I would like to think that we’ve all played that game; you know the one, someone says 3 sentences and you have to guess which one is the lie and which ones are the truths. In my small town it’s a given, though it’s not that hard to tell what’s a lie or not because everyone you play with, you practically know them inside and out. Everyone in my town acts the same everyday so it stands out when they start acting differently. Just the other day, this old woman I barely knew was walking outside earlier than she normally does and as it turns out, she has a brain tumor that has caused some slight abnormalities in her schedule, thankfully we caught it in time.
I play this game so much that I have to keep re-using truths because I’ve run out of stuff. But, not that long ago I got a text from a number I don’t have saved, it said and I quote “Hello, I’m just someone who wants to play a game. Do you want to play 2 truths and a lie?”
I left it there until the next day when I went back to school so I could talk to my friends. They all said that they didn’t send that and just to be sure I got all of them in one room and texted the number back with a simple “Sure”
None of their phones lit up so with a shrug I sat down and waited for them to text me back. It took a while, and by the time that they did text me back I was at lunch and it shocked me because it wasn’t at the start it was toward the middle of it. I looked down at my phone and said to my group of friends “Guys, look, I got a text back from that weird 2 truths number.”
“What does it say dude?” asked my best friend
“It says ‘1. I know who you are. 2. I see you right now. 3. I’m someone you know. Which ones the lie?” with this I was slightly disturbed and we all sat quietly before we started discussing which ones the lie but half way through our discussion I got another text. I feared the worst, was it a picture of me? Was it information about me? Was it a picture of my friends? It was a simple question; “This is so easy, why are you taking so long?” I made an executive decision and sent back:
“Number 3 is the lie, you aren’t someone I know.” We all sat with baited breath, waiting for a response. It came pretty fast.
“Correct!!!! I know who you are, Kaleb, and what a lovely shirt you’re wearing, cats are my favorite.” We all sat in silence for the rest of lunch, I got multiple texts throughout lunch. I didn’t dare to look at them, for fear of what might happen. I didn’t want to wear my cat shirt anymore. I asked one of my friends if I could borrow his hoodie until tomorrow, he agreed.
After lunch I went to the bathroom, took my shirt off and quickly threw on the hoodie, it was like three sizes too big but I didn’t care. I threw my shirt in my locker and went to class. I quickly forgot about the phone number and fell into the boredom of geometry. When I got home I went up to my room and told my mom I wasn’t feeling well and I’m just going to sleep. When I got to my room, I climbed into bed and opened my phone and felt my heart rise into my throat as I saw all the texts. I opened them and this is what they said:
“Your turn, and remember not to lie.”
“Come on, don’t leave me hanging”
“I see your not doing anything, play”
“It’s your turn”
“Don’t take off that shirt, it looks nice”
“I think I’ll hang on to your shirt until you play the game” there was an image attached to this message. It was a picture of my shirt in a locker next to a backpack that’s not mine. I decided to play their stupid game. “1. I don’t want to play anymore. 2. I want you to leave me alone. 3. I’m a dog person.” I texted
“Now you’ve gone and thrown me for a loop because I know how much you love this game, I know how much you love me, and I know you can’t stand dogs. This isn’t fair, give me another.” they replied after a while.
“Fine, 1. I don’t want to play anymore. 2. I want you to leave me alone. 3. I hate bacon” I said hoping that they’d take a hint. They didn’t
“Once more, you threw me for a loop. I’ll guess that 2 is the lie” they just won’t take a goddamn hint.
“Wrong, 3 was the lie, I love bacon on almost anything, even on its own. I win, can you leave me alone now?” I asked, now forcing them to face the truth.
“No, we love each other too much, and I think you’ll find that I’ve returned your shirt.” they said
“What, where?” I asked, very confused. Just as I sent this I heard a knock on my bedroom door. My mom opened it to tell me that a girl had just stopped by and dropped off my shirt. That led to a lot of talking about why I wasn’t wearing my shirt and why I was wearing a friend’s hoodie. That led me to tell her about the texts, she just told me to not let it get to me, she said that girls obsess over boys like this all the time.
I calmed down, my mom left my room, and I fell asleep in my bed. I didn’t wake up until around 10 or 11 at night. I flipped on my light and sat down at my desk to do some homework but when I went to turn on my music I saw more texts from that damned phone number “My turn again!! 1. I’m a real person. 2. I am NOT obsessed 3. You look pretty when you sleep.” This one sent a major chill down my spine and caused my heart to drop like a rock.
“I want to say that 3 is the lie” is what I said, knowing full well I was wrong. That glimmer of hope was so good while it lasted
“Wrong” Is what they said, and what they said next caused me to vomit uncontrollably
“Number 1 was the lie, I am not obsessed with you, and you have the prettiest faces when you sleep, see!” They sent me a picture of myself while I was sleeping. I continued to throw up, thankfully most of it made it into my small desk-side trash can. I removed the bag from the can and tossed it in the curbside trash can. I couldn’t bring myself to open the texts again so I blocked the number and went on to do my school work.
The next day I told my mom what had happened last night and she told me to stay home and rest up to feel better, and she would deal with the girl. I sat around all day doing nothing, when I got a text from another unknown number “YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN JUST BLOCK ME LIKE THAT AND THINK THAT I’LL JUST GIVE UP” is what the text said.
“I did, but now I’m not so sure” I replied not wanting to deal with her. I personally think this is some psycho bitch that wants to have me forever and the whole “I’m not real” stunt was just a ploy to get me worked up. It worked but I got over it. Later that evening my mom came home from work and started making dinner, as she always does. Later on though, I hear a knock on the front door and my mom talking sternly to someone. I couldn’t quite make out what she was saying so I just tuned it out for all of 2 seconds till I heard a blood curdling scream and the sound of a glass hitting the floor. To paint a picture of how our house runs is; we don’t eat till 7 and this time of year 7 is dark. So it’s getting dark and I hear this, I rush outside of my room and look off of the landing to see the front door wide open, shards of glass on the floor, one of my mothers high heel shoes, and a trail of blood to the kitchen. I went back to my room and saw a notification from my phone, I had multiple notifications. All the alerts on my phone were from her, other than one, an automated message that said there was a dangerous person on the loose, and to lock all outside windows and doors.
The two texts that stood out were from 20 minutes ago and one from now. The one from 20 minutes ago read “1. Dinner is your favorite food. 2. Your mom will be fine. 3. I’m at my house. Which one is the lie, you have 20 minutes to answer before I tell you and ruin the fun” and the one from just now reads “times up, the lie was number 2”
Just then I see my moms head peak around the corner before it drops to the floor and rolls down the stairs. To get an idea of what happens next I’ll describe my house a little; my room is located on the back, left side of the house. My house sits on a hill, my basement is almost entirely exposed from the back, effectively making my window 3 stories up, almost 30 feet. The moment my moms head rolled down the stairs I stood up and ran for my window, jumping from it. I fell all 30 feet onto the hard concrete patio. As I felt the warm sticky blood pool around my head and my consciousness fade, I swear I heard someone, say “that won’t stop me”
I now sit in a cold hospital room typing this out. The official police report was “a dangerous criminal broke into my house, killed my mom, decapitated her, and attacked me. To escape I jumped from my window.” for the most part that’s true,the only part they got wrong was that it was no criminal, that wasn’t even human. I saw it, it was gray with death, it had no eyes, it was covered in blood, whether that was hers or my mothers, I hope I never find out. The police took my phone for evidence, I told them to keep it as long as they reset it before giving it back or get me a new one. They ended up giving me a new one because they would have to keep the phone indefinitely and they felt bad for me so they gave me a new one. I live in a foster home now and I still have the same friends despite being thousands of miles away now but today I got a text from an unknown number…
It was a picture of me in my foster home, eating dinner.