Would You Rather?

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Jake continued to stare at Annalee for a full five minutes. "Uh, hello? Jake?"

"Yea, sorry. Maybe I don't have to answer. What happens if I don't answer?"

Annalee shrugged, "I'm not sure. Didn't you just say that you found some rules?"

"Oh yea!" Jake turned over the box so that they were looking at the bottom.

'Hello my dears! I hope you are enjoying my game. However, there are a few little rules.

 1: All players must be in the room together for the questions to be asked. No peeking ahead.

2: People have found that the choices they've made, seem to have an effect on their lives.

3: If you do not answer a question, both of the possibilities will take effect.

Have fun darlings! I wish you all the best of luck.'

"Well, sounds like I have a choice to make," Jake sighed. Who could choose between being blind and deaf? Jake didn't know how to sign properly or read Braille. And is this a temporary situation or permanent? "If I choose deaf, I'll still be able to see everything and I won't be able to hear certain things that I will miss. What if I find the person I love and I can never hear them say I love you? If I choose blind, I'll be able to hear everything and I know you would be there for me but it could take years to learn certain skills."

Annalee sat next to Jake holding his hand. There were tears slowly forming in her eyes. "Jake, I'm so sorry for playing this game. I'm sorry I started it. Please don't hate me."

"I could never hate you. It's not that bad. We'll be ok." Jake hugged Annalee close to him to where she was practically in his lap. Staring into her hazel eyes and reading all the emotions she was fighting, he made his decision.

"I'd rather be deaf."

***

Annalee clung to Jake's shirt even more and started sobbing harder. She could feel the collar of his shirt soaking up her tears. How could she have done this to her best friend? She knew that when they first noticed something amiss they should have quit. But there was something stopping her. It was as if some force made her continue. No matter how badly she wanted to stop, she couldn't help but nod when Jake asked if she was ready for her question.

"Are you sure? Because we can quit now if you want."

Annalee shook her head. "That's just it Jake. I don't think we can."

Jake looked at the floor, his eyes growing sadder. "I know what you mean. I can feel it too. As bad as I want the game to end, we can't stop."

Annalee nodded again as Jake voiced her thoughts. Oh well, the faster they asked questions and answered them, the quicker the game would be over. There were around 10 questions each, the deck being very small. Jake reached into the deck to pull out Annalee's question. After reading the card, Annalee let out a sigh of relief before curling herself back into Jake's chest, letting out another round of tears.

***

Jake continued rubbing on Annalee's back. She was so silly. After he read her question, she started crying again. Her question wasn't bad at all, she should be happy. Finally, she let out a hiccup before speaking.

"It's no-hiccup-ot fair! You had such a-hiccup-a horrible question and mi-hiccup-ine is so si-hiccup-illy!"

Jake laughed at her attempts to talk before rubbing her back again and shooshing her. "Don't say that. My question is something we will deal with when, or if, it happens. And yours could potentially be serious too!"