The Game

by Scollins, Shane

  He knew about the place, everyone did. It was world famous. Iron Stone Mountain was built in the 1930s. It gained fame and notoriety when a movie was filmed here during the 1960s. Two actors had been murdered on the set by one of the psychologists consulting on the film.

  When the economy tanked years ago, the state had sold it off to a private firm and they closed it, with plans of turning the old gray stone building into luxury condominiums.

  After searching, he found Candice’s holding cell and stepped through the solid door by holding his breath. He willed himself to be visible.

  She looked beautiful, asleep on the bed. Terrible guilt overcame him for getting her into this mess. He had to make it up to her. But the concept of explaining this situation seemed monumental. He’d only explained his situation to one other person in his life, and she didn’t live long enough to understand it.

  He moved next to her and leaned in close. “Candice,” he whispered.

  She opened her eyes. They widened in terror, but quickly narrowed in confusion. She sat up, looked at him, then around the room.

  “Hi.”

  “Vince?” She shuddered. “What’s…how…?”

  He raised his hand to calm her. “Don’t freak out.”

  “I saw you die.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry you had to see that. I didn’t expect they would do it so suddenly right in front of you.”

  “Am I dreaming?”

  “No.”

  She swallowed. “Am I…am I dead, too?”

  “No.”

  “What’s…okay, I’ve lost my mind. Right? This is it, I’ve cracked.”

  “No, you’re not crazy.”

  She looked at him, mouth open. “Okay, if I’m not crazy, then, help me understand this.”

  He took a deep breath. “I’m not sure how.”

  “Try.”

  He sat next to her on the bed. “When I was young, something tragic happened to me. I think I was murdered. But I woke up somehow. I had no memory of who I was. I staggered around, lost and lonely. Only a few people could see me, but most just seemed to ignore me. I didn’t know what was happening. Then, something even more bizarre happened. I woke up in a strange place, a strange house, surrounded by strangers. They were calling me Paul and asking me if I was okay from the fall. I didn’t remember anything. Even though I looked the same, I still looked like me, like I do now, everyone thought I was this Paul Geowick, and I went with it. I tried to be Paul, as best as I could. It worked for a while, but I became obsessed with finding out who I really was. It didn’t take long before I was in trouble as Paul, doing things, chasing ghosts. Then something happened. I got killed and I woke up as someone else. While Paul’s family was burying him, I woke up as Jacob Jorgen. This went on and on. A while ago, I woke up as Vince Markoe, one of New York’s finest. And just like the others, I ruined his name because I could only be me.”

  Candice looked at him with wide eyes and palpable confusion. “This is unbelievable. Is this some sort of joke? Are you in on this? This game?”

  “I wish.”

  “So how many people have you been?”

  He shook his head slowly. “Too many.”

  “But who are you, really?”

  “I don’t know exactly. That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out. Just a few months ago, I learned my name was Lukas, but I can’t even be sure of that. There have been clues along the way. Each time I die, I learn more. Piece by piece. So I die on purpose. I have to be murdered or killed.”

  Candice shook her head. “How is this all related?”

  “I came here to see if Angus was the clue. I came here to die.”

  “I don’t understand. What are you? How does this work?”

  He shrugged. “While I’m living a life, I get a clue, somehow in my head. And I know what I have to do next. I don’t know why, but Angus is the key to all this. I think he may know who I am. But to get another clue, I had to let them kill me. I had to come here to see if I was right.” He recognized the look on her face. “I’m sorry.”

  She raised her hand up to his face. “Wait a second. You knew this was going to happen?”

  “Candice…”

  “No, don’t screw with me.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  She stood. “You bastard, you led me right into the lion’s den.”

  “I know…but I promise—”

  She cut him off. “You don’t promise anything. You freak of nature, get the hell away from me.”

  He stood, reached out to her. “Candice…”

  “Get away from me, don’t even—” She moved to the opposite side of the cell, then circled wide around him and flopped on the bed. “Get your freaky angel-ghost-alien- ass out of here.”

  “I’m going to make this right.”

  “You’re going to wake up as someone else and forget about me.”

  “No, not this time…Candice, I’ve never met anyone like you before. There’s something special about you.”

  “Don’t even start. If I was so special, you wouldn’t have put me here.”

  “I’m going to make it right…I’m sorry, but I had no choice.”

  “You had a choice, I didn’t. Vince, or whatever the hell your name is, you could have told me. You used me.”

  He sat softly on the bed next to her and sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I never meant for this.”

  “No, you did mean to. You meant exactly this.”

  “I’m sorry. I wish I didn’t have this obsession. I wish I could’ve just stayed being Paul, or Mark, of Jacob, or any one of the great opportunities I inherited. I could have been a doctor. I had endless possibilities presented to me and I squandered them all for nothing. But whatever compels me, Candice, whatever divine powers drive me on, I can’t control them. I’ve reached for that key and fallen off the cliff so many times, but I can’t stop. Do you have any idea what it’s like to not know who you are? Where you came from? Could you imagine not knowing who your mother and father are? Can you imagine having a life stolen from you that you don’t even know? You, you can get your life back, and you will. Even if I win and get the next clue, it might not lead me to anything but another clue, another body. I wish I didn’t live this curse.”

  She looked over at him. “Maybe it’s not a curse.”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know what it is.”

  “Whatever it is, it is. As much as I want to hate you right now, I’m trying to remember that you didn’t do this to me. And it would be easy for me to blame you, but I’d be ignoring the fact that I wanted to come in and try and save Zee. They’re the ones that took my life, not you.”

  She was an incredible person. He’d never met anyone like her at all, in all the lives he’d led, all the places he’d been. Candice didn’t fit into the usual box that most people did. He liked everything about her. Even the slight imperfection of her fang-ish teeth seemed endearing as revealed by her crooked smile.

  “You’re right,” he said. “But don’t let me off the hook. I was being selfish and I knew it. I just can’t control it.”

  “Well, maybe this is your opportunity to make it right. This is your time to stop chasing. I think for the most part, chasing is the same as running. And no one can spend their life running.” She slid up next to him. “How do you suggest we get out of this?”

  “We play the game.”

  “You mean I play the game.”

  “No, we play the game. As long as I’m in this state, he can’t see me, no one can.”

  Candice pursed her lips. “How come I can see you?”

  “Because I want you to.”

  “But how long are you like this?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Then we better hur
ry up and make a plan.”

  Chapter 26

  Angus stood next to his black BMW and sniffed the air. The pungent wild mint that grew in the long rectangle planters near the roundabout driveway filled his nose. The snow from the prior days had almost melted completely, so the mint was visible. Someone who ran the hospital years ago thought planting spearmint would calm the patients. There might be some validity to that. It certainly calmed him.

  He shut the car door and walked towards the tall canopy that sheltered the entrance. Stopping near the sidewalk, he took a measured look at the city of Morristown below. Only a small swath was visible in the distance through the trees. He glanced over to the even more distant New York City skyline, remembering how the very tops of the Twin Towers used to be prominent in the view. The Empire State Building endured, along with the newly completed Freedom Tower, but the Twins being gone was just another symbol of his childhood taken away that he could never get back. The world took his entire childhood, but he had to admit he played a role, too.

  That day when the towers fell was when America’s sickness became clear to him. All that false patriotic rhetoric sang hollow in his ears, and over time, it proved him right. America had gone down a large hill with no brakes since then.

  Today was the day of the wakeup call. He was going to take America by the jugular and peel the layers of the artery away until the fad bled itself out. If society wanted to degenerate into a sick and twisted reality television show, he was going to take it there.

  He closed his eyes and raised his chin to the sky. All this time, all the practice, all the planning, it had finally come to this. When this was over, he would start again. He would lay low for a while and let the police sort out the mess. While they spent time chasing his trail, he would start planning for next year’s show.

  He would be the talk of the country. They would wonder what mastermind was able to pull this off and evade police the entire time while streaming a live show. They would never figure out his network masking tricks. He would have them running in circles. There wasn’t a single person anywhere that could get a fix on his location because of his proxy server maze. It was an ingenious web. The many hours they allowed him in the computer lab while serving his time was well spent. He might as well be doing this on Mars.

  Angus walked into the control room and sat at his terminal. With a touch of the fingerprint scanner, the system sprang to life. Years in the making, an endless supply of money, he had created something any hacker would pay a billion dollars to have. He could almost hear the chaos in the police stations and FBI offices around the country when this show aired. They would try as they might to shut down the feed, but it would be in vain. Every Internet device on the planet would be streaming the show. Even if they shut down the local hubs, which they would, he had an endless maze of work-around switching stations.

  He wondered how many people would believe it was real. There was no way around it, some people would tune out because it looked fake. But that was why he would rely heavily on sex appeal. He hoped people would keep watching just to watch Candice and the other girls in their skimpy clothes.

  He pulled up Candice’s camera feed. She was indeed sexy and tough. He’d searched for his star going on two years. It was probably the longest casting call in the history of television. Of course, his requirements were non-negotiable.

  Everyone would fall in love with her. She had the right look and the right personality. Those stunning eyes could melt a block of ice. But most important was the inner strength, probably beyond what even she knew she had. He could see it. That was one of his gifts. He could see the strength and weakness in people that even they didn’t know they had. He would bring it out of her. He would definitely bring it out during the trials.

  Hopefully, Caleb would be able to drag things out for at least a few days. They would have to keep him in check, though. He could get a little drunk on the taste of the kill. Rena would be around, keeping an eye on the game close up. Angus just hoped the game went as planned. He didn’t want to do too much manipulation and ruin the integrity of the whole thing. After all, this was real reality television. There was no script and no lines. Every emotion would be genuine.

  The clock revealed it was time to get to work.

  Chapter 27

  Candice dug her fingernails into her scalp and scratched too hard. She knew no blood was drawn, but it still hurt more than she intended. Seeing Vince, or Lukas, or whatever his name was, somehow dematerialize through the door was too much to take. It was as if the entire balance of the universe had blown into pieces.

  Ghosts weren’t real and she was never one to believe in angels or aliens. Those were things that belonged in books and movies, not in real life. This whole experience had been one ridiculous thing after another, but it wasn’t paranormal in any sense, until now. This cherry sat atop the insanity-cake she didn’t order and didn’t want to eat. But someone had already smashed it into her face and dared her to lick her lips.

  She got up from the bed to stretch. The hum of the camera motor made her blood boil. She knew that psycho was watching her and it wasn’t like there was a place to hide. The fact she had to pee didn’t escape her, but there was no way she was giving freak-boy a show. She would just have to hold it.

  Candice glanced up at the camera, gave her most searing look, and didn’t look away. She wanted to strangle that bastard. Ruining her life to play a reality television game — it was ludicrous. But not as ludicrous as the fact a dead guy just walked through a steel door.

  Finally directing her vision away from the camera, she turned and nearly jumped out of her shorts when Vince was standing there…or was he?

  “Hey, sorry,” he said.

  “My God, stop doing that! He’s watching me right now,” Candice whispered and rolled her eyes towards the camera at her back.

  “I know. He can’t see me right now. And those cameras don’t have audio, so just keep your back turned. The game is starting today. I went around the whole place. He’s got five girls locked up in this hallway. You’re friend Zyanna is locked up on the far side of the facility. I’ll try and help, but I don’t know how long I’ll last in this state. I’m starting to get the feeling this will be a short trip.”

  “What do I do?”

  “Just play along. I’ll be here as long as I can. But if I should go, know that I’ll be working my way back here. I don’t know where I’ll end up.”

  “Vince —I mean, what do I call you?”

  “Lukas, you can call me Lukas.”

  “Lukas.”

  He laughed to himself, shook his head.

  “What’s wrong?” Candice asked.

  “It’s just that, no one has said that name to me, ever. In a way, I didn’t really know it was truly my name until right this second. I’ve never told anyone as much as I’ve told you.”

  “Well, you did say I’m special.” She rolled her eyes.

  “And you are. I’ve never known anyone like you.” His eyes closed. “Oh no…”

  She watched in wonder as he started to shake and then he pixilated into nothing. It caught her breath. She sat on the bed.

  Chapter 28

  Lukas opened his eyes and knew, or more accurately, he didn’t know. His in-between state had ended. He was whole again, a solid body of full flesh and blood with no special powers to walk through walls or manipulate time and space. Who he was, however, was unknown.

  The room was unrecognizable. For a brief second he wondered if killing himself would send him into the netherworld again, but he somehow knew inside that wouldn’t work. Suicide was a sin, and if his condition were a process of divine intervention, his next trip would be to Hell. He was neither man enough, nor reckless enough, to take that risk.

  Glancing around the small, light green room, there was still no recognition. One wall had a
poster from the film Humble Walker. The opposite wall had a mirror and a framed New York Yankees jersey with an unrecognizable autograph scrawled across the chest. A thick black spider crawled along the top edge of the ceiling near the molding. He looked back at the bed he just woke up in and saw the gun. It was ominous but not shocking. It likely had to do with the reversed demise of whoever he was. He quickly grabbed it and stuffed it into the pocket of his jeans.

  The mirror across the room revealed what he expected. He looked the same as he always had. Same dark blue eyes, same prominent cheek bones, same black scruffy hair that needed cutting, same muscular build.

  Sometimes he wished he’d look different. Sometimes he wished people wouldn’t recognize him as the person he just became. Maybe that was part of why he had such a hard time assuming new identities or fitting into someone else’s life, because he always looked like himself.

  He felt around his pockets for some identification and found a wallet. He opened it up. The New York driver’s license of Craig Easton stared back at him, but of course, it was his face under the lamination. “I am Craig Easton, I am Craig Easton, I am Craig Easton.” He always took hold of the new identity as best he could. As far as he was concerned, Vince was dead, and he was. His real name, Lukas, didn’t exist, except in his mind. He still wasn’t totally certain it was real until Candice said it.

  Vince’s body would, no doubt, be discovered somewhere near its original death site in the Hudson River. Time will have moved forward, but history wouldn’t change. Vince Markoe’s life had been extended only for a short time. The once great New York cop would be buried and honored as God intended. His fall from grace would be but a tagline in the story of his life.