to his surprise the strange man chose dare. It was a shame because he didn’t have a dare ready, he would have asked Jeff some wonderful questions, but a dare was the last thing he thought the man would pick.

“Okay, just give me a minute to think of one,” Dave said as he sat back in his office chair.

“Well, you are going to have to make it quick,” Jeff said. “There is a time limit on these questions, you can take no longer than three minutes to ask a question or propose a dare. Maybe I should have mentioned that earlier. Anyway, one minute has already passed and if you don’t get your dare or question out before the time limit passes three times you will lose.”

“Well, I wish I knew that before,” Dave said in a sarcastic tone. “Just give me a minute to think of a dare. I want to see…”

“Two minutes have passed now, Davie boy, you need to give me your dare.”

“Fine,” Dave’s voice showed some frustration from him interrupting him, “lick the bottom of my shoe.”

A grin spread across Dave’s face, not because he wanted to be cruel to this man, but he wanted to win. To force this guy to do something so disgusting he thought that it was a sure win, and there was no way he would like the bottom of his shoe. But to his amazement and disgust, Jeff got to his knees and let his long, pink tongue lick the bottom of his shoe.

It was strange the way Jeff licked the shoe, he let his tongue go deep within the thread. It was almost like he was getting off to it, Dave could have sworn he ever heard the man moan, but after a few minutes he wasn’t so sure. However, by the way he was licking the shoe it wouldn’t be surprising. His tongue explored the cracks and ravines as if the show was a lover he was trying to get ready for him to penetrate her.

Dave jerked his foot free of this strange man’s grip. For being such a skinny guy his grip was unnaturally strong, but a hand is a lot weaker than a leg, and Dave was able to get his foot back after the first pull.

“Well, Davie boy, I wasn’t expecting that from you. I know that you want to win, but to come out the gate with something that disgusting is not what I expected from you. In fact, most people don’t get to that degree of dares until much later. It’s good. Something I didn’t expect, and lets me know the game is going to be a good one.

“But now it is your turn, truth or dare?”

Jeff’s eyes twinkled as he asked the question. Dave didn’t know which to pick, if he picked dare he was sure to have to do something really disgusting, but truth could be even worse. And now, there seems to be a time limit, and if it is for the person asking the question there must be one for choosing which you would like to perform.

“How long can I take before choosing what I want to do?”

“Ah, you are learning quickly, you have ninety seconds to choose what you would like to play this time. And you have already spent thirty seconds, so I would choose quickly if I were you.” There was an undertone of malice in Jeff’s voice.

Dave knew he was going to hit him hard with in this next round. He had made his strange opponent do something that he wouldn’t want to do, so there was no way he would get off easily this time. But there were some secrets that he didn’t want to tell this man. He didn’t want to tell anyone some of the secrets that he had.

“I choose dare.” Dave blurts out.

“Wow, with only nine seconds to spare you chose dare. Once again you surprise me, there must be some deep hidden secrets to you. I can’t wait to pry them free. But it won’t be this round, you have chosen dare. So, I dare you to put a staple into your finger. It isn’t that hard, just a quick smash on your finger and you are done.”

With wide eyes Dave looked at the faux janitor. Knowing that everything else had a time limit, he knew the clock was ticking before he was even able to say anything.

“I am not going to hurt myself for your amusement.” Dave said

“Well that is a shame, for you at least. See if I win, I take everything you have. I may have forgotten to mention that in the beginning, but you will lose everything. So, I would recommend getting a staple in that finger, before time runs out.”

“How long do I have to complete the dare?” Dave asked, exasperated.

“That is kind of a tricky question,” Jeff said. “It all depends on the round, and what you chose to do. Because this is only the second round you have ten minutes to do a dare and five to answer a question. With each round you can add five minutes to it, but, unlike asking questions or dares, if you miss once, you’re out. You have already wasted five minutes with this pointless banter, so I would recommend you bit the bullet and staple your finger.”

Dave took a deep breath through his nose and let it out his mouth. With an extreme reluctance he place his pinky into the stapler on his desk. The cold metal kissed both side of his little finger and his hand began to shake. He didn’t know which would be better, a quick and hard smash of the stapler, or slowly easing it down.

Beads of sweat broke out on his forehead as Jeff told him that ten minutes has now passed. It was now or never, he knew he would wait longer then he was allowed if he didn’t do his task now. So without thinking he smashed his fist onto the top of the stapler.

Dave screamed. He screamed so loudly that if anyone else was in the office they would have thought someone was being murdered. It wasn’t because he put a staple into his finger, yes, that hurt, but it was more because of the physiological punishment he had to go through before doing it. Knowing that he would “lose everything,” as his tormentor had put it. That he was the one who had to pull the trigger and harm himself, was perhaps the worst part of the whole ordeal. If someone else had hit the stapler it would have been fine, he wouldn’t have expected it and most likely wouldn’t have hurt nearly as bad. But because he had to send the staple into his finger, and it must have gone into bone because his finger wasn’t that think, really sent his head spinning.

“Okay, well I can see that was hard on you,” Jeff said, “but it was some damn fine entertainment. So because of the effort it had taken you to do that dare, I can understand that you are not up to taking your turn just yet, so I am offering you a five minute brake, if you would like to take it. A little time to gather your wits, you know. But I have to say, you only get three of these breaks during our entire game, so I would use them wisely, it will only get worse from here.”

The strange man stood there smiling, as Dave was breathing heavily. Dave’s finger was throbbing and he couldn’t get the staple out of his finger, which he also couldn’t bend. Every time he tried, the pain would become unbearable, and a little trickle of blood would be released from the wounds.

“Fuck that,” Dave said between gasps, “truth or dare?”

“Wow, you are a stronger man then I had first thought. Let’s go with dare, give you a little pay back for that last round.” Jeff’s smile never faded.

Dave scanned the room, looking for something to use to cause as much pain to this strange man as possible. If he could win the game now, he surely would try. But first he needed to find something that would be so painful that it would force this guy to quit. It was then that Dave spotted the letter opener.

“I dare you to stab yourself in the eye with this,” he said as he held the small silver dagger in his right hand. Every finger closed around the handled of the letter opener but his pinkie.

“You are learning how to play, I think after this game we could be really good friends.”

Jeff snatched the letter opener from Dave’s hand and with one quick movement stabbed himself in the eye. Dave couldn’t believe what he was seeing. There was no hesitation with an act of self-mutilation from this man, hell there was hardly more than a slight groan from the pain.

“Okay, I learned my lesson. I won’t ask you to hurt yourself with the next dare you take, so long as you won’t make me do that again. Because, to be honest, that fucking hurt like hell.”

For the first time since they started to play their game, Jeff had lost his smile as he talked. It even stayed away for a moment before he regained his composure. Dave must have found something that made his opponent feel some pain. If he could keep thinking fast like that he would win.

“Truth or dare, Davie boy?” Jeff had said, his grin returned, but had more malice to it than before.

“Truth!” Dave said as soon as Jeff had finished talking.

“Ah, you don’t trust that I won’t have you hurt anyone, it is a shame, because if you try to fuck me over before you choose dare, then your ass is grass. But you chose truth, so here is your question, why did your wife leave you?”

Dave looked distraught on the outside, but on the inside he let out a sigh of relief. He could talk about this without a problem, most of his friends knew about it. But they didn’t know everything, and he had a feeling he was going to have to tell Jeff every little detail as to why she had left him.

“She left because I couldn’t get her off. I was a selfish lover, and because of that she didn’t want to have anything with me. Perhaps the last straw that made her leave was when I had started working so many hours for this job and making little to no extra money.”

Dave’s lowered his head, he had this guy following a path that would be rather easy for him to talk about. All he had to do was to make him believe that this was the hardest thing for him to talk about, and hopefully he would keep impinging on that subject.

“Ha that sucks, let me guess you have a needle dick?”

“Fuck you, Jeff. I am not going to answer that question. I already answered your question, now answer mine, truth or dare?”

Jeff laughed. “You seem to be getting upset, I think we found the line of questions to start asking. And I think I will take truth.”

“Is it really worth it that I play this game?”

“Oh, that is a good question. You made a mistake playing this game with me, I have yet to find someone who could beat me, but, I do have to say, you are making this game the most interesting so far. No one had put me through that much punishment so fast, and your first question was perfectly asked. You seem to know what you are doing. Now it is your turn, truth or dare?”

“Dare.” It may have been a dangerous move by Dave, but he believed the man wouldn’t give any pain inducing dares this round. Not only that, but it would prove that Jeff had hit a sore spot with his questions. It all worked to forward his motive of winning this game.

“Well, as promised, I won’t make you harm yourself this round. All you have to do is steal the security tapes and stop the recordings.”

That wasn’t something that seemed promising, it meant that something really bad was around the corner. Jeff was going to force him to do something that was highly illegal, it didn’t take a genius to figure that out. But he had to be smart about what he was going to do, he would be forced to do something so dangerous that if it was recorded he would be in prison for the rest of his life. If he was even able to make it out of this game.

“I don’t know where that room is, or have a key to get in there.” Dave said.

“Have no fear, I have all the keys. After all, I am a janitor.” Jeff winked at him as he pulled the huge key ring from his pocket.

“Well, let’s go then.” Dave said and motioned for Jeff to lead the way.

They left the cubicle farm and went directly to the elevator. Jeff was whistling a little tune that didn’t take long to get stuck in Dave’s head. In fact, Dave was whistling it as well, but he didn’t notice, before the elevator had gotten to the fifth floor.

“So where is this room?” Dave asked.

“All of their AV equipment is stored on the roof. I figured it would be easier for us to take the elevator, saves our energy, and with the way that we are playing this game I have a feeling it won’t be long before we are both happy we conserved as much energy as possible.” He gave one of those awful winks again and Dave felt his skin crawl.

“Unless you are going to give me any advice on how to win this game, I would prefer if you just shut the fuck up.” Dave said.

“Oh looks like someone had a rough round last round. I think it would be best if you listened to what I was saying, and not insult me. But you know what, I’ll just keep my mouth shut from now on. You won’t listen to what I have to say anyway, and even if you did it wouldn’t help you. You lost this game the moment you shook my hand.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Dave asked, his voice louder than he had intended it to be, but it expressed his feelings perfectly.

But Jeff didn’t say a word, he only smiled and rode the elevator up with him. It was like riding up with a stranger, a slight nod every now and then, but other than that, there was no commutation. When the elevator got to the eleventh floor Dave motioned Jeff to lead the way, which he did.

They had to take one flight of stairs up to the roof, each foot fall sounded like an army was after them. The echoes bounced back and forth for minutes and it became so confusing as to if it was an echo or a real step that it made Dave’s head start to spin. Well, that added to the fact that he was doing things he had never anticipated doing with a man he had just met, and there was a good chance he was going to die before the end of the night.

Once they got into the AV room, Jeff motioned to where the equipment was. It was all that Dave needed to do his next task. He quickly moved into the room, took the tapes out of the VCR and stopped the digital feed from the cameras.

“Done, truth or dare?”

“Very well done, but before I answer that I am going to use one of my three five minute breaks. So let’s head back to your office.”

“Fine.” Dave said. He was very ready to get this game over with. He knew he still had a long way to go before he would win. A quick glance at his watch showed him that it was only midnight, and the sun didn’t rise for close to another seven hours.

Dave, was already tired, if he had taken the stairs all the way to the roof he would be exhausted, so perhaps Jeff was trying to help him with the game. Either way, he didn’t trust the strange man. There was something off about him, besides his high threshold for pain. Something that had been glaring at him since he first noticed him. But Dave has yet to figure out what the queer quality was.

Once they got back to his office, Dave asked the question again. This time Jeff replied with truth, something that Dave wasn’t expecting. And I think Jeff knew he would confuse him if he asked for a question.

Dave had so many questions that he would ask this man, but it was hard to choose which he should ask. But it came to him about a minute after Jeff chose:

“What is your real name?”

“Sorry,” Jeff started, “that is one of the few questions that I am not allowed to answer. It’s in the rules you see.”

“Fine then, what are you?”

Jeff got his smile back. “I have been called many things, angel, demon, devil, and monster. It also depends on the time frame, in Ancient Greece I was known as a gorgon, in Rome, I was Apollo. So it all depended on what I wanted to show myself as too. But, I think the best way to describe myself is a being that can travel from time to time and dimension to dimension. I am either an angel or a demon, depending on who is doing the name calling, but in all honesty, there really is no difference. God and the Devil are one and the same, they both could care less about humans and allow us to play our games with you.”

Dave knew that there was something wrong with this guy, but he didn’t expect this. He hasn’t believed in God or the Devil since he was twelve. It was like Santa for him, just something that he grew out of. Now there is this monster claiming to be an angel or a demon, and it is playing a game with him. He knew he was in a great deal of trouble if he didn’t think of a way to win, and quickly.

He was so deep in his thought about the answer he had just received that he didn’t notice that Jeff had already asked him to pick for the next round. Dave has been in such deep thought that when he came back to reality he found that Jeff was counting down from ten, and already on eight.

“Truth!” Dave yelled, hoping that he wasn’t too late.

“Perfect,” that smirk was on Jeff’s face again, “what is the only thing that you really don’t want me to know?”

There was no evading this question now. It was the question that Dave had been hoping that he wouldn’t have to answer, the only one thing that would be hard for him to say. But he was either going to lose here or live to fight another day. But if he lives he will have to know that someone else knows his secret, and that would force him to live in fear that he would be found out.

“How my son really died.” Dave said quickly. “Now, truth or dare?”

“No, no, no, no. That was not a full answer. You just gave me some really quick answer, you didn’t answer the question fully.” Jeff said as he wagged his long boney finger in Dave’s face.

It seemed like his features had changed since the last question. His fingers were longer and skinnier, his ears came to points. It was when these features started to get exaggerated that he noticed the thing that was bugging him the entire time, Jeff’s feet. Or his lack of feet, the man that stood before him had hooves like a goat. Not only that, his knees bent the wrong way, and that was what Dave noticed. That it seemed like Jeff was walking extremely funny.

“You asked a simple question,” Dave said, “You will have to wait until your next turn if you want me to go into more detail. Now truth or dare, it has already been a minute.”

Jeff’s elongated features gnarled into a scowl that could only be seen in hell. His thick eyebrows smashed together, his pointed noise curled at the nostrils, pulling his upper lip away from this sharpened teeth. Surprisingly, Dave wasn’t afraid of him. It not only surprised Jeff, which only added to his fury, but also Dave, who thought for sure he would be frightened once he learned he was a demon. But it didn’t seem to faze him any more than some of the other things he had been put through tonight.

“Truth,” Jeff said softly.

“What exactly happens if I lose?” Dave asked, now feeling like he had the upper hand.

“Your soul gets sent to Hell, and I take over your body to do what I want. At any time, I can return you back to your body, you will have no recollection as to what happened when you were in my realm. Every day you are out of your body you will experience a new pain, each more intense than the day before. And at this point, I am going to make sure you lose. I can’t wait to take over your body and ruin your world more than you already had.”

His snarl had become worse, more savage. His game was falling apart, like the glamor he wore over his gruesome features. Jeff was dangerous now, he would be willing to do anything to ensure that he would win this game. When he was in control of the game he felt that there was no way he could lose, but something about the way the Dave held himself made him nervous. There was something that caused him to feel like he was about to lose. He asked Dave to make his decision, and he chose dare.

“I want you to put both of your hands on the table and don’t move them until I tell you too. And trust me this is going to hurt for the entire half an hour.”

Dave took a deep breath and place both hands palm down on the table. Before he even had a chance to move them, Jeff slammed a letter opener through on and pinned it to the table. The other had a receipt spike to pin it to the table. The screams could be heard on the street, but the demon who was harming him had ensured that no one would hear the man’s cries for help. Before the game had even started he cast a spell over the building, than one more over Dave’s cubicle where no sound would escape.

When the time for the dare was completed Dave was clinging onto conciseness, but barely. He had lost enough blood to make him very woozy, and once the office items pinning his hands to the table were removed he would surely pass out. With his voice just over a whisper he asked for one of his five minute brakes.

Jeff couldn’t believe that he was still playing. He thought for sure he would pass out and be subjected to another round of torment, or even better unable to answer any of the questions in time. He would have lost by default, but Dave was holding on.

He was missing an eye, all his fingernails, and a long strip of skin from both arms. All of his fingers had been broken and one of his knees was shattered. Three of his teeth had been knocked out, another five have been chipped. Dave was in bad shape, in fact, Jeff had never seen anyone get past a beating like that. The fact he asked for his five minutes was unnerving to the demon.

After the five minutes were up, time which Dave used to eat some snacks he kept in his desk to get some energy back, and drink enough water to keep him hydrated, he asked the question they’ve been asking each other all night: “truth or dare.”

Feeling cocky Jeff asked for a dare. He knew that there was no way that Dave could punish him nearly as badly as he had just done to him. So he had little worries about what was going to happen.

“I dare you to show me the rules of this game written down, without talking and let me read them for myself.”

Jeff thought that the dare was one of the weakest he had ever heard. But he obliged a dying man’s wish and produced a rather large piece of paper with the rules written in beautiful cursive. With a flourish he placed the paper on his desk and left the man alone. After the time for the dare was over he walked back to the desk and made the rules vanish.

“Well, that was a great waste of a turn, so truth or dare?” Jeff said.

“Games over.”

“You give up? After all the punishment you had gone through, you just give up. That is stupid.” Jeff jumped on the table. “I refuse to let you just quit like that. You have played better than anyone before you, and I doubt I will ever get to be in another round like this if I live another seven-thousand years. You are not quitting.”

“Your right, I’m not quitting. I’ve won.” Dave smiled. It was a nasty looking smile with dried caked blood on his lips and missing teeth. His empty eye socket appeared to collapse a little as the corners of his eyes folded from his joy.

“Bullshit, there is no way you could have won. There is still four hours before the sun comes up and you haven’t even taken your next turn, how do you think you won?”

“It’s right there in the rules. If the challenger does not answer a question they forfeit the game. You challenged me to play this fucked up game. You didn’t answer the question about your name. You lost. In fact it goes on, ‘there is no reason for an answer not to be answered other than the person asked refuses to answer. Every answer is fair to be asked and must be answered in the time allowed.’ Furthermore, it also states that all the rules must be given before the game has begun. You never told me what would happen if I lost or about the time limits until we started to play. So I win.”

Jeff looked at Dave, his mouth slightly agape, without moving. For the first time in his entire life he had lost the game. After tormenting hundreds of thousands he had lost his first game. There was more than just his pride that had been ruined, and Dave was quick to point that out as well.

“Now, for each of the rules that had been broken, you grant me one wish. Besides the reward of getting all the knowledge that I would want. The first wish would be to return my body to how it was.”

The demon didn’t move, he was still too flabbergasted to do anything.

“You will be spending a long time in Hell once you’re finished here, that was in the rules too. But please be quick about it. I have things I need to take care of.”

With a quick flick of his wrist Jeff returned Dave back to normal. No missing eye or nails, no broken bones or teeth. And with that flick of the wrist, the demon also allowed his knowledge to begin. The only thing that Dave wanted to know at the moment was what to use his second wish on, and he knew he couldn’t get what he wanted. He couldn’t bring his son back, because it wouldn’t really be his son.

But he could get revenge on Jeff for all the shit he put him through, and with that he wish that all the torments of Hell would be amplified for him, until the end of time. With that wish, the laminate floor opened up. There were no floors beneath them, just a long tunnel that fell into an icy void. The frigid temperature blasted Dave in the face as he looked down into the hole.

He walked out of his office for the last time, he knew he wasn’t going to come back. For the first time in five years he decided to play the lotto, and wouldn’t you know it, he won. He no longer blames himself for his son’s death either. He now knows that that day they when hunting, another hunter shot at the same buck at the same time as Dave did. It was that other hunter’s bullet that hit Toby. The death will still haunt him for the rest of his life, but at least it wasn’t him that killed his son. 