Truth or Dare

NEW PROMPT:
Write a STORY or POEM that ENDS with the following line, exactly as it appears below - it must be bolded:

She never should have taken the apple.

New to the Cramp? Check out "How to Enter the Writer's Cramp" for information about how to enter.

Make sure you include your word count for stories (1000 words or less) or a line count for poems (40 lines or less) IN your forum post with the b-item link to your entry in order to be a qualified entry.

Truth or Dare

     Every Friday they had a sleepover at one of our houses. Tonight it was Sandra’s house. Sandra went right home after school that day to get ready for Vivian, Pamela, and Kimberly. Usually, she spent her time with the others right after school at one of their houses, but on Fridays whoever hosted the sleepover went on home to get ready for the other to show up at about seven.

     Sandra didn’t really have to do much to prepare for them. Her mother, Amanda, did most of it. She got the snacks that they would be eating. All she had to do was pick out the movies they would be playing. Sandra also decided on what else they were going to do, like Truth or Dare. Lately, they had been playing a lot of That.

     Running into her house Sandra put her backpack on a table just inside the living room on her way to the kitchen where her mother was at. “Mom, I’m home.”

     “I know, I heard you coming from a mile away. This must be your Friday for the sleepover.”

     Sandra looked shocked. “You didn’t forget to get our snacks did you?”

     Amanda started laughing. “I was just kidding. Of course, I got you something to eat tonight. It’s over there on the counter.”

     Turning around Sandra suddenly stopped. “Where are the snacks? I don’t see anything but poison.”

     Fighting not to laugh Amanda glanced over at Sandra. Her quivering mouth continued to change from a slight smile to a normal one. “That isn’t poison. Those are you snacks tonight.”

     “That isn’t snacks. Snacks are things like candy and potato chips. Not carrots, celery and something green, white, red.”

     “You know what those snacks are too. The red ones are radishes, the white one is cauliflower and the green one are broccoli.”

     “I know what they are. You know I don’t like them. Carrots and celery are okay, but they aren’t snacks. They are animal food. What do you think I am, a rabbit?”

     Amanda burst out laughing. “I think you are a ten-year-old girl who needs to eat better.”

     Sandra didn’t say anything for about a minute. “I eat better all the rest of the week. Friday’s are my day to eat some real food.”

     “Carrots, Celery, Radishes, cauliflower, and broccoli are real food. Those are your snacks tonight. If you don’t want them then you and your friends can go without.”

     “You’re the meanest mommy in the universe. You do that every time it’s my turn for the sleepover. What are you trying to do to me? Make me the only kid in the universe who doesn’t have any friends.”

=====-=====-=====-=====-=====-=====

     Right at seven, the girls started to arrive. Pamela was first. Kimberly and Vivian came in together a few minutes later. Sandra waited until they all got there before they went up to her bedroom. She locked the door after they entered.

     “Your brothers aren’t going to bother us again?” Vivian asked.

     “Thomas and Brandon are both at sleepovers themselves, but you know Brandon. He’s probably going to be calling my dad in a few hours and ask him to come get him. That’s why I locked my door. As soon as he gets here he’s going to start bugging us.”

     “What do you expect? He’s six and he admires you. Why I will never understand.” Vivian started laughing. The others, including Sandra, soon followed.

     After about a minute Kimberly spoke. “What about Thomas.”

     “He’s thirteen. I don’t think we have to worry about him.”

     “What did you plan for us to do tonight?” Pamela asked after about a minute of silence.

     “Before we talk about that there’s something I have to tell you about. We don’t have any snacks tonight to eat.”

     “Oh, yes we do.” Kimberly opened up her overnight bag and pulled out some candy.

     “We figured that you mother would do that. So we came prepared.” Pamela dropped a couple of different bags of potato chips onto Sandra’s bed. Vivian pulled out and dropped two more different bags of chips onto Sandra’s bed too.

=====-=====-=====-=====-=====-=====

     The rest of the sleepover went pretty normal. They watched three movies. Then they started talking about boys and how stupid they are at their age. Finally, they started playing Truth or Dare. As usual, most of it was about boys too.

     They finally went to bed about three a.m. When they got up at noon they headed for the movie theatre. Which was another ritual that they did each week. Whoever won Truth or Dare got to pick the movie they went to see.

     On the way to the theatre, the girls rode their bikes past a fruit stand. Vivian suddenly turned and rode to the back of that business. The others looked at each other puzzled. Then shrugged their shoulders and followed Vivian. They caught up to her at a dumpster. She had it opened and was rummaging through it. About a minute later Vivian pulled out a partially eaten apple.

     “What are you doing?” Sandra asked.

     “We didn’t finish our Truth or Dare game. You still haven’t completed you last dare.” Vivian handed the rotten apple toward Kimberly.

     “You don’t expect me to eat that, do you? There’s no way I’m going to do that.”

     Pamela took the apple from Kimberly. “You don’t need to eat all of it. All you need to take is a bit of it. That will satisfy the dare.”

     For several minutes Kimberly just stared at that apple. Then she took it. She smelled it and wiggled her nose. Her face looked like a wrinkled old person. Finally, Kimberly took a bit of the apple. A second later she fell to the ground. Her three friends rushed to check her out.

     “I think she’s dead.” Sandra touched her neck and her arms. “I can’t find a pulse like they taught us in school.” They all three thought the same thing. She never should have taken the apple.


Word Count = 998.