The 8-ball
Chapter 3
Nahh, I’m overreacting. I mean, come on, it’s just you’re everyday, average billiard ball, no way am I going crazy.
In fact, my whole family loves pool; we have pool-table balls in spades! Seeing one on my desk is just par for the course!
That’s what I wanted to believe, I truly, truly wanted to believe that: anything, something to explain this ominous black ball’s sudden appearance on my nightstand. Well, I say ominous, but—Things like this don’t just ‘happen,’ though, to be fair, that whole fiasco on the road earlier wasn’t par for the course either. But even so, at least that crazy couple could be easily explained without bending too many straws; they were just two nutjobs taking their weird fetish out into the general public. Alright fine, uncanny, yes. But at least it all fits under the umbrella of possibility.
This 8-ball, on the other hand, makes legitimately no sense what-so-ever. Last time I checked, Zoey had it stuck in her firm grip with the plan of using it for police evidence or some other shit. It honestly doesn’t matter what they wanted with the ball; what isn’t irrelevant though, is the fact that it was in ‘police custody.’ Typically when that happens, said item is under lock in key, with multiple watchful eyes keeping track of it 24/7. Yet somehow, this puny, paltry, peace of plastic it’s now in my bedroom? Someone care to explain? No one? Yeah, thought so.
Asking questions to myself won’t get anyone anywhere, so after figuring out that indeed, I am awake. I rose from my sitting position, not bothering to pull my pants back up; tis the beauty of being home alone. The small walk to my desk, something that typically takes me less than five seconds, seemed like hours; each step felt like there was an apparitional weight holding me down...
And as I finally, reached the desk I felt...
Nah, I’m just joking nothing strange happened, all I did was walk over to my nightstand, nothing that notable occurred, which freaked me the fuck out! I expecting something, maybe this was a prank? Perhaps I’m on some new type of reality Tv show? My Eight Ball and Me, coming next spring. Okay no, forget I said that, but still, it would be better than this creepy nothingness. Something, anything!
God—I don’t know what to do, should I touch the thing?
Raising my arm up, I turn on the phone that I was planning on using to help me bust a long-awaited nut, and send Zoey a text.
“Hey, Zo r u busy? I”
Well—I don’t know how to phrase this without coming off as high.
“I know this sounds crazy, but I think I have the pool ball from before?”
It’ll probably take her a good while to respond, since she’s probably at the precinct right now, trying to figure out what to do with those two wackos.
The ball looks precisely the same as it did before, no blemishes, it seems like it was taken directly out of the box. It can’t be the same ball from before, right? But, if it’s not, then where did this thing come from? I pick up the dam ball, it feels light with a solid bulk to it, ya’know, like a regular fucking billiard ball; looking directly at the ‘8,’ doing that earlier rewarded me with a small stinging sensation, I feel nothing. Heck, I feel worse than nothing! I feel like an eighteen-year-old jobless shit-head living with his parents, standing in a room with nothing but boxers on, freaking out over an 8-ball.
‘Well, that’s a mighty acute self-accusation.’
What the fuck? Did I-
Did I say that? I—it—I swear I heard something, it sounded like my voice but—Instead of it being a thought in my head it’s as if someone were speaking directly into my ears.
‘Do yourself a favor and don’t bother trying to find the origin of the sound, you’ll only end up spinning around in circles.’
The fuc-
Bing!
My phone! Hopefully, it’s Zoey; she’ll be able to help clear things up, part of me wants her to call me crazy and explain that the 8-ball’s currently under her custody. Yeah, she’ll think I’m on crack, but at least then I’ll know that this ball doesn’t have some type of teleporting mumbo jumbo magic.
Annd—Yep! One missed message from Big Z; she said—What the shit?
“What pool ball? Dude, Im busy rn.”
What the hell is Zoey on about? Now she’s the crazy one, is she suffering from short term memory and never told me about it?
“Zoey, what the fuck? The 8-ball you snatched from me? The one that fell out of the crazy guy’s pocket.”
“Bro I’m at work, I can’t joke around. I’m going to stop responding okay?”
“Wait, Zoey!”
Nothing.
“Zoey I’m serious this 8-ball,”
Nothing.
“I’m freaking out!”
Nothing.
Dammit, Zoey! What is wrong with her, she took the ball from me, telling me directly to my face that is was evidence. I could tell from her behavior back there, and even now, from her messages that she’s not joking. When Zoey’s in police mode, it’s easy to understand she means business, which makes me more perplexed since she’s acting like she doesn’t even remember the 8-ball at all.
‘Let me give you a tip, instead of trying to message the police officer who’s personally ignoring you—Why don’t you try talking to the mysterious voice that’s all but willing to answer your questions’
Where the fuck is this voice coming from?! And why does it sound like me!? What the fuck is going on!?
‘Holy mother of—Stop trying to figure out where the sound is coming from, trust me; you’ll be stuck on that for hours.’
It’s like, it can read my thoughts-
‘You son of a bitch, of course, I can read your—You know what, this was a mistake, I’ll be going.”
“Wait!” I shouted to the empty room, I would say I shouted to the voice, but honestly, I wouldn’t know if that were true or not since the location of the voice is up in the air.
‘Oh so now he wants to talk...’
“Wait wait wait wait, is your voice coming from the 8-ball?”
‘I am in the eightball, yes, but, dude seriously; move on, does it matter where my voice is coming from?’
“Uh.”
‘Ya’know I picked you cause I sensed potential, I could have some fun with you, but right now I’m more annoyed than amused.’ The voice said with a hint of sass.
I glance down to my phone to find Zoey’s still ignoring my texts, should I send her a picture of it? That might jog her memory-
‘I mean, I wouldn’t recommend it but be my guest, she’ll just see you as annoying. I erased all traces of me and the 8-ball from all of the officer’s memories, yes, that includes your dear sister.’
“Wait what?” Did—Is this real? It can’t be.
‘Are you going to say anything other than, What? Huh? Uh? Yeah, I erased her memory, hell, I could wipe all traces of you from her head.’
My eyes winded at than, and I immediately began pinching myself.
‘Don’t worry; I honestly don’t care enough to do that.’
“Um,”
‘Okay, you know what? Since you’re obviously not going to ask, I’ll tell you.’ The voice said with growing annoyance, ‘I’m a magical being, banished to dimension 83x for bad behavior. And now I’m here on earth, just trying to make my punishment a little less grim.’
“Okay?”
‘Alright kid this is your last chance if you keep acting like this Ima just wipe your memory and dip.’
The mear fact that this voice can erase memories like it’s nothing is scary beyond belief, hell, memories are a sacred thing; you can’t get back stuff like that.
“Okay okay okay! Sorry! I’m just trying to wrap my head around this,” I say, waving my hands trying to shake away my shock. “So you—Are from another world? I’m just supposed to believe that?”
‘Man, I don’t care if you believe me or not, when I saw you, I looked deep down into your soul; I read your dark desires, I felt your passion, your sorrow, your lust. And I realized, you’re perfect. So I had followed you.’
“You read my soul? What!” Was that the small tinkle I felt when I was holding the ball? Was that this thing searching me?
‘Let me explain—You see I can easily rewrite reality, change how the world works, and how the people in it act. The problem is, I can’t do much while I’m stuck in this prison, so what I typically do; is find someone who has many deep and dark desires and long story short I make those dreams come true!’
“Why?”
‘Why?’
“Yeah—Why would you do that? Like, what do you gain from helping people?” I walk back over to my bed and sit down, “You say you’re stuck in the ball if I were you I wouldn’t help anyone.”
‘Oh but that’s the thing, while I’m helping someone I’m allowed to roam free; I can smell the fresh air, enjoy the summer breeze.’
“Okay, hold on a sec,” I say, clutching my temple, trying to sort this out. “You said—I’m—I’m still confused.”
‘Okay let me put this as simple as I can for you.’ The voice said slowly, ‘I’m going to make your dark desires come true, I know how you truly feel about your mother and sister; you mom might be a pain, but deep down you have the hots for her and don’t deny it, you literally have her panties on the bed behind you, lil pervert.’
“I—”
‘And your older sister, she really does love you, and you love her back; but differently...’
“No! I—that’s not true!”
‘Dude, I couldn’t give two shits, I read your soul in and out; you’re dirty as fuck, you’re just good at hiding it. Now, I’m going to help you, but I’m not going to make the same mistake I did last time.’
Still trying to shake off its accusations, it takes me a while to register what the voice said.
“Wait—Was that guy from before related to you?”
‘Yeah, he was my previous host, after promising to help him out; I gave him a bunch of trigger words that would work on anyone, and everyone else would be utterly unaware of anything he does with said triggers.’ The voice said with a sigh, ‘I try to give my hosts a challenge, since the harder it is for them, the more they’ll need me, and the more time they need my help, the more time I can spend outside of this ball. The problem was, I made it way to easy for him, he was able to have anyone he wanted; I tried to limit his power by forcing him to hold the ball to use the triggers, but that didn’t do jack shit.—
“Oah, that’s why he reached for the ba—Wait! Did he try to use the trigger on Zoey?!”
‘Yep, if he got it right she would’ve dropped to her knees and suck him dry, then forget about the whole thing ordeal. But whatever back to me.’
“Jesus Christ,”
‘I was stuck in that ball for almost ten years! He never let me out; so when he finally fucked up, and I found you, I realized this is my seconds chance at freedom.’
“Second chance?”
‘Yep, Ima help you out bud, but I’m not going to make it as easy as I did for the last guy. If you wanna rock your socks off, you’re gonna have to play my game.’
“I don’t know...” This thing, whatever it is, it might be better if I-
‘Oh don’t give me that shit, I know what you want, and I’ll make it worth your while; here’s this, if you beat my game, the prize will be complete control over whoever you want. And then, you can play the same game again and get control over someone else!’
“Complete control? Do you mean—”
‘You’ll see what I mean, and don’t worry; I’m going to make sure the journey is just as enjoyable as the prize that lies ahead.’
“Wait, I never agreed to this. I don’t want control over anyone.”
‘Not even your mother? I could easily make her give you a nice sloppy smooch every time you slap her ass; those are the types of triggers I’m talking about. Hell, that’s the entire game, it’ll be easy, I’m going to install a boatload of erotic triggers into whoever you want; then all you have to do is find the clues I leave and use them. Once you used all the triggers at least once, you’ll gain complete control!’
“...”
‘So—I’m not going to wait for you to admit it, you’re going to play the game, but what I’m wondering is who do you want the prize to be?’ A small crack formed on the outside of the 8-ball’s smooth exterior and a neatly folded piece of paper shot out of the newly formed hole.
‘Write the full name of whoever you want, and then once you wake up the next morning, the games will begin.’