Word Games

Prompt:

A virtual word game seems delightfully magical as words you spell in your newest game against a mysterious opponent supposedly begin materializing in their real life, and their words in yours. But, after you accidentally make them angry, you must find a way to win the word game without allowing them to spell bad things into your life.

Story:

Early in the morning, you awaken. The sun has just peered over the horizon and your alarm clock has yet to sound. You instinctively follow the sequence every typical human does after waking: stretch, yawn, reach for your phone. There are hardly any notifications worth checking, so you open your word tile game app and start a new round. Your opponent has a strange but alluring profile picture, and their name is weird but somehow familiar. You shrug it off and start off the game by spelling out the word “FLOWERS”. Doing so uses all seven tiles causing you to feel great about your score. A nice first impression, you smirk. You put down your phone and head to the bathroom to brush your teeth. When you return, you see a notification in the chat: “Thanks for the flowers. I must return the favor somehow.” You breathe out a shallow laugh and reply with “LOL”. Just then, you hear the ping and see that they have spelled the word “BERRIES” using the S from your “FLOWERS”. Almost instantly, you hear your doorbell ring. Running downstairs, the delivery man hands you a box of chocolate-covered strawberries. With a nod, he turns away and drives off in his truck. You stare at the package perplexed, seeing no name or return address. An odd feeling falls over you, but your growling stomach craves the berries. After all, you hadn’t eaten breakfast yet.

After munching a few, you pick up your phone and type in the chat:

“How did you do that?”

After a few moments, they respond:

“Do what?”

You begin to feel silly and quickly reply:

“How’d you think of a great word like that?”

To which they reply with a blushing face.

You realize it is your turn now. You stare at your letters: A G F R N I D.

You realize that you are about to be late for work and hastily spell the word “BAND” from the B in BERRIES.

You head out to your car and start the mundane commute. You figure with your luck you’ll get stopped at every single red light like you usually do, only today you don’t mind. You can use those breaks to play with your new friend. To your surprise, every light stays green, allowing you to get to your job ten minutes early. After parking, you exit the vehicle and stare at your phone’s screen as you walk towards the building.

“A Mariachi Band? You’re too much,” the next post in the chat reads.

Looking back at the game board, you see that your opponent had spelled the word “GREEN” using an E from “FLOWERS”. You stare in disbelief as you begin to feel intrigued and uneasy all at once. Suddenly, you hear your boss calling you, so you hurry in and settle down at your station.

You get to work and become fully immersed in your task. You almost forget about the game until you hear a ping.

“You still there?” the chat reads.

“Yes… at work though,” you hastily reply.

“So am I,” your opponent responds.

“Are you on your phone? Seriously?” you hear your annoying supervisor shout. You inhale deeply, thinking; “…I literally just picked it up for five seconds…” You stare at the board and see the letters G F R I N I Z. You look around and see your supervisor just waiting for you to put your phone down and get to work, but you really don’t want to keep your opponent waiting any longer. Using the G in Green, you quickly spell out the first word that comes to your mind; “FIRING”. Irked, you toss down your phone and continue working. After a few minutes, your computer crashes. You click and click but the program has frozen and viruses are constantly streaming across the screen. At the same time, you hear several pings from your phone.

“How DARE you?! You got me fired from my job? Oh, you are SO gonna pay for this.” the chat reads.

Looking at the game board, you see that your opponent has spelled the word “CRASH”. Suddenly, you feel a lump in your throat. You didn’t mean to get them fired. Did you really get them fired? By spelling a word? You are too afraid to spell another word for now. You put your phone away and ask your boss to move you to another cubicle while the IT guys try to fix your old workstation. You sit at another computer and, not even five minutes into your work, that computer crashes too. You smack yourself in the face and decide to take an early lunch. You punch out and head out to your car. On the way to your favorite restaurant, another car t-bones you at the intersection. No one is severely hurt, but your car is a mess and it can hardly drive anymore. You decide to walk the rest of the way to your favorite restaurant, but as you approach it, you see a smash-and-grab in progress. A truck has crashed into the front of the building, and robbers are making off with the ATM machine along with a safe and two cash registers. Suddenly, the word “CRASH” begins replaying in your mind. If you don’t take your turn soon, CRASHes will keep popping up in your life until your game times out and you lose. Who knows what that will mean for you? You never should have started that game with the mysterious person, but it’s too late for regrets. You have to spell a word that will stop them from ruining your life…..