Marley likes board games.
Jake can remember a million different things about her, but as soon as he sees the hobby shop down the street that one little snippet about his girlfriend - ex-girlfriend - pops right back into his head and drives him to head in that direction. Her birthday is coming up soon, and even though she told him not to get her anything he can't help it. Even after everything that had gone down between the two of them, after his fling with Bree and Marley's attempt to rebound with Ryder, more shouting and fights than Jake cares to remember and the two of them nearly being abandoned by the rest of the club because nobody wanting to pick sides, Jake can't help but keep on loving her.
So he'll get her a present. Not something big and obnoxious that would make her feel smothered, no, it had to be a small token that would show that he cared about her. He opened the door of the shop and was greeted by stacks upon stacks of games, old and new. Some of them he remembered seeing briefly in commercials as a child. Some of them where plain cardboard and plastic, and others had as many bells and whistles and moving parts as a video game. Jake smiled - there had to be something in this place that would catch Marley's interest.
Jake waved at the old man behind the counter, but the shopkeeper didn't look up from his paper. The boy figured he could find his way around on his own. Thumping tribal music was drifting into his ears. The old dude must have an odd taste in music, Jake thought as he perused the games. A few of them caught his eye, but nothing really popped they way he wanted them too. Pandemic, Mouse Trap, a variant of Clue using historical figures - they all seemed uninspired. Or maybe Jake was just paranoid that he would pick wrong and loose one of his last chances to win Marley back.
The drumming kept on going, and it seemed to be getting louder. "Hey, could you turn the music down dude?" he called to the shopkeeper. The man looked up and scowled at Jake.
"Turn it down yourself, punk!" the man called back, before turning back to his reading and muttering something about the damn kids these days with their loud music and macpads and boomtubes. Jake didn't know what the man was saying, but he looked around and realized that there weren't any visible speakers in the store. The drumming must just be his imagination. Either that, or it was coming from one of the games that somehow got turned on.
Jake followed the noise, which got louder as he moved towards the corner of the store. The shelves got less and less organized as he moved past them, until he found a pile that was laying in total disarray. A single sign read "miscellaneous", and it certainly looked that way. There wasn't a single unifying factor between any of the games piled there except for the fact that they clearly weren't valuable enough to display prominently. Still, the drumming was definitely coming from this pile. Jake kneeled down and began moving boxes out of the way. Each action made the beats louder and louder, like the game was calling to him. Which was totally ridiculous, but then again he had spent who knows how long breathing in a gas leak at school. Brain damage wouldn't surprise him at this point.
Jake felt his hands brush against something a good bit more solid than the cardboard boxes he'd been expecting, and the drums stopped. Jake frowned and grabbed the box, pulling out out from the pile. It was made of solid wood, and the front was expertly carved to show a jungle scene. Images of a monkey, a rhino, an elephant, and a safari explorer where carved into each corner. A single word appeared in the centre of the box: "Jumanji".
The game looked old. Ludicrously old. Hell, it practically looked like an antique. Jake looked at the back, but there wasn't anything written. He opened it up to see if there where any rules. The top unfolded to the sides, revealing a game board with twisting and turning paths all leading towards a glass circle in the center. Given the apparent age of the game it was a wonder that it hadn't been cracked. In the corner were four pieces made to look like animals - a rhino, a crocodile a monkey, and an elephant - and a pair of dice. On the sides were the game instructions. Jake whispered them to himself as he read them.
"Jumanji: a game for those who wish to find a way to leave their world behind. You roll the dice to move your token, doubles get another turn, and the first one to reach the end wins. Adventurers beware: do not start until you intend to finish. The exciting consequences of the game will vanish only when a player has reached Jumanji and called out its name. Huh." Jake smirked at the rhymes shoehorned into the directions. This was definitely interesting. Marley would surely get a kick out of it. Hopefully.
He picked up the box - it was kinda heavy, but he managed - and carried it over to the old man's counter, dropping it on top with a loud thud. The shopkeeper jumped at the noise and looked over at Jake. "How much for this?" the boy asked. The man reached out and examined the game.
"Hmm…doesn't look like there's a price tag on it. However, I can give it to you for the price of, let's say, fifty dollars."
Jake glared at the man in disbelief. "Fifty? Really? For a board game? This thing is like, twenty bucks or lower."
The man held the game up. "Ah, but this is clearly no ordinary game. Can't you see how it was painstakingly hand-crafted from the finest wood available?" Jake continued to give the old man a look, and eventually he resented. "Fine. Thirty five. Plus tax."
Jake sighed. Thirty five (and them some) was a pretty steep price, especially since Jake wasn't exactly overflowing with cash. Still, it was for Marley…"Alright, I'll take it." Jake handed over the money and walked out with the game under his arm. In the back of his mind he could still hear the drums.
