29 Jun We Made Plans for Friday the 13th

📅 Published on June 29, 2022

“We Made Plans for Friday the 13th”

Written by Blake Blizzard
Edited by Craig Groshek
Thumbnail Art by Craig Groshek
Narrated by N/A

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🎧 Available Audio Adaptations: None Available

⏰ ESTIMATED READING TIME — 17 minutes

Rating: 10.00/10. From 2 votes.

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“That can’t be what I think it is,” I said out loud to myself.

My friends and I had decided to get together at my place for some good old-fashioned fun. Our version of such includes competing in college drinking games. I’ll tell you right now that we are much past college age. I’d say, though, that playing beer pong or flip cup isn’t “weird” yet for us, if you get that. I’m only 35, my former roommate J is just a year younger, and our twin friends Kendall and Kelsie are maybe 36 or 37. We are drinking game OG’s and feel 100% confident that we can enjoy tossing a little ping pong into a questionably “clean” red Solo cup of Miller Lite for at least another year or two. Hitting the lordy, lordy, look who’s 40 club might be the end of drinking games.

“Yo, Jake, you or J ever play Depth Charge?” Kelsie asked. Or maybe it was Kendall. Shit, after all these years, I still have a hard time differentiating between the two. Me and J, whose real name is Jeremiah, shared a BIO 101 class with the twins first day of college. When I knew he wanted to be a doctor, I thought it would be funny to call him “Dr. J,” like the Philly basketball legend. And it stuck. Not only were me and J randomly paired as roommates, but we also happened to have our first class together. That’s how our friendship started, and we’ve been connected ever since, at least in communication in our post-college life. J has long since moved to the southeast to practice medicine.

“No,” I said, “can’t say that I have, K—” I stopped myself. Like I said, I sometimes still don’t recognize which twin is which. Clearing my throat, I continued. “Nope, can’t say I have.” And left it at that. I suspect both Kendall and Kelsie have recognized my failure to identify them and have mercifully given me a pass. Hell, I have twin cousins. I was in my teens when they were born so I’ve seen them grow up, and I STILL don’t recognize them. Thankfully one has gotten a lip piercing, so that helps. But as most twins, they chose to dress, act, and always talk the same. I’m sure most twins are used to this.

I was never great at science or math. J, as I said, became a doctor, so he was more than capable of helping me during that initial undergrad class. But we needed to break into groups of four for the lab part of the class, and we both thought the twins were cute, like every other guy in the class, I’m sure. J’s charm and my brooding mystery somehow worked, and we all partnered up. We were in the very beginning of the “emo” explosion in the early 2000s, and I just took to it. Brooding and dark didn’t even begin to describe my personality back then. But I did like drinking, and so did J, so we got along right off the bat. Turned out, so did the twins. And we remained friends all through college and beyond.

“Kelsie, Jake’s never played Depth Charge!” she said, smiling like a goofball. They do this when people don’t remember which twin they are talking to. It’s so considerate it hurts. One will call the other by their name so you can cue into who you are talking to. Very considerate. Kendall gives me a look like, “it’s fine; we came all this way to hang, don’t worry about the names.” I’m much appreciative.

Kelsie and J, having a convo of their own near the bar area in my basement, come skipping over, drinks in hand, to admonish me for my inexperience in this particular drinking game.

It’s a rare nice early-spring day here in the great state of Michigan, where I live. All four of us met here. Central Michigan University, fire up chips. I’ve remained here to this day; not at CMU, of course, but in Michigan. J is in the southeast, as previously mentioned, and the twins both took teaching jobs in the greater Phoenix, Arizona area.

As adults, we all know how hard it is to coordinate schedules, but it just happened to work for all of this. J put a group text out about a month ago, seeing if we could all meet up, and live up the glory days for a weekend. I quickly offered up my place; I’ve got the room. And thankfully, we landed on an early May date that we could all do. J already had time scheduled off, and the school both the twins worked for happened to have a three-day weekend for some kind of principal training. Not sure what that is, as I’ve been out of high school for quite some time. Either way, here we are, all four of us ‘bros’ hanging out in my basement, shotgunning beers and slamming quarters.

Kendall and J arrive at the pong table I bought online for just tonight’s occasion. Kendall bumps into the edge a little bit, rocking some of the un-drunk cups of lite beer from an earlier pong game. “How have you never played Depth Charge?!” Kendall looked at her identical self with a wild look of “what an idiot” on her face.

I just stood there and shrugged, looking at J for some kind of backup or confirmation that he’s never played either. He shrugged back at me, mouthing something like, “I don’t know, either.” He started to giggle to himself. We’re all having a monster time. I see he’s along for the ride here, waiting to see how the twins are about to embarrass me about Depth Charge, even though he’s never played the damn thing himself. No matter. Time to take the bait.

“Ok, ladies and lords of drinking games, pray tell, what is this beautiful game?” The twins both laugh, almost snorting out vodka cranberry from their noses. They even drink the same thing at all times.

Kendall takes a seat at the bar like it’ll help while explaining the game. “Ok, so, it’s a two-player game, with maybe a maximum of four players. Which is—oh damn, what we have!” She extends both arms out, reiterating that there are, in fact, four of us. “You fill up a pint glass of beer and ever so gently place a shot glass in the middle. If you do it right, it’ll sit just above the liquid. Then, THEN, you take turns pouring sake into the shot glass. The goal is not to sink the glass under the beer. The strategy is not to be the one to sink the shot. If you do, you have to chug both the beer and the shot. Simple, right?”

Sounds kind of fun, actually, I thought. “I’m game,” I said, throwing up my hands. J nods in approval, as does Kelsie.

“Ah, only problem is I don’t have any sake,” I said. I have a nicely stocked bar but never thought to have sake. Just not one of the drinks I’ve kept in my collection.

“It doesn’t have to be sake, but it’s so light that it helps keep the shot glass from sinking quickly,” Kendall says.

I want to do it the way it’s supposed to be done, especially since she seems to be so excited about it. “I can run to the party store right now; it’s only nine o’clock it won’t take me long,” I told them. They all started doing the “no, don’t go out” type of thing, but I let them know that the party store is just around the corner, only a 5-minute walk from my house. No driving tonight; I’m never going to risk that problem. Fun fact: here in Michigan, we use the term “party store” to describe all liquor stores and many convenience stores in our area. I didn’t know until I was older that that was an exclusive Great Lake State term. Other places might call it a beer store, a packie, or a bodega even.

“You guys put on some Taking Back Sunday or Avril Lavigne, and I’ll be back before you know it.” Nostalgia, you see.

Stepping outside, I was immediately hit by the unseasonably warm early May weather. It made me feel content.

The jingle overhead signaled that I had arrived. Mr. C’s Party Store on 9 Mile and Jefferson. One of my home away from home spots. I nodded to Sam, the store owner that never seemed to have a day off. Heading to the back of the store, I found just what I was looking for: A black bottle with gold Japanese writing on it. A fourteen-dollar bottle of sake. This should do. As I walked toward the counter with my prize, I stopped. I felt like I had hit an invisible barrier.

That can’t be what I think it is. A…board game? I’ve never seen a board game in this or any party store before. They might have playing cards or even packs of ping pong balls and cups for playing beer pong, but never board games. On the second to bottom shelf sat a dusty black rectangular box.

“Lake Kill: The Board Game.”

I felt like I was starring in a 1980’s slasher or something. Dimwit male lead finds cursed board game, plays with naïve drunk friends, brutal and maybe hilarious consequences follow. To add to the Hollywood-like aura, I had to literally dust off the top of the box, revealing the logo. A simple red canoe with oars crossing behind it, like a skull and crossbones type aesthetic. This looked…like it would be a great time!

I sped-walked to Sam. I threw the sake and the “cursed” board game on the counter. His expression was blank. “Uh…Sam! What’s up, man?”

He quietly grabbed a bag from behind the counter. He calmly put my black and gold sake in it and pushed it toward me.

“Thanks…but I also have this here too.” I tapped the top of the black rectangular box. I didn’t see the price, but I know he only charged me for the bottle that he had just bagged. “You’re good,” is all Sam said. “No, Sam, seriously, I want to buy this, just tell me what—”

“You…are…good,” Sam said, as serious as a heart attack. I didn’t want to push it, so I tucked the game under my arm and grabbed the sake. Weird. Hope he’s ok.

When I got home, I kicked my shoes off, hung my sweatshirt up, and headed downstairs with the game behind my back. My three guests seemed like they were still having a great time. Music was blaring, used shot glasses lined the bar, and the pizzas we ordered earlier had been almost demolished.

“Ok, party people! I got the stuff that’s going to pop my depth charge cherry; let’s light this fuse!” J and the twins collectively cheered, if mockingly. After making myself another drink, Kendall started filling up a glass for the game. As she was picking out a not-so-heavy shot glass to make the game last longer, I totally forgot what other purchase I had acquired.

“Oh…hey, you want to see something weird?” That was greeted with blank stares. Probably not the best way to start a sentence. We all laughed, breaking the awkward silence, thank goodness. “No for real, check this out.”

With that, I ran back upstairs and grabbed the game. As I hopped back down the stairs, I held it out proudly in front of me, displaying it like Vanna White. Again, blank stares. “What is this? I don’t get it,” J said. The twins nodded in agreement. I had to realize that they didn’t know I just picked this up from the party store; they must have thought I just had this laying around the house. I explained that I just happened to see it sitting on one of the shelves and how weird that was. They eventually understood how uncanny finding a board game at a party store was.

So, the four of us sat at the bar with the “Lake Kill Board Game” sitting in front of us.

“Well…let’s play!” Kelsie said. She looked at her sister to see what her thoughts were. Kendall cracked a smile.

I gladly took the honors of tearing the cellophane off the box. Carefully opening the lid revealed the actual board. I removed said board, revealing a standard-looking Monopoly style, squares littering every side. They stated things like, “Pick a Card,” “Move Two Spaces,” and “Lose Life.” Under the board laid two compartments, both holding a stack of cards. One was black, the other red. There were also some icons you could use to move, like the top hat or car from Monopoly. But these were…stranger. They included a hockey mask, a knife, a noose, and a diamond. Curiouser and curiouser. Stanger still is that there were only four when the game said it was rated 2-8 players.

“Umm…I’ll be the hockey mask, I guess,” J said. Damn, I wanted that one. The twins took the next two, the knife and noose. Guess that left me the diamond. J started reading the instructions. “This is like a Frankenstein list of rules; they don’t make sense and are all molded together. It doesn’t make much sense, man.”

“Frankenstein’s monster,” I said.

“What?” J said, looking confused.

Sorry, it’s just something that always bothers me. “When you refer to something strange or freakishly-put together is like Frankenstein, you really mean it’s Frankenstein’s monster, not Dr. Frankenstein, the mad scientist.”

We all laughed a bit, but I really had to point out the difference. “Whatever, man,” J said. “It says here the oldest rolls first.”

“Yaay!” Kendall said, joyfully grabbing the die. “What? I’m 5 minutes older, Kelsie. Sorry,” giving a “loser sign,” with her right thumb and forefinger making the L sign to her “younger” sister.

Kendall rolled. “3.” She landed on the third spot, which instructed her to pull a chance card. She read it out loud to us. “Stay quiet; he’s outside the door.” We all seemed to stop breathing. “What the hell does that mean?” Before any of us could muster a response, we heard three loud banging noises coming from the front door above us. Now with wide eyes, the twins looked at us. “Did…did you order something or have someone else coming over?” Kendall asked.

“Shh,” her sister said. “The card said to be quiet…” Three more aggressive bangs made us all jump. Not knowing if this was a coincidence or someone actually at the door, I put my index finger to my lips, signaling the others to remain quiet as I went to the base of the stairs where I could get a visual of the front door. I didn’t see anything. Must have just been a coincidence. As that thought finished in my head, the lights went off. A scream escaped from the girls. It honestly could have been from any of us, but I chose to blame it on them. When the light turned back on there was a plain yellow card laying in front of Kendall.

“What the frick man! What kind of game is this?” J asked, looking at me. Kendall turned the card over to reveal only one character. The number ONE.

At this moment, I finally realized what day it was. May 13^th, Friday. J keep reading the instructions.

As he read, we all determined this was not an ordinary game. J scanned to the final objective of the game. “The first to obtain the seven yellow cards wins.” That’s odd. You would think the first to get thirteen won, but whatever. “If you do not successfully complete the tasks given, then punishments would be dished out, detailed by the other set of cards.”

“Ok, ok, just follow the instructions, guys, as the game laid out. It’s just a game!” I said, trying to sound convincing. “The knocks were just…well, I don’t entirely know, but it couldn’t be something related to the game, just an awful coincidence. Dumb kids playing ding dong ditch or something. Hey, we stayed quiet and won that round so let’s just stay in the spirit of the game.”

I know they didn’t believe that. I didn’t believe that. I can’t believe I had not realized we were all gathered on a Friday the 13^th. The first one in almost nine months.

“Who’s next, J?” I asked. J looked flustered but pulled the instructional pamphlet to his face. “After the first roll, the turns will continue clockwise.” J placed the instruction down and looked at me. He was sitting to Kendall’s left. J’s turn.

J rolled a 2. His hockey mask landed on a space that said two simple words: “You’re safe.” What did that mean? What do we do?

“Next one,” J said. “I don’t have to draw any cards, just…I’m safe.” “What’s that in your drink?” Kelsie asked. We all looked at it. A sickly yellow card covered in an unknown sludge. Slowly fishing it out, J held it up. “TWO.” Kelsie’s turn.

She hesitantly rolled. The black and white die fell with the six face up. “Pick a red card.” She did as instructed. I could see her face fall when she silently mouthed the card to herself.

Kendall shook her. “What, what does it say!?” Kelsie stared straight ahead, silently handing the card over to her twin sister. Kendall read it out loud. “Sorry, you’re not the final girl. Thank you for playing.”

I let out a nervous laugh, not meaning to. “Relax, Kelsie, it’s just a game. That doesn’t mean any-” Lights out.

Panic ensued between the twins, accompanied by me and J trying to make sense of what was happening and also trying to calm them both. When the lights turned back on…Kendall was holding the now blank red card. A yellow card was also in front of Kendall. I didn’t wait this time; I turned it over to reveal the number “THREE.”

This doesn’t make sense, I thought. Why did she get the third yellow card, even though it was Kelsie’s turn? Where the hell did the yellow cards come from, and what the hell were they? I didn’t see them in the game. Something very bad was-

We were interrupted by my phone. Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” played at an inhuman volume level.

All three of us clasped our ears, trying to preserve our hearing and sanity. Finding a way to finally open one eye, I firmly met my gaze with J. I could barely make out what he was attempting to mouth to me: “Your turn.” The sound waves were almost visible. I reached with all my might, grabbing the die. A weak toss bounced the die, hitting one side, then another. The die landed. I rolled a one. Freddy Mercury’s epic voice silenced, releasing us from our auditory prison.

Gasping for air, we all finally sat up, attempting to regain our sanity. “Wh-where is Kelsie?” Kendall asked.

Holy shit, she is gone…she is GONE!

J interjected before we lost our minds.

“Listen, it’s part of the game. I know it doesn’t sound right, but we need to continue the game before we think about this. Maybe she freaked and left while we were all getting our ears beaten to a pulp by Freddy. We shouldn’t have jumped into this bullshit Lake Kill game, but now we can’t stop. Let’s just end this and figure it out later.”

J sounded entirely reasonable despite the horror we had just gone through. A member of our party had just disappeared for God’s sake, but for some reason, I understood what he was saying. I looked at Kendall, giving her a look of “I’m sorry.” She returned the sentiment.

I moved my diamond piece. The spot I landed on said “Random.” I put my head down, running my hands through my black hair…the black hair that would probably see some gray sprouting up in very little time. Keeping my head to the ground, I asked J what that meant. “It says you pick a card, either black or red.”

A feeling of dread blanketed my body. Keeping my left hand on my face, I reached with my right for a card. I pulled the card. Opening my eyes, I read. As I finished, I looked at my remaining two friends. They looked back at me with bated breath, like what I was about to say might end the world.

The card read: “Choose which of your two friends should leave the game.” J immediately started shaking his head. “No, no, no, how the hell does this game know how many people are here? This is a pre-packaged bullshit Parker Brothers game, man. What did you do to us, Jake?” Kendall started to cry silently.

“STOP!” I slammed my fist into the bar, rattling the game pieces and cards. Both J and Kendall recoiled out of instinct. “I’m not going to choose between you, it’s a stupid game, and I would never make that decision. Look, I don’t know what’s going on here, whether it be supernatural, paranormal, or otherwise, but we can logically explain this.”

Looking at my friends, the only friends I’ve kept in the last 20 years, I could see my mini motivational speech had fallen on deaf ears. “I think we should put this piece of shit away and go look for Kelsie. I never thought she would be so spooked by something like this.”

I stood up, made sure I had my house keys in my left pocket and my phone in my right, and nodded to J to join me. He was about to stand up when a voice quietly sounded behind us.

“You rolled. You moved your piece. You accepted the move. There is no avoiding it. I will take a liberty here. You don’t have to choose between me or J. Without Kelsie, I don’t want to be here.”

Both J and I realized what Kendall was saying at the same time. We both turned around to stop her. What happened next was in gruesome slow motion. What we saw was one of our best friends plunge a nail file into her neck, painting my basement with burgundy red viscous. The horrific reality of what just happened is something I might not ever process. The noises she made…

I shakily dropped to her side, trying to help her stay alive. It was no use. Taking her pulse, I felt nothing except a waxy feeling. I gripped the alien device, pulling it toward me. A yellow card. FOUR.

Now it’s me and J. Both on our knees, both on either side of one of the sweetest people we have ever met. In a matter of minutes, she had lost her twin sister and then her own life. I again put my head down. “Your turn,” I said.

J didn’t let his eyes leave poor Kendall. He reached for the die without saying a word. One quick glance at me, and he tossed it. The sound of the die hitting the board felt like it shook the ground beneath us. Four. He moved his blood-covered piece. He made no motion to read the board or pick a card, so I leaned in and did it for him.

“Heart-race time,” the space said. Pick a black card. It read: “Your choice: Expose one secret that no one knows about you and gain two cards or face a punishment, giving your opponent two cards.”

J started shaking his head as he finally got up from his knees and took a seat by the bar. “I don’t have anything to hide, Jake, you know that. I really don’t even give a shit about this anymore. I want to get the hell out of here. Let’s pack this thing up and go. And we have to call the police. If you didn’t notice, there’s one dead girl in YOUR basement and one missing.”

I started to agree with him immediately. But I stopped. “J,” I started solemnly. “The game is the game. We can’t beat it like this, not now. I know you’re all about science and explaining shit but…look what’s happened here, man.” I tried to convince him as much as I could. I thought I had him.

“I got nothing for you anymore, man. I have no secrets, and I don’t care about getting the two cards. Punish me.” I winced when he finished that sentence. I felt like…

Yep…lights out. Here we go again.

My walls were closing in. There were banging noises coming from every direction. J fell to the ground again, trying to drown out the sounds of what seemed like multiple intruders. I did the same, although feeling more dead to this night. I just wanted to end this.

When the lights finally came back on, I could see that some of my glassware had actually been tossed from its original locations. Great, so now I even have poltergeist activity tonight. Happy Friday the 13^th. Happy Lake-Fucking-Kill night. The knocking was so loud I didn’t even hear my glasses break.

Every time the lights went out, we were met with something awful. I scanned the room. No yellow cards, no more blood, no more…

Wait. A small white piece of paper was peeking out of J’s shirt pocket. “Did you have that there all night?” I asked. He looked down to his left breast pocket. As he pulled the note out, his eyes sank as he read it to himself. The note fell from his hand. “What is it?” He offered no response. I slowly grabbed the note from the ground in front of him. It wasn’t a note at all; it was a prescription. “Welbutral. What is this, J?” I asked again.

“I…I didn’t know,” he offered. Something in his dead-pan tone told me he did know.

“It was supposed to…it was supposed to treat anxiety. Dammit, the side effects were stated but, the company that pushed it…they paid a lot…they…”

“What did you do, Jeremiah?”

“TAKE YOUR CARDS, Jake! I don’t want to do this anymore. I don’t care what the punishment is. I’ll die with what I know.”

Pretty extreme for the good doctor I’ve known since college. He’s one of the most upstanding people I’ve ever been around. “Did you hurt people, man? What the hell is this? Just admit it, and you’ll get the cards. We’re almost done with this nightmare.”

J looked around the room, seemingly planning his next action. “No. I can’t.” For some reason, he pulled a red card without being told by the game. What are you doing? I thought to myself.

J read, “You won’t release your deeds, so you’ll sow the seeds. You reap what you sow, after all.” With that, he placed the card back down on its face.

He reached back into his front shirt pocket, producing two little yellow pills. I couldn’t see exactly what was etched on them from where I was sitting, but I thought I made out what looked like three little letters.

I. P.

“J, DON’T!” I tried to reach for him, but it was too late. He threw them down his throat before I had a chance. A big swallow, and his pupils immediately dilated. A small amount of foam emanated from both corners of his mouth. “J, stop! It’s not worth it, don’t do this!” I desperately tried to get to him, but he was gone. My best friend, my only friend now, just catatonically pointed to his pocket. I approached him cautiously, pulling out two yellow cards from his pocket. FIVE, SIX, they read.

This will be my last turn. I’m going to fix this. Somehow, I have no idea how, but I’ll fix this. Not letting J out of my sight, I hastily threw the devil die. “Six.”

I slammed my diamond piece six places, reaching the first square where we started this game. The square was blank, as it was from the beginning. I didn’t know what to do. It offered no instruction. J broke his frozen state. Speaking without emotion, monotone, he said, “Congratulations. The first to make one trip around the board automatically gains one yellow card.”

I stared at him. Confusion, sadness, despair flooded my entire being. He pointed at the center of the board game. The black and red cards were gone. The pieces, the die, were gone. One yellow card sat. I shakily grabbed it and flipped it over. SEVEN.

I woke up in my bed. My head felt like the hammer brothers from Super Mario were having a party. I willed myself up, immediately falling to the ground. Pain shot through my entire body. Momentarily forgetting everything from last night, I ran downstairs. After I puked like a champion.

I found my basement bar in pristine condition. No empty drinks, no board game, no catatonic friend, no dead friend bleeding on the ground.

I found my phone sitting on the bar. 10% battery left, thank goodness. No notifications, no missed calls. I tried calling J. No answer. I called both twins. Same result. I sat down, holding my smoldering head in my hands. After what felt like an eternity, I heard a text message go off. Sonic the Hedgehog’s “ring” sound. It snapped me back to reality. Opening the text, it was from J.

“Hey brother, twins just landed at Metro airport. I’ll be there in about an hour. So pumped for tonight. I think we all need this. Funny it’s Friday the 13^th, right? See ya soon, man.”