Page 54 of The Player

He didn’t need to ask me that.

He knew the answer.

“I’m ready,” I snapped, stalking over to the table to pick up a scalpel. I held it firmly in my hand, my knuckles white from gripping so hard, and I turned to face Masters in the chair.

“I hope you appreciate what an amazing daughter you have,” I told him, as his eyes filled with tears. “I hope you know how funny and smart, and totally amazing she is. She walks into a room and everything lights up, for me, anyway. She talks and I listen to every word. I have to, because she’s all I hear, all I see. She’s all I’ve ever wanted and I…” My voice caught in my throat. “I love your daughter, Mister Masters. And I’d do anything for her.Anything.”

I couldn’t say any more; I had to get this over with.

So, I closed my eyes.

Lifted the scalpel.

Held my left ear between my thumb and forefinger… and I started to cut.

Blood oozed down my neck as I sliced through my flesh. Sweat pouring off me as I tried to ignore the pain, tried to focus on why I was doing this.

I was panting, shaking as I cut deeper, blocking out the agony that radiated through me as I sliced and carved into myself. And then, through the screeching sound in my wet, bloody ears, I heard muffled cries and a buzzing sound. I opened my eyes, my hand freezing as I saw the horror that was happening across the room.

Masters’ whole body was rigid, his face contorted as he shook from the electric current flowing through him. When it stopped, he slumped limply in the chair, but then the buzzing started again, his body buckling, bending out of shape as electricity ripped the soul right out of him.

“No!” I screamed, dropping the scalpel and racing over to the chair. “This wasn’t the fucking deal, you asshole!”

The electricity cut off, and his cackling laugh bounced off the walls.

“After a declaration like that, did you really think I’d let you kill yourself?” I went to touch Masters, but the Taskmaster screeched, “Don’t touch him! Didn’t anyone teach you about electricity at school? It’s not safe to touch someone who’s been electrocuted. Especially if their corpse is still in contact with the electrical source. Be smart, Will. Think what Bryony would say.”

The last shred of anything I had inside me snapped.

“I told you not to use her FUCKING NAME!”

“And I told you to play by the rules, be clever. Do you really think she’d want to leave here with her father instead of you?”

Suddenly, light spilled from a corner of the room, and I saw a door open, sunlight filtering in from the top of a short staircase.

“And on that note, I’ll leave you with this thought… death is a debt we all have to pay, but some have a greater debt than others. Thank you for playing my game.”

And then there was silence.

I stood for just a second, the reality of it all hitting me like a tonne of bricks.

That was it?

Game over?

It couldn’t be.

There had to be more to this than a brief, ‘thanks for playing’, and the door springing open. But then sanity and rationality took over.

The door was open.

I could see daylight from where I stood.

There wouldn’t be a better opportunity than this. It might be a trap, but I had to take the chance.

ChapterTwenty-Three

WILL