Before you read my part of this "Collaboration Challenge" story, be sure and read Part One by Carrie Sorenson of Chasing Revery and Part Two by Nicole Pyles of The World of My Imagination. Also, my apologies. I had a hard time finding the right pic then when I did find something that would work I couldn't get it to post correctly. "Let the games begin".... such innocent sounding words but in light of past events where people had ended up being hurt by the so called "innocent little fun & games" they sounded ominous to Kips ears. "I must be loosing my touch," Kip thought to himself as he hesitated in the doorway, again trying to decide what to do. What was wrong with him, he wondered. He never had trouble with making decisions to do something and then jumping in and doing it.
"You planning on coming in dude" Mick asked.
Kip gulped, "Yeah, I'm coming in"
He followed Mick down to the basement where the "game" room was. He had been down here a gazillion times, but this time, he felt as if a noose was tightening around his neck as he walked down the steps.
In the game room, the others were lounging around on the couch. A table was set up across the room with a variety of alcoholic drinks, several shot glasses, a die, a sheet of paper, and what looked like a stack of blank business cards.
"We're all here" Mick spoke to the group, "We can finally begin". A cheer went up in the group and Kip cheered right along with them though his heart wasn't really in it. In fact his palms were getting sweaty and his heart felt like it was racing.
"Here's the rules," Mick continued on after motioning for everyone to be quiet, "I have a sheet of paper here with the names of the six drinks you see on the table. Each drink has a number by it, We each take turns rolling the die and taking a shot of the drink that we roll. After you drink your 'shot' you pick a card and have to do whatever the card instructs you too. If you are unable to then you fail and have to wait till your turn again to try again. If you decline your shot then you automatically fail and sit out the rest of the game. The winner is the last man standing!"
Kip listened to the rules as he eyed the drinks sitting on the table. He was liking this game less & less with each passing second. Sure he drank booze with his buds, no biggy but the drinks here were hard liqueur and they were talking about mixing drinks - NEVER a good thing. He had seen the results once when his father had inadvertently drunken a different drink than the one he'd been drinking during a small dinner party he had had at their house. His girlfriend had been smart to quit. Of course she had given the excuse that she was going to take some sort of college prep courses and "make something of herself", but the truth was she looked at these parties as "stupid and childish" She had told him more than once that he needed to grow up and get a life ( a REAL life). Kip knew he should have quit too, but he was in too deep now. If he left "the party" early he'd have to make up some sort of excuse (something he was terrible at) or tell the truth and risk being ridiculed by the others.
They all took a turn shaking the die to determine order. Kip was relieved to see he had the smallest number, which meant he would get to go last. One by one everyone in the group took their turns all of them passing their "test" as instructed on the cards. No one had declined their turn. Then it was Kip's turn. No way he could chicken out now not when he'd be the only one to do so and he had a rep to uphold.
Kip stepped forward and rolled the die, then picked up the shot glass that correlated with the number he had rolled. The drink burned going down, landing heavily on his churning stomach. He then took the top card off the pile, turned it over and read it aloud to the rest of the guys.
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Be sure and tune in next week at Confessions of a Pixel and ink-stained wretch as Leonard Suskin takes over the story.
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