Chapter 1 - Entry

Leon Darhyrt [3] Elle Stonewell [2]

“Come on Elle, it will be fun!” I coaxed while trying my best to break from my normally monotonous tone.

Elle barely moved; her eyes firmly fixed on her digital spreadsheets. Typical Elle, working on the weekends for work that has barely the slightest connection to her own. Workaholic? Not really. But at times like these, she cuts pretty darn close.

Clutched in my hands was an intricately designed pamphlet angled slightly towards her in a futile attempt to catch her attention. The other half of the pamphlet ruffled gently from the night city breeze.

I pocketed my phone with my other free hand; the only thing which kept me entertained while waiting for Elle to finish up her work for the past, let's see, three hours. Three whole hours of doing nothing but sit on my a*s, reading the same uncreative status updates on Facebook and watching smut videos. Ah, the Internet.

It was getting late and knowing the youngest of the Stonewells, she would more than likely lose track of the time staring into digital space. As per usual, I would need to be her alarm clock; albeit a lax and undisciplined one at that.

“Elle. It's almost ten. Remember, movie?” I whined as I put down the pamphlet on the coffee table separating us and glanced at my watch.

“Uh huh. “ she replied nonchalantly her eyes still fixated on her laptop’s screen. And then I noticed it. Something in Elle’s eyes. I knew all too well what those eyes meant. How did I not notice it before?

“Elle… You aren't actually workin-“ I exclaimed before being cut off abruptly from a triumphant scream.

“I did it!!!” Elle yelled as she jumped up and looked at me for the first time in hours. “Suck on that Peon!!” God I hate it when she gets on with that 10 year old nickname. Yeah, changing up the first letter of my first name with a P to indicate an inferior being or state was at that time pretty self satisfying for her. If I had to gage the level of joy she had back then when we were 10, I'm imagining it was like curing cancer.

“Easy.” She beamed as she rotated the laptop around so that the screen now faced directly at me. My eyes squinted; adjusting to the bright golden light contrasting the dim surroundings. On the screen in bold gold:

“Congratulations! You have finished Jury in 2:23 hours! Your time is ranked [2nd] globally.”

My heart sank a little. Jury was a hit newly released puzzle game that was to be finished within 3 hours. Unlike conventional versions of this genre, Jury was the only one which could only be played once with it’s contents and results uploaded to determine the world’s best. No one play through is the same. The only way to attempt it again was to buy another pass and attempt it repeatedly until the realization that he or she just isn't all that smart kicks in.

Well, why did my heart sink? As of a few seconds ago, I was second in the world.

It's not like I'm a competitive junkie with a titanic allergy to losing. It was more of the intense fear of the verbal capacity Elle possess in, well, to put it simply; rubbing in one’s face.

But this time, somehow her jeers ricochet off; my mind enthralled by something else. The glowing screen has been replaced with a familiar sight. An invitation. One which looks precisely like the very thing that I had in my hand mere moments ago; the pamphlet.

An invitation for a week long all expenses paid for top Jury players and their plus ones, redeemable within the week should no one else beat our timings.

Truth be told I felt much pride and I could tell Elle felt the same. For fans of the investigative and mystery genre, there was no greater validation then being told that you are darn good at, well, investigating.

However, I never thought we could rank on the top of the world. I mean I'm no statistician, but I'm pretty sure being a handful from the billions and billions and billions and billions of people on planet Earth constitutes a pretty low percentile of the human population.

I glanced at Elle. “Well. Let's see. Free food. Free stay. Island vacation. Other puzzle freaks. Sounds like your fantasy of a dream honeymoon.” I persuaded. She looked at me for a moment before breaking into a playful smirk.

Probably it was pride that blinded us then, but we made our decision thoughtlessly, like greenhorn web surfers clicking on online banners of freebies. Or perhaps it was greed. Whichever biblical sin we may have committed, that was my first mistake.

Oh, who am I kidding? I knew full well why I didn't hesitate. Why I didn't give it a second thought and rationalize the whole thing.

I was bored.

It was such a simple and selfish reason but at the same time, doesn't that apply to many other things?

Oh, about the movie date we had planned? Well, we never watched it. Meh, never liked the movies anyway.