The Winner Loses

NOTE: This is my first attempt ever at writing. Any helpful advice, comments, criticisms are greatly appreciated



1


The sound of metal hitting flesh, breaking cartilage, was muffled by the glass partition. This was nothing like they show in the movies, blood flying in slow motion as it spouts from the victims nose. In reality it just runs out a second after the initial thump, then just a steady discharge as the crack of the pipe beats against it. I've never been a fan of fighting. Watching 2 people hit each other for sport was never a sight I enjoyed watching. However, watching Mike beat on this man gave me a strange sense of accomplishment. It had taken us nearly 3 years to get to him and now we had him. Here he was tied to a solitary chair in a room in a dilapidated warehouse. If it wasn't really happening I'd think we were on the set of some bad cop show. I whispered to Marla "Do you think he'll talk?" Marla replied, "I don't know. He has a lot to lose and the people he's protecting won't like it if he does." I could see a strange look on her face as she watched Mike work. Three years ago she would have stormed into the room, throwing herself in between the two men and demanding Mike to stop. Now, after all this time she was able to watch the same way that I am able to watch. These men in the chair, and there have been quite a few, were not looked upon as human anymore, just animals. For that is what they were, are, and going to be if left unchecked. Man, has it been three years already.

Mike was coming to the window; a smile of satisfaction was on his face. As I acknowledged his presence, he gave a thumbs up and proceeded to clean the blood off of his hands. The man in the chair had slumped over and, were it not for all the blood on his face, looked like he had fallen asleep. I tapped the glass and when Mike looked up I pointed to the slumped figure in the chair. Mike made a gesture of sleep and I put my hand up in reply. Marla was puffing away on her cigarette. "You know," I said "if you keep smoking like that I'm gonna make you buy your own." Bad joke. Marla just gave me a look of disinterest and walked to the other room.



As we stood in what was the main entrance to the warehouse I asked Mike if our "guest" would make it to trial. Mike answered in his thick throaty voice "Our guest has a very strong constitution, he's young, he has a will to survive, so, yes, I'd say he'll make it." "I have to tell you Mike," I said "I was never really sure if this whole thing would even get off the ground, let alone come this far. Do you remember when this thing first started?" Marla guffawed and choked on the smoke she was trying to exhale. "The first time we met I thought I had stumbled across some story I should have never come across. Man, you two were sitting at that table looking at me with the most serious of expressions. I thought to myself 'Well this is what happens when you report on the mob.' I was just hoping it would be quick and painless"

As we chuckled lightly amongst ourselves Marcus pulled up in the van. "Is he ready?" Marcus asked. "Not just yet." Marla replied. "It's going to be a bit longer than we anticipated. He'll need at least another day to clean up." A grin appeared on Marcus' face as he thought of what the man inside must have gone through. "Good, I could use some time to myself. Can I see him?" Marcus' inquired. "Sure, he's in the room downstairs." Mike said. Marcus' enthrallment with what went on in the room always made me a little ill at ease, but he was needed and, I guess you could say his kind, liking the brutality, was indispensable.

"Well, Alan, now that we've come to the end you still gonna buy that cabin in the woods?" Marla asked. I hesitated in my response. Giving out too much information, even to close friends can be costly. "I doubt it. After all this I don't know where I'll go. Wherever it is I know eventually they'll find me. I guess I'll just stay on the move." She shook her head in agreement. She knew the price of giving out to much info. "You thinking about Barry?" I asked. "Yeh." She replied, her answer trailing off into a soft sigh. "Barry knew what he was…" I stopped before going any further. Just thinking about what happened to him made all this worthwhile. Barry……





2



Barry hit me with such force it threw me and him down to the ground, "I don't freakin' believe it! Oh man, You ARE the luckiest dude I know! Oh man oh man oh man!" Barry could hardly contain himself. I couldn't wipe the smile from my face if I tried. "Get off of me you friggin' homo!" I cried out. As he was pulling himself off of me I couldn't stop the laughter that was bubbling up inside of me. It was as though he had won the lottery instead of me. "Oh jeez, I'm sorry." He said as he jumped to his feet. I stared at the ticket in my hand. "You know, we won't really be sure till tomorrow when they declare it official." I said. "Yeh yeh yeh, like you're not pissing your pants right now thinking of all that freakin' cash." Barry said. I had to admit that I was thinking of all that cash. "How much do you think you'll get?" he asked. "I'm not sure," I said as I got to my feet " but I know this much…" Barry was chomping at the bit waiting for me to continue. "Well what! Don't leave me hanging you dork." I gave him a sly look and said "It's gonna be a whole bunch." Barry could hardly stand it "A whole bunch! Is that all you can say? Man, I knew you were lame but I didn't think you were this lame." I burst out laughing, grabbed him by his shirt and screamed right into his face "It's a freakin' shitload of money that's what it is!" Together we started jumping around the room of our small three-room apartment.

After a few beers we finally started to calm down. By calm I mean we stopped jumping on the furniture and were content to just do the occasional obligatory 'stand and scream' routine. As Barry settled himself on the couch a look of disappointment came over him. "I'm gonna miss you man." He said as he slumped further into the couch. "What are you talking about?" I asked. "I'm not going anywhere." "Yes you are!" said Barry. "You have to leave. If you stay around here every single parasite in this town is going to suddenly be your best friend." Remember when Malcom won that five hundred bucks at the fair two years ago?" "Yeh, I do" I said. How many people were hanging all over him that night at the pool tournament I couldn't say but it was a lot and not one of them were his friends. "Yeh, I remember." I replied. I could see the wisdom in his logic. "Well where do you suggest I go? Barry paused, staring at what passed for a coffee table "How about…Florida? Yeh, you could go to Disney World." I thought about it for a bit. "Isn't that mainly for kids? I asked. "Not really, " he said " there are a lot of things that are setup for adults. I'm pretty sure there are anyway. Besides, it's huge and you could get lost in the crowd and how many people in this town could afford to be there."

I thought about what Barry had said and after awhile I decided he was right. It would be good to get out of this town for a while and go someplace that actually catered to a person's fun side. Also, I couldn't stand the thought of all those sycophants hanging around me. Barry turned to me and asked
" So how much do you think you actually won, really?" "I don't know. Anyway, I couldn't be the sole winner here. Jackpots this big always have multiple winners. Jeez, 527 million dollars! If I were the sole winner I guess it could be around 300 million after taxes."