The invitation arrived on a slip of thick, black cardstock, sealed with a wax emblem in the shape of a grinning jester’s mask.

You are cordially invited to a night of games and grand prizes.

The rules are simple. Play to win. Losers… disappear.

It was a joke. It had to be. But when Jake and his friends arrived at the address—an old estate on the outskirts of town—they found a grand wooden door already ajar, candlelight flickering inside.

“Okay, this is either a rich weirdo’s idea of a joke or we’re about to be part of some viral marketing stunt,” Ava said, stepping over the threshold.

“Or a murder house,” Chris muttered.

Inside, a long table was set with gold-trimmed playing cards and black dice. A man in a velvet suit and a porcelain mask sat at the head, fingers steepled. The mask had a frozen smile, but the eyes beneath it were unreadable.

“Welcome,” he purred. “Shall we begin?”

Round One

The first game was easy—a card draw. High card wins, low card loses. Ava drew an Ace, grinning. Chris got a Jack. Jake, a Queen. But Ellie, quiet, nervous Ellie, pulled a Two.

The masked man sighed, as if disappointed. “Oh, dear.”

The lights flickered. The air turned thick, stifling. Ellie clutched her throat, eyes wide with panic—then, without a sound, she was gone.

No scream. No struggle. Just… gone.

The three of them froze. A prank. A trick. It had to be.

The man in the mask shuffled the deck again. “Shall we continue?”

Round Two

Jake wanted to leave. His gut screamed at him to run. But the front door was no longer there. The windows showed only swirling blackness. And when he turned to Ava and Chris, he saw the same truth reflected in their eyes: We have to play.

The next game was a riddle. Simple enough, but every wrong answer made the walls close in by an inch. By the time Chris hesitated on the final question, the ceiling had lowered enough to brush his hair.

He answered incorrectly.

The masked man tutted. The floor beneath Chris dropped.

He fell into the dark.

Gone.

Jake’s hands trembled. His heart slammed against his ribs. Ava was crying, barely holding it together. But the man in the mask only chuckled.

“Final round,” he announced.

The Truth

There were only two of them now. Jake and Ava. The last game was simple: A single coin flip. Heads, one walks free. Tails, the other vanishes.

Ava stared at Jake, her face pale as bone. “I don’t—what happens if we don’t flip it?”

The masked man’s grin widened.

“Oh, my dear,” he whispered. “The game must end. One of you must leave. One of you must stay.”

Jake’s stomach turned to ice. Stay. Not disappear.

He looked past the masked man, past the flickering candles, past the long, eerie table—

And saw them.

Ellie. Chris. Others. So many others. Faces trapped behind the walls, their mouths frozen in silent screams. Not dead. Worse. Kept.

This was not a game of winning. This was a game of choosing who suffered forever.

Ava’s hand trembled as she picked up the coin. “Jake,” she whispered.

He knew what she was asking.

He took the coin from her, held it between his fingers.

And then—he dropped it.

Not a flip. Not a choice. Just a rejection.

The masked man let out a slow, delighted sigh. “Ah.”

The room shuddered. The candles flared. The walls screamed.

And then—darkness.

Jake opened his eyes to a streetlamp flickering above him. Cold air on his skin. The estate was gone. The invitation was gone. Ava was gone.

He was alone.

A jester’s mask lay at his feet.

And deep inside, where he couldn’t quite reach, something whispered.

The game must go on.