Games

Ch 19: Worst GIF Ever

"Is he alright? 'Cause he was really pale before the Challenge, and he didn't look so good after it, either, and-"

"Sky! Calm down, he's fine," Seto says, shaking his head and smiling.

I frown. "Why are you smiling? Most of the people in this house just went through traumatizing Challenges!"

He laughs. "It's just that- well, you and Ty-" Seto snorts, shaking his head again.

"What? Tell me!"

"Oh, it's nothing," Seto says, still smiling. "You can go see Ty if you want, but I don't know how he'll react. Physically, he's perfectly fine, but emotionally..? He seems fine, but after watching your Challenge..."

"Yeah," I sigh. "I know." I jump off my bed, moving toward my bedroom door. "I guess I'll try to talk to him."

"Good luck," Seto says, his smile fading as I walk past him toward Ty's room.

"Thanks," I whisper as I knock on Ty's door.

"'Sup?" Ty asks, throwing the door open with a grin. When he sees me, the smile drops off his face, and he frowns instead. "Oh. Hi."

"H-Hi," I stammer, not exactly sure what I want to say.

"So, did you just randomly knock on my door, or did you actually want to tell me something?" Ty asks, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

"U-Uh, I, U-Um, I just, I- Can we talk about the Challenge?" I blurt.

"What's to talk about?" Ty asks. "We just did the Challenge, there's nothing else to it."

"No, but there is!" I argue, desperately wanting back the Ty who doesn't hate me. "Can we please just go back to how we were before the Challenge?"

To my dismay, Ty shakes his head. "No, no we can't."

"Why not?"

"Because things have changed, and we can't act like they haven't."

"Ty, please! I just want my best friend back, please. I didn't mean it when I said I didn't care about you. I just didn't want you to get hurt anymore!"

"I meant it."

"What?"

"I meant what I said in the Challenge."

My breath hitches. "The part where you s-said you couldn't 'say it and mean it?'" I ask hopefully.

"No. The part where I said I didn't care. The part where I said you meant nothing to me."

Oops, there goes my heart again. Someone call the janitor, it isn't safe to have shattered organs spread across the floor.

"B-But, T-Ty-"

"Sorry."

"But we're-"

"Hey, Ian, Quentin, wanna go explore the grounds?" Ty calls, pushing past me to greet the two. They've just stepped out of their room.

"Sure," Ian says. "Is Sky coming?"

"Nah."

So while the three walk out the front door, I stand there in front of Ty's door, frozen in place. After a minute or two, Seto walks down the stairs, sees me, and immediately walks over to stand by me. He doesn't ask me what's wrong, he doesn't tell me it'll be okay; he just hugs me and allows me to cry.

And cry, I do.

xXx

"WELCOME!" I don't even bother to cover my ears or yell back at him. Ever since the incident with Ty, I've sort of just felt numb. Thankfully, the GameMaster gave us an entire week before he announced the next mini-challenge.

Sadly, I spent that entire week crying on my budder bed.

But I'm getting better, I am. I think I'm almost over Ty!

Shut up and celebrate with me, I don't give a crap that the tremor in my voice makes that last statement entirely unbelievable.

"This is your second mini-challenge. Remember, this is not a full Challenge, so all rules still apply," the GameMaster explains. "The two players who will have no choice but to compete in this mini-challenge are... Quentin and Skybrine!"

"Ugh, dang it," Quentin groans, throwing his head back. Ian squeezes his hand reassuringly.

I just stare at the GameMaster, not bothering to protest or even process the fact that I was chosen last week.

But Seto does it for me. "Uh, sir, Sky did it last week. Doesn't that disqualify him?"

The GameMaster rolls his eyes. "Of course not. There are seven mini-challenges and eight of you. If two of you are chosen to be forced to compete in each mini-challenge, some of you are going to have to go twice."

Seto and a few of the others – meaning everyone but Ty – give me worried glances, but I just shrug. "Seems fair," I say. My voice is hoarse from crying and disuse.

"Are you okay?" Jason asks. Ty won't even look at me.

I nod. "I'm probably just getting a cold or something," I lie.

"Who, other than Quentin and Skybrine, wants to compete?" the GameMaster asks.

"What's the challenge?" Mitch asks.

"This mini-challenge tests your mental and emotional strength. You will be asked to solve a simple riddle or word problem. Each of you will have ten riddles, and the first one finished wins."

"Simple enough," Jerome says, shrugging. "Wanna do it, Biggums?"

"Definitely!" Mitch and Jerome raise their hands.

Ian glances at Quentin and then raises his hand, and Seto and Jason exchange a look before raising their hands as well. Finally, Ty sighs and puts his hand up in the air.

"Good, you're all doing it again!" the GameMaster cheers. "You will be teleported to the Riddle Rooms in approximately three seconds."

PIGGLEBIGGLEBOOMZAPBANGTSSSS!

I stand alone in a dark room with light gray walls and a black floor and ceiling. Everything is silent. There's a large screen in front of me and a brown leather recliner behind me, but I don't bother to sit down. Instead I just stare at the screen, waiting for something to show up so I can get this mini-challenge over with.

The screen suddenly lights up, and dark green text floats across it to sit in the middle of a light gray background. "If Mitch has three apples and he gives two to Ty, then what is the circumference of the sun?" it says.

"Yes," I answer out loud. Nothing happens. Am I supposed to push something on the screen, or what..?

"Please type in your answer," an electronic female voice instructs as a keyboard pops out of the recliner.

I sit down in the chair and quickly type in the three letter word. "Yes."

"Congratulations," the electronic voice says. "You have completed the first riddle."

Well. That was easy. Only nine more to go.

The dark green words disappear and are replaced by light blue text. It reads, "Imagine you are on a boat in the middle of the ocean. You are surrounded by man-eating squids, and your boat is about to break. How can you put an end to this situation?"

I type in, "Kill all the squids with my Majestic Budder Sword."

"Incorrect answer. You have two more chances."

Okay, then. I think for a minute, puffing up my cheeks with air, before I finally get an idea. Of course! It's so freaking obvious! "Stop imagining," I type.

"Congratulations. You have completed your second riddle."

The blue text bounces away, and dark red words slide onto the screen. They say, "You are a bus driver. At your first stop, you drop off three kids. At the second, you let off four and pick up two-"

I stop reading. I've heard this one. The last question in the riddle is "What color are the bus driver's eyes?" and since I'm the bus driver, he has the same eye color as me.

Wait, what color are my eyes? They've been glowing yellow for my entire life – until the game show. Now that I no longer have my glowing eyes, what's my eye color?

Erm... Maybe if I just type in "the same color as mine..."

"Congratulations. You have completed your third riddle."

Phew, that was close.

The red letters fall off the screen to make space for brown ones that spell out the words, "A black dog is crossing the street. A man in a car is racing down the street, but he screeches to a halt before he can hit the dog. The man did not have his headlights on. The streetlights are off. There are no nearby lights of any kind. How did the man see the dog?"

Oh, I've heard this one, I know I have. Maybe... Argh, I have no idea. I'll just guess. "The dog was wearing a reflective collar."

"Incorrect answer. You have two more chances."

Snap. Kay, how 'bout, "The man is Herobrine/Skybrine and has glowing eyes."

"Incorrect answer. You have one more chance."

Dang it. Come on, Sky, think! What if-

OH! Oh, of course! It's during the day! The man doesn't need lights to see the dog because it's in the middle of the day!

I hastily type in the words, "It's the middle of the dau."

"Incorrect answer. You have run out of chances."

Stupid typo.

"Please sit still and watch the video," the electronic voice says as a metal strip flies out of the recliner's right armrest and attaches to the left one. I find myself trapped on the recliner, unable to move as the video begins on the screen. Reluctantly, I turn my attention to the screen.

"I meant what I said in the Challenge."

"The part where you s-said you couldn't 'say it and mean it?'"

"No. The part where I said I didn't care. The part where I said you meant nothing to me."

I suck in a breath as I realize the video is replaying the audio from a week ago when I tried to talk to Ty about the Challenge. The audio replays over and over until I feel like, five years from now, I would still be able to quote exactly what Ty and I said in those moments.

Then the audio changes, as does the blank screen. Ty's face pops up there. He looks confident and sure of himself as he says calmly, "I have no feelings whatsoever for Sky. He means nothing to me."

And the video is on a seemingly never-ending loop.

Lol, but how funny would it be if this were an actual GIF and I could put it on the side? *sigh*

Except if Sky found it, his heart would be broken, because we all know Sky and Ty are secretly dating IRL...

(The day after writing the first bit of that author's note, I read over it and went, "Omigosh, am I really that heartless? O.O.")

Baiii, my be-ay-yoo-tiful Rulers!