"God, I'm so bored..." Liam muttered to himself, his head sank onto his palm. Burnt out from grinding trophies in his shooter game, he now aimlessly scrolled through the internet, searching for anything remotely interesting.
Only his desk lamp was on. The rest of the dorm room was shrouded in darkness. He was mindlessly doomscrolling, the gloomy environment made sure he maxed out his depression stats, while his roommate was already out balling.
[You have one message from Tyler.]
A notification popped up on his phone.
"Hm?" He raised an eyebrow.
———
"Turn on the lights, Sam," her father said as he barged into her bedroom. She was lying on her bed, laptop in hand, also doomscrolling, but at least with a smile on her face.
"The table lamp's on," she replied, pointing lazily at the dim, nearly flickering table lamp.
"Turning on a few ceiling lights won't hurt," he said, flicking the switch on the wall.
Samantha shut her eyes tightly with both her palms shielding the light, "Ugh, it's too bright now... and more expensive too." And she quickly dropped the exaggerated act.
"I'm the one worrying about the electric bills, not you," he said with a warm grin, sitting down beside her, peeking into her laptop. "So, what're you looking at?"
"I found this random YouTube account that keeps commenting the same link under every video."
"Could be a scam. You didn't click it, did you?"
"I considered it. But I mean, there's no way I'd get hacked from clicking just ONE link, right?" Samantha held up a finger, shaking her head.
"You never know." Her father shrugged, then made himself comfortable with his hands sunk into her bed, "Tech is terrifying these days."
"True. Anyways, it seems harmless. This is what it leads to," she said, pointing to her laptop screen.
"Would you rather...?" Liam read aloud.
Tyler's message had been:
[Yo bro, would you rather survive a night in a shopping mall with 18 rabid hounds or on an island with 80 venomous snakes?]
"Well, of course the shopping mall," Samantha's dad said confidently, grinning. "At least it has air-con."
"That's what I thought too," Samantha replied. "I mean, threat levels feel the same, but snakes freak me out more. The way they slithers always gets me..." Samantha grimaced while imitating snakes with her hands.
Liam: [I'll take the snakes.]
Tyler: [Yo no way! Same! Mike chose the rabid hounds. He's dead for sure!]
"There's only one question on this site? Lame," Samantha muttered after selecting the rabid dogs option, her eyelids drooped as her expectations were let down by the site.
All that happened was a giant checkmark appearing over her choice. No follow-up. No stats.
"Don't these sites usually show how many people picked each option?" her dad asked.
"Exactly! That's what I was expecting. This site sucks."
"What's it called?" her dad asked, peering at the URL.
———
Tyler: [Yo bro, you're the Internet guy—got any more sites for these Would You Rather questions?]
Liam: [The one you used only has one question?]
Tyler: [Yeah.]
Liam: [What's the site?]
Tyler: [Link. Saw it on YouTube.]
Liam clicked the link. To his surprise, his answer, "the island with snakes", was already selected on the site.
"…Huh?"
Liam: [My answer's already submitted even though this is my first time on the site?]
Tyler: [What?]
Liam searched for an account system, thinking maybe Tyler accidentally signed up using his email. But there was no login, no account menu, nothing. The site was painfully simple: black background, one question in white, two colored boxes, one red one blue, with a huge green checkmark over the blue box.
He glanced up at the URL:
extremewouldyourather.com
———
"'Extreme?' It's just one question. What's so extreme about it?" Samantha's dad echoed the same thought after he read the site name aloud.
"Well, I don't know, and I don't care." Samantha opened a new tab and began typing in a pirating site's URl, "The new episode of Beyond The Sea Is The Ocean is out. Wanna watch together?" Samantha suggested.
"Yeah, sure."
Two hours later, the ceiling lights flicked shut again for that cinema atmosphere.
"That was…"
"Disappointing," Samantha finished her dad's sentence, nodding with a bitter face.
"Right? I don't get why Mercedes had to die." Her father crossed his arms, his face confused, and also a little bit angry.
"They literally killed him off just to nerf him. Otherwise the villain wouldn't seem threatening, I guess." Samantha shrugged.
"Still, making Matthew kill him? That's just lazy."
"Agreed. This show fell off," Samantha sighed, closing her laptop.
"It's late. Hit the sack, your mom wants to jog with you in the morning."
"Alright."
Her father stood with a slouch, exhaustion settling in.
"Good night, Sam." He said by the door.
"'Night, Dad," she mumbled as she put the laptop away, then her father closed the door gently.
———
"I don't usually get sleepy this early..." Liam frowned. As a seasoned gamer, sleep before midnight was unheard of, it shouldn't even be a possibility. The Americano from earlier wasn't helping, he tried to resist, but his vision blurred.
At the party, Tyler began to stumble too.
"Whoa, dude, you okay?" a girl asked as he nearly tripped, upbeat music blasting in the background.
"I'm fine!" Tyler gave his usual energetic smile and a thumbs up, but both quickly faltered. "I'm... fine..."
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Three people collapsed nearby. Their drinks spilled across the floor. That caught everyone'd attention, except for Tyler, who's desperately fighting his urge to sleep.
"Drunk already?" someone laughed, everyone at the party reciprocated the laughter. So naturally, Tyler did too,
"I know, right? They couldn't handle their al—co...h—"
Thump.
Tyler dropped, collapsed onto the ground and almost immediately started snoring. Laughter intensified within the room.
———
The clock struck 10:00 PM.
Liam's eyelids grew heavier. His will to stay awake slipped away.
The last thing he saw before falling asleep at his desk was the time on his laptop changing from 21:59 to 22:00.
And the question still lingered on the screen:
———
Would you rather:
First option: Spend a night (12:00 AM – 4:00 AM) in a shopping mall with 18 rabid hounds enhanced in strength. Escaping is not an option.
Second option: Spend a night (12:00 AM – 4:00 AM) on an island with 80 venomous snakes that kill with a single bite.