Has anyone heard of the Left/Right Game? (Part 4)

Hope you’re still reading. Don’t know who else to turn to. I’ve had a few nights to think about it but I still can’t process everything that’s happened in the last three days. I was going to try and avoid typing anything about it until I’d calmed down but in all honesty I’m still shaking as I write this now. I just hope it gives me some semblance of clarity because right now I could really do with it. I think we need to go back to the beginning to start with. To Alice. To my sister. She was taken. I knew that. I’d accepted it. I had to in order to move on with my life. I could never have assumed the worst but once her body was found there was no denying it. When they told me the news it honestly felt like the bottom of my world had dropped out. Like I was floating. Like nothing made sense any more. I guess that’s what grief does to a person. For my parents it had been the end. They’d never be able to move past it. Dad had spent years convincing himself that it was his fault. Mum tried to find comfort in God. I’d spent years trying to help them. To make sure they were okay. That they knew how much I still loved them. That I forgave them for leaving me on that day. I shouldn’t have done that. I should have been looking after myself. I’d been strong for everyone else. I should’ve been strong for myself. I should’ve believed it was Rob’s fault. When he asked me to look into the Left/Right Game I was doing it for myself. To clear his name so no other kids would suffer the same way. To clear my parents’ names. To make sure their last few years could be lived in peace. I’d given up on my own life. It turned out I’d made a huge mistake. I’d just finished up my last entry when AS gave me a call. I’d decided to just give him a shout instead of texting. Rob was still missing. “Hey! How you doing?” “Alright mate. Not great to be honest. Rob’s still missing.” “In shit luck aren’t you bro?” he joked. I laughed. Elated that someone could make a joke out of this. “That’s a little dark.” “Well you know me hot coals man.” “What’s up?” “I’ve got the address for you. It’s not far from you.” I was a little taken aback. I’d asked him to do a huge list of things for me. I didn’t think he’d be done so quickly. Kenneth was hard work. He’d said it himself. “Okay what is it?” “Yeah I could just text you I guess.” “No no it’s fine. I get it.” “I’ve sent you the pics I took. There’s an old house down a street that isn’t on any of the maps. You’ll see what I mean.” I opened photos. There were four. A photo of a street no entry barrier. A picture of the road itself. Pictures of the houses at either end. A photo of a door. It was like someone had taken a picture of someone’s front door and then ran off as quickly as they could. There were pictures of symbols etched into the door. The same symbols that Rob had left. The same symbols from the journal and the messages. “Thanks man. This means so much. And sorry again about Rob.” “Yeah don’t apologise. It’s alright. I’m doing fine.” He said, obviously not doing fine at all. I told him Rob would come back to him. I think he appreciated it. “One more thing. I did a little digging about the Game. I spoke to a few people in my area. Nothing concrete, just a few different stories.” I sighed inwardly. I was busy. Rob was missing. AS hadn’t sent me the address. But I still had to humour Kenneth. “Oh yeah? I’d love to hear it.” “Well. You know how my area is like rural right?” I nodded. He could see me. I knew Kenneth was a weirdo but come on. “Yeah, so one of the lads that lives near me said that his grandad used to drive him around when he was a kid. Made him play the Left/Right Game every time they were in the car.” “Did anything happen?” “No, but that’s not it. I asked him about the symbols. Whether his grandad had ever mentioned them and he said no. He was confused. Then I looked closer at the pics.” I opened them again. There was nothing like the symbols I’d seen. Only random squiggles. I was confused. Why would he lie? “Sorry Kenneth I don’t see it.” “Wait what?” he sounded shocked. Like he’d just seen a ghost. “Sorry what?” “What do you mean you don’t see it?” “Sorry I just don’t. Are they there?” “They’re the same ones you sent me! But look at the date on the photos.” I opened them again. I’d looked at Kenneth’s stupid squiggles. I hadn’t noticed the date. I stared at it for a few seconds. My entire life turned upside down. I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. I’d lost my breath. My vision was blurring. I couldn’t hear myself breathing. It didn’t feel like I was alive. The photos AS had taken were dated March 17th 1990. “Kenneth the Left/Right Game doesn’t exist.” “What?” I hung up the phone and ran to my car. I opened AS’s text. Read the address. Plugged it into Google Maps. Jumped into my car. Started the engine. Left. I thought about Alice. About how much it had hurt when she was taken. How much I missed her. How I’d never find her now. I cried as I thought about it. I hadn’t cried in a long time. I’d locked it all in. Now it was all coming out. I dabbed the tears from my eyes and put the satnav on speaker. I drove for an hour. It was a long time. I was upset but I knew where I was going. I thought about the Game. About the symbols. About the messages. About the Driver. About the Silent Ones. About the Road. About the Game Master. I wondered if I’d been the Game Master all along. If I’d written those sick and twisted messages to myself. I still didn’t know. I didn’t have the answers. But I was getting closer. I knew that much. The satnav spoke as I went through a tunnel. It told me to turn left. I turned Left. As I did I noticed a street no entry barrier. The road opposite was sealed off. There was nothing stopping me entering it from the other side. I looked to my left. I stared up and down the road as far as I could. There were houses at either end. I recognised them. Recognised the street. I recognised it because it was the street I grew up on. I recognised it because I was stood on it. My life was a lie. Everything was a lie. There was no Game. There was no Driver. Just me. Alone. In my car. On my street. I got out of the car and walked up the road towards my childhood home. I walked slowly. I didn’t want to arrive. I knew that the moment I did my life was over. I reached my house and stood outside it. The door I’d played in front of. The door I’d sat on. The door Alice had disappeared from. I went to the door and put my key in. It opened. Of course it did. I walked in. I hadn’t been in this house for years. I thought it had been sold. I thought it was gone. The stairs were exactly how I remembered them. The banister still broken at the bottom. The stain on the carpet still there. I thought about my toilet training as a kid. I thought about that stupid story Dad used to tell. I walked up the stairs. Every step creaked and groaned as I did so. I expected someone to answer. To come and see what all the noise was. No one did. I didn’t expect them to. I reached the top of the stairs and looked at my old door. It was still there. There were pictures of me and Alice stuck on it. My old fish sticker from that fair. The glow in the dark star stickers my mum had stuck on the door. I smiled. It was nice to be back. It was nice to be in my room. I opened the door to my room and stepped in. That smile was immediately erased. I shook in fear as I looked around. It was exactly as I’d left it. Except for one thing. There was a large poster on the wall. In big red letters. The Left/Right Game. I fell to the floor. I tried to cry but I couldn’t. I trembled and shook. I knew then that it had all been a lie. I’d just been trying to keep an old life going. To keep a old me going. To keep my family and my life intact. But it was all a lie. I thought about Alice. I thought about the Game. I thought about my life in general. Then it hit me. I gasped. I hyperventilated. I panicked. I was playing the Left/Right Game because I’d lost my little sister playing the Left/Right Game. It’s true. I was. I’d been trying to convince myself that Rob had done it but deep down I’d known it was me. I’d been driving. I’d been in control of the car that day. I

Has anyone heard of the Left/Right Game? (Part 4)

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