The Organ Games

Chapter 6

Most of them wailed in pain, while others dropped their phones in shock. There was silence, as she waited for them to recover and pick up the phones. After some minutes, they were all back on the phones, scared but silent. She went straight to welcoming them and went straight to game one.

                        GAME 1 

"Game 1," she explained, "call someone in your phone book who you know will not pick up."

There was total silence, with most of the players raising their eyebrows in confusion. This forced her to repeat herself.

"Game 1," she said again, "use your personal phone to call someone in your phone book who you are certain will not pick up your call."

"If  that person picks up, you are automatically eliminated; if they do not pick up, you advance to the second round," she added.

She repeated the instructions for everyone to hear loud and clear and asked if anyone needed clarification.

Most of the contestants exhaled a sigh of relief when they realized how simple the game was. Some even laughed. Most of them were expecting to be asked to do something crazy or unlawful. They all gave up trying to get Acer's attention with their concerns about the game or the previous queries they had.

 Everyone has that one person, or maybe more, who never returned their phone calls. Maybe due to falling out, quarrels, or misunderstandings. The task was simple, too simple to be true.

Acer wished them luck and switched off her phone. She sat down and watched their surprised faces with a smirk on her face.

In Alabama, Goerge was the first to pick up his phone. He knew exactly who to call: his estranged brother. The two brothers had not talked to each other for more than forty years. He was very sure he was not going to pick it up. 

In fact, he was certain, and he dialed the number while his heart began to beat for unknown reasons.The phone rang until the call ended with no response. The old man sighed in relief as a congratulatory message popped up on his assigned phone.

Washington (David) picked up his phone and dialed his mother-in-law's line. He knew she was not going to pick it up. She never picked up his or her daughter's phone calls. She had never agreed to their marriage, and over the years she had become bitter. 

Washington thought that with time, the woman was going to soften up, but they were wrong. She cut them off and forgot about their existence. Even when they sent messages informing her that her daughter was dying, she never returned their calls. He knew she was the right person to call. 

As the call ended without any reply, Washington sat back in his chair, somehow disappointed. For unknown reasons, he had wanted her to answer. He knew how much such news would excite his wife. A congratulatory message popped up on his assigned phone.

Louisiana (Caroline) seemed to be one of those having trouble selecting who to call. She debated whether to call her high school friend or her father. She knew there was a possibility they would pick up, so she began searching her phone thoroughly for someone to call, then she stumbled on her boss. 

The man had fired her for her bad record at work and stopped picking up her calls. She dialed the line without hesitation and began praying. The call ended without getting picked up. She got up, jumping in excitement as she qualified for the next round. 

Next was Texas (Berth). She knew exactly who to call, her late husband's father. They had never seen eye to eye ever since she married his son and he left the farm to her when he passed. According to her father-in-law, she manipulated his son into leaving her the farm, so he cut her off.

 The old man ignored her call just like she predicted, and she moved to the second round.

But not everyone was fortunate enough. In Utah, a player was having trouble with who to call After a long debate, he decided to call his ex-wife, but unfortunately, she picked up. He was surprised the call even went through; the last time he had called the line, she had blocked him. 

She greeted him, but he was out of words because he failed the game. That was all he could think about. His sister was dying in the hospital bed. He switched his phone off as his throat began to close up. A message popped up, and he clicked on it as he gasped for air. 

"Sorry, the person you called picked up your call. You have been permanently eliminated," the message read as he dropped to the floor dead. 

Wisconsin, Rhode Island, Maryland, and North Dakota were the other four participants who had their calls answered. Their throats closed upon them, just like Utah's when they read an elimination message on their phones. They were all dead in seconds.

A map of all 50 states of America appeared on all of the remaining participants' assigned phones; Utah, Wisconsin, Rhode Island, Maryland, and North Dakota were highlighted in red, while the remaining forty-five states were highlighted in white.

A voice note from Acer popped up, announcing the elimination of five states from the games. The rest of the players had no idea that, by elimination, Acer meant killed. 

They all excitedly cheered for themselves, with relief evident on their faces, congratulating themselves on getting one step closer to obtaining organs for their loved ones.

Acer wished them all luck and promised to pop up the following day at the same time.

As they continued with their daily lives, a wave of relief washed over them all. Accepting the invitation was the miracle that they all needed.

 But the celebration was short-lived with only a few hours left in the day. The majority of them started receiving calls that dropped their jaws.

There was no scientific formula that was required to put the dots together. In game one, they were instructed to call someone they were sure would not pick up their calls. Unknown to them, every individual that did not answer their call mysteriously dropped dead, just like the fate of the five players. 

Some of the players began calling their estranged family members or friends the second they received the terrible news. It was too good to be a coincidence. Some participants had yet to receive the calls, but those that did began to convince themselves that it was their fault.

Acer sat in her chair watching the drama. She had no idea if they were going to connect the dots, but it was very clear that most of them had already connected the dots. At least they were smart in some aspects, she thought to herself. 

When she played the game herself, it took her up to game three to realize she was killing people in exchange for the organ. It was clearly stated in the contract, though phrased in English, that it was not too clear for anyone who was not in a hurry to understand.

Some players took out the assigned phones and tried to reach her, but she was unreachable. She had turned her phone off and they were not allowed to contact her. 

They would have known that if they had read the entire fifty-page contract. She got up and decided to prepare herself some food. 

In Taxes, Berth had just received the call that announced the death of her father-in-law. She had already connected the dots. She was in her living room chair staring at her phone, emotionless. She wanted to convince herself it was just a coincidence, but it was too much of a coincidence. 

According to her brother-in-law, he just dropped to the ground. They wouldn't have called her, but they all noted her missed call on his phone which was strange, especially since the two were never in contact. 

They were curious as to why she called the very second he dropped dead. Berth was in shock. She never liked the old man, but what if her call caused his death? She was not going to live by herself. 

She grabbed her assigned phone and tried to reach Acer, but just like last time, she could not get through. Frustrated, she began smashing the phone into pieces. She was done with the stupid game and the crazy woman. 

In Washington, David had his jaw open in shock as he received the news of the death of his mother-in-law. The woman he chose in order to get past the first game. The mother of his wife had just dropped dead the second she received his call. 

He began panicking. He called her boyfriend for more information, but the paramedic did not give him the cause of death. David began pacing around the room in shock. Maybe it was all a coincidence, he kept comforting himself. 

But he had to find out. He tried calling Acer, but just like the others, his call was not going through. It was clear he was not the only one playing, and Acer was not going to give him answers, but how was he going to find out the names of the other players?

 If the person he called mysteriously dropped, it meant whoever the other players called also died. He tried to remember the contents of the contract, then it clicked.

 "If a player failed an office, he or she was to be eliminated forever from the game. Yet, if they succeeded, the office was to be eliminated," he recalled. 

Initially, he had no idea what "office" in that context meant for a human being or living thing.

 He was using the wrong dictionary. "No no no," he cried out as reality sank in. He quickly searched for an old English translator and translated the parts he could remember to modern English, and he froze.

 The contract began to make sense to him. He was the only one among the fifty participants that read the entire fifty-page contract, but he was too fast to understand it because of the old English.

He had no time to think about translating the stupid contract.

He quickly smashed the phone, blocked Acer's line, and ran to his room. He killed his mother-in-law. His wife was dying in the hospital bed while he was busy killing his mother. How was he going to explain that to his wife, who had been on her death bed waiting for the day that her mother would bury the hatchet and visit her before she died?

He had just made everything worse. He knelt in shock. The stupid game was too good to be true. He should have known better. From being in debt, he became a murderer, he thought to himself.

Another contestant that smashed their phone was Louisiana. She woke up to the shock of her ex-boss, dead from unknown causes. It was all over the news. The man dropped dead at a conference meeting, gasping for air.

 Being superstitious, she threw the game phone away and hid in her room all day. Shit went crazy quick, she thought. She had no idea who the owners of the game were, but she was not going to continue playing.

 She was so terrified that she was sweating like hell. She knew she could not share with anyone what she had gotten herself into. At the back of her mind, she thought if she threw away the phone, she was out of the game. 

There were some players who had no idea the person they called had died and were still excited about game two. One of those was Alabama, the old man went to sleep like an angel. No one called him about his brother's death. He could not wait for the following day to come.

Some players were aware of the deaths but did not care to connect the dots or mourn the deceased.They went on to sleep, wondering if game two was as easy as game one.

But a good percentage had connected the dots even though they had not read the contracts, and they thought they could just quit by smashing the phones and blocking Acer, but they were all wrong.