THE GAME

EPISODE 1

"Give me just enough information so that I can lie convincingly." - Stephen King

.

.

.

"What the hell did you just f*cking do?!"

"I promise you, I didn't do anything! I caused nothing."

"Then what the heck is this, huh?" She asks as she threw the dark-colored paper bag onto her. She takes it with trembling hands and gasped as she opens the bag, revealing the secret she never wanted to remember"

"No!" Franz shouted as the nightmare strike her out of sleeping. She could feel her sweat dripping unstoppable, making her take deep breaths. After a few seconds, her Aunt Lei came rushing into her room.

"I heard you shouted. Everything alright?" She asks. She did nod but fell flat onto her bed again.

"Bad dream?" She asks her as she sits at the side of the bed, facing her.

"More like a nightmare."

"Want to tell me about it?"

"It’s just a fragment but all I can remember is that I'm looking at a girl wearing the same uniform as I wore at school. I don't know but, I kinda confronted her and gave her something. "

"What is that something, sweetie?"

"Well, it was just like a dark paper bag or plastic, I guess. But I didn't know what's inside."

"Maybe just a weird nightmare, right? No deeper meaning."

"But aunt Lei, I had a dream the other nights too. Some nights, I've dreamt about guys too with the same uniform, and all I did is to hand them paper bags and that's where the nightmare ends. I'd end up shouting some words and I think it's not normal anymore!"

"Okay sweetie, just calm down okay? If you feel like it's not normal anymore, I'll call you a psychiatrist and appoint you a meeting okay?"

"Thanks, auntie."

"Now, don't worry about it now, okay? Because you need to get up and go to school, got it?"

She nodded as her aunt hug her before going out and continue making some breakfast. On the other hand, she did what her aunt told her, as she gets ready for school.

After a couple of minutes, she finally headed down, as her nostrils met a delicious aroma of her bacon and egg for breakfast, two toasted bread with caramel she would crave, and her fat-free milk that satisfied her morning.

"Breakfast is ready. Come join me already, sweetheart." With that, it made her mood switch to happiness and joined her auntie.

"So, I've made a call earlier, and luckily, I have a close friend who happens to be around. Dr. Wilson is free this afternoon at three o'clock."

"Great! I only have until one o'clock this afternoon for class."

"Okay. That's great. Sounds like an appointment."

•••

It was as if the day hadn't met the night before. The crowd is still the same, with the same attitude, clothing with the same school uniform that everyone finds it so boring since the school didn't let the students wear their baggy or sexy clothes. As for girls, all they want is to impress their guys, hoping to show off a bit of skin, but all were frightened to face the school dean. Who would want to be in the office while the others are preparing for Halloween?

As for Franz, the same old routine for the preparation. Since she's the class vice president, she needs to guide her classmates to prepare for the upcoming spooky month, wherein each section, they will be joining the event on classroom decorations, as the tremendous event on November 2, winners will be announced. On each class on the eleventh grade, consisting of 6 sections will be competing with each other, as well as the students on the twelfth grade, will also be having their own set of judges.

And to avoid the "favoritism" part, sections were made to do a fair name picking, as they used the 6 stones from the Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. It may sound so out of the trend for Halloween, but it was a bit tricky for them to conceptualize their designs, making sure that they will be able to make the best masterpiece for Halloween.

As Franz, the Four-eyed Architect they seem to call, manage to reach their classroom just in time. As she steps in, multiple shouts and unwanted noise came destroying her eardrums.

"There she is!!"

"Franz our Architect!!! Finally."

"Gosh. I thought were doomed."

Her friend John, on the other hand, came near her and pulled her towards the noisy officers from the back row of the seating arrangement. They had seemed to form a line, and all officers were getting into the discussion.

"Here. Sit next to me." Her friend manages to save a seat for her, as she would gesture a smile as a sign of her gratefulness.

"Well, luckily we have a designer here, soon to be an architect. So, Franz, I'm sure you've heard about the upcoming celebration."

As much as she doesn't want to spend her time with this, she doesn’t have a choice since it's her responsibility. But the thought she had that she'll be doing all the plans again makes her tried to even agree to this one.

"Yeah. Heard about it." She said that made them smile, especially Lee, being the class president.

"Great! Now, the problem's solved... Just let us be updated on your plan-"

Her anger immediately arises after hearing Lee's word.

"Wait, wait, wait. What does that suppose to mean? Am I doing this again? ALL MY MYSELF?"

"You're our Architect, so you can basically do it-"

"And you're a game programmer too! Shouldn't you even suggest?"

"Hey hey hey. Calm down guys... let's just talk about this calmly and nicely, okay?" John asks as they already gained the whole attention of the class. She looks around and finally calms her nerves before speaking.

"Either you help me out, or were not joining that competition." She said as she decided to go back to her seat, making them silent, moving all back to their right sitting arrangement.

John manages to sit right beside her.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asks with concern.

"No. You see, that's the problem. All they care about is them being benefitted even without a single sweat. He's the president and all he could do is pinpoint anyone to do the job for him. And you know what? F*ck him because I'm no one's slave okay? As much as I have plans and want to help, I can't let him do this forever to his officers because he's not acting like a leader, he's acting like a b*tch-"

"Okay, I get what you mean. But really, are you okay?" He asks again.

"What does that supposed to mean, John?"

"Have you had a good sleep?"

"What kind of ridiculous question is that? Because as far as I'm concerned John, no student could get a good sleep nowadays." She stated that makes him worry more. And at that moment, she has to tell him or else, he would be bothered all day.

"Okay fine. I had a nightmare."

"Was it the same as before?"

"The scenario? Yes. But the people I talk with, no."

"Strange. But interesting."

"How does that interest you?"

"Well, as you may know, I like-"

"Mystery solving type of stories or movies. Yeah, you always tell me."

"Then I guess I'll be the detective of your dreams." He said.

"You're creepy." She admitted.

"Am I creeping you out?"

"No. But the way you talk, or act does."

"Hey! What does that suppose to mean?"

"The other day, you were acting so childish. And yesterday, you were so mad at me for no reason and didn't talk to me the whole day. And now, you're being a detective of my dreams... That gives me the chill, so knock it off."

"What are you talking about, Franz? I didn't all those sh*ts. And I was acting normal."

"Oh come on don't play dumb with me, John." She chuckles as she decided to take out her notebook and pen from her backpack.

"But I am not playing dumb." He said that made her stop and look at him. "And if you wanna mess with me Franz, then bring it on because I'm not the easy one to mess with." He grins jokingly and stares at her eyes.

What the heck is he saying? He was acting weird for the past few days! And I know it because I saw him. But what the heck is he saying!?