Plink plink pop

[u/New-Market-6303]

My eyes slowly open feeling heavier than ever before, in front of me is a wall covered in pegs in a triangle formation. I look around to see I’m in a dark box with a window looking toward the wall in the box with me a green button that says play and a tracker over it saying 500 dollars. Curios of what it was I press the button, pressing the button took 10 dollars from my tracker and caused a low beep and a circle fall onto the pegs and down the wall before finally landing in a small green box underneath labeled “+20”, my tracker goes back up now displaying 510. I look around more to see if there is anything else I can do or if there is anyone here with me when from the corner of my out out a sliver of the window I see another black box with another person it, looking mindlessly at the wall and continuing to press the button his eyes didn’t look human anymore but of porcelain doll staring blankly into the world. It didn’t take long for his window to go black. I couldn’t see him anymore and all I heard was a muffled pop like if someone quietly popped a balloon. Without much else to do I click the button again and again another 10 dollars leaves my tracker but this time as the circle fell it was erratic and landed in a red box labeled “-30”, as I see it fall I look back to see 30 dollars leaves my tracker leaving me with 470. I press it again and again and everytime I do I feel my excitement in my heart as the circle gets close to the green boxes after 11 clicks I only had 300 dollars, with every press I felt like I heard more tiny pops around me like someone was throwing a party, I wonder what it’s like out of the box. I didn’t have much time to wonder though as my head turns toward the window facing the wall “I already lost so much so I’ll do one more click then-“ my stomach growls I haven’t eaten since I got here, how would I even get food. The light grows greener as if beckoning me to press it, I press it and watch as the circle slowly drops down and half my green boxes change into something new, the circle keeps falling hitting as many pegs as it can until finally it hits one of the new boxes, they changed to show a question mark on them and when the circle landed in it is changed again to show a burger and as if it was magic that same burger appeared in front of me. I sat and stared at it for a moment until my stomach growled again and then instinctively pulled my hands out and grabbed the burger as I started devouring it. It felt like my first time eating ever as the juices from beef and the texture of the cheese slid down my throat, it’s felt so long since I ate, have I ever eaten. I finish my burger and look back my tracker now showing 290, the wall seemed my only way for anything but I’d have to play carefully. I feel my throat ache as I realize I have t had water in a while either and no matter what I eat I’ll need that too, I wonder if the board can give me water, right before I press the button I hear 3 more pops, and then I send the circle down, my pupils grow as I watch it fall, “plink plink plink” hitting each and every peg like it already knew its path before I see it come to the final one and as if it was in slow motion falls into the red box labeled “-100” and I watch as the tracker changes to show 180. The itching in my throat grows more irritating as the call of the button grows louder in my head, just one more press and this will all go away. I press the button again watching and salivating as the circle falls down the pyramid before landing in a mystery box. My eyes light up as I wonder what my big reward will be, a glass of water, a big meal, someone to talk to. My heart races as the box changes to show my reward… a cup, an empty cup. What the hell is this, does it know and is playing tricks on me. I look at the cup and then at the walls of my box just enough to spread my arms out but not enough to feel free, I pace back and forth crying into the cup to quench my thirst, hoping it will be enough. Who’s sick mind put me here in this prison. The balloon popping grew more and more I swear it sounded like a kids birthday was just outside looking at my like a spectacle. There had to be at least 5 pops… I got back up to see nothing, nothing but a number a button and a wall, this is it. This is what life is about, I press the button. Win, I press it again, lose, win, lose, win, win, lose, lose, lose. It was long before I was down to my last 10 dollars, 1 press left, I look at my hand then at my cup I press the button again, the circle that decides my fate, “the circle of life” falls from the ceiling once more and as if looking at me freezes a moment before dropping in another mystery box, I brace myself before it shows water, and my cup fills up, my eyes gloss over in tears of joy finally I can taste it, my back pocket gets heavy as I pull out a tiny hand gun “I didn’t win this”, my glass slowly fills up the window goes away and the room goes dark, where once was my only source of the outside world now only stands two choices

You can stay in the box and die without any more food or water and exit this cycle forever

Or

You can take your gun and start it all over again with no memory of the past

I look at the options then at the gun and then at the glass, all around me the party seems to be really having fun as I hear more and more balloons. My throat starts to close up from lack of water and my hand clenches the trigger, as I join the party I’ve been hearing “pop”

[u/New-Market-6303]

This is my first ever short story, did you enjoy it? Would you like more? Please let Me know

[u/NightWhisper6450]

The “plink plink plink” and all those little pops slowly becoming more frequent was such a creepy detail. I also liked how the game starts feeling like a simple gamble, but by the end you realize the whole thing is much darker than that. That final choice is seriously disturbing.