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DANGEROUS GAME

William Harris is a successful writer of detective stories. He was very happy until his wife, Julie, died twelve years ago. After that, William only had one friend, Louis, who came to his home to play chess once a week. William is, in his own opinion, not a very interesting person, but he has an incredible secret. Every night he plays games with a ghost – a poltergeist – whohe has named Poldy. The games continue for twelve years.
At first, the games are fun and Poldy is playful. But as time goes on, the games become less enjoyable and in the end they are terrifying. Although unconvinced at first, William eventually admits to himself that Poldy might be the ghost of his dead wife, returning to punish him for her murder. William reveals he murdered Julie after twelveyears of marriage because he had become insanely jealous of her friendships. There is a clear parallel between the twelve years of his marriage, which started out in happiness and ended in murder, and the twelve years of his games with Poldy, which started out as fun but have changed so that William fears for his life. His fears are well founded. By the end of the story, William is dead, leavingbehind a manuscript which describes the games and contains his confession of murder. Was William mad – driven to hallucinations by his guilt? Or was he really haunted by the ghost of his murdered wife? The reader can decide.

Chapter 1: William Harris, aged 48, explains to the reader that after his wife died twelve years ago, the poltergeist he calls Poldy started visiting him at night. Williamsays the ghost is always in his bedroom, but he can only feel Poldy’s presence at night, after he unplugs his beside lamp. William’s wife Julie was outgoing and liked to be around people, whereas William was the opposite. However, when she became ill and died, William withdrew within himself and within his house, doing nothing but writing. He lost most of his friends, except Louis, who is also awriter. He plays chess with Louis once a week.

Chapter 2: During the next few nights, William experiments with pulling out the lamp plug and putting it
back in. He finds that the first time each night he unplugs the lamp, Poldy makes himself felt. After he plugs the lamp back in, Poldy is gone for the rest of the night. The two play games where Poldy knocks and, shakes the bed or throwsitems in the room. William laughs at these games.

Chapter 3: One evening when William is playing chess with Louis, William is distracted, thinking about his
games with Poldy, which he thinks are beginning to become bad. He starts to tell Louis about Poldy, but Poldy
warns him not to by knocking from the room above. Louis doesn’t hear the knocks, but William understands,
and pretends Poldyis the name of a strange character in one of his new detective novels.

Chapter 4: After five years, things begin to go wrong with the game. At first, Poldy simply didn’t follow the
William Harris rules. Then, on the night of a full moon, Poldy started using clothes in the wardrobe to play games. The arm of William’s coat grabbed the plug from his fingers, yanking the lamp onto the floor.Then, a ‘person’ behind the curtain wouldn’t let William close the drapes. He lay in bed, listening to his heart pound wildly and a cat outside crying like a baby all night.

Chapter 5: William explains to Poldy the difference between a ‘good game’ and a ‘bad game’ by how he feels
(he is never afraid during a ‘good game’ and during a ‘bad game’) which has no rules, he feels afraid. Williamwonders if Poldy wants to punish him, and who Poldy is. Is he Julie? No, William decides. William says he can’t get away from Poldy by selling his house and moving. He loves his house and the many memories there. Poldy touches William for the first time by running his fingers through his hair. Then he hits William in the face, pushing him and even biting him. Now William feels his bedroom is an...