Truth or Dare?

                                                      Truth or dare?



        I have never thought that a silly game could move me so much, especially after I stopped believing in those ghost and werewolf stories. Until then...
We all gathered ( me and my friends) at Dan's place to kill the boredom that had sprung up during the summer vacation. An ordinary afternoon that didn't foresee anything of what was about to happen. After a game of cards where I lost and after a boring film I had actually seen before, for about ten times, we came up with the brilliant idea of playing Truth or Dare. OK...the idea seemed brilliant in that utmost boring moment.
"Truth or Dare?" I heard Dan asking Mary, a 15 year old delicate girly, red-haired and freckled, but really nice since she is our one and only source of inspiration for our chemistry homework.
"Truth, of course! " she said with that self confidence she displayed every time the teachers examined her.
"What are you going to ask her? If she cheated in the last week's  geometry  test?" Leo teased her, the blond, tanned and green-eyed boy that never loses sight of Mary's little study mania.
In the most Secret Secret I'm telling you that Leo actually cherishes a profound appreciation towards Mary, but he'll never recognize that, even if he knows that we know what his feelings are. Only Mary doesn't seem aware of that. Mmm...this gives me an idea. This is what I'll make him recognize when it's his turn.
"Oh...you know very well  that it's a lie! I would never cheat at tests, especially not at Geometry! "
"All right, Mary, we already know that." Dan broke in, conciliatory as usual. "OK. What is the real reason you have refused to meet with us every Wednesday since school was over? Because your excuse that you had to visit your grand-pa didn't fool us at all."
All of a sudden, Mary blushes and drops her eyes, playing with her shoe laces.
"Well..." she began lingering as if she  were confessing a prank to her mother. "I didn't want to tell you, because I know that you'll laugh at me. Especially you, Leo!"
"No, we promise, we won't laugh!" We all said simultaneously with curious voices, of what the blunder was all about. For a few moments, we plunged into complete and utter silence. Afterwards, we all burst out laughing.
"We really do promise!" we added fast enough with our fingers crossed behind our backs. Thank God Mary couldn't see out hands!
"Well...My chemistry teacher suggested me to enroll for the chemistry excellence center, because she thinks I can get really good if I work more and..."
But she didn't get to add another word because we were all roaring with laughter!
"You said you wouldn't laugh at me!" said Mary indignantly.
"That was before we found out why!" Leo giggled, finally making Mary join the fun.
"Truth or Dare?" Leo asked me after the laughing and giggles had perished.
"Mmm... truth?... " I said undecided.
"Is it true that you used to go to the library twice a week just to watch that dark-haired boy with green eyes, from the 11'th grade, studying?"
"Can I choose Dare?" I quickly added in a desperate attempt to change the subject.
"It seems we won't actually find out tonight " chipped Dan .
"That's right! You won't find out anything tonight, so you'd better try something else..."
"OK..." Leo said thoughtfully  " I dare you to enter the house over the street and stay there for a whole 5 minutes time"
"What? No way! I'm not going there! Absolutely not!"
"You wanted Dare, so deal with it."
"You don't really believe those stories about it, now, do you?" asked Mary with skepticism. "You know very well that there are no ghost and other  stuff like this, don't you?"
"Yeah" added Dan "it's just an old and wrecked house, with plenty of spider webs..."
"...in which nobody has lived for approximately ten years thanks to those bizarre thuds in the attic  " filled in Leo in a gloomy tone of voice.
"Oh, shut up Leo! It's just a story told to send away the curious eyes of the world", stood up Mary.  Father says it is to be demolished because it hasn't been inhabited for a few years and nobody wants it anymore. But that is only because they're superstitious. I know very well that you don't believe in those things, and now you have the chance to prove they're wrong."
"Or else, we will convince you to tell us about him" added Leo.
"All right.. all right... I'm going. But you'll see, Leo , when I'm back! " 
"Is  that a threat?"
"No. A warning!"
At last, I got my jacket, because ,in the meantime, it got chilly outside and evening came and I got out through the front door. I threw a last glimpse behind me and I saw the amused and curious faces of my friends glued to the living-room window. If I had been on the other side of the glass, I might have considered it amusing too. But it wasn't funny at all. Not that I have felt scared of some kind of ghost, but breaking in,in a stranger's house in the evening is not such a brilliant idea, even if it has been vacant for 15 years. I took a deep breath and gathered some courage to cross the street. As I was gilding on the front alley I got overcome in thoughts. Perhaps it would have been better to stay in the house and say I wouldn't go, even if I had been kicked out of the game. However, it will, definitely , be worth seeing Leo's face when I ask him <<What are your feelings for Mary?>> or <<I dare you to say who you secretly admire>> Ha! He'll start babbling immediately and start denying it all with vehemence. But, you see, this will not fool us, because he has this habit : every time he lies, he starts babbling, and we all know about it! He has no chance to fool us. And then, I will silently enjoy my victory.
But the stream of my thoughts was interrupted, because there I was, already at the door ! Oh.. God! And I have stopped believing in this stories since I was six. I don't know why, but the rhythm of my heart accelerated and I was breathing brokenly. I could hear my heart's beatings in my ears and in the rest of my body. I felt like in a dream, when I finally extended my hand and gripped the door handle. It took me another minute until I pressed the handle and the door opened with a prolonged and shrill squeak of old and rusty hinges/joints. One step, two... My legs advanced as if I were just learning to walk. All I remembered ,as I entered this house and shut the door, were the faces of my friend, at the window seat, in the living-room, caught with a glimpse of an eye.
*
I couldn't see anything...I didn't want to see anything...that's why I shut my eyes as I entered the door. Anything or anyone was said to have been there, I didn't want to see them, I didn't want to believe in them. If I hold my eyes shut, nothing can touch me, they can't take any shape in my mind. I know. I will wait for 5 minutes, without having to know what's out there. But how will I know that 5 minutes have past and not a second more? I have to look at the watch! But that means I have to open my eyes! No! I know. I will count in my mind and everything is going to be alright. One, two, three..54,55...Pff... I have never thought it is so boring to count! At Hide and Seek is much more fun! I know. Maybe if I throw a glimpse around me, the time will pass quicker. I mean, one look has never hurt anyone, has it? And I'll have something to depict when I'm out of here! Yes. This is what I'll do. I force my eyes to open , but it's as if my eyelids have stuck together. Oh, come on! You'll only have a look, and if you don't like it, you shut them again. It's simple. OK? OK.
I commanded my eyes to open, one more time, and this time -that was weird!- they listened to me. Perhaps I shouldn't have been so pushy! Oh, come on! Don't be such a cry-baby! A short sight in the corners of the hall convinced me that nobody lived here. I shut my eyes again, breathing relieved. I opened them again and set up a short scream. I couldn't breath! I felt I was chocking and my sight was foggy! I started whirring in the large hall and threw my hands away in an attempt to escape from what was hindering my breathing. My shoes squeaked on the hall's floor and, at last, I managed to get rid of the veil that was covering my face, after I stumbled on a coffee table and fell on a dusty and old couch made of black velvet. I saw with stupefaction that the thing that prevented me from breathing was neither more, nor less than a spider web. A very dense one! Oh...well, at least I fell on something soft, I said in my mind. Then, I saw in front of me a staircase I hadn't seen it before. It seemed hidden by the spider web's labyrinth sprang trough out the house. Brrr...spiders.. Oh, God! Why does it have to be spiders every time? Is it not enough that the Horror films have used this effect until exhaustion? Does it have to exist in reality as well? Oh! When I think at their long legs and their eyes like two black lakes, I get a shiver on my spine!... But enough! I am not here for the spiders and the spiders are not here for me! Perhaps a tour of the house will be nice, since it's obvious it is not inhabited.
I got off the couch- very, very comfortable, except the needle that got out trough the fabric, and happened to have contact with my behind - and felt my way trough the darkness trying to find the switch. I didn't get to grope too much in the room, because the most bizarre and undesirable sensation ever felt invaded my body. I felt as if I stepped in something ‘stinky'. Not in that meaning, of course! It was just that...have you ever seen those horror movies in which the main character steps on something bizarre as shape and consistence, and that something eventually proves to be an extraterrestrial form of life, that will clinch on the poor victim's leg and will swallow him and then digest  him with its alarming gastric juice, while the unlucky one slowly disappears in the agony of his own screams??...No??! Well, I had exactly the same sensation!  Oh, God! What dreadful creature will decide my death? I don't want to die like this! Not before I see Leo's face when I ask him the question! I said to myself really scared while waiting for the inevitable to take place. Still, after a moment of agonizing waiting, in which no creature showed any interest in my foot- alright! In which nothing happened, absolutely nothing! There, I said it!- I slowly started to revive from that straining state in which I fell. I gathered all my courage which I found scattered in me, and I stretched my hand towards the wall in a desperate attempt to find the switch. And guess what? Fate ‘was' with me again. Because there  my trembling fingers were, touching the switch, without the courage to turn on the light. Oh...come on! The light will prove you that you're wrong! Besides, that extraterrestrial being didn't attack you, after all! Did it? No, it didn't attack me. But that doesn't necessarily mean that I'll shake hands with him or her and say "Hello! Lets be friends!", does it? 
Ok. Deep breath! With a click I turned on the dazzle light, and immediately started to see blue and red and yellow circles, that formed absolute charming bizarre images, which would have definitely concerned me, if I hadn't  known that they were only the immediate effect of strong light, after some time spent in complete darkness, groping after that damn switch!
After the red-yellow-blue effect had disappeared in the blinking of my pale eyelids, I started to realize the scary cause that made me lose my balance so quickly and allow my imagination, too rich already, to wander on fields of a delightful phosphorescent. A damn puppet played the role of the dark character in the drama of my own identity. God, why? Why not that horrible alien that, at the very least, would have judiciously explained my brat behavior in a moment of utmost real embarrassment?? But enough! Let us not delay too much on subjects of no real interest for neither of the parts, and focus on things that really deserve. For example, if those 5 minutes I had to spend in this disagreeable house, have past. The watch from my wrist ,unfortunately , showed that I still had to stay one minute in this house. Great. Why not?! Then, I heard a sudden thud coming from the attic -the same attic all the people talked about. Oh, if all the weird and unexplainable stuff are going to happen now-remember the aliens, in case you didn't realize-this is so not the right moment! I mean, Hello! I only have one more minute to stay in this house! Please, do not determine me to talk wildly again, because I'm warning you!- I will not respond of what happens!  I sat ‘comfortable' on the ‘comfortable' couch, with my back at the stairs that led to the attic, that led to the bizarre noise, that led to God knows what horrible creatures, that led to... Stop already! OK . I know. I will not think at the  stairs that lead to the attic, that leads to the bizarre noise, that leads to God knows what horrible creatures, that lead to... Oh, God! Why can't I stop? I asked myself desperately, holding my head in my hands. After a little precious time given to my thinking, I decided that, evidently and inevitable, I just had to go upstairs and deal with the challenges my imagination laid on my door.
So, I went upstairs. And after 5 minutes I descended safe and sound, but this time with a large smile glued on my face. I crossed the same corridor, I opened and closed the same screechy door, I silently crossed the same street, watching the same smiling faces at the window seat, I entered the same house in which my friend were. No sooner have I entered the door, that they bombarded me with their questions.
"What happened?"
"Have you seen any ghost?" asked Leo laughing.
"Why did you stay so much? Ten minutes in all! Just to impress us?" asked Dan.
"Well, you made it! But you scared us a bit too. We thought you'd get out of there head over heals!" said Mary.
"Do you really think I'm such a coward?" I asked them laughing with triumph. "You know very well that I have stopped believing in those ghost and werewolf stories." Well maybe except those with aliens...I added in my mind.
"You're right! We've worried for nothing. Lets celebrate your courage with ice-cream! " proposed Leo.
"Oh, no you don't! Don't you even dare to pretend that you forgot that it's your turn at Truth or Dare! " I added with a bizarre sparkling of enthusiasm in my eyes.
*
In the end, the weird house was demolished as we had all expected, and so it happened with all our superstitions and prejudice about it and it's ex-inhabitants. It's incredible how many things people's imagination can create, when the common things have stopped to satisfy us. One thing is for sure: we have never played Truth or Dare since that day and sadly I have never had the chance to get my revenge on Leo, but eventually, things got out better than I imagined. Mary and Leo are now Boyfriend and Girlfriend, and guess who did the first step? Not Leo, in any case! It seemed that Mary suspected a little time ago that Leo liked her, but preferred not to say anything at all. Who would have thought that inside a Lion , there was a shy and nice lamb?
Dan, from us all, remained the same constant and funny lad. On the other hand, I changed. And yes, in case you were asking, it is about that green-eyed boy, from the library, the reason for I have become so conscientious at school.  But don't let your imagination go wild on those green fields because it's not healthy. We had a few chances to chat and it was as weird as ever! I mean, don't get me wrong! I'm not the kind of girl that wants something out of the question, but it seems it wasn't supposed to be. It's as simple as that. Eventually, I got something good out of this story: I discovered my passion for English Literature and believe me when I say: in the utmost boring moments, a good novel makes miracles!