With a sudden burst of life I'm awake. If it's possible to hear the blood pulsing through one's veins I feel as if it is happening now. My heartbeat can be heard within the small cavity of my ears for but a moment longer before the silence is broken by someone gasping for air. This sound sets off something. Lights begin to flicker on. First one off in the distance, then the next, until suddenly I'm having to shield my eyes with my forearm as the brightness causes my eyes to flicker to a painful close.
"Ugh.." I grunt. Disorientated and confused. I take a look at my surroundings as they don't resemble in the slightest the comfy setting of my bedroom.
I am shackled to a chair that is pressed firmly towards another. A woman sits before me and I know that she has nothing to do with how we have arrived in this confined room. The fearful expression plastered to her overly plump face says it all. I can pick out my reflection displayed on the watery surface of her blue iris'. I am mirroring her expression. It is then I realized I am terrified. Both of our wrists are upright and chained together. I feel her flesh on my own. She's cold. It makes my spine tingle with annoyance. I hate that feeling. It's why I tend to stay indoors.
"What are we doing here?" The woman speaks, and instantly I wish for the silence again.
What an ignorant question. "C'mon, lady. Does it really look like I know?" The husky texture of my voice mixes with that of agitation. My patience is growing thin. But before either of us can speak again we are cut off by the crackle of a television coming to life. It's the first time I notice that it's in the room. A doll on a tricycle begins to roll onto the screen. It's eerily frightening. For something that a child would find appealing, I just find it sickening. I feel the blood draining from my face. I must be going pale.
With my shoulder I rub my jaw all the way to the base of my neck. The stubble of my beard prickling on the way down. I'm trying to wake myself up - for surely this is a dream.
"Hello Dorian." The doll knows my name? It turns it's head in the next direction, now facing the female across from me. "Hello Elizabeth... I want to play a game."
I know what this is. I've heard about this guy from T.V. And he won't send me to my grave in pieces. "Help! Can anybody hear me? Help!" My scream echos off the walls. No one can hear me. This guy plans this out too far in advance. My knowledge of Jigsaw has taught me the only way out of this room is to play by his rules. The tape continues.
"For too long you both have let life pass you by, living on the sidelines as you've allowed years to roll by without ever being a contributor to society. You leech off of the others who have tried to give you a reason to live. You allow yourself to drain others of their happiness. But that will be no more. There is a chip implanted in the side of your neck, both of you have one. When the timer sets off you will have sixty seconds to retrieve the chip from the person across from you and send it over the red line taped to the ground before time runs out. However, if both chips remain on your side of the red line they will detonate. Let me show you."
With the chips at the same level on the dummies on Jigsaw's experiment table, they explode as the timer goes off and both heads burst into pieces. Elizabeth is now screaming, crying for help. More agitation. Perhaps she'd be quiet once I ripped the side of her neck off. "Live or die. Make your choice." The screen cuts out.
A ticking began on the wall adjacent to the pair. I felt my adrenaline begin to pump, and I knew that it was either her or me. And I wasn't going down without a fight.
As if we were chickens about to have a throw down, we each took awkward turns at trying to reach the others neck. She was successful first. Her teeth sinking into the thin flesh that covered my throat. A frantic grunt, and I wobbled our connected chairs to throw her off. Her attention elsewhere I went in for her waiting skin. I ripped into it. Ignoring her crimson that flooded into my open mouth, my eyes clamped shut as I tried to forget where I was. What I was doing. That I was taking a life to save my own.
It was almost exhilarating that for once I felt the need to survive. That in this moment I realized I wanted to live. It was uplifting, really. A few gnawing bites towards her jugular and I felt the chip click between my rows of canines. Elizabeth's screams were starting to fade. All the blood loss was catching up with her. I tried to ignore it. Keep in mind that it was her or me. And I had won.
With five seconds left on the clock I gathered my strength as I spit the chip as far as I could. Hoping it would make it over the red line.
It didn't.
My eyes caught manically with Elizabeth's as a cocky grin spliced her features. A faint laugh even gathering. "Nice move."
Five...four...three...two...one...