“Alright, there’s the bell, let’s get going! You have a test next week and we have so much material to go through!” the teacher said, clapping her hands. There were a few high school students who were sitting around talking, but they headed back to their desks. Quinn was sitting behind Theo. Quinn was organizing her notes in her three-ring binder as Theo had his spiral notebook open, twirling his pencil between his fingers.

“Hey, Mrs. Rhodes, I still have questions about ancient Egypt’s afterlife. What’s the-”

“No!” Mrs. Rhodes said, pointing at the boy. “I know what you’re doing. I will not be distracted by Ancient Egypt today!”

The boy grumbled.

“Besides, we’re talking about death today!” Mrs. Rhodes said, walking over to the board and uncapping her marker, writing out the word. “This is one of my favorite topics! And yes, Blake, it is almost as exciting as an ancient Egyptian’s journey through the afterlife. We’re talking about the many, many myths surrounding death. Specifically, how to cheat death.”

Mrs. Rhodes wrote a name on the board under the word ‘death’. “And I have learned from my first hour.” She underlined the name. “This is pronounced Sisyphus.” Mrs. Rhodes raised a finger, waiting only for a second before a few students started snickering. The teacher pointed at the class, a slight shake of her head. “Highschoolers,” she muttered before going back to the board. “This is a man in Greek mythology who tried to cheat death. And what’d he get? An eternal punishment of pushing a boulder up a mountain for it to fall, simply to start all over again.”

“Wait, is that who the disease is named after?” a boy asked.

Mrs. Rhodes sighed. “Sisyphus, Ricky. Sisyphus.”

Ricky blinked at Mrs. Rhodes. “I don’t get it.”

“It’s Sisyphus. Not syphilis!” Quinn said.

Ricky spun in his chair to look at her. “You’re literally saying the same word.”

Quinn lifted her notebook to show the two different words, pointing at the Greek one. “There’s no ‘l’ in Sisyphus.”

“Moving on,” Mrs. Rhodes said, holding up a hand. “There are countless other examples in Greek mythology of humans trying to cheat death. Some of the lesser examples are, of course, Achilles heel. Or there’s the tales of Hercules, who wrestled with death and won to save his friend’s life. Also Arachne, challenged by Athena to a weaving contest. Now, whether or not Arachne won is still up for debate, but what’s not up for debate is that she was turned into a spider afterward. Some believe it was after Arachne died and Athena took pity on her. Other’s believe Athena drove her to kill herself and the gods decided to still grant Arachne a punishment of some sort.

“That being said, we could talk about myths all day. But the thing is, they’ve still persisted. Despite our scientific advances, there is still a vast amount we do not know. Something I personally believe, can only be understood through the sharing of stories. Death being one of those.” Mrs. Rhodes placed her fist against the board. “What have you seen? Tell me the way people have cheated death in modern storytelling.”

“So,” a girl said, raising her hand before Mrs. Rhodes finished speaking. “A modern example? Of someone playing games with death to cheat their way out of it?”

“Yes,” Mrs. Rhodes said.

“You mean like Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey?”

Mrs. Rhodes eyes brightened. “Yes! Yes, Emmy, that is a brilliant example of-”

“Oh, wait.” Emmy’s brows furrowed. “You asked for modern examples. Didn’t that movie come out in the eighties or something?”

Mrs. Rhodes froze. “Nineties, Emmy. Early nineties.”

Emmy blew out a breath. “Yeah, my bad. I’ll try and think of a more modern example.”

Mrs. Rhodes let out a strangled gasp before clasping her heart. “Emmy, you wound me.” She let out another breath. “I think for the experiment today we can choose any modern example, meaning anything in the last few centuries.”

“So like… like…” A boy was partially raising his hand, but his eyes were glazed over. “Like… like… like…” he then slammed his palm against the desk. “Pirates of the Caribbean! Dead Man’s Chest! The dice game with Davey Jones!”

Mrs. Rhodes smiled. “Perfect, Anthony. Yes. That’s what I’m talking about.”

“Witcher,” Theo said quietly.

Mrs. Rhodes turned, smiling at Theo. “Witcher? Interesting. How?”

“Oh, I’m… it’s more…” Theo’s cheeks grew red. “It’s a part in the first game. There’s a ghost who offers to play a gambling dice game to see who gets to keep the little boy.”

“Ah, yes. Always the far more Herculean measures, playing the game to save the life of someone else,” Mrs. Rhodes said. “I’m assuming you play the game to protect the child?”

Theo cleared his throat, the red lessening from his cheeks. “No. I… usually just kill the ghost anyway to save the boy.”

There were some chuckles in the classroom. Mrs. Rhodes laughed. “I mean, if you have an option, you might as well not leave a soul up to chance, right?”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Theo nodded, dropping his gaze. “Right.”

“Hey, Mrs. Rhodes, did the Ancient Egyptians have any cheating death myths?” Blake asked.

“Not falling for that, Blake,” Mrs. Rhodes said, turning back to the board and writing the options down.

***

I stumbled back, falling to my knees. Theo crept deeper into the shade of the trees, wide-eyed. There were tears in my eyes, and a mind full of questions that I needed answers to.

I closed my eyes, trying to steady my breathing.

“One of us is dead,” Theo whispered, leaning over, hands on his knees. “One of us is dead,” he repeated, closing his eyes. “Considering I’m the one who woke up in peace, and you woke up sobbing, I have a guess who it was that begged death for a chance to play for their soul.”

More tears streamed down my face. “This can’t be the answer. There has to be another reason.”

“What other reason is there?” Theo asked. “Why would the memory orb show us this specific memory if it wasn’t an answer to our questions? The reason why we’re here? I’m… I’m dead. You bargained to play a game you’re good at. For my soul. Unless… unless we both are being punished for trying to cheat death. Forever in a game.”

I kept my eyes closed, trying not to let out a sob. “No. It’s a bargain. That feels…” Right. There was something way too familiar about everything Theo said. I glanced up, seeing him come to terms with this. He, too, felt it. Something familiar, in his soul, that said this was a bargain.

But it still didn’t answer everything. “If it really is just me playing the game for your soul, why are you playing a game too?” I asked.

Theo said nothing. This had to be the biggest clue we’d ever received, but it was still just that. A clue. We didn’t have the full answers. Every time I died, the alien overlords asked if I wanted to give up. To make this seem like just a dream. I shuddered as I realized the full implication of it all. I would have woken up, most likely to Theo on his death bed.

Theo gave a shuddering breath, and my eyes snapped open. He was hunched over, a hand to his mouth, holding in a sob. “I didn’t…” he started to say. “I wouldn’t… I would know if I killed myself. I… I couldn’t have…”

Did he commit suicide? I demanded in my head directed toward the alien overlords. I need to know. Is that why I’m here? To bring him back after he committed suicide?

There was a pause, then I saw words in my mind’s eye.

Information -75.00

I agreed to it without another thought. Without bargaining, without haggling. This was for my peace of mind and Theo’s. I watched my dopamine points drain to -18.31, waiting for the words.

If he committed suicide, you would not be here bargaining for his soul,

We take people’s choices very seriously,

Suicide would have been a firm choice Theo made, and if he acted on it, the consequences of such must follow,

He would be dead, or recovering from an attempted death, and there would be nothing you could do about it,

That choice, once made and attempted, brings about a consequence you cannot undo by bargaining with ancient beings such as ourselves,

The natural law of the situation would be so binding that if either one of us tried to mess with it, we would break the world, and every world in this universe,

It is not something we would ever allow someone to bargain for,

Again, to sum up,

Theo did not commit suicide.

Everything in me relaxed. I got to my feet and hugged my brother. “You didn’t do it. You didn’t kill yourself. Whatever it was, however you got hurt, it was an accident.”

All Theo’s strength dissolved, and whatever power he used to hold back his sob left with it. He clung to me, his body trembling as he kept sobbing. I didn’t dare let him go.

But he is still dying? I asked the alien overlords. That’s why I’m here? To bargain for his soul?

There was a pause, long enough that I wondered if this was information I was allowed to know. Then words appeared in my vision.

Yes, this is not a punishment, it is a bargain

How you play the game will be one of the core decisions regarding Theo’s fate

It is part of the contract you signed, and the agreement we came to before we erased your memory

I closed my eyes as the words disappeared. Theo was still sobbing, and I didn’t let him go.

There was something in my mind, the same feeling when I picked up a new item of food, that I knew more recipes had unlocked on the clipboard. This time I felt like new information had unlocked on the calendar, of all things.

But I didn’t let go of Theo until he let go first. And that wasn’t until my chilled soup wore off. It didn’t matter, though, because we were in the shade.

Theo straightened, wiping his eyes. He then let out a breath before dropping his hands. “Damn, this took a different turn than I was expecting,” Theo mumbled.

“I’m more certain than ever that there’s a way out of this game,” I said. “And both of us are leaving it. Together.”

Theo didn’t meet my gaze, instead he rubbed his upper arm. “How? How do we leave? Farming games never have a true ending. Do they?”

“All I know is I’ve got to clean the house.” My eyes lingered on the key around Theo’s neck. “The entire house.”

Theo finally glanced at me, then down at the key around his neck. He flinched, then buttoned his shirt up. “I can’t take it off.”

“Which means you’ll have to be there when I clean it,” I said.

Theo didn’t react. He simply stared forward, his mind slowly shutting down.

Something gurgled underneath Theo’s feet. He swore under his breath and backed away, but there was nowhere for him to go. The sludge simply followed him, trailing up his pants, then up his torso before shoving itself into Theo’s mouth and nostrils. My eyes widened as my brother let out a gasp, involuntarily sucking in more of the sludge. I tried to reach out and grab it, but he backed out of my reach. He covered his throat with one hand, coughing.

“Theo,” I started to say.

He just lifted a hand, shaking his head. “It… happens.” He glanced down. “It happens a lot. Don’t… worry about it.” I blinked, doing the opposite of what Theo requested. He straightened, brushing himself off. “Is there anything I can do to help you? It seems like your game should be the one we both need to focus on.”

Something about that felt off to me. “Theo… you still have your game objective. Maybe we still both need to finish our games together.” I sighed, glancing at the house. “Though… I still need all the metal scraps you can give me.”

Theo nodded, a hand still on his throat. “Yeah. Yeah, I can do that.”

“And Theo? No more… dying. We’ve got to figure out different ways to get them out of your system.”

Theo sighed, still not looking at me. “Yeah. Okay.”

He sounded so defeated as he stayed among the shade, heading back to his side of the river. I watched him go. I could almost see the influence of them, and the sludge that had entered his system in front of me. He wasn’t stumbling to the bridge like last night, but his shoulders sagged more than usual, his head bowed. He disappeared among the trees.

I took a deep breath, then walked to the front porch, taking the hit to my stamina. I wanted to work on the lawn. It was on my to-do list. But maybe not in the heat. Besides, with this revelation, I wanted to get the second floor cleaned. I still had five full days left.

I walked inside and headed for the kitchen. I found the calendar and studied it closely. I then flipped the pages to winter, trying to remember if any of the weather patterns shifted. Winter had a lot of cold days, but I didn’t remember if it was any more than what I noticed before.

It was when I flipped the page to spring that red ink caught my gaze. At the very bottom of spring two new words appeared in hasty scrawl. Not at all like the perfect handwriting of my to-do list. The words made my stomach drop.

Game Over