Beware the Rhyme
Have you ever heard of the Jester’s Rhyme? Perhaps you have and if so then you should know that you’ve probably been silenced, and if you haven’t then welcome to the grand game. As with most things it’s a children's song, meant to entertain and bring joy, but beware the untold truth to its passages, for this is one game you never want to play when you become of age.
So our story begins with two brothers ready to enter the game, one knowingly, another unwillingly, taking to the stakes set out before them. It all begins round the campfire as our tales so often do, in an old lumber mill.
“Hey John do you remember that old nursery rhyme our mom used to sing us?” A little random thought pings into his head, a vague tune coming from the depths of his memory. Turning over to his brother, while he keeps half an eye on his hot dog he’s in the middle of roasting.
“I think so? What’s got you thinking about it Duncan?” He turns back happily watching the hot dog splitting and cracking, the sweet smell of roasting meat drifting up into his nose. They’d been hiking all day to get here and do an abandoned urban exploration. They brought the camera’s and everything to document their stuff.
“I heard a rumor that if you sing it, you get to roll those dice it mentions. If you roll a pair of sixes you get whatever your heart wishes, but if you roll snake eyes, you lose something precious to you.” John lifted an eyebrow; he didn’t remember any dice mentioned in the nursery rhyme, but then again the last time he’d sung it was when he was eight.
“So what? You want to try singing it and see if what? A specter appears, and we catch it on camera?” It wasn’t the first time they’d chased after poltergeists, normally it ended in finding drugged out homeless people, or nearly getting crushed under rotted out timber. Duncan nodded enthusiastically, lifting up the camera, and an old book that looked like he’d fished it out of some half decimated ruin.
“Yea, I’ve got the original nursery rhyme right here, got it from a friend of mine before he went missing. Swears up and down to not do it and the next thing you know, poof never seen again. The only thing they found was his house completely bordered up and a stuffed doll sitting with dice eyes on the table, surrounded by what looked like blood.” John shivered as his brother told him the tale of his friend. That was a bit too close to personal for him, but a part of him was also super curious on if maybe the tale had any truth to it.
“Alright, so say we decide to give this thing a try. Where are we even supposed to do it? In a mirror or something?”
“Nah man, it’s a whole thing, candles, ceremony and an offering, got to pull him out!”
“Pull who out?” His stomach twisted as he waited for his brother's answer, something just...felt off about how obsessed his brother seemed to be with this.
“The Jester.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh the longer this kept going the more he just got that hair raising tingle at the base of his neck that they should really quit while they were ahead. Duncan hadn’t been kidding when it required a full ceremony to do this. Candles were lit and placed around in a circle, then five stakes were placed in points. He’d had to paint symbols that he had no idea what they were but they seriously creeped him out. Then finally they were standing at opposite sides, two bowls held before them and two knives each.
“Hey Duncan, I really don’t think we should be doing this…” It was the third or fourth time he’d tried to talk his brother out of it, but the more he pressed the more crazed Duncan seemed to be to do this.
“For the last time, the camera’s are all set up John! We can’t let our followers down by being chicken shits. Now man up and let’s get the party started.” Duncan held out his left arm, and John shakingly grasped it with his right.
“In the magical kingdom,
where giants roamed.
There was a lost jester,
who couldn’t find home.
He went to the mermaids
to ask them if he
could live in their waters,
but they told him to flee.
He went to the princess
and knelt at her throne.
But she couldn’t help him,
and he was left alone.
The jester was tired,
and so very sad.
‘Til he found a fairy
who helped the lost lad.
She said to the Jester
Do not fear or be mad
Nobody loves you but there is a gift to be had
A pair of dice is what you seek
To be bold and brave
Never meek
To take revenge that is your wish
To place all those within your dish
Those who kicked and scorned
They shall be forever mourned
For a roll of your dice that is all they need
To be like dolls yours to treat”
As the last words were uttered, they both slashed their arms over the bowl, letting the blood pool into it. With every drop it fell into it before a slow hissing sounded throughout the room they were in. An abandoned hospital in the town they’d chosen to explore. The blood began turning black, coiling up in vapors, and suddenly the jingling of bells was heard and with a swirling of the blood, fire, and smoke a specter appeared hanging upside down.
A cackle echoed and a terrifying chill ran down John's spine as he looked up at the monster before him.
“Humans, Humans,
So contrary, I almost wish your names were Mary!
A roll of dice is what you seek
But I hope the challenges won't make you meek
Is it Sixes you wish to make all your dreams
A wonder of Reality?
Or will you roll snake eyes,
And become a doll for me to play
Let’s start the grand game and I wish you luck
But let’s be fair in all we do
You times will come before you remember
To give a fuck!”
Duncan all but dashed forward bowing down before the specter, and looking up at him as if he were a god. John on the other hand stumbled back, hitting a wall and watching as the Jester before him tore out his eyes in a bloody torrent and passed them down.
“Thank you Faust! I swear to make it all up, I’ll roll sixes this time I will.” He muttered reverently cupping the ever shifting die. John felt his stomach work its way up into his throat, the Jesters cape swirling and all but watching him even though the thing had no eyes!
“Duncan, Duncan we need to go!”
“No! NO! I need to roll sixes, earn it all back. Oh yes I will. I’ll earn it all back and more!” Then the dice rolled, and rolled, and rolled...Until it came up snake eyes.
“HahaHAHAHAHA SNAKE EYES! Your final roll!”
“No no, I have more to give. I swear I do...I do…” Duncan looked frantically over to John before pointing his finger sharply at him.
“I’ll give you John! You can have him! He’s my brother, completely fair, right?” Faust leaned down close to Duncan’s face before breaking into a face splitting smile. As the scythe on his tail tore through Duncan’s chest ripping and shredding him to pieces before in a burst of smoke a doll sat, eyes replaced by dice.
“No no no, that’s not how the game is played I’m afraid!” Faust floated upward and twirling backwards in the air before settling his bloody sockets on John.
“Now then a new player has entered the game. I’m afraid the rules are very simple, roll a set of sixes and you get a wish! Roll snake eyes though and something precious vanishes.” He drifted over to John, tongue slipping out as he tasted the fear and disgust rolling off the human in waves.
John shivered piss slowly trickling out of him as the bloody scythe slowly traced back and forth in front of his face. Until a hand forced his open and the dice Duncan had rolled were placed inside.
“Now let’s not wait, go ahead and roll the dice.”
He shook his head trying to shove the dice back to the beast, but instead of meeting a solid body it just passed through him, and he felt a viscous liquid slowly trickling down and pooling in his palms. His heart stopped while he watched hissing black blood boil in his hands, turning the dice from a simple pair to a bloody stained bone.
“Time to roll Johnny Boy. Perhaps you could even win your brother back?” There was no way he was getting out was he? Maybe he could...He could win Duncan back, but would his brother be normal? Could he wish for him to be returned back to normal before whenever all this story started.
Shakily he rolled the dice.
Click.
Clack.
Click.
Clack.
The results came out, just as the world shattered, and he fell. The last thing he heard was a cackle of menacing volumes.
“I look forward to playing again next time!” And he woke up, in his bed sweat and piss staining it. Looking over he scrambled falling out of bed. Sitting on his nightstand watching him was Faust, little felt eyes sewn in, and his cape swirling all around.
“John, come get breakfast!”
“Yea bro come on! We have a busy day ahead of us!” Was it all just a dream? A terrible horrible nightmare?
“What are you?” He whispered over to the doll, and to his utter horror the felt mouth split open and dripped black blood and a pair of bone dice clattered rolling up sixes.