[TH] "Russian Roulette" (2200 words)
“Come on… it won't hurt you will it? Just a calm game of Russian roulette… to keep our guests entertained.”
Shoko said with a knowing grin on her face. She held a six chambered pistol in her hand facing it towards me. I gulped a bit, my heart raced, as my chest felt tight all the sudden, rendering me speechless.
Russian roulette. The game where life has no meaning and death becomes a joke while foolishly playing with a gun. The kind of game where people assume they will be reincarnated if they just play a friendly game of ‘play with your life because it's a normal thing’.
I could barely breathe, my anxiety and fear seemed to speak the same language as they talked to my brain. I glanced at my sweaty palms.
Was all of this worth it? Why did I get dragged by such a psychopathic woman… She's absolutely insane!
The woman was wearing a white blouse that covered from her shoulder to her wrist, her wrist had pitch black cuffings with what looked like bright golden buttons at the corners. A black vest went over the blouse and a beautifully bloody red colored ribbon on her neck, this matched with her leggings and the miniskirt that went from her waist to the middle of her thighs. All of this while the clothes being wrapped around her curves perfectly, giving that elegant mature look.
She stepped closer to me. Her aroma and perfume was almost hypnotic. The different mixes of vanilla, lavender and the small whiff of rose infested my nose. Her smirk didn't waver. Not once. She kept her smug look that was both alluring and unsettling.
“Wow… you know… these games don't really fit you don't they… such a softie you are…”
‘Softie…’
Her voice was almost drunken, she let her words purr a bit, it was clear she knew her way with men. I kept trying to grasp the situation I was left in. Expensive chandeliers, expensive wooden tables and bright white polished marble that was under our feet which followed across the whole room.
“I… don't quite know the rules… can you… like explain it to me…”
I lied. Of course I knew how to play. Playing these games with friends was a tradition when they turned 18. Friends would gather and drink alcohol, get themselves really damn drunk then play peekaboo with their lives. No pain no gain as they say. My brain tried to think of some way to get out of this. Jerking my eyes back and forth, I kept racking my head.
Shoko's hands slowly followed across my body, no fear whatsoever, she slithered around my waist and nodded. She gave a mocking look, a soft smile that had no softness nor warmth, just a cold heartless woman wearing the costume of some kind girl. It was a dirty trick.
“Of course of course… but I know where your eyes are following dear… there isn't any escape, the room is rigged with cameras for the guests of our show, and the doors are locked, you try and open it. Boom. dead, you wouldn’t even know it, all it would do is blow on your face, rigged with explosives. unconscious in a second.”
That smirk she had on her face infuriated me, made me disgusted, all of this. I grit my teeth as I fell stiff. Her hands slithered up my face, caressing my cheeks with the cold hands that had no closure, no love. It felt sad for a moment. Before she stepped closer, our bodies were one step from touching.
“Why don’t we amuse them then? We have nothing to lose, in the end we will both die.”
She stepped on step backwards, straightened her back and clothes, giving a more professional mature look though the flirtation didn’t leave. Without moving I realized I was already on the trap door myself, my eyes widened. Directly under her stood a trap door on the bottom of her feet, a marble trap door, it was clear from the hinges on the sides. She looked directly at me while pointing the pistol at my forehead. She acted that way, flirted with me, to push me back into the trap door, it was clear that she had done this more than once. It felt almost scripted, like every word that came from her mouth wasn’t hers, she was a lamb at her own game. No, more like we were both pawns to the unseen king that she called ‘boss’.
She then shrugged, as she opened the barrel to show that this Russian roulette game wasn’t a bluff, one bullet stood on one of the chambers while the rest of the 5 were empty. After a good glance she spun it and swung it back in place simultaneously.
“One spin and then we start. This won’t be one bullet, one spin each turn. The boss doesn’t like when games are boring like that, big risk, big reward he says.”
She then pointed the muzzle at the side of her forehead. No fear whatsoever. Scripted.
“You know… the key to Russian roulette is to never assume the first few bullets will kill you. If you assume that then you won’t ever get the confidence to just pull the trigger. So just think that since it's 1/6 chance to die, that 1/6 chance won’t happen since it only started.”
With no hesitance she pulled the trigger.
Click.
I let out a sigh of relief subconsciously, not sure why but maybe it had to do with not wanting to witness such a grueling death right in front of my eyes. But that did also mean it was my turn.
1/5 chance now. The chance of survival would just keep getting slimmer and slimmer with every shot.
She extended her arm with the pistol’s handle facing me, I hesitantly grabbed it and looked at the pistol, as though examining it. I faced her eye to eye, my expression read confused.
“How do you know I won’t just shoot you right here, I have the gun in my hand.”
The pistol was in my control, I could shoot her at any moment, any moment I can just spam the trigger until it shoots.
“I can also just check the position and just change it, you basically just gave me your win.”
Her smirk didn’t waver, no such fear or panic in her expression, practically unfazed by that fact, all she did was put her hands up and shrugged.
“Absolutely nothing. Nothing at all, you can shoot me, you can cheat, I can’t do anything, I am merely a pawn, a slave, I don’t have any will of my own. The one who controls that is the boss. The boss chooses when or where I die, how or why I die. My life is in his hands. And you entering this game… you are also in my position now. Lambs to the slaughter. It doesn’t matter if I die, they will replace me, you will die, and this exciting cycle will continue. That bastard will keep getting amused while the pigs watch us die. No will, no life. That's my life.”
She didn’t have any remorse nor emotion in her tone. No sadness, just cynical sarcasm that kept her going. She scoffed.
“So go ahead. Kill me if you want. I am already shackled to that man. There’s no point in revolting… you know what I mean?”
I glanced back at the gun before putting it up to the side of my forehead. Imitating what she had done before. My anxiety spiked as a cold sweat dripped down. It made me think, this shot can be the end of me. I gulped, my heart raced as my past started to flash before my eyes. My throat tightened and prevented me from breathing properly, I started to hyperventilate as I then impulsively pulled the trigger.
Click.
My eyes widened. My heart skipped a beat in relief. I started to breathe heavily as relief filled my expression with bliss.
Shoko chuckled softly. without a word, extending her arm.
“You see? The first round will always be easy, now on to the next round, shall we?”
1/4. Two more rounds. I didn’t really get the details on how I would actually get money out of this, all she said was if you want money from a tiny game. Death was not stated in this contract. But now in this state, I just have to swallow this hard pill and get out of this safely.
“Now here is where it gets harder. 4 times. 1 of them is going to be the death of us, exciting isn’t it. You or me, you or me, you or me…”
Click.
Without any hesitance she kept talking while she pulled the trigger. Showing that this game was only child’s play. She laughed with a sweet purr at the end of it.
“Wow… I really thought I was going to die, that would have been way more exciting, dontcha think? To be or not to be? Shakespeare has a way with words that just fits any context. Playing games like this is just a gamble, but fun nonetheless. Will I survive or die? Every second is just fear tugging at your heart strings. Fear alongside excitement of course.”
“How… Can you enjoy playing with your life? Does life have no meaning? Is life that boring that you just toy with life and death?”
I couldn’t possibly fathom what went through her head. What kind of psychopath takes this as fun? My eyes in shock fixated at her sarcastic smirk. Playing with your life just shows how numb you have gotten to life as a whole. What type of world has she witnessed? What type of struggles did she face? It was all just so…. Alluring…
Her smirk faded. All that was left was a solemn look. She held the pistol tight in her hands out of frustration and a bit of sadness. But before a few seconds could pass she quickly hid her emotions under the rug and scoff.
“Debts are a large thing to pay for. And parents are useless. So the poor little girl has to fend for herself against the big bad mafias. That's life.”
It was a cynical way of thinking, and truly a sad life she was living. A feeling of pity sprouted in me as I hesitated on how to react, all I could do was just nod.
“I… am sorry…”
She started cackling loudly.
“What are you apologizing for, sweetheart. My life is none of your worries, I am stuck with an arrogant fool who loves to make pretty girls seduce men into fun death games, and you’re a victim, you know you should be vexing me, not feeling pity.”
“But, it's not like you wanted to be in that situation, you didn’t choose to seduce men into these situations. It's not your fault.”
Shoko felt exposed. She felt her cheeks grow warm for only a second before scoffing. She grew bitter.
“Shut it. I don’t want to hear it.”
Her firm walls that surrounded her were slowly cracking, the ones that she made, that she tried to break for years, now it was cracking, but something within her shouted at her, telling her to patch it back up again. Telling her it's just a trap. Another trap, flashes of her memories started appearing. She bit her tongue to make herself stop.
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up shut up shut up!”
Like a child crying because her toy castle got destroyed. She narrowed her eyes as tears flooded without permission. In the end she was a broken girl trying her best to navigate through the harsh reality she was put in with no guide. She went down on her knees as they buckled. Covering her face in her own sorrows.
“I am sorry… I just want to be free… I just want t-”
Bang.
Blood started gushing from her neck as she got shot, all the blood started to soak into her clothes, giving no time to think. In one shot she died, straight to her jugular vein. The steam from the bullet gushed out from her neck. A giant puddle of blood enveloped around her.
I couldn’t register what happened. All of it happened in a second, my mouth opened in shock as I just stared into her limp body, her hands slowly lost touch and her pupils faded. No smile, nor frown, just dried tears and a slightly opened mouth.
I grit my teeth and looked for where it hit from. Still under the trap door the PA system turned on. A man’s voice appeared, deep and serious.
“My my… I guess she was useless… well… My dear participant… I would love to see you in person but you won this game, so here’s your reward.”
The trap door opened as I lost balance. Falling into the dark abyss that was under the trap door. As my heart dropped. I kept falling. Trying to grab onto something. But I couldn’t find anything to grip onto. Falling. Falling into the unknown.