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Sisyphean Attempts at Self-Improvement #1100475 added October 30, 2025 at 4:24pm
Restrictions: None
Hide and Seek
The Riverside Elementary afterschool program ended at 6 PM, but Miss Winters always stayed late to clean up.
Tonight, she found Lily Morrison still in the reading corner.
"Sweetie, your mom's probably waiting."
Lily didn't look up from her book. "She's running late. Can I stay?"
Miss Winters checked her phone. A text from Mrs. Morrison: "Stuck in traffic. There by 6:30. So sorry!"
"Looks like it's just us for a bit."
Lily smiled and returned to her book. Miss Winters went about straightening chairs and wiping tables. The room felt different with only one child: too quiet, too empty.
"Miss Winters?"
She turned. Lily stood by the toy chest, holding something.
"I found this." She held up an old wooden box with brass corners. "It was under all the blocks."
Miss Winters had never seen it before. The wood was dark, polished smooth by countless hands. Carved into the lid were the words: "I want to play a game."
"Let's put that back, honey."
"But it's pretty. Can we see what's inside?"
Before Miss Winters could answer, Lily opened it.
The lights went out.
Emergency lighting kicked in, bathing everything in red. Lily stood frozen, the open box in her hands.
"Lily?"
The girl's head turned slowly. Her eyes reflected the red light like an animal's.
"One," Lily said in a voice that wasn't quite hers. "Two. Three."
"Lily, put the box down."
"Four. Five. Six."
Miss Winters stepped forward, but Lily held up a hand.
"You can't move during the counting. Those are the rules."
"What rules? Lily, you're scaring me."
"Seven. Eight. Nine."
The shadows in the corners of the room began to shift, pulling away from the walls like taffy.
"Ten. Ready or not."
Lily's body went rigid, then crumpled to the floor. The box fell beside her, still open. Miss Winters rushed forward, but stopped when she heard breathing that wasn't hers or Lily's.
Something was in the room with them.
"Found you," a child's voice whispered from everywhere and nowhere.
Miss Winters grabbed Lily, trying to wake her. The girl's eyes fluttered open.
"We have to hide," Lily gasped. "It's looking for players."
"What is?"
"The last child who opened the box. They've been waiting so long for someone new to play with."
A shadow passed over them. Miss Winters looked up to see a shape on the ceiling: child-sized, moving in jerky, broken movements like a marionette.
"Hide and seek," it whispered. "My favorite game. I've been 'it' for thirty years."
Miss Winters pulled Lily behind the reading corner just as the thing dropped to the floor where they'd been standing.
"New rule," it sang. "If I find you, you become 'it.' Forever and ever and ever."
They heard it moving, searching, playing with the terrible patience of something that had nothing but time.
Miss Winters held Lily close, both of them trying not to breathe.
The box remained open on the floor, waiting for the game to end.
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496 words
PROMPT: “I want to play a game.” — from Saw (2004)
Written for ""13" (2025 Ed) - CLOSED"  |
© Copyright 2025 Jeff (UN: jeff at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
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