Russian Roulette

A girl begins to question where her loyalties lie after her "friends" put her life on the line.

“Okay Carla,” Vicky said looking at me with a malicious grin, “Your turn again. Truth or dare?”

I really wanted to leave. I hated this game, and I hated the people I was playing it with. I was beginning to see a whole new side to them that I really didn’t like. When we first started playing, I had stuck to choosing truth. The questions were easy enough to answer, but no one believed me. When Jason asked me who the last person I slept with was, I told him I didn’t sleep around with people. “Really,” He said in genuine disbelief, “You’re seventeen and you’re still a virgin?” His reaction was the same when I told him I had never done drugs. “Seriously,” He said, “You really need to live a little.” I didn’t tell him that his comments were making me lose faith in humanity.

“Dare,” I finally said.

Vicky gave a look of pure evil. “Hang on a minute,” She disappeared up the stairs and came back a few minutes later holding a revolver. I felt sick. Whatever she had in store could not be good. She handed me the revolver, and I took it from her with a trembling hand. I had never held a real gun before.

“There are two chambers loaded,” Vicky said, “I dare you to play one round of Russian Roulette. Just one.”

I gasped. “No way,” I said. I shook my head and handed her the revolver. “There’s no way I could ever do this. I’m going to chicken out on this one.”

“You can’t do that,” Vicky said, refusing to take back the gun, “You already used your chicken when Nicole dared you to make out with Nick.”

I sighed, because I had completely forgotten about that. Nick was a disgusting human being. He never showered, and it showed. His hair was super greasy, and you could smell him from a mile away. My dog practised better hygiene than Nick. To come to think about it, my dog also had better manners than Nick. He was rude, obnoxious, and extremely arrogant. I hated him. I hated most people in this room. However, I would have gladly kissed Nick over playing Russian Roulette. If I had known that my next dare could end my life, I would have just kissed him and gotten it over with.

“Please just this once can I chicken out a second time,” I begged.

Vicky looked like she was seriously considering my plea. “Nope,” She said finally, “Besides, it’s one round. There are six chambers and only two chambers loaded, so you’re more likely to live.”

I rolled my eyes. It really didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. The thing was, I wasn’t really the person who always had luck on their side. In fact, I had come to realize that bad luck was sort of the reason I was here. I had good friends and I had brushed them aside so that I could pursue popularity. It was kind of worth it at first, but I regretted it now more than anything. It was bad luck that made me ditch my true friends, who would now no longer talk to me.

“I can’t do it,” I said.

“I got an idea,” Nicole piped up in her shrill voice, “Do you guys all have twenty dollars? If we all pitched in, that would equal, like, eighty dollars. Would you do it for that much money?”

It would equal one hundred dollars, dumbass, I thought. There were six of us in total: Vicky, Nicole, Jaime, Jason, Nick, and myself. A hundred dollars was a lot, but would it be worth it if I didn’t live to spend it? Jaime and Nick had had already fished out twenty dollars out of their pockets.

Jaime put her twenty in the middle of the circle. “You could put it in your college fund,” She said.

That really got to me. My parents had made it clear that I had to pay for my own tuition. Not easy since I had yet to find a job. Now that Jaime had brought it up, everyone else in the room knew I was considering the offer. They all put twenty dollar bills down on the floor. I snatched them up and put the money in my pocket.

“Hey!” Nicole shouted when I snatched up the money, “What are you doing?”

“I’m not doing this for free,” I said, “If I die, you can just fish it out of my pocket. If I don’t well, that sucks for you.”

Vicky handed me the revolver. “So you’ll do it?”

“I want to call my parents first,” I said, “Just in case something happens, y’know?” I actually had no intentions of calling my parents, because I had no intentions of going  through with the dare. I would go upstairs, and instead of using the phone, I’d just make a run for the door and leave their money somewhere where they would be able to find it.

“Yeah,” Vicky said.

“Thanks,” I said. I stood up, but Vicky stopped me.

“Carla,” She said sweetly, “Just use my phone.” She handed me her iPhone. When I didn’t accept it, she said, “I knew it. You were going to leave, weren’t you? Now just take the gun and be done with it. It’s one round.”                  

“Fine,” I snapped. I spun the cylinder, then held it up to my right temple. I was sweating, and trembling. I couldn’t believe I was actually doing this. And what for? Money and popularity. It was a stupid dare and I was going through with it for all the wrong reasons. I wanted my old friends back. “If I live through this, I’m leaving this place,” I said firmly. If I lived I was going to leave Vicky’s house and never look back. I was going to contact my old friends and try to patch things up between us. I was going to try as hard as I could to erase any evidence that I had once tried to fit in with the popular crowd.

“If I don’t live,” I said quietly. The words were painful to say. I could end my life right now and it would all be for a stupid dare. “If I don’t live,” I repeated in a much more confident tone, “I want you to tell all my family and friends that I’m really sorry and that I love them.”

“Your friends?” Nicole repeated, “I thought we were your friends.”          

Yeah, I thought so too. I didn’t want to say it out loud, but it was the truth. The five people I was with right now seemed really cool at first. I liked being with the popular crowd. I had learned quickly that they weren’t who I wanted to be with. I was with the wrong people, and I began to feel out of place. I wasn’t into the same things as them. I didn’t like the big parties that they invited me to. I didn’t like drinking, and I didn’t want to get into drugs. They were always pressuring me to go out of my comfort zone. Real friends wouldn’t do that.

My heart pounded in my chest. I couldn’t believe I was actually doing this. My final moments could potentially be regretting the past few months. I took a deep breath, and silently began to pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom---

“Just do it already!” Nick shouted impatiently.

I held my breath and closed my eyes. Please God forgive me, I prayed please, please please forgive me. Then pulled the trigger.

There was a click. Nothing else. Just a click. No bullet pierced my brain. I was alive. I let go of my breath, flung the revolver to the floor.

“There,” I shouted, “I did it. I almost killed myself. I hope you’re happy.” I didn’t give them a chance to respond. I stormed up the steps and then out the door. I got into my car, as quickly as I could. When I pulled out of the driveway, I didn’t look back. I drove back to my house, regretting every minute that I had spent with Vicky and her posse. Every minute I spent with them, was a minute that I could have been around people who actually cared about me.

When I pulled into my driveway, I stayed inside my car for a bit longer. I pulled out my phone and scrolled down to the name of my best friend. I had known Melanie since grade four, and the more I thought about her, the more I realized how stupid I was. I couldn’t believe I had let something as trivial as popularity get in the way of our friendship.

“Hey, I’m really sorry about everything. Wanna hang tomorrow?” I clasped my phone tightly in my hand, eagerly waiting for a response from her. It was one in the morning, so it occurred to me I might not get one until tomorrow. I was about to head inside, when my phone vibrated.

“I’m so down! I thought you’d never ask me that again. Glad you’re back.”

I smiled and quickly texted back, “Me too.”

Author's Note

This was featured on the homepage of another site that I use to share my writing. I am very pleased with it.

Reviews

[southern_lights]

I love this story. It's really well written, it's a great plot. It's just a really great story. I love the description of Nick. This is a great story, you need to keep writing.