Oh, reader… you might.....
... no, it doesn't matter how you feel...
The only thing that matters isn't the tower, nor the world... but me...
I am the beginning, and the ending is in my hand..... I control the unpredictable.
I alone hold in my hand agony, love, hate, rest, and joy... and I make no distinction between them.....
... You swallow whatever I choose to feed you.
Ha… reader....…I didn't notice you there sooner.... That before...
.... Don't worry about it.. ..... I was just..... rehearsing...
Now, where were we…
Arthur went home after meeting Martin. Two months passed, yet he was still thinking—
what should his next move be?
I told you before—Arthur's biological family was rich.
He and his grandfather lived in a mansion with Martin.
After the last of his family died, he inherited a fortune… but didn't know what to do with it.
So, he never touched a single coin.
Instead, he worked—everywhere.
He took any job he could find, though in truth, he could have bought half the places he worked in.
Then one day, he met the man who took him in and made him family—his future father-in-law.
That's when Arthur finally became a real middle-class man.
At that time, Arthur had nowhere to sleep.
He stayed in a run-down motel, cold and quiet.
But time passed, and when Arthur and Mia decided to take a step forward in their relationship, her father offered them an apartment—the same one he and his wife had lived in when they first married.
Arthur wanted to refuse.
But when her father said, "It was Mia's dream to start a family there," he couldn't say no.
To sum it up—his in-laws gave him everything, never realizing he was already rich.
The parents moved into a new apartment (that was before meeting Arthur)....
..... and gave Arthur and Mia the old one, to help them start off easier... To give
Arthur a point he used his own money to renovate it...
Mia's sister and her husband lived elsewhere, in their own apartment.
Arthur saw his family grieving every day in his living room.
He thought maybe… he should buy a place large enough for all of them—to keep watch over them.
I won't bore you with the details—after a lot of convincing and some shocking confessions—
he finally bought a villa.
It had six rooms:
one for Arthur and his wife,
one for the mother,
one for the sister,
and one each for the two children—Arthur's and his sister's.
I won't keep repeating "in-law," so remember that yourself, reader.
In many nights, his sister slept with her kids.
His mother, sometimes, slept in his kids' room.
The spare room—Arthur's office—was the only place that felt truly his.
It was where he sat to think about the next move.
But lately, he didn't have any moves left.
He needed counseling, someone to talk to.
Someone who would believe him.
The unanswered question was—who?
Arthur had a stupid idea.
He'd ask his family.
But how?
After dinner, everyone gathered in the living room.
Arthur brought some papers and said,
"Let's play a game."
To convince the adults, he used the kids as an excuse.
"It's just for them," he said.
And when they still hesitated, he added,
"It's a game I used to play with Dad… with your husband... I miss them..... "
And with that, the ship sailed—there was no stopping it.
---
The Game
|. # |
|. $ @ | ← the living room
|. * 1 |
|. & |
@ is Arthur.
1 is the player taking a turn.
#, $, *, and & are his family, sitting on the sofa.
Arthur divided them into two teams:
Team 1: his wife, kids, and mother
Team 2: his sister and her kids
To make it fair, Team 2 got one "life"—a chance to bring back a lost player.
Then Arthur explained the rules:
He would write a number on a board and show it only to those sitting down—not the player standing (the "1").
Each team must help their player guess the number without saying or hinting the digits.
The opposing team could say anything to confuse them.
His wife frowned. "But how do we help without hinting?"
Arthur smiled. "That's the game."
Reader, if you don't get it yet, let's skip to the second week—
By then, they were professionals.
Creative. Ruthless.
Arthur even added a rule:
If someone hinted or accidentally said part of the number, it changed completely.
Each team had three minutes per round.
If the "1" failed to guess, they lost a member.
The game ended when one team ran out of players.
If you're still confused, then let's play.
OH before I forget in the second week arthur got rid of the advantage of bring some one back to the game, by making his two kids as one team member...
Arthur: "Remember, three minutes per team. Who starts? Team One—the kids? Good. Come here, stand here. Ready?....
Wrote down the number on the board … show it to the two teams....
78901214
"Three minutes start now."
Grandma: "The middle's afraid of the initial—it eats someone twice its size. Nothing… alone… with a friend… alone… family."
Reader, a new rule emerged—
Everyone seated had to say something.
No repeats.
No nonsense.
Each word had to either help their team or confuse the enemy.
The girl wrote: "0, 4."
The boy: "121."
Mia (the mother): "English, math, science… indivisible… house."
They didn't get it. "Pass," they said.
Next team— Arthur's sister and her two sons.
Sister: "Drink.....Food..... Match..... Kit. .....Moon."
First son: "Straw.....Solar system.....Donut. God. Day and night.....God... Seasons."
Second son: "Pass."
They joined their answers: "01214."
Arthur: "Oh… that means Team One loses a member."
The game went on like that, for hours.
Reader, do you understand it now?
Like when Grandma said "the middle afraid of the initial because it eats someone twice its size"—
that was the joke, why is six afraid of seven—because seven ate nine.
Mia's clue—'English, math, science… house'—
meant her daughter's grades: 7 out of 10 in English,
and "house" meant the old address—1214.
You get it now.
So let's skip ahead—to the extra time....
Everyone was out except the two sisters.
Arthur made them face each other.
"My wife will hint, and her sister will guess," he said.
"Whoever wins this round—wins it all."
Round 1.
Number: 15214154512
Mia said fast, "AEBAEDEAB."
Her sister protested, she is cheating. ..... Your talking Fast... Fine If that how you want to play... Your turn
Number: 127519038
Sister: "A race… racer… wright brother… infinity."
Mia was lost.
Arthur: round two.... Ready to guess sis.....go
The number was: 21204120592
Let's skip this round
Anyway Mia and her sister were lost again...
Round three...
Arthur : OK sis and wife let's end this now.....
Number: 01921521202
Mia whispered:
"Death. Alive. Almost perfect. Arms. Tongue. Left hand. Victory. Heart. Eye. Circle. Ear."
Her sister frowned. "Arthur, she's cheating again."
Arthur: "babe, explain each word... "
Mia smiled.
"Death is nothing which is zero. Alive, one. Almost perfect—nine.... Perfect score is 10. Two arms. One tongue. A hand has five fingers. Victory sign—two fingers. One heart. Two eyes. Circle is zero. Two ears. Together: 01921521202."
Arthur nodded. "Your turn. If you guess right, you win."
Round 4.
Number: 10605958575655
Sister muttered, it looks like it's counting down.....
Arthur : you're hinting too much....
The sis:
"Perfect… minute… minus… lesser… right hand… Adam's hand… give me… game… high… again."
Mia's eyes darted, her hand flying across the page.
"That's easy," she said. "10605958575655."
Her sister: "How?"
Mia laughed softly.
"Perfect is 10 and I just said it . Minute, 60. Minus.... was tough to guess until you said lesser.....59, 58. Right hand—5. Adam, the doorman, had three fingers missing—so 7. 'Give me 5'. A catch phrase from your fav TV show.... that's 5... . 'Game' this we play...three players each, that's 6. 'High.... Is obviously a five.... again is 5 . So… 10605958575655."
Their mother sighed. "You two always were competitive. You've got kids now."
Mia smiled. "They're asleep. Come on, I'll help you carry them."
Mia helped her sister with her nieces. Then she returned for her own kids—Arthur carried the boy, Mia carried the girl.
"They're getting heavier," she said.
Arthur nodded. "The time will come when we can't carry them anymore."
Mia: "At least our love will be the same."
Arthur : "Yeah. We couldn't love them more."
Mia: say, Arthur
Arthur : What....
Mia: would you still love me if I was a worm..
Arthur: I could use you as a bait... To catch a bigger fish....
Mia: so you're saying, I won't be enough....
Arthur: you aren't enough now.....
Mia: Is there someone you love more than me...
Arthur: to her, you like a worm.... You know what I would still love you if you were a worm...
Mia: I can't compete with my own daughter...
Arthur : we have daughter...
Mia: shut..... Up...
....THE END
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Or so you thought.
The next morning, Arthur woke to his wife's screaming voice.
Reader, did you really believe this story had a happy ending?
He ran down to find out.....
Did you think I told you about that "boring game" just to pass time?
His sister—and the two kids—weren't breathing.
I will have to bring that back.....
14151312020518238120251521415451208919208511419235189209191420121521204120592019215212020854522912
And in the sister's hand—
a crumpled paper from that last game night:
15214154512
21204120592
01921521202
Idiot.
Arthur didn't notice at first—
but he had become the reason they died.
He stared at the numbers written above their dead bodies.
They were the same ones she had failed to guess the night before.
At the bottom of the page, one line was written—
"4 left to go"