"It's been nearly half an hour, she's not coming" Babs said to a nervous Drake, whose been shaking for nearly half an hour.
"Who? Nat or Kirsty?" a tired and bored Nigel said, lying on a couch with a magazine in his hands, not looking at anyone as he continues reading.
Drake turned to Marcus, who was preparing for tonight's meetup. "I can't believe you did that. What happens if he finds us?"
"Relax alright! Look, at least we have something to do tonight. Did you have any ideas on what to do? No. So, don't complain!" Marcus replied.
"But why did you have steal the... whatever that thing is?" Drake asked firmly.
Babs stood up. "Wait, you stole that thing?... Is that why you have been waitin' by that door, shaking for half an hour?"
Drake hesitated. He tried to change the subject before he would say anything that Babs and Marcus would make fun of. "Look, it's now half an hour, surely sh- they would be here by now?"
"Just accept it, Drake. They're not coming" Babs replied.
"Can you guys shut up for a minute? I've nearly burned my fingers trying to set up all these bloody candles for tonight and I can't focus with you lot talking!" Marcus shouted.
Drake and Babs didn't say a word. They have seen Marcus like this before, they know that to be quiet was probably the only way that Marcus could calm down. It would have worked too. For a split-second, Marcus lit up another match.
"Sorry" Nigel said, knowing that it would annoy Marcus to no end. The only one who rarely has a long conversation, wasn't in that conversation, apologised.
"OW! F-" Marcus screamed at the top of his lungs, trying to stop his swearing before his anger took over, but glaring with the rage of thousand warriors at Nigel, who just slightly grinned at his rage. He had slightly burned his finger.
The door knocked.
"IT'S OPEN" Marcus yelled, trying to vent his anger. Marcus went into the kitchen and put his finger under the tap. The first person who walked through was Kirsty. She had a sea-foam green jumper on with a black jacket over the jumper, with her black school skirt on. Drake was walking towards her, already willing to welcome her, until Nat pushed herself through.
"WHAT are we doing tonight?" Nat nagged.
Marcus walked back into the room "We're doing something, okay? This is the only thing we CAN do!". Nat rolled her eyes at Marcus.
Marcus noticed and glared back at her. "We found this game-"
Drake's head turned towards Marcus. "Found?"
"SHUTUP" Marcus shouted so quickly that no one was shocked by the response. "We found this game and since there is nothing else to do, we're playing it! Simple as that. Got it?".
Everyone in the room nodded.
Marcus walked to the dusty box, and opened it up. Dust was everywhere and everyone near the box was coughing. "Alright. Are we going to play this?"
Nigel responded "If we don't, there was no point to this meetup, so we have to".
Everyone silently agreed.
Among the dust laid a mechanical board game, kept in pretty good nick that even the dust seems to avoid it. Marcus lifted it out of the box and placed it on the coffee table.
Nat raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Is that it? Where's the instructions?"
Marcus grabbed the box and shook it around to hear if there is a instruction manual inside. He did hear something faint. Marcus searched the box and found a piece of paper which Nat stanched from his hands.
"That's it?! It's not even a full instruction manual. I don't think there is even an instruction on here!" Nat whined.
"Is there anything written on there?" Kirsty asked, in a calm voice.
"It's faint but yeah, there is something on here". Nat, for the first time today, said without nagging or whining. "It says:
As punishment that you six souls
happened upon this game you stole,
the man's work you all have toyed,
you will be stuck in a void...
...whatever that means".
As soon as Nat finished talking, every window and door that surrounded the room slammed shut, and the only light that was coming from inside the room was the candles.
"WHAT'S HAPPENED NOW?! What have you done, you nit?" shouted Marcus.
"I don't know, I just read the card!" Nat replied, slightly shocked but still shouted back.
Kirsty didn't want to hear this, so she looked outside. But there wasn't an "outside". Kirsty remembered that both Nat and her arrived late in the afternoon, but not that late that it became dark in three minutes. "Guys, have a look at this..."
Drake almost leapt up to follow Kirsty, and looked out the window. "It's completely pitch dark".
"Of course it would be" Nigel added.
"Not because of the blackouts, you git, there isn't even any moonlight!" Drake responded.
All of them looked out the window.
There wasn't anything outside.
It was just blackness. No sidewalk, no road, no other houses. Nothing.
It was like they were in a void.
Kirsty was shaking, not as much as Drake, but shaking nonetheless. "Nat... what else does the card say?..." Kirsty struggled to say without sounding scared.
"Umm...uh...h-hold on, the words are changing... It says:
If you want to escape the eternal dark,
you must play the game that you have to embark.
Turn the key and move your piece,
continue til the end and this void will cease.
Each pass will gain a card that'll appear strange,
but after all, you did steal "A Game of Change"...
...YOU STOLE THE GAME?!" Nat yelled at Marcus.
"I DIDN'T THAT THIS WOULD HAPPEN NOW, WOULD I?!" Marcus shouted back. The shouting between Marcus and Nat lasted a while.
"SHUT UP!" Drake shouted, louder than both Nat and Marcus. Both of them were now quiet, something that didn't happen that much. "Look, if we continue blaming who did what, we will never leave this place... so we only have one choice... we have to play the game" Drake said.
"Now... who goes first?"