FirstLineFiction beta

from Contest #8

'I wouldn't do that if I were you,' she told me the first time we met.

“I have to.” I truly did have to. It was a game of Truth or Dare, after all. Normally, I wouldn’t play the game. I find it to be rather childish and a bit harsh at times. A game that can be filled with silly questions and even sillier dares. I really had no part of it; I really didn’t want to either. So, why all of a sudden did I have to take part in the game now? Two words: peer pressure.

I was the new kid in town, having just moved from a po-dunk town in the middle of nowhere where everyone knew everyone else’s business. Father had just gotten transferred, and it was because of this everything that I had ever known was pulled out from under me. Not that I disliked my father for that—he has to do what is best for him. And that meant uprooting our lives to the city in which I was now being faced with a dare.

“You could get hurt. Or die. You have no idea what kind of stupid shit these guys are capable of.” She was at it again. “Do you think getting hurt is worth a membership for their exclusive club?” I could tell that she genuinely cared for me, even though she didn’t know who I was from Adam. I honestly didn’t even know who she was. She was pretty, though. Damn pretty. Straight sandy blond hair that hugged her round face which was tanned and unblemished. Her forest green eyes piercing into mine. She wore a blue jean mini skirt which highlighted her legs that seemingly went on for miles and a bright pink halter top which showed off her midriff. And her tits—let’s not forget about those. They were nice, round and just plain nice. I would have touched them, but I figured that she belonged to one of Them.

Okay. Something that I forgot to mention: Them is the group that I have to do the dare for. They have a name, but I cannot know it until I complete the dare—if I survive. I can’t even know the names Them’s members until then, either. I was told to call them One, Two, Three, and Four. The girl I had to call Chick.

“You, Fish,” one of the men called to me. I’d assumed that it was Chick’s man. I wasn’t quite sure though. I stepped away from Chick. “Come here.”

I obeyed the order, but as I was doing so, I turned my head towards Chick. “Do not look at her. Do not speak to her. You are not yet worthy to do so.” I continued to step towards the group, which was stand with legs arms width apart and arms crossed. They were all four about my height—give or take a couple inches. They were all tan (something that I wasn’t) and had a nice build. I could tell that they worked out—which was something that I had to do as well, but hadn’t found the time to find a gym to do so. They were without a shirt and wearing swimming trunks. I could only assume that it had something to do with the dare, considering we were by a lake. So, as I walked towards them, I lifted the shirt above my head and took it off.

“I assume—“ I started but, was immediately cut off.

“Do not speak unless spoken to. Do not assume anything. Obey our orders. Do as we say.” Another Them member stated.

The one that spoke to me first spoke up again. “If you survive, you can hang with us. Even then, there will be rules for you to follow. This is not a pleasure cruise by any means. We are special. We are of high regard in this community. People respect us and everything that we stand for. You understand? You may speak.”

“I understand.” What I didn’t understand though is why they were so long winded about themselves. I hadn’t been associated with them that long, and already they were leaving a bad taste in my mouth. I could be one of Them “if I survived?” Just what kind of challenge lay before me? Of course though, I would just have to wait until they told me what it was I had to do. Then there was the option that Chick had laid out: not doing it at all. But, then what kind of humiliation would I endure, not only here at the lake as I was leaving, but in town? They would carry my humiliation to the furthest extent and I possibly wouldn’t survive that. Maybe that is what they were talking about. Maybe this dare that I was about to endure wouldn’t kill me, but the humiliation that I would most certainly endure would!

“Okay, now that that is all settled: it’s time for the dare.” Number One said to me. “It has been the same for all four of us—holding your breath for as long as you can in this lake. The—

“Wait. You mean all I have to do to get into this organization is hold my breath underwater? That’s cake.” I gave a little chuckle. It was truly cake.

“Are you mocking us, Fish?” One was actually starting to get pissed off. “Because we have no room for you here if you are mocking us. You want to be connected with good people in this town, don’t you?” I nodded. “Well, we could make that happen for you.”

“Guys, just tell him the truth.” Chick could be heard in the background. I was now intrigued. What was the truth?

“Just stay out of it and shut the fuck up, Chick.” A man that had yet to speak spat back to Chick. “He’s gonna do the dare because if not, he won’t have anybody here that will be friends with him. We will make fucking sure of that.”

One continued on with my instructions: “Swim out into the middle of the lake here, to where the dock is—where it is the deepest—prolly anywhere between twelve and fifteen feet deep. You are going to make yourself sink down to the bottom. You won’t be able to see anything because it’s pretty murky down there from all the shit that people throw into it, but it’s one of the nicest bodies of water here in this town. That’s why we do it here.

“You’ll have to swim the way there for the dare, but once you’ve had enough, come on up and climb into the boat. We’ll row you back to shore and the initiation will commence. The dare starts” he looked at his watch “now!”

Now that I fully knew what the dare was going to entail, I was ready for it. I had been a swimmer back at my old high school where I was State runner-up my freshman year and champion my sophomore year. I was the pride of my town, and depending on how I did here, I was bound to repeat that glorious feeling of victory—be it though a small one.

I had made it to the dock, about a fifth of a mile away from the shoreline—the boat with Them and Chick inside was already there. “Now, gather yourself before you go down there. You have about thirty seconds, though, to do so.” One continued on.

I didn’t need those thirty extra seconds. I was energized. I was ready to get the dare done. I was ready to be a part of the group. I was ready to finally belong to something other than just a friendship with my parents. Don’t get me wrong: I love them but, I needed something more in my life. I need to belong elsewhere—with people that could actually help me get somewhere here in this new town where I did not know a single soul.

I took my final breath above the water line and did the maneuver that made me sink into the murky abyss. In my head, I had started the count, and it was approximately 15 seconds for me to make it down to the bottom. One was right; you couldn’t see a damn thing. I suppose though it was a good thing. I just kept telling myself how better my life would be when in this group. No more will I say that I have no friends—not that I can’t make friends easily because I can. It’s just that I’ll actually have some power and be in control of—

Wait a minute. Was that a snake that just brushed up against my arm? They didn’t tell me that there would be snakes in here. I start to panic. For as long as I can remember, I have had a tremendous fear of snakes. Not that I have had any close encounter with them; I made well sure of that, but I was always told growing up that you should beware them as they can lead you to a dangerous temptation, (my parents are both very strict Christians) so I attempted to stay away from them for the longest time. Only until this dare, did I ever touch one, and this was by pure accident.

I start thrashing around, my legs kicking wilding. It wasn’t much help though. In fact, it only made the water murkier. I start a hurried ascent back up to safety, to the boat and Them, hoping that I had stayed down there long enough. I couldn’t stay down there much longer, knowing that there were snakes in the water. I was starting to panic and I mean big time panic. At this point, I truly did not care one iota if I made it into their clique or not. All I truly cared about was getting my ass out of the water—back to the safety of the boat.

I was probably (it was too murky to really tell where I exactly was) halfway there when I felt a sharp pain. Then my world went black…

+ + +

I really don’t know why we had him do the dare, since none of us had ever done it ourselves. We never had to do it—we formed the group and made it what it is today. No initiation was necessary, as we were going to be the only four members of the group. No one else in town was really worthy to be in our clique. Not that we really did anything illegal—maybe just the occasional alcohol induced party, smoked some grass here and there, but hey don’t hold a grudge; it’s not like it doesn’t happen every day.

So, what made Fish so special that we made him go though the Dare? I don’t know if I could really tell you. I think it was the fact that he approached us. No one has ever done that before, and I truly admired his spunk. That’s why we gave him the chance to be in our group. Had we known what was going to happen, there probably would have been better decision making on our part in choosing the dare.

“Someone should go check on him. I mean, he’s been down there for a while,” Chick sounded worried. I knew that she had talked with Fish before, that’s why I pulled her away. I didn’t want her to tell him the truth, even though it almost spilled out of her mouth. If it would’ve, then we probably wouldn’t be in the predicament that we’re in now.

I looked at my watch. “Three minutes to be exact.” I motion to Number Two as the boat started to rock.

“What was that?” He asked as he stood up.

“Well, don’t just stand there and ponder what that could be wrong. Get in there and see!” I know that I probably should’ve gone myself since I’m the one that dispensed the dare, but I wasn’t the one standing up. He jumped into the water, which only rocked our boat more, but luckily we were close to the dock, so I put my hand on it to stabilize us.

It wasn’t that long before both Fish and Two were popping above the water surface. “Let’s get him into the boat.” His eyes were closed and body was limp. Blood was flowing from head where he had hit the boat. He did not look good. He looked like a drowned rat. Had we just killed a man? I truly hoped that we hadn’t. It would so ruin our reputation in the town for sure. Hell, jail time could even happen. Men like me do not do well inside cement walls and I was bound and determined to not go there.

Once inside the boat we rowed back to shore, where he was carried out of the boat and laid on the ground. The rescue mission began.

+ + + 

I felt a heavy pounding on my chest. Faintly I could hear a voice telling me to not die. “Do not die. I cannot go to jail.” It kept saying over and over again. It wasn’t that long after it started when I let out a cough.

“Fish?” It was a woman’s voice.

“Mom?” I asked. I didn’t realize who it was. I was still groggy. “Did I make it?”

“Shh, don’t talk. You hit your head on the boat and almost drowned. Tyler, here, rescued you and we brought you ashore. Just rest.” She smoothed her hand through my hair.

“Babying him, are we?” A man’s voice came into my head.

“I think that he deserves it after almost dying while you four," emphasis was on the four, "sat comfortably in the boat. He almost died because of you.”

“Yeah, well he didn’t. Besides we went into the water to get him. All is good.”

“We didn’t do anything. Tyler was the one that went into the water and rescued him. Come to think of it, other than Fish here, Tyler is the only one to actually go into the water.”

“I know, I know.” As I was fully coming out of my blackened world, I realized where I was. I was out of the water, lying on the ground. My head was now resting in Chick’s lap, her hand press firmly over where I was bleeding. Number One was kneeling beside her. “He’s awake.”

“Well,” my voice still groggy, I struggle to sit up. Chick braces her hand against my back to assist me. “Did I make it? Am I in?” I ask like a giddy school kid, looking to One for the answer.

“Tell him.” Chick ordered.

“Nah, now is the not the time. He almost died.”

“Yeah, so. Tell him.” She seemed rather persistent. “I think after the shit he’s gone though, he deserves it.”

“So,” I interrupted their little quarrel. “Did I make it?” I just cannot believe that I was literally asking if I had gotten in, instead of being angry about the fact that I almost died. They just didn’t seem to give a damn about me. Instead they were bickering back and forth about some damn truth that was mentioned before I even stepped foot into the water. Now, it was being brought up again. What exactly were they talking about? The fact that if I made it or not was on the backburner. I wanted to know what they were talking about.

“What truth?” One screamed.

“Yeah, I want to know. Please, somebody tell me the truth.” Maybe that shed some light on something.

“I don’t know what you mean?” One said. “We’ve told you everything.”

“Except the truth.” Chick stated. “If none of you all will be man enough to tell him, then I sure as hell will tell him for you.”

“Tell me what?”

“They’re lying to you. That dare that they made you do today, they haven’t even done it.” She shot One an I’m-ashamed-to-be-associated-with-you look and then her focus was back on me. “They have never set a foot inside of that lake. You were the first one to do so.”

I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. Here I was, having almost died, or rather drowned and I had just been told Them had not even done it. Now, I was downright pissed. I felt betrayed. What in their right mind were they thinking? I felt like just getting up and getting the hell away from the situation. But, first I had something to say, be it smart-ass.

"Okay. Two things: I truly do not care to be in your stupid club. I don't care how much humiliation you guys dish out--or try to--it will not bother me in the slightest because I know that I did something that you guys didn't. I know that I was man enough to get in that water and for what? A sense of belonging? Screw that." Okay, where did my bravery come from? I have never stood up to anyone or anything like that before in my life. They (well, I should say One) was starting to fume, but I wasn't going to let that derail me. "Second: I have a dare for you."

"Yeah? What is that?" One shot back. He looked at me with a raised head, his arms crossed.

"Try to find some other dumbass to do your dare because I don't want to be a part of it any more." And I turned around and left probably the only chance in this town that I had to belong behind.

back to Contest #8