150: Loser

It had been quite the night. Drinking, fighting--loud. I slept in a coma. Upon awakening, I smelled urine. Man, was I out! My eyes unstuck from the sleep, fluttering open halfway. What I saw jolted me upright, turning my head each way, panicky, desperate to dissolve the nightmare.

It was a gun--a large gun--pointed right at me, its generous caliber opening in perfect focus one foot away from my face. My only thought was that anyone who awoke with a gun pointed at his face was either dead or as good as dead already. Or maybe, even, had it coming.

Sure, everyone has enemies. New ones from last night?

The poisons of the previous evening instantly detoxified, I jumped left, then right. I retreated in hurried steps. The gun followed.

Who was this?

The barrel still sharply focused, I strained to see farther. The rest of the gun blurred until I discerned a hazy shape that had to be someone's hand. Beyond that, the vision was increasingly nebulous, ill-defined, and above all, my nemesis.

"Who are you!" I shouted. "What's this all about? Let's talk."

No answer. I darted away, down the hall, switching this way and that. Every time my face locked into a position, the gun was there. I stopped. Where had I seen this type of thing before? Why was this familiar? Why was everything beyond the barrel out of focus?

This was MurderStalker 2.0! My on-line game.

Played it every day. I myself have held that gun, stalking my victims, room by room, collecting my tools, finding keys, and killing my way up to higher levels. I had never actually gotten to the top level and won the game.

I laughed.

"I don't know who drugged me; I don't know who you are, but I'm not playing your game." I closed my eyes, determined to dissipate my delirium. "And...I'm never drinking again," I chortled.

No one laughed back.

I opened my eyes. It was still there, even closer. From the hazy grasping hand I saw a thumb come into focus that slowly clicked back the hammer--a really bad sound.

"You lose..." he said in real-time to me. "You have no lives left."

_____________

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

For Wednesday, May 29, Day 150 (150!!!) of the Story-a-Day Challenge.

366 WORDS (without A/N)

Title photo is AI generated, but the real losers are not.

---

There are currently three surviving Vocal writers still participating in the 2024 Story-a-Day Challenge:

• L.C. Schäfer, challenge originator

• Rachel Deeming

• Gerard DiLeo (some other guy)

Watch them at they continue their noble struggle against 216 empty pages yet to be filled.