“I just checked, and she’s running a really bad fever,” Edna said, concerned.

“Poor girl,” Jill replied sympathetically. “When I was that age, I got migraines a lot the last month or so of school. I can only imagine the kind of stress she’s been under.”

“Especially since a few weeks ago, she got kicked off that cheerleading team,” Edna agreed. “Angela hasn’t been the same since that. Never mind that she never would have wanted to be on the cheerleading squad before this year, but…” She sighed. “What can you do, right?”

Jill nodded. “I’ll call my sister. She’s a doctor, you know, and she might be willing to stop by and check Angela, so we can see what’s making her sick.”

Edna smiled a little and said, “Want to hear something funny? When I checked her temperature, she mumbled something about mazes and long-haired guys.”


AJ slowly opened his eyes and groaned. He felt like he had the world’s worst hangover. He started to rise, but found himself unable to move more than a few inches at best. He looked down, and in the dim light, he saw that his legs were strapped to a strange-looking chair, keeping him from walking away. As he looked around the room, he saw outlines of two other people; both were strapped into chairs, and one was in front of a machine. AJ was sure that they were Emily and Tiffani. The television nearby crackled with static.

“Where are we?” Emily asked, frightened. “And why am I in this chair?”

“What’s going on?” Tiffani cried out.

Just then, an image appeared on the television screen: a familiar-looking teenager with brown hair, pressing buttons at a control panel before her.

“Angela, this better be a really good joke!” Tiffani yelled out.

Angela jumped a little, and then looked over to the side a little. “Rats,” she grumbled. “I must have pressed the ‘live feed’ button instead of the ‘play’ button.” She sighed. “I always get those two buttons confused. Guess I’ll have to do this live, rather than the cool recording with the freaky voice and scary puppet.”

“What’s she talking about?” AJ whispered over to Emily.

“No idea,” Emily replied.

“I can hear you, you know,” Angela spoke up. “This feed goes both ways. Okay, fine, I guess it’s time to get things started.” She glanced over at a paper for reference. “Hello, Tiffani, AJ, and Emily. You are here today because a friend of yours, one Ophelia Foley, wished that you would all see how you are failures at life. In a way, all three of you have failed in some aspect of your lives, have some great flaw that has deeply hurt your friend, or at least inconvenienced her enough to wish death on you at least once. Today, each of you will be faced with your imperfections.”

“Get to the point,” AJ called out.

“Damn it, shut up,” Tiffani snapped. “I don’t think you want things to get even worse for us, do you?”

“What’s the worst she could do?” AJ replied.

“AJ,” Angela continued, her voice booming through the television speakers, “Your life seems to be devoted to avoiding true commitment, with one exception. The only woman you are capable of being completely loyal to is your own sister. Even though you have a girlfriend, you still have very strong feelings for other women, who will not be named.” AJ swallowed hard, and Tiffani glared at him. “Today, AJ, you will have to learn that your flaws hurt others by seeing physical manifestations of it,” Angela continued. “You might be aware of a certain TV show where people are given lie detector tests, and then, they are asked very personal questions and are given money for their honesty. Well, we will be doing something similar today. You are strapped into a chair that will monitor your heart rate. You will be asked a series of questions. Every time you lie, Emily will be shocked with a bolt of electricity, and the floor in Tiffani’s section of the room will also become electrified. So, yeah, it’s like that show, except you could potentially lose those you love most. Actually, it’s just like that show.”

“Brutal,” AJ muttered.

“Tiffani,” Angela continued. “You have never learned how to properly deal with your emotions in a mature manner. Instead, you deal with stress by eating. Well, we’ll soon have you cured of that habit. A steady stream of food will be going past you, and you are expected to eat nonstop. If you stop eating, there is a mechanism which will force you to eat, and you will eat, even if it means your stomach exploding.”

“Let me guess, you got the idea from Se7en,” Tiffani spoke up.

“Yeah,” Angela admitted. “I was watching it the other day and thought, ‘You know, the gluttony scene might be fun to recreate, with some modifications.’ You’re lucky that I didn’t pick the lust or pride parts to recreate.”

“Yeah, you seem to be acting out ‘wrath’ instead,” Emily muttered.

“What was that?” Angela asked.

“Nothing,” Emily called out.

“Good. Then let the games begin.”

“But wait! What did I do wrong?” Emily asked.

“You?” Angela replied. She thought for a few moments. “Well, while we were bringing you here, I sneezed… and you didn’t say ‘God bless you.’”

“Kind of a harsh punishment,” Emily muttered.

“I wanted to kill you or try out the hair thing from the fourth Saw film, but my boss wouldn’t let me.”

“Your boss?” AJ asked.

“Yeah. Right now, he’s working on a special test for Ophelia. And if she loses, all three of you will be his new playthings.”

“Ophelia’s smart. She’ll get through this,” Emily said confidently.

“We’ll see. Now, for real, let the games begin.”

_______________________________________________

Ophelia brushed a leaf out of her hair. I’m smarter than he thought, she thought to herself. I’m taking the shortcut through this labyrinth; I’m cutting THROUGH the hedges!

She looked left and right, trying to determine her current location. The silence of the labyrinth troubled her. It’s quiet. Too quiet, she thought worriedly. Something bad’s going to happen. She turned the corner and found herself facing an angry-looking man with a gun. Ophelia shrieked and jumped back. The man slowly lowered his gun as he looked her over.

“D-don’t hurt me,” Ophelia stammered.

“You don’t need to be scared, baby,” he replied. “You don’t look like you’re of terrorist descent.”

“Uh… okay…” Ophelia said slowly, raising an eyebrow. “So, can I get past you? I need to get my friends away from here…”

“’Fraid not,” he said. “I’m under strict orders not to let you through unless you can solve a puzzle.”

“Fine,” Ophelia sighed. “What’s the puzzle?”

“Okay,” the man said slowly. He thought for a few seconds, and then said, “Explain this: the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.”

Ophelia scoffed and responded, “Is that really the best you can come up with?”

“Yeah.”

“Fine,” Ophelia replied. She sighed once more and said, “Simply because you don't have evidence that something does exist does not mean that you have evidence that something doesn't exist. There are known knowns, and there are known unknowns. But there are also unknown unknowns-- things that we don’t know we don’t know.” Here, she paused and frowned. “But,” she continued, pensively, “Isn’t it possible for there to be unknown knowns, things that you don’t know that you know?”

The man stared at her, adjusted his sunglasses, and finally spoke. “What?”

Ophelia sighed and rolled her eyes. “What country are you from?”

“What?”

“I didn’t know ‘What’ was a country. Do they speak English there?”

“What?”

“English, you idiot! Do you speak it?” Ophelia yelled.

“Yeah.”

“So, then you understand the words I’m saying to you.”

“Yeah.”

Ophelia glared at the man and said, “I explained the phrase. Now, we can settle this like civilized people, or I can show you my scary side.” She smirked. “The side that comes out about once a month. Choose your actions wisely; it‘s not wise to upset a premenstrual woman.”

The man yelped and quickly backed away. Ophelia grinned at him and walked past him, and as she did so, she remarked, “You come straight out of a comic strip or something.”

Author's Note: Yes, that is a reference to that TV show. And yes, that is that character. And before you ask me "why," it's because I figured since it's a dream, why not?