The Organ Games

Chapter 4

Finally, she was home, and as soon as she opened the hotel door, she rushed to the bathroom. It was the first time that she had stayed that long in her own sweat. She wanted to soak it all in the luxury tub. 

She always enjoyed that part of her job and the luxury that came with it. She always promised herself she would enjoy that part no matter how bad things went. She deserved that part. At least, that's what she kept telling herself.

She gently undressed and slid into the bathtub. She only desired a lengthy bath. The following day was going to be a whirlwind. She still hadn't heard back from the other 40 states, and she was running out of time.

She couldn't blame them for taking their time; at the very least, unlike herself when she was first approached to join the game, they were using their heads. She was young and stupid, or, to be more accurate, desperate. She chuckled as she recalled the ordeal, but it was too late to weep over spilled milk.

She leaned over and closed her eyes, but she was interrupted by the ring of her phone. She had forgotten to turn off the phone. She sighed. She really needed the soak and a breather.

She debated whether to go get it or just let it ring, but then she remembered the players. She quickly got out of the tub and ran to the phone. As soon as she saw the caller ID, she smiled. It was Missouri. She had saved all the contestants with the state they lived in. 

The old woman at the end of the line did not mind exchanging pleasantries. She went straight to the point and agreed to take part in the game. 

"Noted" was the only word that came out of Acer's mouth as she hung up the phone. She knew that asking for reasons only led to the players' doubting themselves, so hanging up as quickly as she could did the trick, and it prevented the player from calling back in case they changed their minds. 

She decided to take the phone with her to her bathtub, but first, she grabbed a bottle of expensive wine and a glass. She had a good feeling she was going to sleep on a good note. 

She walked back to her tub and her phone beeped. She quickly picked it up; it was Florida accepting the invitation. Another beep, Mississippi and Georgia, followed by Minnesota and Maine. They all sent messages accepting the invitation.

Acer screamed in excitement as she turned on her music. It was not a bad day for her after all. The following hour, she was hit with a lot of texts from other states accepting the invitation. Most of them texted. Acer understood that they were too ashamed to call. They probably all deleted the messages to cover up the mess they were getting into. 

She counted her states, and she was on 35 states in less than an hour. She was only 15 minutes late, but she was very sure they were all going to accept her by noon. She opened the bottle of wine and made a toast to herself for the job well done.

She could only imagine the stress she would have been exposed to if she had only had 10 participants by the end of the day.

********

David, on the opposite side of the country, was still debating whether or not to accept the invitation. He had spent the entire night exploring the internet for The Organ Games but had come up empty-handed. He'd tried searching for the videos Acer had shown him, but there were none to be found.

There were no tag names or anything resembling what she described. Perhaps it was unlawful and top-secret, he reasoned. And the fact that the games were not available on the internet just added to the skepticism. But no matter how hard he tried to doubt the games, they needed that heart for his wife.

He was at war within himself. There was a big part of him that was telling him it was all scum, and then there was a small part of him telling him he needed to accept the invitation. 

There was nothing to lose. The beautiful woman never asked for his money or credit details. He could not see anything that could go wrong. And the good part of it all was that he could play the games and entertain some rich fools in the comfort of his home. So, getting kidnapped was out of the question.

He checked his watch; it was early morning, and he had four hours to make a decision. He hadn't slept all night, not that he ever did. It seemed that the decision had merely added to his burdens. He kept staring at his wife, who was lying in her customary bed as if she were about to take her last breath. There was nothing wrong with him racing down the street nude for his wife. Other guys in his position would have leaped at the chance, given that he was responsible for her predicament.

With that notion in his mind, he picked up his phone and stared at Acer's number; he had saved it for unknown reasons. Maybe it was because he had made up his mind the very second she walked away. 

Out of impulse, he clicked on it and it ran. He hesitated a bit and quickly stood up, walking out of the room. He did not want his wife to hear about the game. He was very much aware that she would talk him out of it, even though it was harmless and it would save her life. 

He had to do something for her; watching her die was not doing them anything good. 

Acer answered on the other end of the line, but David kept breathing without saying a word. As she hung up the phone, she acknowledged the silence as acceptance into the game.

She was literally jumping as she went through the number of states that had accepted the invitation;  Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina,  North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming

She was not surprised that only two states were stubborn, especially Texas. The woman had a gun aimed at her the entire time she was explaining the game to her. 

But she wasn't going to linger on the lost sheep; she already had the dossier of the replacement, and the good news was that the replacement didn't live on a farm and wasn't as insane as Berth.

Then there was the old man from Alabama. The irritating man dared to call the games gambling and selling one's soul to the devil. He had gone as far as quoting scriptures from his holy book. She had doubts about him too. She needed to make two trips to replace the two fools. Though she was glad they used their heads out of the 50, her country still had people that were not desperately selfish.

Her second phone rang, and it was her boss calling for an update. She swiftly updated them and promised to replace the two that were yet to call immediately the following day

She dressed up and began making arrangements for the trip when her phone rang. It was the old man from Alabama, accepting the invitation and quickly hanging up like a thief in the night accepting a dirty a job.

Acer looked at the phone with raised eyebrows, disappointed. Maybe she spoke too soon and there was no hope, even for the religious ones in her country