Capítulo 8: Battle For The Library
Henry turned around.
His intoxicated eyes looked straight at Anne, as he slightly wobbled on the spot. "I don't think I'm in a reasonable state to accept your challenge."
Anne knew he wasn't sober, but she couldn't allow him reach the study room. She had to correct her mistake...even if it meant making a classless move.
"You can't refuse a challenge, Henry. You made that rule, remember?"
Henry couldn't help but smile. He knew that rule was a double-edged sword, but he didn't know he would get stabbed with it in such a state. "If that's how it is, I'm using my first game right then."
"What's your choice?"
Anne asked a question Henry struggled to answer. Which game would give him the advantage over a sober person?
Henry rubbed his chin a couple of times and a lightbulb switched on in his head. His lack of sobriety made the answer easy and clear.
"A drinking game."
"Huh?"
"I figured if I'm facing someone that's sober, I just have to play a game where we both get drunk."
Anne was speechless. His idea was genius. "You should get drunk more often."
"I know right. My thoughts are much clearer now."
Anne didn't know what to say as Henry took her sarcastic compliment seriously. "So which drinking game are we playing?"
"Beer pong."
"The one that you throw a ping-pong ball into cups filled with alcohol?"
"Exactly. I'll get the alcohol, you get the disposable cups. Let's meet at the ping-pong table."
———
"Isn't fifteen too much?" Anne asked. She was referring to the number of cups Henry arranged at her side of the ping-pong table.
He positioned the cups in a triangular format with the five-cup base facing her and the one-cup tip facing the other end of the table.
"I would've wanted more but the cups you brought are exhausted." Henry replied, and Anne immediately regretted bringing a whole pack of disposable cups.
After he arranged the cups at his end of the table, he reached for the small cold metal bucket he brought and removed a bottle of vodka that had been chilling in the ice. Anne watched as he poured the intoxicating liquid generously into the cups at his end.
"Not that I mind, but aren't you going to remain some for my cups?"
Henry simply smiled. "Don't worry, there's another one just for you." He replied, bringing out another bottle from the ice bucket.
"Are you drunk on something— sorry let me rephrase that. Are you insane?!" Anne asked.
"Stop complaining. You didn't lose anything when you challenged me. I'm the one losing my precious game right, that's why I have to make sure I win."
Anne couldn't understand Henry any better. When she used her game right, she chose a swim race because she held the fastest lap record in The Imperial Palace's indoor pool. The whole point of the game rights is to make the battle favour the challenged, but even with her understanding, she felt Henry was still going too far.
Anne looked in horror as she glanced at the back of one of the identical empty vodka bottles. The alcohol content was 60%. A pass mark.
"Henry? Let's not...." Anne wanted to back down, but the word 'cowardice' wasn't in her dictionary. She could only hope that Henry would realize how suicidal this situation was, before it's too late.
"Huh, what is it Anne?" Henry asked, as he removed the detachable net. "Don't tell me you want to back down from a challenge you initiated?"
"It's not like that? It's just that...." Anne trailed off once again.
Tap! Tap!
Anne looked to see a small lightweight plastic ball bouncing into her half of the table. It wasn't aiming for the cups in her front, but for her person. She caught it midair.
"As a gentleman, I would give you the first throw." Henry said with a smile.
Anne gritted her teeth, she wanted to wipe that smug look off his face.
"Tip." She said before throwing the ping-pong ball. It bounced in the middle of the table before dipping into the cup at the tip of the triangle exactly as she had predicted.
Henry's jaw dropped for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure. It was too soon to lose his confidence. "Lucky shot."
"You wish. Though it's not surprising why you would think it is hard to throw a ball inside a cup?" Anne replied and Henry quietly drank the alcohol in the cup.
He threw the ping-pong ball. It bounced and landed inside a random cup in front of her. Henry celebrated as Anne drank the contents of the cup. It went on like this till it was Anne's fifth throw.
The ball bounced some millimeters from the middle of the table and landed in one of the cups in the five-cup base of Henry's triangle. She had scored a cup but she had an horrified look on her face. This was because she was targeting the cups in an orderly fashion, from the one-cup tip to the five-cup base. The ball she threw was meant to land in a cup on the three-cup row but rather it landed in the five-cup base, which meant....
"Looks like someone is getting a little tipsy." Henry said as she gulped down the vodka in the cup.
'Shut up. It was a simple error." Anne said, even though she knew her superb hand-eye coordination has been affected.
*Haha, of course it was. I bet right now you're seeing two of everything." Henry said, accurately summarizing his own situation. He was seeing two tables, two groups of cups and two Annes. The worst part was they weren't static, the identical images kept coming together and separating, mind-fucking Henry each time.
All this while, he had just been randomly throwing the ball in the direction of Anne's cups, hoping it falls inside one. Since his targets were many and placed together, the odds had been in his favour and he's been successful in getting a cup with each throw. He threw the ball and got his fifth cup.
Anne drank the contents of the cup, then she looked at the remaining cups in her front. If arranged, they could make another perfect triangle.
"Should we—"
"No. Let's keep on playing without rearranging the cups."
Anne was shocked at Henry's quick reply. He didn't need her to complete her question to know what was on her mind. The problem of rearranging the cups had been on his mind from the moment he first arranged the cups.
Rearranging the cups everytime they can make a perfect triangle would reduce the difficulty in getting a cup, which means Anne can wipe him out faster. This was why Henry chose to make the game much harder, even though it would also inconvenience him.
Anne smiled as she deduced Henry's true intention. The winner of the this battle would be the one that can endure the intoxicating liquid the longest.
After their next dozen throw, they both lost themselves under the influence of alcohol. An upbeat music played through the Mansion's built-in stereo speakers, courtesy of a drunk Henry.
"You can't do it, Hen. Squinting won't do you any good." Anne dealt Henry some emotional damage, as he took a stance to throw the ball.
The ball bounced in her half of the table and was about to to enter a cup, just before it hit the cup's rim and rolled off the table. Henry cursed and Anne did a victory dance.
"I told you, didn't I? Squinting won't help."
"You're the one not helping!"
"It's not my fault you can't handle your liquor."
"You know I was already tipsy before the challenge, right?"
"That's all the more reason to stop fighting it and just pass out."
Henry couldn't help but laugh, and Anne joined in.
"Why are you laughing?" He asked her.
"I don't know. Why are you laughing?"
Henry eyes widened. He also didn't know what he found amusing. "Oh my god, Ann. We are so drunk."
"I know right." Anne replied, then they laughed in unison once more.
Anne looked at the six cups on her end of the table. It was truly no wonder why she had long past the realm of sobriety. Drinking nine cups meant she had drank more than half of the vodka bottle. In front of a wobbling Henry were five cups, which meant Anne was leading the battle with one cup.
Despite being unable to stand without wobbling, they both continued. Rather than using their initial throwing methods, they started winging it. They tried everything their drunk minds could think of, it didn't matter what they did, as long as it meant the ball could enter their opponent's cups. And as the cups reduced, their throwing methods only got wierder.
Anne went some distance back, then she ran towards the table and threw the ball. From the trajectory Henry saw it was coming directly for his cups. He couldn't help but smile at how drink Anne was. The ball landed in a cup and successfully transferred the smile from Henry's face to Anne's.
"Oh, two can play that game." Henry said, after drinking. He held the ball with two fingers then flicked it with his index finger, that drew as much power as it could from his biceps. The ball flew till it landed in Anne's cup.
Anne drank the cup contents, then she carried a table tennis bat. She bounced the ball a few times on the bat flat sides, then she smashed the ball with it. It bounced on the table and slickly dipped into Henry's cup. Henry desperately tried to hold his jaw up.
He was so drunk he forgot to remove the ball before drinking so the ball ended up in his mouth. Anne couldn't help but laugh. Rather than removing it, Henry took a stance and spat it out. Unfortunately for Anne, it landed in her cup. It was a feat worthy of some accolades.
"Jesus Christ, Hen. That's disgusting."
"Drink up, Ann. Drink up." Henry replied smugly.
The long battle was finally reaching a climax. There was a single cup in front of Henry, while there were two in front of Anne. It was Henry's turn to throw. Thanks to Anne's recent slip up, if he makes this shot they would be even once more.
He made it and the battle entered sudden death. Whoever makes the next cup wins. This would have been easy for either of them if they were sober but they had dranked roughly 94% of the bottle each. Anne could hardly stand straight so she leaned on the quality table. Henry on the other put all his effort into being conscious.
The sudden death round seemed to be as long as the entire match they had been playing. Both of them just kept on missing their target, Henry was the worse of the two. It was like he had used his last luck when he leveled the scores.
Anne threw the ping-pong ball, it bounced in the middle of the table and landed in Henry's cup...or at least Henry thought it did. The ball rolled from behind his cup and into his view. He still had a chance. Henry threw the ball and Anne watched in horror as the ball landed inside her cup.
Thud.
She looked at where Henry was standing to see he had collapsed. She too was about to faint. The relief of the game ending weakened her will to be conscious. She laid down on the floor before passing out.
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