Something about the games we had been playing felt off. They all had the same weird theme: fun. They were just games meant for people our age, like something you'd see at a bored teenager's house party, not in a haunted, flooded hotel.
The first game was Try Not to Pop the Balloon. A wooden table appeared out of thin air right in the middle of the hallway. There was a cardboard box sitting on top of it and a pile of long, silver needles resting beside it. The rules were simple and stupid. Each of us had to take a needle and poke it into the box, trying our best not to pop the balloon hidden inside. We all took turns, moving in a circle. The tension was thick as the needles went in one by one until someone finally hit the rubber.
The balloon popped with a loud bang that echoed off the red walls. The voice started laughing non-stop, sounding clearly entertained by our jumpy nerves. Then he told the person standing next to the loser to slap them across the face.
