AUTHOR NOTE

Hey guys! This game scene was supposed to be one chapter, but it didn't feel right uploading that, so I reworked it and made it a bit longer. I went over my word count a bit lol, but I hope you guys enjoy it! I'll be releasing two chapters this week too!

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A GAME. Fucking, of course.

"All of you must've had really shitty childhoods," I said, eyeing Jookie as he plopped into one of the leather chairs, "because all you fuckers wanna do is play. You have a game for everything."

Jookie grinned, teeth shining under the bright lights. "Don't forget our loopholes."

"Trust me, I haven't forgotten." I crushed my fist into a ball, thinking of how I couldn't kill Gmie and Demo because of a loophole.

"But all that aside, let's play," Jookie said as his purple eyes twinkled like unicorn vomit. "I missed church yesterday, so I need you to lose."

"What does me losing have to do with you going to church?"

"Watching someone die is like going to church for me. I feel so rejuvenated and blessed afterward." He smiled, cheeks pinching. "Come on, the sooner we start, the faster Rucker dies."

My nails dug into my palm, as I tried to control the tsunami of harsh emotions coursing throughout my heart. It took everything in me not to strangle him. He always knew exactly what to say to make everything worse.

"Did I strike a nerve?" he asked, teeth shining. 

Yes, yes you did. And for that, I wish that the devil would fly up from hell, bringing a giant spiked dildo made of fire and brimstone with him. And I hope he repeatedly sticks it up your ass until you bleed internally. And then, I hope he skins you alive and uses your skin to make a condom, and I hope he uses said condom to fuck you for eternity, using only your blood and spit as lube. "No, I'm fine," I said with a fake, sweet smile on my face.

I then turn back to the window, catching a glimpse of Rucker.

A rash of sweat beaded his tense body, sliding down his skin like he was in a bad rainstorm. Eyes looking wild and frantic, Rucker kept thrashing against the chains wrapped around his arms and upper body, as his neck whirled around, watching the sharp saws rush back and forth through the rising water like sharp fins.

"Can I talk to him?"

"You gotta make a decision first. Are you gonna—"

"Of course, I'm gonna fucking play." The words came out quick and harsh. "I just want to calm him down and let him know what's going on."

Jookie took out a phone and pressed on it. The glass in the window cleared, going from SD to 8k in the matter of a second. "He can see and hear you now."

"Rucker?" I called out, and he immediately flicked his head to me, eyes wide.

"Betinia," he yelled, arms lashing around, the chains clanking together like steel pots on metal. "Are you alright? They grabbed me right after you went in, and I thought something happened to you..." A hoarseness lined his words, almost like he was tired and had been hollering for hours.

His voice made everything in me hurt, every breath making it more intense. "I'm f-fine," I said, my heart humming in my chest like someone was beating it with a wooden mallet on a dirty cutting board.

Rucker was literally about to get sawed in half, and his first instinct was to ask about me. I closed my eyes, an itchy tingling sensation forming in my sockets. I was going to be his downfall. I was literally becoming the thing that made me distance myself from people — a weakness. His weakness.

"They just stopped me from killing Gmie and Demo. Apparently they're off-limits," I said, opening my eyes and looking at him.

He shimmed his hips, positioning himself better in the awkward chair. "Wait, what?" he asked, eyebrows arching.

"Never mind, it doesn't matter, anyway." All that mattered was getting him out of here. "Don't freak. I'm gonna get you out of here."

"Uh yeah, why am I even here?" Rucker asked, pulling on the chain. "Is this another challenge?"

"No, you're here because she acted stupid," Jookie said with a bored expression. "And can you hurry this dramatic saga up, please? I got shit to do and other people to torture."

I spit out a breath, clenching my fingers. "I swear to god I'm going to fucking stab you one day. Right in your dick hole."

He licked his lips. "Not like it'll hurt. I already have a piercing there, and I like a little dick pain."

"Didn't look like you enjoyed my foot massage earlier?" I smirked, thinking of the way his eyes twirled when I kneed him. Perfection.

"You," Jookie started with a grim expression.

"Could you two stop flirting and tell me what the fuck's going on?" Rucker said, glaring.

"Betinia did something stupid," Jookie said with a shrug. "And this is her consequence."

"What did you do?" Rucker asked, turning his head to look at me.

I averted my eyes, bracing myself for his yells. "Uh, they told me not to attack Demo and Gmie, and I uh sort of gently... stabbed Demo." I held up my hands. "But she attacked me first."

Jookie snickered. "You could've bitched slapped her or something, but you chose to almost gut her. And you kneed me, remember? That was completely uncalled for."

"Uncalled for?" I jerked my head. "You deserved that and more." I turned back to Rucker. "I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking — I just reacted."

That was my issue. I got so heated and pissed sometimes that I couldn't control myself, and I did things without thinking. Betinia warned me this would happen, and I didn't listen. I thought I was better, stronger, that I had it under control, but I guess I didn't. And now Rucker's gonna pay for it.

No, I wouldn't let him pay for it. I'm Tini. I could do this.

Rucker looked down for a second. "It's alright. I'm not dead yet, so there's a reason they kept me alive this long."

"Yeah, I have to play a game, and if I win, you live," I said, voice coming out soft as his face paled, probably thinking of the outcome if I lost.

"What game?" Rucker asked, stretching out his fingers and scratching the fake leather chair.

"Truth or Lie," Jookie said, leaning back in his chair. "We'll go through nine statements and you decide whether the statements are true or a lie. You have to get at least five right to win." He smiled. "To make the game a bit easier, you get one lifeline."

"Lifeline?"

"You get to ask one contestant for help."

"Do I get a lifeline per question?"

"No," he said, wiggling his eyebrows. "One for the whole game."

"Are you serious?" I punched the window, seeing a tiny crack form in the clear glass. "This game's rigged. How am I gonna get five right? You could literally give me statements on things I know nothing about. How's that fair?"

"The statements will be centered around your host." The annoying robotic voice came over the speakers again, pissing me off even more. "And talk about his life."

Jookie shot out of the leather chair, knocking it to the floor. "Huh? What?" His eyes glared at the ceiling.

"The viewers want to get to know you better so why not do it now?" A little humor entered the robotic voice, making it sound almost human.

The rage on Jookie's face made me laugh, and he gave me an irritated look, which made me laugh harder. Good. I had no idea why this bothered him so much, but good.

"I wouldn't be smiling so much," Jookie said, plopping back down into his seat. "You know nothing about me, so good luck winning."

That wiped the grin right off my lips. He was right. I knew nothing about him or his life. All I knew was that he liked to laugh and kill. You could easily find someone just like that in a crack house.

"Not so funny now, huh?" Jookie asked.

The sweetest of smiles graced my lips. "No, it's still funny. Knowing how much this bothers you just makes this even better for me. You have a blast airing out everyone else's business, now we finally get to see yours."

Eyes dead, Jookie glowered at me before turning to the camera in the corner and giving it his signature smile. "Come on, my little peach," he said, motioning for me to sit across from him. "Let's start the game." His voice had an edge to it like he was holding something back.

"Stop calling me that," I said, glancing at Rucker one more time before sitting.

"Why?" Jookie asked, leaning across the small table. "You don't want to be my delicious peach, anymore?" He pouted. "You still mad? I thought we hashed all that out in the pool earlier."

"No, we didn't. You're still a fake treacherous leech, and I want you to stay eight feet away from me after all this is over. Don't call me peach. Don't flirt with me. Keep your distance. I'm Betinia, and you're the host."

"So cold," he said clutching his chest. "You're quick to throw people away."

"I barely trust, and I have a very low tolerance for fakeness and bullshit, and when you fuck me over, I won't stop until I destroy your whole life."

His eyes locked with mine. "So, you did trust me?"

"Never, but I attempted to think that you weren't like them," I said, nodding to the cameras. "That you weren't a complete piece of shit."

"A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep," Jookie said, watching me.

I knew that quote. Saul Bellows. But what did that have to do with us? With this?

"Confused?" He chuckled. "Everything in life is an illusion. Even us. It's hard for some people to see through those illusions when their heart and mind don't want to believe the truth."

"What?"

He shrugged. "Enough philosophical shit, let's get down to business." He snapped his fingers and all the saws swimming around Rucker stopped and formed around him in a circle, sharp points zipping in the air. "With every wrong answer you give, the saws will move closer and closer. On that fifth wrong answer, they will slice through him, cutting him into eight pieces like a delicious pizza." Jookie grinned as he said the last line.

"Please not my balls," Rucker whined, as a saw loomed in close, a centimeter from his sack.

I spent this whole time, trying not to look directly at Rucker's naked junk, but it was getting kind of hard to do that when the saws kept zeroing in on it. "Can you stop fucking with him and get on with it?"

Jookie held up a finger. "I forgot to mention another rule for the game."

"What now?"

"Every time you give a wrong answer, you get a lash from me."

"What?"

"And you gotta take off a piece of clothing," he said, leaning in close on his elbows.

"You fuck—"

"He didn't make that rule, we did," the robotic voice said over the speakers.

Jookie shrugged and bit his lip. "I don't make the rules. I just enjoy them." He grinned. "Ready?"

I glanced at Rucker, seeing him do some deep breathing while trying to keep on a brave face, but I could see through it. He was worried. "Yes," I said, knowing I would do anything in my power to save him.

I wouldn't lose someone else I cared about. I couldn't. A person could only take so much loss before they snapped.

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