The newer normal

Talia was awoken by a soft rapping, louder than the other raindrops. It was still dark and so she turned over to sleep again. But then a soft voice and more gentle knocks came from her door.

“Talia,” Hank’s voice was shaky and quiet, as if he didn’t wish to disturb her in his attempt to wake her. “Talia, I’m sorry, but it’s important.” He added, knocking three more times.

Talia grabbed her phone off the leather bound notebook on the night stand and checked the time. It was only 01:43. What could he possibly need? “What is it?” She asked, groaning as she flattened back into the bed, trying not to look at her screen anymore. She only got to sleep three hours ago.

“I… I need to come in.” He said, voice louder but still shaking.

Talia sighed, pinching her nose. Hank made a point to be quiet when she was sleeping. Even when he left for work for a three A.M. shift, she hadn’t heard even the toaster pop. So if he was disturbing her, as annoying as it was, it was probably important. She reached over and turned on the lamp, shielding her eyes to give her time to adjust. “Come in.”

The door opened and he staggered in with his eyes on the ground, holding his notebook close to his chest. He looked like he’d just been called into the principal’s office. His chest heaved as he tried to keep himself from hyperventilating, clutching the pamphlet of rules in his hand.

“What?” She asked, suddenly afraid by his appearance. Had he broken something of hers? Had Sarah shown up?

Hank slumped onto the bed, sitting next to her as she lay uncomfortably. Hank usually didn’t get this close physically to people. Something was clearly bothering him with the way he stared off into nothing.

“What is it?” Talia asked, sitting up suddenly and pinning her back into the headboard. Her heart was beating fast just in anticipation. What could it possibly be? Had one of their mutual friends died?

“It’s real.” He said flatly, voice barely above a whisper.

“What?”

“The game.” His voice was louder, his head turned to make sad, teary eye contact with her. “It’s real.”

“Hank.” She sighed, no longer afraid. “I know you’re trying to have a laugh right now and relive the good old days, but—“ He handed her the pamphlet, gesturing for her to read it. “Hank.”

“It was one page, Talia.” His expression hardened, pointing to the first page. “You remember it was one page.” He slid his finger behind the paper and folded it open. Behind the first page, up at the top was some text.

Challenges: Every round begins by each player drawing from the challenge pile simultaneously. Then each player will either refuse their challenge or attempt to complete it within the timeframe listed on the card. If they refuse or fail, they will suffer a punishment, which will also be listed on the card.

The rest of the pages were blank and black. Talia did distinctly remember only the front page having text on it, though. “I wasn’t missing rules.” Hank quaked. “It was writing them.”

“Hank, calm down.” Talia flipped through the pamphlet, finding only darkness. Yes, it was creepy, but they just needed to take a step back and think like reasonable people. “Invisible ink. Probably has some weird chemical reaction thing to **** over time and reveal more rules or something.”

“Talia, no.” He shook his head, tears coming to his eyes. She put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. He recoiled like he always did when people touched him at first, but quickly settled into it.

This stuff really got to him, she thought. “Hey, it’s just tricks, ok? It was a good performance, but it’s all just—“

“Read your notebook.” He pointed to the nightstand.