Lili did not know when it had been decided that she would be the one taking care of Basch.
It'd always been the other way around. He and his parents took her in when she was nine and he, fourteen, and fed her, clothed her, enrolled her in school. Basch had kept her company while his parents worked long nights, and he'd made her soup when she was sick and helped her with her homework. And he'd done it with all his effort. Despite being poor, and struggling, and often spending nights hot or cold because they had to turn the A/C or the heat off, to save money. Basch's parents died in a plane wreck when he was sixteen, and he'd done all he could to continue to support her now that regular income had stopped.
They'd barely managed to keep their house, with considerable help from Basch's friend Roderich (which he was reluctant to admit to) but now, he couldn't work, and Lili was doing all she could to keep them alive. He was sick. He needed a heart transplant.
That would not come easy.
Lili wasn't old enough to work yet, so she spent all the time she could babysitting, mowing lawns, and yes, embarrassingly, panhandling. Roderich was in college, and could only help her so much with a monthly envelope filled with as much cash as he could spare (usually it was two to three hundred dollars).
Lili nearly stopped attending school to panhandle and work more, but Basch insisted that she go. He set up an Etsy service where they knitted scarves and sweaters (They both knew how to do this from Mrs. Zwingli) and made some money off of that.
But not enough.
Not enough to get Basch a new heart, not enough to pay a hospital bill, and now they were in debt, and Lili was desperate.
Which was how she found herself keeping in contact with a friend Roderich's, a very young doctor who was patient enough to answer her questions and offer her words of encouragement.
Matthew Williams was a nice, friendly young man who'd been a doctor for almost a year, barely twenty one and having graduated medical school when he was nineteen after managing to finish high school at fourteen. He was eager to help people out and was willing to suggest things for Lili to help her make money for Basch.
It was a warm Friday evening when Matthew called her, and told her of an opportunity, and to come to the clinic instantly.
Alfred was very friendly.
"If you win, you could get enough money to set you for life," He grinned, spreading his hands, "You and your brother could both go to college, no debt. We could arrange instantly for a heart transplant. No waiting lists, none."
"But..." Lili looked from Matthew to Alfred, feeling small and nervous, "What happens if I lose the game?"
"Then, you just lose!" Alfred knelt down in front of Lili, smiling widely at her, "I love helping people, Lili. And, I really love games! What's more fun than combining them together?"
Lili glanced at Matthew, who was nodding encouragingly, also smiling at her. They both had the same face, height, and build, which led to Lili's next question-
"Are you guys twins?"
Alfred blinked, before grinning, and Matthew threw his head back and laughed.
"Yeah, but don't tell anyone," Alfred put his fingers to his lips, "Nobody can know."
"I won't tell," Lili said, but she thought it was sort of obvious. The same face. She wondered how she hadn't noticed before. Lili looked down at the card in her hand, with Alfred's phone number written on it. Should she really? She didn't know Alfred, but she knew Matthew, and he said it was perfectly okay...
Lili looked back up, directing her attention to Matthew.
"Are you sure? Is this safe?"
Matthew knelt down as well, so he was face to face with her.
"I did it before," Matthew told her, "Three years ago, battling lung cancer. Alfred saved my life."
Lili raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"He wouldn't help out his own brother?"
"We sort of hated each other back then," Alfred interjected, "He lived in Canada with our dad as a med school student, and I was here enjoying being a young millionaire."
Lili closed her eyes and took a deep breath, imagining winning the game. She'd come home with the money, and they'd get Basch a heart transplant, and then he could go to college with Roderich and all his other friends, and Lili could continue school and graduate, and they'd have no debts to worry about, no endless unpaid hospital bills. And she'd be taking care of Basch. She'd be repaying him.
It tugged at her heart. She was a bit uncertain. But she had to do this. For Basch. So he could live.
Lili opened her eyes to find the patient faces of Matthew and Alfred staring back at her, and Lili took a breath before nodding,
"I'll do it."
"Great!" Alfred straightened up, shaking her hand, before turning to Matthew, "Great! Thank you both."
"No," Lili said, smiling back, "Thank you."
"Lung cancer, that's new," Alfred chortled long after the clinic had closed, "What happened to leukemia? Or the broken toe?"
"Shut up," Matthew rolled his eyes, "It was just a little easier to convince her than the average. She didn't even ask why she has to meet in front of the house."
"Yeah, well," Alfred tipped his head back, staring at the ceiling, "I wish I had a little forewarning about this. What happened about not including more than one of your patients in this?"
"She's not my patient, so she most likely won't be associated with me if she loses," Matthew pointed out, before crossing his arms, "I'm surprised you even allowed her. Too young and too innocent."
"The young and innocent ones always hold the best surprises," Alfred grinned at him, "But who's she going to tell, anyways? She doesn't have enough time to tell any friends, and she probably won't tell Basch."
"Why wouldn't she? She tells him everything," Matthew sighed, sitting down in his chair. He studied Alfred on the side couch, fiddling with the threads on the cushion.
"Basch is protective of her, judging from everything she's said," Alfred lazily turned his head to grin at him, "No way she'll tell him, it'll give him an opportunity to stop her. She knows that. She wants to help him. So she'll do it in secret."
"I hate it when you do that," Matthew grumbled, "You act stupid and then you're smart again."
"It's not me being smart," Alfred set the cushion down, before standing up, "Psychology. I may have failed that course, but I still remember a few things."
"Shocking," Matthew muttered, before raising his voice, "Please don't leave any blood stains on the dining room floor this time. I had to explain them to Gilbert on our date that I had a bloody nose from getting punched. It was embarrassing."
"Ahh, Gilbert," Alfred sighed, before straightening his jacket. Matthew did not like his tone of voice.
"What?"
"Nothing," Alfred shook his head before raising his voice, "What about the patient? Can't be bothered to remember her name."
"Linh," Matthew answered, pocketing his pens and clearing off his desk for the night. He didn't like his brother's answer of 'nothing', but he decided to let it drop. For now. "She's usually a bit expressionless. A thousand bucks says you can't make her scream."
"I'll double it to two thousand that I can make her scream and cry," Alfred thumped his twin on the back, before walking to the door, humming happily, content with his thoughts.
He had his contestants. He had everything ready.
He was ready to play the game.
Alfred stepped out into the night, where a sleek black car was waiting for him. It was much more convenient to be driven around than driving himself. He did love cars, but they were often subjected to getting keyed (as they were usually nice and expensive; perfect victims) and as he considered his collection of cars his own children, he decided to just have someone else drive him in a generic black car.
Sliding into the passenger's seat (he didn't like being in the back) Alfred glanced towards Arthur, who was tapping his fingers on the steering wheel.
"Ten minutes longer than you said you'd be," Arthur said in an annoyed voice, "Would it kill you to be on time, for once in your rich, spoiled life?"
"No, because that would be no fun," Alfred smiled at the angry blond before leaning over and pecking him on the cheek, "You're the only one besides Mattie who can talk to me like that."
"It is both a blessing and a curse," Arthur muttered, before starting the car, "My brothers are all ready."
"Great," Alfred rubbed his hands eagerly together, "Also, the red-haired one-"
"Cameron."
"-yeah, him, tell him not to get so violent this time, alright?" Alfred rolled down his window as the car pulled out of the clinic parking lot, and they drove onto the highway, "Bullets are actually very expensive."
"Shut up, you stupid rich millionaire," Arthur rolled his eyes, and Alfred smiled once again.
Lili did not tell Basch where she was really going or why. No way he would allow her to do what she was doing now.
"I'm going over to Greta's," Lili told Basch as she stood in front of him carefully chopping carrots. He blinked at her, before saying,
"What?"
"I'm going to Greta's. I might be staying the night," Lili managed to lie smoothly, but her finger nervously played with a strand of blond hair, and Basch looked back down at his carrots before asking,
"What will you be doing?"
"Oh, pizza," Lili made up on the spot, before biting her lip, "And bowling. For fun. Is that okay with you?"
Basch set down his knife, closing his eyes, sighing, and opening them.
"Okay," He said, before turning and giving her a tight hug, "Okay. Good. Have fun, please."
"I will," Lili nodded against his shoulder, and she could feel his faint, shaky heartbeat against her own chest, and it made her fingers tighten on his arms, "I'll be back by eight if I do spend the night, I promise."
"No," Basch told her as he pulled away, "You can be home by noon. As long as you're having fun. But no later than twelve thirty. Okay?"
"Okay," Lili nodded.
The house that belonged to the address scrawled on the business card looked abandoned, old, and creepy, so Lili sat down on the curb and waited for somebody to come, as Alfred had said they would. Her knees were drawn to her chest, and she rested her head on them. She had managed to find one of her older, nicer dresses tucked in the back of her closet, soft purple and just a little too short-it was supposed to be knee-length, but it was nearly an inch or so above her knees. Still, it didn't wrinkle in odd places or constrict her tightly, and it was much nicer than anything else she owned, so she wore it along with a jacket Basch had made her on her thirteenth birthday.
The night was cold and wet, and more than once she had to swat a mosquito away from her arms. The only lights that illuminated the night were three yellow lamps, one which was flickering, and the silvery glow of the moon. Lili waited for almost ten minutes in the muggy night, hugging her knees to herself, when a dark car came rolling down the street, the night sky devoid of stars. Standing up, Lili glanced around. The street was empty.
The car stopped, and a man much taller than her with red hair stepped out of it, dressed in a crisp suit with a pack of cigarettes sticking out of one of his pockets. He looked rather uncomfortable in his suit.
"Lili Zwingli?" He asked in a strong accent, which Lili could not identify, and she nodded. She felt very nervous as he opened the door to the back seat, saying, "In you go, lass."
The car ride was longer than Lili had thought it would be. Nearly an hour, and night had really fallen then. Lili occasionally glanced up front to see that the man's green eyes were fixed on her, intense and unblinking, and she'd glance away.
Her fists tightened nervously in her lap, and she felt her heart pound against her rib cage. Her heart, strong and steady, continuous in it's flow. She remember that Basch's had never felt like that. It had always been a little weaker than her own, but still steady and consistent. Over the past year, it was getting weaker. Inconsistent. He'd had to go to the hospital twice. Lili suddenly regretted leaving him by himself for the night. What if something else bad happened? What if he needed her, but couldn't reach her?
He'd call Greta's parents and find out that no, Lili hadn't really gone to her house, and then he'd panic, and he'd call the police, and stress himself out, and...
"We are here," The man said, and Lili came back to reality with a thump. The car rolled smoothly onto a long driveway, and the man stopped the engine and stepped out. Lili took a deep breath as she herself stepped out of the car, thinking to herself that everything would be fine, and she shouldn't think about it too hard.
The red-haired man locked the car behind her, before turning away, walking towards a huge house-no, mansion-as it began to rain lightly. Lili followed him, fists clenched at her sides.
"Welcome," The man said as he led her up the steps, and there seemed to be a laugh hidden within his accented voice, "To the Jones manor."
Yes, the concept is based off the horror movie, Would You Rather, which scarred me for life.
I've actually written this entire thing since watching it, but I won't post the chapters all at once.
Written this because I haven't ACTUALLY ever written horror.
Reviews appreciated for a first-time genre!