A Game for the Future — Part 1.

Beware to all who read this. This is not your normal story. This is about a man and the most important decision of his life and he won’t choose for himself. You will. You will be provided with a choice that will determine this man’s future. I ask that you choose wisely. You never know what may happen.

“The time has come, Rahul. You must decide what to do. I must warn you though. This will change your life. For the better or worse is your choice.”

“I choose this.”

“A bold decision, Rahul. Let us see what you have now.”

An alarm starts to go off. Rahul sleepily shuts it off and rubs his eyes. Another day stuck at home and working from home. Another day of just binging shows and movies on Netflix. He wants something that could bring him out of this monotonous life.

Having made breakfast and his much-needed cup of coffee, Rahul sits down to scroll through his mail on his computer. “Great, just more work and nothing else. Man, fuck this.”, he thought. Rahul had just begun to do his work when he got a call.

‘UNKNOWN NUMBER’

Rahul wondered who it was and took his phone to pick up the call.

“Hello?”

“RAAHUUULLLL!!! IT’S MEEEEEEE, DIVVVVYYYAAAAAAA!!!! HOW’S MY BIG BROTHER?!! HHAAAPPPPYYYYYY BBBIIIRRRTTTHHHDDDDAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!”

“Oh god, Divya! I just woke up, stop screaming!”

“SORRRYYYYY!!!! BUT STILL, ITS YOUR BIRTHDAY!!!! YOU HAVE ANYTHING PLANNED?!!!”

“Ugh. No, Divya. I don’t. Unlike you, I have to work. I don’t have the time. I’ll just order in food.”

“OH COME ON! YOU GOTTA HAVE SOMETHING PLANNED?”

“I would if you could stop screaming for a second, please. Also, whose number is this? Did you get a new number or something?”

“OH RIGHT. YOU HAVEN’T MET HER! RAHUL, SAY HI TO MAYA!”

“Maya? Hi, Maya. Nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, Hi Rahul. Sorry for Divya screaming so much. She is really excited about your birthday. Are you sure you don’t have anything planned?”

“Yeah, yeah. I have work to do and anyway, my friends are pretty busy as well.”

“Oh alright then. Happy birthday anyway. Have a great day.”

“Thanks, Maya. I hope you do too.”

Ending the call, Rahul went back to his work. Reading emails and replying, making charts needed for the company’s next project and more, it felt like it had just been repeated. Déjà Vu. In the end, Rahul finally finished his work and decided to go and sleep.

“WELCOME BACK EVERYBODY TO THE SHOW YOU HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! IT IS TIME FOR OUR FINAL CONTESTANT. PLEASE WELCOME MR RAHUL BHATIA!!!!!”

A thunderous applause rings across the auditorium and Rahul walks onto the stage. Utterly confused and dazed, he took his seat opposite the Game Master. In front of him were 6 briefcases. Leathery and black, these seemed like the classic office briefcases but what is in them? Rahul looked around to understand what was happening but he couldn't see the audience since the lights were so bright. He couldn't see anything beyond the stage.

Rahul turned back to see the Game Master. How did he know the name? He had never seen this man before.

“Ah yes. Finally, Mr Bhatia, your turn has arrived. Are you excited to choose?”

“Um, I don’t understand what is happening. Who are you and where am I?”

“Oh, come on, Mr Bhatia. Do not act dumb now. Do you not remember? I must say it gets tiring every time you do this memory loss act.”

“Every time? What do you mean, every time? What the hell is going on?”

“You will have to figure that out for yourself, Mr Bhatia. NOW! ONTO THE GAME!!!”

“No, wait. Explain what’s going — .”

shick-shick. The sound of a gun being cocked. Rahul turned around to see the barrel of a gun being pointed down at his face.

“Shut the fuck up and play. Mr Bhatia.”

Rahul became extremely quiet and turned around to see the Game Master right up in his face.

“AHH. The fuck?!”

“Ahahhaaaa. I am sorry, Mr Bhatia but I needed your attention. Now listen carefully. As you can see in front of you, there are 6 briefcases. 3 of them contain something good for you and 2 of them contain something bad. The last one has something that could either be good or bad. But bear in mind, that all of these briefcases have the power to drastically change your life. Soooo, choose carefullllyyy.”

Thanks for reading.

This is my first attempt at a proper story. It’s going to be 2 parts and then the 2 endings. So 4 stories overall. I'm sorry that it is so long, but I want to flesh out this story properly. I do hope that you all like it.

Part 2: https://medium.com/@vanshjain233/a-game-for-the-future-part-2-4d76afc6cb0f