Kurt's heart was doing flips in his chest. The curtains were open. The curtains were open and Karofsky was on the phone and he knew Kurt's shirt was off and how could he know that unless he was here? Kurt ran to the window and stared out into the yard, grabbing his blanket off his bed to cover himself up.

"Aww, don't be like that…" He was teasing him.

"Karofsky," Kurt said, trying to keep his voice level. Don't panic. Please, don't panic. "I don't know why you're here, but please-"

"SHUT UP!" The voice screamed. Making Kurt jump and try to fight back tears. "Shut up! It's not your turn to talk right now, Kurt. It's mine. See, I want to play a game with you."

Kurt wanted to laugh, wondering just when his life had turned into a sick, and terrifyingly real reminder of SAW III. But then Karofsky was speaking again, sweet and calm and leading, and his world was blinking into nothing but the phone pressed against his ear.

"You thought I was gone, didn't you? Made you happy, didn't it? So happy that you could go visit your little glee friends without me breathing down your neck. You called me a Neanderthal, isn't that right, Kurt? Thinking I was gone, that made you so damn thrilled didn't it?" Kurt remained silent, afraid to say anything. "You've been praying for this for months, haven't you? Haven't you, Kurt? ANSWER ME!"

"Yes!" Kurt yelled, jumping again and trying not to hyperventilate. "Yes, I did, I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize." Polite again, like the previous outburst had never happened. "I know that, Kurt. I know everything about you. Even when you were gone at that little fag school, I couldn't get you out of my mind. So I decided to cut some things out of my schedule so I could come see you whenever I wanted. So, are you happy now, Kurt? Answer honestly, please."

"N-no," Kurt whispered, "No, I'm not. Look, Karofsky, I don't know why you're doing this, but it isn't funny. Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Because I like the way you look, Kurt, especially when you're terrified. I've missed you so much, ever since the moment I first laid eyes on you I have been captivated. But even besides that, I already told you why I'm here. I want to play a game, Kurt. Now here's what we're going to do. I'm going to tell you the rules, and you are going to listen, like a good little fag, do you understand? Answer me, Kurt."

"Yes, I understand," Kurt said.

"Good. Now here's how it goes. I am going to call you. You won't when or where the call is coming, but every time I call you, you will answer that call. I might only be calling to say hi, or I might ask you some questions, whatever I feel like talking about. Do you understand so far, Kurt?"

"Yeah." Kurt whispered. This wasn't happening. Oh, please, this wasn't happening.

"Now, if I ask you a question, you will tell the truth. I'll know when you're lying. And just so we're clear, this game is one-on-one. If you tell anyone else about the game, they may not live long enough to play. Finn is too stupid to protect himself, and with your dad still recovering from that little heart issue… You understand, Hummel?"

"Yes," Kurt said softly.

"That's good. It's a very simple game, isn't it?"

"Y-yes."

"Of course, you can always choose not to play, Kurt. I don't want you to think you can't choose. But bear in mind that if you don't play, I'll have to come up with… something else to take up my time. Do you understand me, Kurt?"

Kurt hated hearing his voice spoken like that, like he was a child, but at the moment he was too scared to care, "Yes, I understand," He said numbly.

"Good. Now, it looks like your dad is coming up the stairs to check on you right now. I don't want him to have any hard questions for us to answer, do you? Because I'm not really very good at talking things out, and there's always a chance things might get violent…"

"No. No, I don't want that. Please," Kurt whispered. He could hear his dad's footsteps now, heavy and clunking against the new floorboards. Karofsky laughed.

"Good, well then, until the next round. Good bye, Kurt."

The beep of Karofsky hanging up sounded loud in Kurt's ears. Almost loud enough to cover up the sound of Burt opening his bedroom door.

"Kurt?"

Kurt snapped the phone shut and turned to his dad. Burt's face was solemn, torn in confusion. "Yes, Dad?" Kurt said. His voice was even higher than usual, and coughed to cover it, blinking his eyes rapidly so his dad wouldn't see how wide they were.

"We're supposed to be on the road, Kurt. You don't even have a shirt on, what have you been doing in here?" Burt scanned the room, taking in his son's phone still in his palm. "Have you been on the phone with somebody?"

Kurt's heart went into overdrive. He wasn't supposed to tell anyone, he couldn't risk something happening to his dad. "Just Blaine, Dad."

"Your Dalton friend, huh?" Burt grunted. "Well, Kurt, it's time to go… are you okay?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you were over the moon all day today, and now you just seem… Kurt, are you okay?" And his dad was looking at him with that look on his face, and he was going to ask questions, questions that Kurt shouldn't answer, couldn't answer.

"I'm fine, Dad. Look," And Kurt ran over to his dresser, looking just a bit too long at his options before shrugging on a shirt that went perfectly with the rest of his outfit, though for once it didn't hold any joy. Still, the beaming grin he gave his father seemed to placate Burt. At least until he turned back around.

"Okay, kid, we need to get going. Leave your phone here; we don't need those types of distractions." When Kurt stared at him, his face drained of color, Burt snapped, "Kurt, please. It's one night."

Kurt nodded shakily as he set his phone by the bureau and rushed to follow his dad out the door. Burt was right. One night wouldn't hurt anything. It must have just been some stupid prank to get him upset. In fact, with his father there to protect him, it felt more and more like he was simply overreacting.

But he prayed that Karofsky didn't call again.