Action Reaction

The Action
The sweat on his head seemed to develop faster and faster with each case that he took on. This was a big case but not as nearly as big as one of his last cases.
Gerald Lokai was a lawyer. His specialty was suing people for accident cases. If someone was driving and got into an accident because of a crosswalk guard, Mr. Lokai was there to give out his business card.
Recently, a very popular medicinal drug called Vioxx was removed from the market and was made unavailable. It was a very successful drug for arthritis, but had one side effect. The side effect was that it increased the risk of heart failure and stroke. (www.google.com) Just after it was removed from the market Mr. Lokai researched the newspapers for any trace of anyone having a stroke or heart attack relating to Vioxx. He found one person, in the obituaries, who had suffered a stroke. Mr. Lokai then contacted the family of the lost Marvin Walins, went to court on their behalf, and won the case with a huge settlement fee. Lokai attacked the doctor who prescribed the medication to Marvin and got a good chunk of money from the creators of Vioxx.
Now he sat in court, listening to the defense attorney’s lecture.
“My client is not responsible for the unfortunate event that happened to the plaintiff. Your honor, and members of the jury, John Stillwell was rushed on his job. He did not want to send out the vehicle but the owner. Mr. Lombardo felt otherwise. Mr. Lombardo kept telling my client to hurry up and finish the job. Mr. Stillwell informed Mr. Lombardo that the car wasn’t safe to drive, because there was a very serious malfunction with the braking system. Mr. Lombardo said, and I quote, ‘I just paid you four hundred and fifty dollars and my car isn’t ready. I want my car now; even if I have to drive it out myself.’ My client was rushed. It is not fair that he be held accountable for Lombardo’s actions. Thank you.”
After hearing the final argument from the other lawyer, Lokai smiled and knew he had this in the bag. Is that the best you got, bud? Lokai thought.
“Mr. Lokai. It’s your closing argument.”
Lokai stood up and took a deep breathe. Unknown to himself, there was a very young man and a woman keeping a careful and watchful eye on Mr. Lokai. They listened to every word that he said and sized him up.
“Thank-you, your honor.” Mr. Lokai started, “Ladies and gentleman of the court my client is not only innocent, but he has lost his left leg. He has lost his left leg. He won’t be able to run, won’t be able to play with his kids, and won’t be able to drive a car anymore. I can ask, but imagination won’t help express the permanent grief my client has. Mr. Lombardo got into a very bad car accident and lost his leg. The sole reason that this man has no leg is because of him.” Lokai stretched his long arm and pointed his index finger at Stillwell.
Lokai walked from around his table and slowly took steps toward the jury bench, “Mr. Stillwell was the one who okayed the breaks on his car. He is the reason that my client will experience grief for a long time. For my client, this is not about the money that we are trying to acquire. It’s about how he can’t run anymore. It’s about Mr. Lombardo being unable to ride a bike or dance with his wife or kids. It’s about the fact that this man will never be able to swim in an ocean or a pool. It’s the fact that Mr. Stillwell has taken time away from Mr. Lombardo. It is the fact that Mr. Lombardo will never ever be the same again. How would anyone in this court feel if their leg was cut off? Cut off! How would you feel, if you had your leg cut off and you were up late every night and you thought you could still feel it? How would you deal with the phantom pains? How would you feel, if you had phantom pains and you thought that you could do everything again, just to realize that you can’t? You can’t. You just can’t. Thank-you, I am finished.”
The man in the crowd, who was watching Mr. Lokai, turned to the woman he was with and spoke to her. Of course, no one bothered to listen; Portuguese wasn’t often spoken in a court house.
“He is very witty.” The woman spoke to her husband. She stared at Mr. Lokai as he slowly stepped back to his chair. “The snake slithered into the garden and persuaded Adam and Eve to eat the apple.”
“And now a snake has just persuaded half a million dollars from some poor fool.” The man responded. He looked at his wife and tipped his glasses as the jury filed out to uncover a verdict, “Its men like this who are the natural downfall of all humanity.”

The jury had their long and suspenseful recess to conclude a verdict as to whether John Stillwell was innocent or guilty. Hours later, they slowly filed into their assigned seats in the court room. The anticipation was out of this world. Everyone was waiting to hear the verdict.
The judge received a piece of paper indicating the verdict, “Will the defendant and the plaintiff please rise with their representatives.” The four did as they were told, “The jury of this court find the defendant guilty as charged.”
Stillwell’s eyes widened along with his lawyer’s eyes. They couldn’t believe that they lost the case. Stillwell was now broke, had to close up his shop and would loose of his close possessions. At the table next to his, Mr. Lokai stood with his client smiling. He knew had it won from the start. “I can win any case” He whispered to himself.
The man and the woman stood up and left the court room in disgust. They left the court house, adjacently walked across the street, and got into their car. Their car was a fully restored nineteen eighty-four Cadillac Eldurado.
They started the car and the radio was playing the song “Go Ask Alice” by Jefferson Airplane very loudly. They looked at each other and the man spoke to her, this time in English, “Don’t worry, darling, we’ll get our revenge if it is the last thing we do.” He said this as he rubbed her stomach. A tear rolled down her cheek.

It was later that day when Mr. Lokai was driving home from his office. He glanced at his reflection in the mirror. His pale white hair was combed back. He often gazed into his own eyes, because they had a shade of blue that just seemed to hypnotize him. Mr. Lokai had few wrinkles and was very handsome for someone his age, fifty-two.
He was excited that he had won the case with such ease. He didn’t think that he would have won that easily! It seemed that Mr. Stillwell’s lawyer was no where near the caliber that Mr. Lokai was. Of course, that’s how Gerald felt about every lawyer. He was doing his job for one thing: money. That was what he had a lot of and that was what he was about to make more of. He had earned most of his money from a case a few years ago.
He had taken a case on a whim and it got him three quarters of a million dollars. A man was scheduled to receive open heart surgery and the surgeon that had operated on the man was drunk. The patient died, but his family wanted immense retribution. They got in contact with Mr. Lokai, he took on the case and, and of course won. It was Lokai’s greatest victory, yet. Mr. Lokai attacked the hospital and the doctor that tried to perform the operation. The hospital had no case and Mr. Lokai won the case in a heart beat. He somehow convinced the jury that the hospital should be held accountable for a surgeon’s alcohol abuse problem.
He was thinking about the case and when he was in the court firing off all the ingenious statements that came out rapid fire. His mouth was running like an automatic rifle. All the faces of the crowd in the court room were focused solely on him, but suddenly he stopped thinking about it. His attention was diverted.
Half way up the block, Mr. Lokai saw an ambulance with its sirens flashing. Then he saw that there were two cars smashed up in what looked like a head on collision. Another break Lokai thought to himself. He pulled his Lexus to the side of the road, and grabbed one of his business cards and jumped out of his car.
It was a little bit cold that February evening, and the sky was beautiful. It was free and clear. It also had the stars burning bright. Mr. Lokai walked over to the area of the crash. There was no tape or anything, so he just walked right through. Immediately, Lokai saw a man strapped to a stretcher wailing with pain. He couldn’t see the man’s face, but he decided this was the man to target. Lokai approached the man on the stretcher.
“Excuse me, sir,” Mr. Lokai started, “Are you involved in this-” He stopped talking because he saw the man’s face. “Jesus” He whispered out of shock.
The man on the stretcher had a deep laceration across his already large forehead. His eyes had blood in them. There was so much blood, that it ran down his face creating what looked like tears of blood. His jaw was broken and swollen and his nose was completely out of place. His right cheek had a deep purple bruise forming on it. This guy was a total mess. It was perfect for Mr. Lokai.
“Sir, can you tell me what happened?” Mr. Lokai asked the man.
“You bet your fuckin’ ass I can!” He managed to say through the momentary useless and placid mandible, “That fucking guy was tripping on some drug. The EMT said it was LSD and the son of a bitch ran a stop and hit me. He said he thought he saw pink elephants. Who the fuck sees pink fucking elephants!”
“Well sir, I can you tell this much. You’re lucky I was driving down here because I am a lawyer, a fabulous lawyer who has the passion and dedication to win a case, a case that could be for you, my friend.” Lokai advertised and pulled out the card and stuck it in the man’s hand that was strapped to the stretcher, “You and I could really make money off of this tragedy. I mean, you would want money to cover all of this medical aid and to cover the loss of time, and I think I am the man to help you.”
The man’s left eyes looked up at Lokai, “What’s your name?”
“Gerald Lokai”
“You’re the guy who won the hospital case for like three quarters of a million dollars!” He spoke through his teeth.
“I am that man.”
“You are hired.”
“Excellent” Lokai smiled. To everyone else he was a sick and greedy individual, but to himself he was a business success, and there was no reason to stop.
It was late that night when Mr. Lokai actually got home and was on his own time. He could do whatever he pleased. Mr. Lokai didn’t usually have the time to do the things for himself, like cook his own food, or clean. So he hired a woman to cook, clean, and do the usual house chores.
Mr. Lokai got a large plate of seafood and was ready to watch a movie. Since he was a lawyer, he frequently watched movies that had to do with court such as A Time to Kill, The Client, and The Firm. Tonight, he was going to watch A Few Good Men. He sat down and grabbed the remote off the cushion of the black Italian leather sofa.
His whole mood was ruined at eleven o’clock, because a jet black Eldurado pulled up his driveway and stopped in front of his house. Mr. Lokai looked through the front window, saw the car parked at the top of his drive way and he eyed it anxiously. Suddenly, the radio inside the car started to play “Go Ask Alice” by Jefferson Airplane at the maximum level of volume. Mr. Lokai was not happy about this. It was too loud for him to do anything in comfort because all he could hear was the music.
As Lokai walked out to the car, he began to get the chills. There was something that Mr. Lokai didn’t like about the situation. It just wasn’t right. He approached the car and knocked on the window. No one answered to the knocking, but the music continued. He knocked on the window again, and got the same response.
After the last knock, Mr. Lokai finally lost patience, “Alright, you listen you fucking shit head! You better shut that fucking music off, before I do something that we will both regret. And anoth-”
Suddenly, the dark ebony tinted window slowly rolled down and a man with black hair and green eyes was looking back at him. The man looking at him was very young, you could tell by his face. It wasn’t the man’s face that Mr. Lokai was focusing on but the shiny silver revolver pointed right at him. “Good evening, Mr. Lokai. I was in the neighborhood and I was thinking. I was thinking that you would invite me into your house. You will invite me inside, won’t you Mr. Lokai?” He slowly taunted Mr. Lokai with the gun in his face.
All the anger and frustration about someone parking their car in his drive way and blaring the music disappeared. It was now replaced with the fear and the anticipated pain that someone with a gun was most likely going to kill him for an unknown reason. “Of course I will. Please come inside uh...”
“My name is Caffee, and I would be pleased to go inside.” Caffee replied. He got out of the Eldurado and escorted Mr. Lokai into his house. They then proceeded to his bedroom.
“What do you want with me exactly?” Mr. Lokai asked looking around nervously.
“Well, you see I was hoping that you would pack some bags and gather a good amount of your money; in fact three quarters would be good.” Caffee replied walking around the room observing the expensive and useless possessions that Mr. Lokai collected.
“Why the hell would I do that?”
“Because if you don’t,” Caffee started. He leaned in close and whispered in Mr. Lokai’s ear, “I will fucking kill you!”
Mr. Lokai had all the reason that he needed. He quickly gathered many of his clothes and other belongings and stuffed them into a suit case. Then with a duffle bag provided by Caffee, he went to his safe in the wall, behind the picture of his ex-wife and took out all the money he had in the safe. It came out to seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. It was a lot of money to just have lying around the house.
“Now what are we doing?” Mr. Lokai asked.
“Now we take a trip that will be more pleasant for me, but kind of painful for you.” Caffee replied. Mr. Lokai’s eyes narrowed into slants. Caffee cracked a smile and looked at him, “Mr. Lokai, do you see this?” Then he raised his left hand in the air and slowly waived his fingers slightly.
“Yeah.”
Suddenly Caffee came around and hit Mr. Lokai across the face with his gun in his right hand, and Mr. Lokai fell to the ground unconscious. “Did you see that?”

The Reaction

Mr. Lokai was a greedy man with needful intentions. He was a man who looked out for himself and his money. He was divorced once and engaged twice only to have them end in vain. His two former fiancées departed, because they could not stand two things that Gerald constantly offered: loneliness and the intense feeling of dislike for everything. The loneliness was an effect of Mr. Lokai dedicating a lot of time to his cases and spending a lot of late nights at his office. He tried to make up for it with baubles and gifts, but after a few times it just didn’t work anymore. The intense feeling of dislike was when the women discovered how greedy he was and how he cared about finances versus happiness. This feeling was expressed when the women looked around the house at the items and possessions that he only wanted so he could establish a good economic status.
Mr. Lokai didn’t care that they left after a while. He cared that he was alive and they got nothing out of him. He only cared for himself and his money. This was screamed out to his ex-wife when she was listening to a potential client who called him once. A distraught woman called Lokai asking him to take her case. Her son was murdered by a crazed woman. A crazy woman killed a teenager and ran around town wearing his face. There was no lawsuit for money so it didn’t interest Mr. Lokai. It only involved one thing: justice. The justice that she would be sentenced to prison for a long time or that she would be executed. This didn’t interest Mr. Lokai because there wasn’t a big dollar value attached to the case. When he turned the case down, his ex-wife wanted to violently wretch.
Mr. Lokai had no family, very little morals, and practically no values. He had his money, his law status, and was content with that, for now.

Mr. Lokai slowly opened his eyes. His entire face hurt and was swollen. He had no clue where he was or how he managed to get to a place. He was in a room with no windows, one door, and a desk that he was shackled to. He was scared and alone. Mr. Lokai did not like that he wasn’t in control of what was happening, but he quickly realized had no choice.
He sat in the chair and thought of the endless scenarios that could happen to him. He could be hung, or someone could rip the door right off the hinges and beat him to death with it, or he could die of hunger or-
Suddenly the door to his room opened and Caffee stepped inside with a woman beside him. She was beautiful with long, flowing, dark brown hair. Her brown eyes conveyed that she had intelligence behind her beauty. How does someone like her end up with someone like him? Lokai thought to himself.
She stepped forward and looked at him for a moment. She calmly walked over to Mr. Lokai’s side. “Vai te foder!” She yelled and slapped him. “Ode lo-te” Mr. Lokai’s head jerked to the right and his neck cracked along with his jaw. (How to speak Portuguese Cd-rom)
Caffee jumped at her and wrapped his arms around her waist, “Stop it!” He commanded as he pulled her away from Lokai. “Stop it! That is not going to help anything.” She looked deeply angry and full of long placid rage.
Why is this happening to me? Lokai thought. What is going on here? His mind screamed in his head. “I want to know what the fuck is going on right now!” Lokai yelled at Caffee.
The woman calmed down immediately. Caffee looked over at him. “You’re being tried.”
Lokai couldn’t believe his ears. This was improbability at the most extreme level, and yet he was being held hostage, handcuffed to a chair. “For what?”
“You are going to be tried for your crimes of inhumanity.”
“That’s bullshit!” Lokai responded.
Caffee stood up from the other side of the table and punched Lokai in his chest. “Bulliach” Caffee replied to Mr. Lokai’s accusation.
“What?” Mr. Lokai responded.
“It means bullshit. You know what you’ve done and it doesn’t bother you in the least bit. I mean, as a human being, we all have regrets and guilt.” Caffee took his wife’s hand and walked to the only door in the room. “See ya in a few.”
Caffee opened the door and stepped into the long and dark hallway. The woman looked back at Mr. Lokai and said, “Xau.”

Mr. Lokai was left in the room alone once again. He wondered how long it had been since he woke up. What day? What time? Then he tried to piece together any evidence that may have been revealed to him. He was going to be put on trial for ‘crimes against humanity?’ He wanted to know what kind of court holds their defendant hostage and lets a crazy woman and a psychopath beat him before his trial is held.
Suddenly the door flew open. Mr. Lokai couldn’t determine how long he was in the room for, after Caffee and the woman left him. Caffee came in alone and unlocked the chains around his legs. There was only two left, the one around his waist and his handcuffs. Caffee undid the chain around his waist. The barrel of the gun that Caffee held was being pressed against Mr. Lokai’s spine.
“You walk or I shoot. You do this nice and easy. If not, I might get a little bullet happy. Now march!”
Mr. Lokai stood up and closed his eyes. He wasn’t about to put up a fight against a sociopath that had a gun pressed against his back. Mr. Lokai could just picture the slug ripping through his skin, like a cat getting a hold of a blanket with its claws. The bullet would sever his spine and exit out of his chest, leaving a huge crimson pool of blood. If Lokai put up a fight, there would be a new color of red on the walls.
They walked down the pitch black hallway. Mr. Lokai had his guard up just in case Caffee began losing what was left of his mental stability and just started pummeling him to death. That thought passed when they reached the door at the end of the hall. They passed through it and the site that Mr. Lokai faced brought a whole new meaning of fear to him.
He was led into an overly large room with all cement walls. Straight ahead, about ten feet, there was what looked to be a witness stand with a judge’s elevated seat next to it. The judge’s seat was in the middle of two large exhaust fans built into the walls. The fans were slowly spinning, making shadow patterns on the floor and wall. Mr. Lokai thought perhaps he was brought to an abandoned or closed down factory of some sort. In front of the seats were two large tables for the plaintiff, the defendant, and their lawyers. Off to the very left of the tables were twelve chairs, perfect for a jury. It was a sick and twisted version of a court room; it even had the dozens of chairs for people to observe the trial.
There were only three chairs occupied while the other chairs remained empty. As Mr. Lokai was led to his table a dark skinned man walked to the judge’s chair. He was build with an intense scar covering his entire right cheek. The skin around the scar was ragged and dark. The scar looked like it was from fire or something very hot was pressed against his face. At the plaintiff table the woman sat down, and she was docile for the moment.
“All rise for the arrival of the honorable judge.” The woman said as the judge took his seat. Mr. Lokai was led to the table next to the one where the woman sat at.
“Thank-you, Ana. The trial will now commence.” The judge said.
This was all ludicrous to Mr. Lokai. He stood up immediately, “Excuse me, I want to know what the fuck is going on right now!”
The judge looked over at him. His right eye was almost completely submerged in the grotesque scar, “There will be no nonsense in my court, Mr. Lokai. This will be explained one more time to you, sir, you are be tried on account of your lack of moral decision and your ambulance chasing ways. You are being tried because you don’t take into consideration that going around suing people will have an effect. You hurt people with your ways of life and by your eternal need for abundant currency. In short, your inhumanity has reached such a level, that it is hurting people in ways you cannot sense. But today we are focusing on your biggest break yet, the case against Coby Hospital.”
Lokai stood up from his seat, “This is all incomprehensible-” Lokai started
Instead of a gavel, the judge had a pistol. He fired a shot at the table where Lokai sat. If he had been sitting, he would have received a bullet in his leg. Lokai sat back down.
“Anymore complaints?” the judge asked. Mr. Lokai shook his head. “Well then, Mr. Lokai, I am the judge, Mr. Scar. The prosecution will be led by Caffee and his wife Ana. Our stenographer will be Mr. Sanders. The jury will be made of Wes, Mr. Arnold, and Renard. We found no reason to find a lawyer or public defender; you’re an attorney, Mr. Lokai, defend yourself in this trial. This court now calls the court to order. Ana, you may begin.”
It was obvious that they were all using fake names. They gave each other aliases so they either wouldn’t be known by Mr. Lokai and maybe because they didn’t want each other to know their names. No matter how you looked at it, it wasn’t good for Mr. Lokai. A bunch of individuals with fake names kidnap him and put on a fake trial.
“Thank you, your honor; Mr. Lokai has been taking court cases only for the sake of money. He also never analyzes of what can happen from his greediness. A prime example is Coby Hospital. The surgeon was the only, solely responsible individual for the incident, but Mr. Lokai felt it was necessary to get more money,” Ana said. This was the first time that Mr. Lokai heard the woman speak in English.
Mr. Lokai stood up, “There is no evidence leading to this accusation your honor.”
“Oh, yes there is! Here is the file on the economic resources after the Coby trial. The hospital lost a great deal of their money and it directly affected everyone.” Caffee walked up to Mr. Scar, handed him some paperwork that was displayed in a manila folder, walked back, and took his seat. “At this time I would like to call a witness to the stand.”
“Permission granted.” Scar replied.
“Good, at this time the prosecution would like to call Mr. Lokai to the stand” Ana called.
This took Mr. Lokai by complete surprise. How could she call the defense lawyer to the witness stand? This was total madness and anarchy and it was in a court room; Lokai’s greatest nightmare. “Defense objects to the call, your honor.”
“Overruled”
Mr. Lokai stood up, walked to the witness stand, and looked strait head at Ana. She was wearing a one piece, black dress that was low cut at the top. She also wore black tights on her legs, and, to top it off, she wore heavy black heels. Ana was extremely attractive, but at this moment in time, she had a fire in her eyes. Mr. Lokai could not figure out why these individuals were so mad at him. “Mr. Lokai did you know that someone lost there very close sister at the hospital after you won that case.”
“No”
“Well it’s true. A man checked his wife in for having an allergic reaction, but the hospital didn’t have enough staff due to loss of money and they couldn’t get her medical files fast enough. They wanted to give the woman a dose of codeine, but they didn’t know if she was allergic to it. And, after you, they weren’t about to risk another mistake, so all they could do was let her try to fight it. She didn’t, Mr. Lokai. That woman died,” Ana said with a melancholy, but professional tone. Mr. Lokai looked around and noticed that Mr. Arnold was listening more carefully and was leaning forward in his chair.
Why was he doing that? There was something very wrong here and Mr. Lokai couldn’t quite put his finger on it. There were interior motives in this case. Caffee stepped up and gave Scar a death certificate.
“Uh… I-I- am not responsible for anyone else’s actions. Why am I supposed to be held accountable because a doctor or a nurse who is afraid of court rooms and-and-and doesn’t give someone a pill or a fucking shot? This is not my fault!” Lokai stood up and yelled.
Scar picked up his gun and shot a bullet into the chair just inches away from Lokai’s groin, “Order,” he said and laid the gun back down. Mr. Lokai’s face turned white, he immediately shut his mouth and held back any objections he had.
Ana slowly walked over to her table and sat down. She said quickly something to Caffee in Portuguese as he stood up. “Mr. Lokai, I know this may be tough, but yet another life was affected by your greed. I have this friend and he worked at an office for a living and he made a good living. He also liked to ride motorcycles and he was a bit of a risk taker. Key word in that last statement is ‘was.’ Well, he was riding his motorcycle and he got into an accident. He sped off the road and flipped his bike into a barbed wire fence. Now, my friend had cut his wrist very badly and was bleeding badly. When someone came along, they drove him to the closest hospital.”
Lokai jumped in for a quick second already knowing which hospital he was speaking of, “Coby?”
“You got it! Once again, with no real staff and no real supplies, they had no choice because there was a severe infection. If they had the medical supplies, then they wouldn’t have to cut off his arm, his wrist and his hand! He was fired form his job, because one word of what happened and his employers thought he was useless with one metal wrist and hand. Now, he gets a job wherever he can; washing dishes, cleaning toilets and waiting on people at restaurants. He didn’t need to end up like that, Mr. Lokai, but since your pay off in the case needed to be so big he had to end up like that. He can still type pretty damn fast but there is a big difference between flesh and metal. How does it feel to know you are responsible?” Caffee informed the court.
Once again Mr. Lokai was looking around at the sick twisted psychos and Sanders was starring dead at him. His deep blue eyes starred at him. Sander ran a hand through his puffy brown hair that was combed back. His face expressed his exhaustion. Sanders just sat there, typing whatever was said, but in the meantime he starred a hole through Mr. Lokai.
The more Lokai noticed that Sanders was giving him the evil eye, the more that the madness inside Mr. Lokai began to build up. He put his arms on the frame of the witness stand and his head plopped down on his arms.
“Mr. Lokai, wake the fuck up!” Scar yelled. Caffee edged closer to the witness stand. “Mr. Lokai, be a man and take this!” Scar said. Mr. Lokai didn’t move. “Mr. Lokai, wake up!” Scar repeated. No response once again.
Caffee walked over to the stand, “Listen you piece of shit.” He started, then reached out and grabbed Lokai’s hair. Mr. Lokai jumped up and punched Caffee in the center of his face. Caffee fell back on the ground. Ana yelled something, as Lokai jumped on his seat and grabbed the gun from Scar. Scar was going to punch Lokai in the face, but Lokai pulled the trigger. The bullet shot from the barrel and into Scar’s left eye. Scar flew back off the stand in a bloody mess. Lokai looked up and saw the jury starting to reach into their pockets. He fired more shots. The first one hit Arnold in the shoulder and then in the sternum. Then he shot at Renard. The first shot ripped across the very top of his scalp, blood flowed into the beautiful, golden, blond locks. His pale blue eyes widened as he caught a bullet in the jaw. Lokai couldn’t keep track of who was moving. His breathing was rapid. Ana screamed again, as Caffee stood up, got shot in the chest, and flew back across the table onto Ana. She screamed horribly. Suddenly, Lokai shot Wes in his forehead. The walls were painted with his blood.
Lokai got off the stand, as Ana was holding her lover with a crimson pool around them. He kicked her in the face and she fell to the ground. He ran for the two doors to escape, opened them in mid-breath with sweat coating his body. When the doors fully opened, Mr. Lokai saw his worst nightmare. They were all standing there looking right at him. They were dead and bloody. He couldn’t believe his eyes.
“You’re all dead. I killed you all!” He took a step back. They all reached their arms out to try and grasp him. “YOU’RE NOT REAL!” He yelled. He stepped back again. Suddenly, Ana stood up with the pistol grasped firmly in her hands. She put the gun right against the back of his head, and said one thing into his ear before she pulled the trigger, “Vai te foder!” Mr. Lokai yelled, as the bullet shot through Mr. Lokai’s head and his brains were spread all over the floor.

Suddenly Mr. Lokai’s head jerked up and he was yelling. He looked around for a moment. “Mr. Lokai, if you cannot control yourself, then I will call this trial to a premature end and you will have to face the sentence without a trial.” They were all dead. Then he realized it was all just a dream, but it certainly did feel real.
“What Sentence?” Mr. Lokai thought. He didn’t think he had a sentence. “Umm…sentence? What is the sentence I must face, if I am found guilty?” Lokai asked.
“Death,” Scar replied, “Execution by gunfire.”
Lokai heard those words alone and he saw his entire life flash before him, when he was a child playing with his sister, when he graduated law school and had looked at the crowd, see his family cheering him on, when he first opened his office, and finally his marriage. These were all good memories to him and usually got him out of his depressed, angry, or frustrated moods, but it didn’t cut it this time. He was forty-five and he was about to die from a bunch of grief stricken sociopaths. In his eyes, this was no way to die, not for anyone.
Mr. Lokai looked to the back of the twisted courtroom and saw a vision. It was a vision of a cross. It was big, with a deep shade of purple that appealed to the normal eye. Just below the large cross, there stood the mythical figure of Death. His dark cloak shielded his face from Lokai. With his methodical pace, Death raised his hand and pointed to Mr. Lokai. At this point, Mr. Lokai knew he was going to die. “Can we continue, please?” Lokai asked Scar who was functioning perfectly except for his physical handicap.
“Alright. Next, Mr. Lokai, two brothers, who shall remain nameless, had a very sick mother. She was always so sweet to her sons, and they loved her dearly, so you better believe when she went into cardiac arrest, they rushed to the nearest hospital. I think you already know which one I am talking about,” Caffee started. Mr. Lokai just starred at the floor, because he knew which one he was speaking of. “Well, anyway, they brought her there, because they were on a vacation. They were celebrating the sixty years that the family had held together through all sorts of problems, and drama that was unnecessary. As they rushed to the hospital, they didn’t know that the hospital had such poor service and just about no staff whatsoever. Hospital officials rushed her into the emergency room and got all the supplies ready, but with literally just enough hands to get by, they had no one to get the tools or any of the amnesties that they needed. So while the doctors and nurses ran around with like a headless chicken, she died. May the jury hear that again? She fucking died, because of this piece of shit. Not only does this man affect careers, but he fucking ruins families! He is the fucking downfall of humanity. He is fucking shit that people scrape off of their shoes!” He lectured and sat down.
Mr. Lokai was in total disbelief of the current chain of events. He couldn’t be as good as he usually was in court. He had no time to work a plan and he had no idea why these people had come to him. These things happened at the hospital. Did they work there? Mr. Lokai was still in the dark about the interior motives.
Ana stood up with more paperwork and handed it to Mr. Scar to look over as she spoke, “Mr. Lokai, sometime recently there was a man who was driving across country because he had a family member that was very sick and he needed to see them. Well a drunk driver in a mach truck ended up rear ending the gentleman and sent him into a river. He was rescued and brought to Coby Hospital. Well their tools were just so cheap, kind of like you, that they had a substance on them that did more damage than good. His face was horribly scarred, and thanks to your actions against the hospital, they fucked up his face and he didn’t get to see his ill relative before they died.”
Then it clicked. It finally clicked. Mr. Lokai understood why these people did this. They were all victims of poor circumstances and as they searched for a reason they all to blame him. It was all coincidence, but the evidence pointed to Mr. Lokai. Technically, he was to blame, but he was just doing his job. Why should he be shot for doing his job?
“I am not fuckin’ responsible for this shit,” Lokai said from the stand, “You cannot blame me because a doctor who fucked up someone’s face! You-you-you can’t possibly try to put the guilt on me, because some shitty guy can’t find a fucking scalpel! I will not be filled with lead, just because you people had a bad day!”
Ana sat down. Caffee got up and slowly walked around to the front of the court room, “Well we will get to that in a minute,” Caffee started. Mr. Lokai noticed he stopped for a moment. It was silent in the court room. It was different for Caffee to stop and stay silent. He sighed and continued, “Lastly, Mr. Lokai, a little while ago there was a newly married couple who received the greatest news. They struck gold. The wife discovered she was pregnant just seconds after her husband scratched a lottery ticket that won them a little over three quarters of a million dollars. They are happy right? I mean who can ask for more. A man is with the woman he loves the most and they get the chance to raise their own child and have a lot of money. Well eight months, later she went to the hospital to give birth to their healthy baby girl; on the way to the emergency room they have an accident. The hospital couldn’t afford all the maintenance for everything and the stretcher they had her on tumbled over because the supports were weak and a few screws had fallen out unnoticed. She fell and….the baby…,” He got silent “They lost the child...”
Mr. Lokai looked over and saw tears on Ana’s cheeks. With Caffee silent and awkward and Ana crying it wasn’t hard to figure out that they were the married couple that lost their pride and joy in a freak accident.
“Was the child...yours..?” Mr. Lokai asked.
Caffee’s head jerked up, “Fuck you! Fuck you! My fucking kid died there! My fucking kid died there!” Caffee lost his cool and took out his gun, “I outta fucking shoot you here and now you fucking monster!”
“Caffee, stop,” Mr. Scar yelled, “He will get his punishment if he is guilty. From the evidence that you and Ana have provided it proves your statement that these events took place after he sued the Coby institute. It is just up to the jury now. Wes, Renard, and Mr. Arnold please go determine a verdict for us.”
“No, I get a closing statement, Goddamn it!” Mr. Lokai yelled. He had to do
everything he could to stay alive.
“Sustained.”
“Look, I understand that you all have been plagued with the bad luck, but I cannot be held responsible for everyone else’s doing because I tried to make a living or because I have to pay the bills. Yeah, I did sue for a lot of money and I didn’t have to sue the hospital itself, but hey if any of you people were in my position then you would have done the same exact fucking thing I did. It is a little something called human nature. I helped my client sue the hospital, I did not kill a baby or a mother or someone’s sister and I especially didn’t fuck up someone’s face and I didn’t cut off a wrist on a whim, so you cannot even think to find me guilty!” Mr. Lokai had lost his mind in the courtroom.
“Are you finished, Mr. Lokai?” Mr. Scar asked. Mr. Lokai nodded. “Alright then, prosecution your closing statement?”
Ana and Caffee stood up at their desk. Caffee started first, “Your honor, Mr. Lokai is a man who thrives on money and only money. He doesn’t care about what other people think. In fact, nine times out of ten, he doesn’t even except a case unless it has a fat price tag attached to it.”
Ana took the next shot, “He is a man who is a danger to society and the evidence today more than proves our point. Mr. Lokai needs to learn that every action has a reaction. Prosecution rests.”
The jury filed out and entered another room. They were careful not to look at Mr. Lokai as they left the room.
Mr. Lokai looked at Mr. Scar, then to Caffee and Ana, and then to Mr. Sanders. He sat in silence for a moment on the witness stand, and then finally he came up with a plan. “So what are you going to do when I die?” Mr. Lokai questioned the motley crew.
“We are going to split the money seven ways” Mr. Scar replied with a small smirk on his face. The smirk was eerie because of the nasty flaw on his face. “Hopefully, facial reconstructive surgery won’t be expensive.”
“So you’re all going to kill me and take my money? That’s funny cause what happens when the Police find my body? Are you going to snitch on one another?” Mr. Lokai replied.
He knew by their reactions that he had done it. He wanted to expose the hanging threat of mistrust. In human beings, if there is one ounce of mistrust, it will expand rapidly like yeast left out in the sun. Caffee quickly glanced at Scar and then at Sanders. They did likewise.
“Aw, what’s the matter don’t you guys trust each other?” Mr. Lokai replied. He had to infect this new bug quickly before the jury came back with his death notice.
Ana looked at Mr. Lokai and turned to her husband and spoke a quick statement of Portuguese.
“Hey! What the fuck did you just say?” Sanders yelled.
“Don’t you dare talk to her like that!” Caffee yelled back.
It was all done. Caffee’s anger toward anyone who mistreated his wife would finish the job that Mr. Lokai had started.
“Who the hell do you think you are Caffee?” Sanders asked him.
“Hey! Stop this now. We can’t forget the task on hand.” Scar replied.
“Shove it up your ass!” Caffee said to Scar.
Sanders pulled out his gun and pointed it at Caffee. Then without hesitation Ana pulled out the two guns she kept under her dress, and pointed them at Sanders. Scar pointed his gun at Ana; Caffee pulled out his revolver and pointed it at Scar.
“Quite the predicament.” Ana blurted.
“This is no way to end this.” Scar replied.
“We should all stop pointing the guns at each other and find a way to work this out.” Sanders replied.
Just then, the jury came back into the court room from the back entrance, they saw the confrontation and they whipped out some guns.
“This should be good.” Mr. Lokai mumbled.
“Everyone shut the fuck up! We have to work this out and make sure the sentence is carried out! After we split the money and go our separate ways, end of fucking story!” Ana said with her guns pointed outward. “We came here today to make sure Mr. Lokai learned his lesson. He needs to learn that every action has a reaction”
No one put down their guns. Instead the jury edged closer to the group and got a little more involved with the Mexican standoff. Someone was ready to crack and pull the trigger and Mr. Lokai knew it. It was just the matter of how many seconds.
Caffee was going to bring his gun down when someone fired a shot. Caffee jumped for Ana, Sanders and Scar fired a shot each. Caffee yelled and then Ana screamed, as they fell to the ground. Wes fired at Sanders. Scar shot at Renard. Scar fired his last one, just as Wes shot Scar. They all fell to the ground within seconds of the slugs being fired.
Lokai stood up on the stand. He couldn’t believe his eyes. It was just ludicrous on how many people just got shot in that short amount of time. No one was moving, the silence was chipping away at Mr. Lokai’s sanity.
He had to get out of there. He jumped off the stand and ran up the aisle of empty chairs where a crowd in a real court room would have sat. He opened the back doors to escape and just as he passed through the door frame, a gun was fired.
Mr. Lokai stopped in his tracks. He felt a little odd and out of place. He turned around not even noticing that a bullet had entered through his back and exited out of his heart. He looked, and saw that Caffee was on the ground holding his side with his left hand and a gun smoking in his right. Caffee looked up at Mr. Lokai,
“Guilty as charged”
Mr. Lokai then noticed the hole in his chest. His right hand darted to the hole and covered it, thinking maybe he could fix it. It was just a side effect of the shock that he was actually going to die. Ana sat up and with a bloody lip she shot him in the forehead with one of her guns. Mr. Lokai’s body flew back into the hallway and the doors closed behind him
“Court adjourned.” She murmured.
She uttered some more Portuguese as she gathered the suitcase with all the money, then she helped Caffee stand up and walk to the Eldurado that was parked in the back of the factory.
Ana put the money in the back seat and laid her husband down gently in the passenger seat. She crossed the front of the car and got into the drivers seat, and started the engine and left the factory. The song “Might Know What’s Like” by Whitey Ford came from the radio.
Caffee looked over at Ana, “I love you, Caroline.”
“I love you too, baby. Let’s go find happiness.”
She put the car in gear and drove away. The dust was blowing around under the tires of the Eldurado as it left the grim bloodbath hidden in the factory. This wasn’t the scenario that Caffee and Ana planned on, but it was an ending. It really proved the theory they tried to jam in the head of Mr. Lokai, every action has a reaction.