Four friends were walking through the woods, shining their flashlights in each other’s faces. Brian, Hannah, Jessica, and Anthony were bored out of their minds and almost nearly wasted, when they stumbled into a clearing. There was a light at the end of the clearing near a towering willow. Coming closer, they saw a girl sitting on one of the roots of the tree, tying a knot on a rope.
When they approached, the girl looked up and fear crossed her features as she shrunk back away from them.Jessica asked the girl”you wanna play with us??” The girl shook her head and Jessica frowned. “No? Why not?” The two boys grabbed her and slammed her against the tree.
“Well, if it isn’t the little freak,” Jessica hissed. Hannah stood farther away from them, and she was scared of what they were going to do.
Brian and Anthony laughed and joined Jessica as she continued to kick her. Hannah felt sick. She couldn’t stand to watch anymore, so she grabbed Jessica’s arm and pulled her away from the girl.
“Just stop guys, let’s go,” she said, glancing down at Sarah. Her nose was bleeding and she was holding her sides and gasping for air.
“Fine,” Jessica said. She flipped her strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder and walked away, not giving Sarah a second glance.
Sarah watched as they walked across the clearing and into the woods. A small smile spread on her face and she got to her feet and continued to tie the rope. Once it was tied, she rolled it up and threw it over her shoulder and began to climb the tree.
Once she was high enough, she slowly slid along the branch and tied one end of the rope to it. She took the other end of the rope and put it around her neck. Using the blood rushing out of her nose, she wrote four names on her white shirt and jumped off the branch.
Brian
Brian was sitting on his couch, flipping through stations on his TV. It was a Saturday night and he had nothing to do. His parents had gone out, so he was in charge of babysitting his younger brother, who was now asleep upstairs. He flipped another channel and stopped as he saw that a movie was coming on. The screen was black and in red letters were the words ‘Sarah’s Game’. He settled back in the couch, figuring it was some scary movie.
For fifteen minutes, the screen stayed like that. Brian sighed and flipped the channel, only to see the same black screen with the same red letters. Confused, he flipped to another channel, but still the same thing was on. He turned the TV off and threw the remote on the other side of the couch. He got up off the couch and went upstairs to his room where he turned on the radio and opened up a magazine.
Halfway through the magazine, he realized that the song that was playing sounded strange. He didn’t remember ever hearing this song, or putting it on his cd. He looked at his stereo for a second, listening to the words of the song. ‘Sarah’s Game. You’ll always play. Sarah’s Game. No one wins. Sarah’s Game. Night or day. Sarah’s Game. It never ends.’
Brian got up and turned the radio off. What the hell is Sarah’s Game? he thought to him self. He heard the doorbell ring and he walked downstairs and opened the door. No one was there. Figuring some kids were playing games again, he laughed and closed the door. He went into the kitchen and opened a bag of chips. Leaning against the counter, he suddenly felt like someone was watching him.
He looked around but couldn’t see anyone. Laughing at his self, he went back upstairs to his room. As he was passing his little brother’s door, he heard talking. He paused and knocked on his the door.
“Danny?” he called. No one answered. The talking had stopped and now it was quiet. Brian opened the door and peeked in to see his brother under his blankets, fast asleep.
“I must be going crazy,” Brian mumbled to himself as he closed the door and went into his room. He laid on the bed and took another chip out of the bag. He started flipping through the magazine again, but stopped when he came to this one page.
The page was black, besides two words in big red letters. ‘Sarah’s Game’. Frustrated, he tossed the magazine on the floor. He rolled over and laid on his back, staring at the ceiling with his arms behind his head. Suddenly, he felt hands moving up his arms. He froze as the fingers grew closer to his face. He screamed and jumped up, looking around wildly, but no one was there.
He left his room and went down the hall to the bathroom. He ran the cold water and splashed some on his face and looked in the mirror. “I’m imagining things,” he said to himself, “just my imagination.”
He sighed and whipped his face off with a towel. When he looked back in the mirror, he opened his mouth to scream when he saw the girl, Sarah, standing behind him. She put her hand over his mouth and smiled sweetly.
“Do you want to play? Let’s play,” Sarah said. Her voice was no longer the sound of a girl’s voice – it was the sound of a demon’s.
“No,” Brian whimpered, moving away from her, “NO!” He turned and ran – right into the door. He fell backward, dazed, and Sarah loomed over him.
“It’s time to play,” she smirked. The last thing he saw was her hands reaching down for him before he slipped into unconsciousness.
Jessica
Jessica giggled at the text her friend had sent her. She quickly replied and shut her phone, sliding it in her pocket. She walked down the aisles of the deserted grocery store, searching for graham crackers. Her and a friend were going to make smores tonight over at her house and she was stuck getting the ingredients. After searching for a few moments, she tossed her hands up in the air and looked around for a worker.
“Hello? Anyone here? I need some help!” she called. She walked to the end of the aisle and looked both ways, seeing no one. “Helllooo?”
She sighed as her phone beeped and she took it out of her pocket. It was a text from an unknown number. She flipped opened her phone and read the text. It simply said two words: Sarah’s Game.
Jessica scoffed and texted back: Who this? A second later, her phone beeped. Look behind you. Jessica echoed the words out loud. Her heart started beating fast as she slowly turned around to see…
Nothing.
Jessica laughed at her own stupidity and texted the number back. Haha, doofus. Now seriously, who this? Her phone beeped again and she looked at it. Try again. Sighing frustrated, Jessica turned around and screamed as she saw Sarah standing a few aisles down, a sweet smile on her face and a bottle of whiskey held up in her hand.
“Let’s play,” she said, stepping closer to Jessica. Jessica backed up.Sarah smashed a glass bottle over Jessica’s head, and Jessica fell to the ground, unconscious. Sarah picked up one of Jessica’s leg and dragged her off to the back of the store.
Anthony
Anthony was sitting with his legs propped up on the coffee table. He was over at his dad’s house, watching his dad’s black pitbull run around the house. Anthony had slipped vodka into it’s water bowl and now it was going crazy.
He snickered as it ran right into the wall. “Dumb dog,” he smirked. Beside him was his little sister, Tawny. She was braiding their hair on her doll while talking softly to it. Anthony loved his little sister to death, but she was so lame.
He looked at her and smiled, “want to play a game?”
Tawny looked at him and shook her head, “every time we play a game, you laugh at me when I lose.”
“Aw, cheer up kiddo,” Anthony said as he got to his feet, “you know I’m just joking.”
“Doesn’t feel like it,” Tawny mumbled. She sighed and set her doll to the side, “okay.”
Anthony got up off the couch and told her he’d be right back. He went down to the basement and into the closet down there where they kept all of their board and card games. He looked through the shelves, looking for something interesting to play. He heard footsteps behind him and leaned out of the closet, looking around.
“Dad?” he called, “Tawny?”
No one answered, so he shrugged and continued looking for a game. He heard a giggle behind him and he turned sharply. He walked out of the closet and looked around again.
“Knock it off Tawny or I’m not playing with you!” he shouted.
“I’m not doing anything!” Tawny yelled from upstairs. He looked around, confused. He could’ve sworn it was her giggling. He heard running from somewhere farther in the basement and he walked towards it, turning on lights as he went.
He came to the laundry room and when he went to flip the light on, it wouldn’t come on. He flicked the switch a couple of times, but still, it wouldn’t come on. He turned to leave, but he heard the giggling again, coming from inside the room.
“Who’s there?” he called a lump rising in his throat.
“Let’s play,” a voice whispered. He looked around the dark room, letting his eyes adjust to the sudden change of lighting. In the corner, he saw a girl sitting in the corner with her head on her knees.
“Who are you?” he asked, stepping into the room.
“Let’s play Anthony,” the voice whispered again. Anthony stepped further into the room. The girl still didn’t move, but he was sure she was the one whispering.
“Who are you,” he repeated more firmly. He was now in the middle of the room, moving slowly towards the girl. He took another step closer to her and she raised her head to look at him. He gasped as he realized who it was.
“Sarah,” he breathed. His eyes were wide with fear as she stood up and held a hand out to him.
“Do you want to play?” she asked with a smile. Anthony turned to run, but somehow Sarah was by the door and she shut it, leaving him standing there in the dark. He looked around, panicking, as he tried to figure out where she was.
“Let’s play Anthony,” she said, her voice deep and scary, “let’s play forever.”
“Somebody help me!” he yelled, “help! Dad! Tawny!”
“There’s no help in my game,” Sarah whispered in his ear before something hard came down on his head, knocking him unconscious.
Hannah
Hannah was walking home from work when her phone beeped. She looked at it and saw that it was a text from Jessica. Meet me in that clearing we found. The one where Sarah died. I reread the message, a little confused. Why would she want me to meet her there?
Sighing, Hannah agreed to meet her there. Jessica had strange ways and she wasn’t going to question them. After veering off course and walking for a few more minutes, she came to the clearing.
The wind had picked up and she wrapped her thin jacket closer around her as she looked around. The clearing was empty, and it looked even creepier when you were alone. Hannah walked over to the tree and sat on one of the giant roots.
“Hannah,” a voice like wind whispered. She looked around but couldn’t see anyone. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, but she waved it off, thinking that it was just her imagination.
“Hannah,” the voice called again. Hannah stood up and looked around.
“Who’s there?” she asked. The voice called her name again and Hannah looked across the clearing to see a girl standing there, pointing at the tree. Confused, Hannah backed up a little and looked where she was pointing.
Hanging from three different branches were Jessica, Anthony, and Brian. Each of them had a noose around their necks and their shirts were marked with blood. Hannah opened her mouth to scream, but suddenly a voice whispered in her ear”I won’t play with you Hannah,” . “You’re my friend now,” Sarah said, “and you always will be.”
