Young Writers Society

Alex shook their head. "I'm in." Xer eyes were steely, hands clenched into fists. The pain seemed to wake a new side of them, all courage and bite.

This time 11 lights flashed, even faster. Sadie’s focus broke for the briefest moment and she lost all track of what was what. She tried to recover but guessed wrong.

The shock that came was far stronger than she’d expected. They’d been increasing shock intensity with each level.

Sadie yelped, springing to her feet. It felt significantly worse than the time she’d been kicked by a horse.

"You okay?" Alex went to set a gentle hand on her arm but hesitated. "Mine was pretty intense, so I can only imagine yours."

She was glowering -- first at Emily, but then she decided she wouldn't be able to get a rise out of that freak-- so she turned it on Meyer instead, ignoring Alex entirely. Meyer was looking at her with a small smirk as he leaned forward and put Alex's money in their tray. He added another $700 to the table before them, turning Sadie's stack into a $1200.

"You in, or you out?" he asked challengingly.

She glared at him, rubbing her wrist. That had hurt... but $1,200 was nearly enough for a deposit on an apartment.

"Shock's gonna be worse this time if you play again and lose."

Sadie sat back down angrily, glaring at him. "I'm in."

Meyer looked at Alex. "How about you? You had enough yet?"

"I'm in."

Alex rolled their shoulders, staring Meyer down with a challenging glare.

"Alrighty."

The holograph counted down again and there were even more lights flashing even faster.

Sadie got most of them again, ran out of time on the last one. The pain was even worse than the first time. She had her teeth clenched so she didn't yelp this time; and she also had better control of herself so she didn't leap up in shock this time.

But it did hurt and it made her angry besides. So she tensed and slammed her fist down on the table, hissing in pain.

Alex fumbled too, xer speed leading to a misclick. The shock was worse, way worse, but they barely reacted, save for a facial twitch.

"Welp." Meyer threw an additional $300 down on each stack of money that was already there. He looked between them, eyebrow raised.

Sadie eyed the money. It would be so good to have it. It would turn her life around. Well, okay, she knew that in the grand scheme of things a few hundred dollars wouldn't actually matter that much. But it would help her along for now -- she only had two pairs of pants these days. Maybe she could buy a third? Or a fourth, even. Wild.

She sighed heavily and glared at Meyer. "In."

"In, too."

Alex wasn't even doing it for the money anymore; there was simply a strange feral urge that awakened whenever pain was on the table. Perhaps it was decades of trauma, bloody noses behind the cafeteria, and black eyes worn to school dances that made them want to prove they were stronger than anyone ever thought them to be.

If a shock was the best Meyer and Emily had, then xe would do their best to laugh in their faces about it.

Alex was solely determined to win.

That round went much the same.

The lights were marginally faster, but they were already moving so fast it was difficult to tell whether it was truly worse or not.

The shock definitely was, though, when Sadie failed that round too.

Sadie cursed, stomping her feet in place, sweat on her brow from the pain. Her breathing felt labored. She should just give it up at this point. She was just going through more and more pain for no reason whatsoever. It didn't matter how much money he piled under her nose, if she couldn't get any of it. Her better sense told her to leave.

To take the money -- if it was even real -- and go back to her car and go find something to do with her time.

But...

Her eyes locked on the stack before them as Meyer stacked more on top. She gave a deep sigh, rubbing her face. Meyer watched her. They both knew what she was about to do. She looked up, jaw set. "In."

Alex's face never left the tablet, xer jaw never unclenched. When the lights splayed across the screen, drawing stark shadows across their rigid face, they reacted with lightning speed. Even then, it wasn't enough.

The growl of frustration they made at the shock was like no other sound they made before. "I'm in, I'm IN!"

Deep down, xe knew this challenge was designed to be impossible. You won the first couple times to placate you, only to fail every time after that.

But God, Alex just wanted to have the power for once. Was that too much to ask? They could feel their fortitude crumbling, but they just wanted one more win. Just one more.

Meyer nodded. The hologram counted down again.

The lights weren't moving slow by any stretch of the imagination, but they were much more like the second round than they had been these more recent ones.

Sadie punched in the right order that time.

A winner's rush like no other flooded through her. She'd won and she was rich now.

Alex was too tense to notice the difference but felt the euphoria all the same. They slumped back in xer chair, a heavy sigh escaping and a thick blanket of exhaustion taking over.

When did their heart rate get so high? Why was their head pounding?

They sluggishly turned to Sadie, a slight grin on their face. "Yay us, right?"

"Go us!" Sadie agreed loudly, grinning. She turned back to Meyer. "Take that."

"Good for you," Meyer said evenly, scooping their money into their respective trays. "I assume you'll want to quit while you're ahead, right?"

Sadie hesitated, glancing from Meyer to her money then back again. Yes. She was done. Obviously. She'd gotten the money she'd been set on getting. Did the one more round she'd planned to.

Meyer pulled out another stack of $500 each and set it down on the table.

"This is less money than you already have." Meyer shrugged and sat back in his chair. "I probably wouldn't, if I was you. But it's your call."

She looked at the money for a long, long moment. She was just being greedy at that point. She looked back at Meyer. "In."

Alex looked at her, a muddled mixture of admiration and almost horror in their chest.

"I'm-" Taking a deep breath, xe shook their head, trying to get their swirling thoughts in order. "I'm out."