The 8-ball
Chapter 4
“How about no one?”
‘What?’
Getting up to my feet, I walk back over to the table.
“I don’t want to be responsible for any of this,” I say while reaching for the folded paper, “What you’re doing is basically criminal!”
‘Oh shut the fuck up, don’t take the high ground, I know you want this. I can read your—’
“So what? You can read my mind? Good for you.” Wrinkling up the paper, I toss it onto the floor behind me. “Just because I might have fantasies about something doesn’t mean I want to do said thing.”
‘Eh fine, I’m not gonna push you; besides, you’ll come around, they always do.’
It said that with so much certainty as if it had this talk on multiple occasions, which is probably the case. Still, I might be a creep behind closed doors, but at least I’m a creep with morals. Inserting commands into someone just to pleasure another? It ain’t right dawg. If that creep on the road got Zoey to suck him off, right there, in the middle of the street. I honestly don’t know what I would’ve done.
‘Well, you wouldn’t have done anything since the triggers were made to make everyone else unaware.’
“Hey, can you stop reading my thoughts please?” I said, resting my arms on the desk and leaning forwards. “I’d appreciate it.”
‘Hey don’t get me wrong, not all of the triggers would be to get you off, a fair bit of them would be there for no other reason than to make your life more comfortable.’
Raising my eyebrow at this, I looked down at the ball.
“What do you mean by ‘more comfortable?”
‘Well, I guess you won’t know till you write a name down,’ Another folded piece of paper began to protrude out of the small crack on the ball slowly. ‘There you go, another fresh piece of paper; I have a whole stack of these in here, they’re all folded too! I—well I have a lot of free time on my hands...’
“Listen to me; I don’t want your paper, okay?!” The prospect of what would happen if this voice is preaching the truth flashed through my mind, Zoey, in a small bikini, sucking me off with her plump red lips instead of some random stranger; leaving red marks on the tip of my-
‘Why do you persist in denying it, I know what you want, and when you finally have the chance actually to get what you desire, you try to act like a hero.’
“I—”
‘I get it, you don’t fully understand this, and the risk of your older sister getting hurt is too high; fine, did it ever occur to you that you could write down ANYONE’s name? Why don’t you test it out on someone you don’t care about as much?’
“Because!” I say with a huff, “If I start down this path you want me to go, I’ll end up like that crazy guy who got himself arrested!”
‘Oh trust me, that’s not gonna happen; I’m not very keen to be stuck in this ball for another ten years.’
“I don’t care; I’m not—”
Thunk
“Huh?”
‘Looks like your mates are back home, that’s awfully early, isn’t it?’
“Yeah, I was thinking the same—Wait were you—Stop reading my mind!”
The sounds of Mia’s feet can be heard vociferously through the house as she crashes up the stairs. She’s my younger sister, younger by precisely one week but still younger none the less. Honestly, I forgot about her with everything that went on today. She treats me the same way the rest of the family does, passive aggression, and overall disinterest; though, unlike my parents, she gets a pass since that’s how most relatives act towards each other. I don’t see her that often since we only cross paths cause we live in the same house and thus, are forced to on occasion, I know for a fact that once we both move out, we’ll only meet for family reunions, and that’s stretching it. Unlike Zoey, Mia inherited Mom’s blond hair, she has a nice perky posterior and quite genuinely ample tits for her age. Zoey’s are still larger, but that’s most definitely because she’s older; when Mia’s Zoey’s age her chest will be a sight to behold.
I hurriedly locked my bedroom door; If I were a betting man, I’d wager that coming into my room is the last thing she’d want to do. But it never hurts to be careful, and having her see me naked save for my boxers is something either of us would like to happen.
My fears quenched when I heard the door to her room slam shut, after standing in silence for a small moment, I let out a wearying sigh of relief and head back over to my bed to pull back on my pants. Chocking the chicken will have to wait since it’ll be hard to thoroughly enjoy myself now that my folks are back. And once dad comes home, it’ll be that much harder; I’ll probably just have to wait until everyone’s asleep.
‘Oh that’s unfortunate—If only there were some way to install triggers into your family, so they wouldn’t mind you masturbating whenever and where you please.’
“Why do you say it like that?”
‘Like what?’
“Mast-ur-bate, you’re making it sound dirty.”
‘Oh shut the fuck up.’
Knock Knock Knock
“Hey Ryan,” Shit, it’s Mom, my pants are still on the floor. I rush over and pull it back on with record timing; the Flash would be proud. “I need to—” Her voice cut off for a split second “Did you lock the door?! I’ve told you multiple times already young man; you’re not allowed to lock the doors in this house until you start paying for it.”
“Uh, S—Sorry Mom!” I yell as I go for the door.
“Open up; I want to talk to you.” She said with a heavy sigh.
I could sense her grip on the opposite side of the door, holding the knop waiting for me to unlock it.
‘Ya’know if you let me—’
“Shut it!”
“What did you just say?”
“N—Nothing Mom!” I stammer as I unlock the door with a small click.
Seconds after unlocking it she swiftly pushes the door open, forcing me to stumble back a bit.
“Look, Ryan, I spoke to Zoey, and I heard what happened on the road.” She said with an honest tone. “I just wanted to apologize for being on your back so much this, morning. I’m glad you’re not—hurt—” Her voice slowed down, and face scrunched up into that of confusion, as she looked behind me. “What—Ryan, what the hell is that!?” She nearly yelled at me, pushing me out of the way she marched over to my bed and yanked up—Oh shit—Her panties!
“Uh—” I stammer out.
“Where the fuck did you get this—This—” She closed her eyes, trying to find the right words. “These are my panties! Yo—you’re a perverted creep!” She clenches her panties in her palm, narrowing her eyes at my lack of a top, and shifting her gaze down to my jeans that I forgot to zip up all the way. “Were you? Oh—Oh my god, you’re disgusting!” Clenching the underwear even tighter she nearly pushes me out of the way as she rushes to her bedroom, shouting back at me. “You’re in a shitload of trouble; your father’s going to be hearing about this!”
Then,
Slam
The master bedroom’s door shut, leaving me alone in my room, aghast for words.
‘Well, that was unfortunate.’ The voice broke the empty silence, ‘I can see you’re going through a lot at the moment, maybe this whole thing was a mistake. I think I’ll just head out and find someone else to—’
“No, wait...” I mumbled to the ball, or myself I don’t fucking know. “I want to play your game, and I—” Sigh “I know who I want to play for.” walking over to the desk, I grab a pen from a basket.
‘Oh? I knew you would see things my way.’ A third piece of paper extruded from the crack, ‘Here you go, buddy, I actually just folded this one a minute ago!’
Pulling out the paper, I lean onto the table and carefully write out my mother’s full name.
SOPHIA JAE BROOKS—
Tick Tock
I should get up...
Tick Tock
It’s quarter to six...
Tick Tock
I’m going to be late...
Tick Tock
Will I be late?
Tick Tock
I’m not gonna be late...
Tick Tock
I can...
Tick
Rest for...
Tock
‘Wake the fuck up you lil bitch.’
“Mmm—Huh?” My eyes shot open faster than paint dries on a wall, which is to say, not so fast. “Whuh, Oh, o s-shit!” Wasn’t it a dream? No, the 8-ball’s still on my nightstand, and—That voice, it’s talking to me, wait did it wake me up?
‘Yeah no need to thank me, is it typical for you to ignore your alarm? Heh, if you do this every day, I can imagine why your mother was so upset.’
“Ugh” I moan as I lean up to a sitting position, the cold air cause goosebumps to swarm onto my skin as my blanket falls off. “No, no, I usually don’t sleep in.” I shake the grogginess away after a drawn-out yawn. “God, I feel more tired than usual...”
‘Well that’s the reason I woke you up, don’t expect me to be doing you any more favors.’
“What do you mean?”
‘I had to put you in a deep sleep, couldn’t risk having you wake up a seeing me out and about. You would instantly die if you saw me, so I did it for your own good.’
“Wait,” My eyes winded as I swung my legs out of bed, “You got out of the ball?! And—were walking around my room?!”
‘Holy hell, I explained this already! I only help you people so I can spend some time walking off my cramps; honestly, I enjoyed myself last night, after slapping your mum with a boatload of triggers, I went out for a night on the town. That was the best six hours I had in a long time let me tell you.’
Triggers? Oh shit, yeah, it’s coming back to me. Did the voice actually do it? Looking over to the ball I notice the small crack is nowhere to be seen.
‘Yep, I placed a bunch of commands into her head, probably more than I should’ve, but hey, I was in a good mood. Though, while having more triggers might equal more fun, it’s also going to essentially make it harder for you to win in the long run.’
“Okay wait, so, let me get this straight,” I mutter, riffling through a drawer on a quest to find today’s attire. “This ‘game.’ Are you telling me I’m supposed to find all the triggers you gave her, by guessing? I don’t understand how exactly I’m—”
‘This proves to me that you haven’t been paying attention to half the shit I’ve been telling you.’ The voice echoed, ‘I’ve hidden a fair amount of clues to help you out, think of this game as an easter egg hunt. They’re small pieces of folded paper, I accumulated a lot of those over the years, some of the clues tell you exactly what to say, and others will require some effort on your part.’
“Oah,” I picked up at that, “I assumed it would be a lot more challenging.”
‘I—Do you not listen!? I legit told you that you would enjoy it.’ Sigh ‘Whatever, look I’m going to leave you be, you’re smart enough to figure out the rest on your own. I bought this new game while I was out, it’s called ‘Tetris’ I’m so excited to try it out!’
I was a bit hesitant to go along with the voice at first, but now that I jumped over the hurdle that was choosing someone, I honestly find myself tingling with curiosity; if this voice is real, and I’m not high on crack, my life might end up being a bit more interesting.
‘If you want me, you know where to find me; oh wait! Before I dip, here are some small things that you might want to know.’
“How many rules does this hind and seek game have?”
’Shut up and listen, you’ll want to know this.’ The voice interrupted. ‘If you somehow go seven days without finding one of my clues, it’s game over; which means it’ll be easy at first, but it’s going to get a lot harder when you’re on the last couple of clues.’
“Wait! What if someone else were to—”
‘I’m not done talking! If anyone else stumbles across a clue I left, they will subconsciously hide it somewhere else and forget they ever found it. In addition, there are three different types of triggers; Passive-triggers, Sub-triggers, and Major-triggers.’
“You said these were small things? This is a big chunk of information.”
‘Passive-triggers are always active; you really don’t even need a clue to figure out what they do, just use your powers of deductive reasoning. Sub-triggers are the main commands that’ll make you a happy camper, and their clues shouldn’t be too much of a hassle to find. And, Major-triggers, are the big boys; I want you to figure out what’s unique about them on your own.’
“Well—” I say to myself, letting everything it said sync into my memory. “Okay then...”
‘Oh, and you might want to get going to school before your mother wakes up, she’s still pissed at you for masturbating with her panties.’
“I did no such thing!”
‘Yeah, well, you were about to you little perv. Anyway, If you need me, I’ll be in my ball, playing Tetris.’
“Wait what am I supposed to do about her? I can’t avoid her forever.”
‘Are you serious? Bitch, I helped you out enough, you can easily get her off your back if you use the right words.’ The voice—My voice, chuckled. God, it’s weird to hear my own voice insulting myself. ‘Good luck!’
Ah, well, it can’t be that hard, can it? All I have to do is find every piece of paper, and then I’ll have full control over Mom! I know this house like the back of my hand, how hard could it be? Hell, I bet I can find them all in the first week!
‘When did I ever say I hid all the clues in your house?’
“Wait, what?”