It all began with me scavenging my attic for some old games. No, not video games, the OTHER type of games. I was finding a lot of stuff I deemed precious before that you all would call it "outdated junk", ranging from dolls, plushies, drawings, all decaying. I was up for some word games. Since my Internet was down, I had to go old school. After 30 minutes of a search, I found one that I remember playing a lot back then, Boggle. It's basically dices with letters on them which you need to match them to form words, such as "last", "cake" and others. You need to shake the tray, then place down the sand-timer that comes with it. After that, the one that finds most words wins. Me and my brother Tim really liked playing it on our free-time (when we weren't on the computer, that is). Tim then moved from home later, and I haven't heard from him since. Putting nostalgia aside, I went downstairs and proceeded to begin. Since I was playing solo, I didn't use the sand-timer and just tried matching as many words as possible. I was lucky to make long ones, such as "robot", "apartment" and others. It continued like this and Crosswords for the rest of the afternoon. People at the Internet company didn't know when it would come back.
Next day, I immediatly picked up my iPhone. Nothing. Still offline. I walked downstairs and picked Boggle and set it on the table again. I tried to call my friend, but the phone wasn't working, so I simply drove to his house and showed him the game. I explained him the basics and we played a lot. And there went two afternoons.
Next day, I recieved a call from my friend around 13:27, he was telling me that he kept hearing whispers coming from the living room. I stopped my game of Boggle, AFTER I found the word "elephant". I dropped by his house, and I couldn't hear anything. Giving him a disapproving face before leaving. When I reached home, I noticed the tray was on the floor.. I didn't find it a big deal, since it could have been my cat who knocked the game down or simply the wind.
Fourth day now, this is going rather quickly. I noticed my game wasn't where I left it. I searched up and down, and found Boggle inside the kitchen's cupboard. I might have been sleepwalking and put it there. I am really getting addicted to it. One more day of Boggle passes.
Fifth day. I feel chained to my chair, with my eyes glued into the Boggle tray. The Internet still didn't come back, and I lost contact with my friend. I think he was outside today. I decided to nap a bit today and slept much longer than I planned. I only woke up for, take a wild guess... More Boggle.
Sixth day. This is when it started. I continued the same routine from this week. However, I stopped to make some food. When I returned I saw the word "brother" that wasn't there before. I examined the board for a while, and found new words such as "voices", "sorrow", "family"... I was feeling unconfortable while reading them. I felt like sinking.
I couldn't sleep this night. I kept hearing voices. I was looking vaguely into my iPhone's screen, which read "No Signal". I was really feeling isolated. The only one that could call me was my friend, which I, myself, couldn't. However, at the same time I felt scared, I felt cozy.
I brew some coffee today, which I really needed to stay awake, considering I didn't sleep this night. I could only dooze off by five minutes before waking up. I walked past my kitchen table, with Boggle still in it. I kept looking at it for a while, when I was greeted by a voice.
"Hello."
I looked around to see if there was anyone, but I was alone. When I looked back at the board, it was spelling "Brother" again. The voice then proceeded to talk again.
"Why are you so scared? Let's play Boggle. Forget about it."
My heart was really pounding. The voice had noticed this.
"Come on. Sit down. Play Boggle. Forget. Forget."
My brain was scanning through the memory banks and found out who was the owner of the voice. It was Tim.
"You never visited me."
I kept looking at the board, watching the letters rearranging to several words and even phrases.
"Brother", "Why. Do. You. Hate. Me", "Abandon", "Forget".
"Forget... important little word. As a dictionary states, 'To fail to remind something, to leave behind unintentionally. To neglect'. Didn't you ever want to be able to leave a bad memory behind? Come on, sit down. Forget."
"I never forgot you."
"Then why you NEVER CAME?"
The Boggle board started moving again, forming the words "Kill", "Bleed", "Hang".
"Why weren't you there when I died, something a real brother would do?"
"Where you died?"
"Street Higgbury, house number 27. Time of Death: 23:49. Cause of Death: bullet incision from forehead to back. At least that's what the researchers said at the lab. Burglars broke in. They got Susie. Then they got me."
The board's layout changed again. This time spelling "revenge".
"I see you're still quick at making Boggle matches. You really didn't lose the ability. Let's see if you can understand THIS."
The board shuffled again. "Blood", "Spill", "Choke", "Murder"... "Forget".
"Don't you want to join me? We can be together."
"Join. Me.". "Forget".
"Come on. Join us. We are all waiting for you."
My friend, my parents, my grandmother and grandfather. All appear in the room.
"Sid, God, Sid, how you died?"
"Stabbed during night time. Death time estimated around 4:00 to 5:00. The murder weapon was found with the victim's wife, who is now arrested for murder. That's what this paper says."
"I'll join you, Tim. Just make this stop. Please. Allow me to forget."
Tim tells me to check the kitchen drawer. I grab a knife. I point at my chest.
Then stab the Boggle tray. I dig the knife deep in, while blood soaks out. Tim and the others let out an agonizing scream as they vanish.
"Tim, I may join you. But not today."
I get a lighter. But before I can burn the game, the board shuffles to spell out two words.
"Thank you."
I toss the ashes in the woods to let them disappear. I'm still haunted by the whispers to this date. And Tim... I'm sorry, I never forgot you...
...
But I'm waiting happily for the day we can play again.