As with every weekend, best friends Harry and Milo would meet up to hang out. They’d either go out for bowling, watch a movie, or just chill at each others house.
This weekend however, they’d both invited their girlfriends to join them to participate in a card game Milo had found at the Mall. It was nothing they’d ever seen before, but recommended to play with couples or friends. Considering both Harry and Milo were pretty comfortable around each other, they knew it wouldn’t be too awkward playing it together, even if things were to get a little spicy.
Harry arrived at Milo’s house with his girlfriend, Isabella. They were both greeted by Judy, Milo’s girlfriend.
“Hey!” Harry greeted as he gave Judy a hug, “good to see you again,”
“You too!” She said, “Milo’s just in the living room,” she said, directing Harry towards him. As Harry walked away, Judy stopped Isabella,
“Hi,” she said, “it’s nice to see you,” she smiled. Isabella smiled back,
“It’s nice to see you too,” she replied,
“I just wanted to warn you in case you hadn’t heard, but this game is a bit… I don’t know how to put it, saucy?”
“Yeah I heard from Harry, he did tell me. All he’s been talking about is this game,”
“Just like Milo,” Judy said, chuckling, “let me get you something to drink? You have anything in mind?”
“Do you have wine?” Isabella asked,
“Good girl,” Judy saying with a smile, she winked at her as she wandered into the kitchen.
Isabella found her way to the living room, seeing both Harry and Milo sitting on the floor discussing the game. Milo noticed her,
“Hey Izzy, long time no see!” He said, standing up to greet her, “how’s Harry been treating you. I’d expect like a queen,”
“Of course he has,” she couldn't help but giggle, “finally found some time off work to take a night to do what Harry wants for a change,”
“You’re a teacher, right?”
“Yep. Third Grade,”
“And she’s a total genius too,” Harry chimed in,
“Hard work. Nothing like Graphic Designer,” Milo said, teasing his best friend,
“Drinks!” Judy said, almost making everyone jump. She had a little tray of drinks.
—
The group sat around chatting for about half an hour before Milo finally said,
“Alright!” Getting everyone’s attention, “if we don’t start now, we’ll never start. I’m sure we can talk during the game,”
“Okay okay,” Judy said, “explain the rules to everyone,”
“Right,” Milo cleared his throat, “when I bought this game, the guy selling it told me it wasn’t ‘any old game’, its a game to bring people closer together. To have the most fun you will ever have. What he did warn me was that the game doesn’t end until one person draws a ‘Game Over’ Card. It’s the least common in the deck. Due to this, the game could last anywhere from an hour to a week,”
“So couldn’t we just pause it until next weekend when we play again,”
“We could, but here’s the kicker. The game isn’t just taking place on the board, it’s taking place in and around us,”
“How does that work?” Judy asked,
“Well there’s only way to explain it,” Milo said. He set the box down and opened it, “this is how I was told to start the game,”
He placed the open box in the centre of the table, leaving the stack of completely blank cards on top to show. As all four players say at their respective sides of the coffee table, the box suddenly shot out four cards at the players. Each card read the name of the player,
“This is spooky…” Judy said, “this isn’t magic, is it?”
The cards shot themselves back into the box. The wooden shell engraved itself, reading,
‘Each take Two Change Cards’
The cards lifted themselves out of the box and onto the table, splitting into two separate piles. One marked ‘Action Card’, the other ‘Change Card’.
“This is too weird,” Harry said, “where the hell did you find this again?”
“Just the mall… I didn’t expect it to be like this,” he said,
“What did you expect?” Isabella asked,
“Well if I’m honest, when he said it’s weird I thought he meant like ‘sexy weird’, not just ‘weird weird’,”
“Okay well, your game man,” Harry said, “you take the first cards,”
“Uh huh,” Milo said, apprehensively grabbing two cards from the ‘Change Card’ deck. Following him was Judy, selecting two cards. Then Harry, followed by Isabella.
Milo turned over his cards…