tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61815601446674643102024-03-26T03:59:03.698-07:00SWW ProductionsWelcome to SWW Productions! In this site you will find poems, odd ramblings, strange stories, videos and updates on any new books I have published. Enjoy your stay!Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.comBlogger447125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-48542309019532282762024-03-05T02:21:00.000-08:002024-03-05T11:34:07.170-08:00Jim's Subway 33: The Price of Money<p> Open the paper...</p><div> Read the words:</div><div> "We have a job for you! Meet us at the Bankers House..."</div><div> It was then moment Jim had been dreading the most!</div><div> It was a nightmare he hoped he would never have, and yet there it was living itself out right in front of him.</div><div><i> My nightmare is alive inside of me. I am living it.</i></div><div><i> I am awake and my nightmare is living with me.</i></div><div><i> O awake! Awake! For my sake awake!</i></div><div><i> But no...</i></div><div><i> There is only sleep. </i></div><div> Jim read the message again, hoping that the words written on it would melt away and that he had only dreamed it and that he was really just going mad and holding a blank sheet of paper...</div><div> But it was not so!</div><div> <i>Meet us at the Bankers House</i>...</div><div> 'I am not going,' said Jim. </div><div> 'You have got no choice on the matter, my son,' said Rod. 'You done the crime and now you must do the time. It's just how it goes!'</div><div> 'That's just it! I didn't commit any crimes!' Jim retorted. </div><div> Jim was really growing to quite hate Rod. Right then he just wanted to punch the little man. </div><div> 'You borrowed money from the Banker. You can carry the mark of the Tailors. It's now on your head to pay them back!'</div><div> 'Now you listen tome,' said Jim angrily. 'This was your mess! You got involved with the people in the castle, you took out loan you couldn't pay back. You lied to me! You told me you were rich, but you are as bankrupt as your brain. Damn you! And now all of a sudden your problems become my problems, and I receive this letter addressed tome personally. Why me? Why not you? It should be you going to meet the Banker. You should be the one being called up for the job! It's not fair! And I don't care if that makes me sound like a whining idiot, because it's true. I was winning until you got us into the war with the Cartel. I have a right to be miserable and angry. And I blame YOU, Rod. You are my downfall. I am not responding to this letter. I am going to stay here and get drunk. YOU, Rod, can go to the Banker. You can do the job. I am not getting involved anymore. I am done. I have had enough. I am tired and I need to rest. The only thing I am fitting for right now is whiskey.'</div><div> Rod heard this and started shaking his head. 'It doesn't work that way,' he said. 'You have been freshly marked, and as a fresher you are obliged to prove yourself by completing a job.'</div><div> 'You make me sound like I am their slave!' said Jim.</div><div> 'Ostensibly you are... At the very least you are in debt to them,' Rod replied. 'Look!' he explained, 'it's like this: We needed the money for the business, and we need the Tailors for their protection. It's a good deal! Just do the job for them and they will leave us alone!'</div><div> Jim heard Rod's words, and drank them in. He finally understood the situation. He still wasn't happy about any of it, but he knew what he had to do.</div><div> 'Very well, I will get my coat,' he said. 'I will meet that scumbag at the Bankers House. I will hear out what they have to say. I will do what they want me to do. And then it will be over. I can't believe I let it get to this, but alright. I get it. There is no other way. It's a setup. Fine. I am off.'</div><div> Halfway out of the door he turned aggressively and pointing a finger at Rod he said, 'This is only happening because to me because I was weak. I will never be weak again! Today the game changes. And once I have taken back control a messy situation like this will never take place again. I am fed up of being used in other peoples games: First it was Ivan, and after him I had to deal with that DC Peddler prat. And now it's this business with the Banker, a man who I hardly know and yet he somehow holds my en tire life in his hands. I promise after this day I will never be taken for a fool again.'</div><div> </div><div>Jim reluctantly approached the Bankers House.</div><div> The door opened before him as he approached.</div><div> Inside the building there were two men waiting to greet him:</div><div> The first man was the Banker himself, of course, because it was his house Jim was expecting to see the man, but the second man sitting in the corner nursing a glass of whiskey was a complete stranger to Jim.</div><div> He had literally never seen the man before. </div><div> The stranger got up and shook Jim by the hand. He was an older gentleman, with white hair sweep over into a parting, and he was dressed from foot to head in a military uniform. He even had medals pinned to his left breast.</div><div> Who was this man?</div><div> Jim soon found it.</div><div> 'I am Major Shirker,' said the stranger. 'I served for twelve years in the British Army, and fifteen in the US Marines.'</div><div> 'Why did you serve in the American army as well?' said Jim. 'Seems a bit odd?'</div><div> 'What can I say? I am eccentric man, not only that but the Americans needed my skills in eradicating their enemies within the Brazilian Cartel. It is my speciality, sniffing out gangsters!' said Major Shirker. 'There is a war going on right now between the Brazilian Underground and the US military. The news agencies are very careful never to cover any of it! It is a Secret War! And a war that I hope to end soon! I know where the Brazilians keep their secret base. Because you see, I served in the Brazilian army as well as the US army. That's how I know what I know.'</div><div> Jim asked the Major if he ever served in another army in his time as a military man.</div><div> The Major appeared to be flattered by the question and responded to it with great happiness and pride, 'I have served in many armies, my good man. The best army I ever served in was the army of the Isle of Man.'</div><div> 'The Isle of Man has its own army? Really? Tell me about it,' said Jim. It was a good question, one that anybody else would have asked. </div><div> 'The Isle if Man defence force was setup ten years ago when the British Secret Forces feared a full scale attack from the Brazilian armed forces. You see at the time the Cartel were trying to enveloped a war between the Brits and the Brazilians. The Brazilians were trying to forge a secret military alliance with the Irish. The Isle of Man was going to serve our fine country as a staging point for an invasion of Ireland, if necessary, incase the Irish agreed to base Brazilian troops on their soil. Thankfully that hasn't happened not yet. But the Irish did invite the Brazilians over for drinks...'</div><div> 'So how long as this war with Brazil been going on for?' said Jim. 'Sorry for my ignorance but it is the first I have ever heard of any of this.'</div><div> 'For thirty years,' Major Shirker replied. 'It is a secret war! There are many secret wars that the government trees to keep quiet, you may not know it but we are also at war with Devon Island. The island is said to be empty, but the British and the Americans think there might be an enemy army there, possibly the Brazilians again. The Cartel are very powerful, and maybe the most dangerous enemy the world has faced since the Second World War.'</div><div> 'Good gosh! Who would have thought?'</div><div> 'Anyway! Less of that kind of talk it time to get to business!' the Major replied. 'We need soldiers like you, Jim, to step up and fight the good fight!'</div><div> Hang on a minute? Did the Major just refer to Jim as a soldier?</div><div> 'Indeed,' the Major pressed on. 'The Brazilians could make an attack on our position at any time, and we must be ready for them! We need brave men like you to fight the good fight! Now roll up your sleeve! I need to find a vein!'</div><div> 'I beg your pardon?'</div><div> Jim had a right to be concerned, and even a little frightened.</div><div> 'You must be injected,' the Major continued. The Major opened a large suitcase and took out of it a very very very very large needle. The tip must have been over a foot in length! 'I will try to stab you in one go,' said the Major. 'Let me warn you! The needle can break so you are going to have to be calm and still! If it breaks you might require surgery, and then we will have to start this business again - which will be unpleasant for all of us! Ah Jim! This is going to hurt me more than it will hurt you...'</div><div> 'Why are you doing this?' said Jim.</div><div> 'This jab contains a very powerful serum,' said the Major. 'A potent formula that stimulates muscle structure, and increases hormone activity. So you are going to be a very angry man for the next few days! The effects of the jab will run out after five weeks, in which case you will be jabbed again, continually, until the war is over.'</div><div> 'So what are you exactly expecting me to do here?' said Jim. 'All this talk of jabs and hormones is scary. I am a drunken and loner: Do you understand what that means for my life? I need my hormones to be dead, not reawakened.'</div><div> 'Well your life is going to change a great deal from today, Jim,' the Major pressed on. 'You are a soldier now. That's right! You have been caught in the draft! It's time for you to man up and be a man! The soldiers of our army are strong lusty men, fierce brutish killers! It's time for you to step up, Jim, and do what a man must do!'</div><div> Jim was aghast to hear this.</div><div> So they were going to put him in the army?</div><div> This was all his nightmares combined into one!</div><div> The Major continued, 'Yes! That's it! You heard me very right! You are going to serve on the front line in the defence against the Brazilians! You are going to forge history, and help your country win the Secret War!' </div><div> O no he was not! </div><div> Jim punched the Major, and kneed the Banker. Then he stamped on the needle and ran away.</div><div> </div><div><div><div>(Remember! All spelling errors and grammatical mistakes are intentional - the author 😆)</div><div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span>Previous part </span><a href="https://swwbooks.blogspot.com/2024/02/jims-subway-32-meet-banker.html">here</a></div></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">===========================================================</span></div><div><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div></div><div><br /></div></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-35729815248742278412024-02-25T12:21:00.000-08:002024-02-25T13:31:38.490-08:00#obunga in Skyrim<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/U1xE1tjCBzM?si=yvkR0u0hVnz6p0Cm" width="480"></iframe><div>Obunga makes his move on Skyrim... The battle lines have been drawn! Let's rid this fair land of this horrendous menace...</div><div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">===========================================================</span></div><div><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-23718036873683900962024-02-11T04:47:00.000-08:002024-02-11T04:50:44.587-08:00Jim's Subway 32: Meet the Banker<div style="text-align: left;">Let me introduce you to the banker...</div><div style="text-align: left;"> He lives in the Gatehouse by the turn in the hill.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> He is the only one who can help us. Now listen! He is a very dangerous man and I am turning to him as our last resort! </div><div style="text-align: left;"> Fenwick stretching out with its empty streets and dully lit lamplights was looking lonely enough for a lonely person to hide in.</div><div><div> 'I am annoyed that we are doing this,' said Jim. 'I don't like the idea of borrowing more money!'</div><div> 'Well it's like I said,' Rod replied, 'I am turning to the banker as our last resort. I am sorry, Jim. But this is just how things are for us right now. Our hands have been forced!'</div><div> There was the old gatehouse standing between the hill and the bridge upon a rocky bluff overlooking the Fenwick River. It was an old and ominous building. To be honest Jim did not want to go near it, let alone inside it. There was a horrible look about the place. </div><div> And it didn't get any better when they entered he doors. They were greeted by a chill breeze - 'It's colder inside this place than outside,' Butch complained. 'I might have to go back out into the streets for a warm up in a minute! How long do think this meeting is going to take Rod?"</div><div> 'As long as it is necessary,' Rod replied.</div><div> 'Who in their right mind would live in such a vile dusty old building?' said Jim, drawing his coat around him to keep out the cold.</div><div> 'Me!' said a voice from the top of the balcony, and then a figure richly dressed made their way down the spiral stairway into the hall in front of them. 'I presume that you k now who I am?' he said.</div><div> 'The Banker I guess?' said Jim.</div><div> 'And you would guess right,' the Banker returned. 'Forgive the webs and the dust. It's just how I like it. It gives the place a historic look,' he explained.</div><div> "Well it makes the building look a mess," Jim thought, but he didn't say anything.</div><div> 'So you are here to talk money?' </div><div> 'We are indeed,' said Jim. 'I am presuming you know something about the topic, what with a name like The Banker.'</div><div> 'I am the man with the money in this town and that is all you need to know,' he replied. 'Before we proceed with this you need to understand that if you want my money you need to abide by my terms. I am going to be upfront with you. I never lie. My terms are harsh! Knowing all this upfront are you ready to listen?' </div><div> Jim really didn't like any of this business with the Banker. It wasn't just that the man appeared to be very dodgy he didn't know him either. He had never even heard of the man until a day ago. Now he was expected to place his whole fate into a strangers hands? </div><div> It made Jim feel cheap, like he was grovelling. Begging. That was what he had been reduced to. </div><div> His recent success had made him proud. He felt strongly that he should be reaping the rewards of his new G-Juice business, not bending to the knee cap in hand to an odd man with a weird name.</div><div> "I don't want any of this," he thought. "Better to jump into the river and try to swim back home... Flee Fenwick and it's madness forever!"</div><div> As if hearing his thoughts Rod stepped in and replied, 'Yes, Mr Banker! We are ready to listen to your terms!'</div><div> 'Now just hang on a minute,' spoke up Jim. 'I am not sure if I am ready to commit to these, harsh terms, as our new acquaintance plainly puts it. There is an old saying my mother used to say about frying pans and fires. How do we know that we are not jumping into a fire here?'</div><div> Rod guided Jim away from the Bankers ears, and he whispered to him, 'We have to accept his terms! He is the lesser of the two evils! The Brazilian Cartel is far more dangerous! They have already started to wage war on us in the streets! The Brazilian Cartel are very public about their business. They don't keep quiet about what they do! Starting a house fire? Ha! It's like what they say on the internet: weaksauce. O yes I mean it, house fires are just the start. How do you fancy tanks and guns in the streets? I know these guys. I have seen them in action! I know what they can do! I was there prisoner once! Never again. So I beg you to swallow your pride, man up, and take the Bankers offer!'</div><div> </div><div> It was time to sign the deal...</div><div> 'Welcome to The Tailors!' said the Banker after the drafts were dry.</div><div> 'I beg your pardon?' Jim returned.</div><div> 'You are a part of our syndicate now,' the Banker replied. 'Now there is one final step! Give me your right hand. It will require cutting!'</div><div> 'Over my dead body!' Jim returned angrily.</div><div> 'As a member of the syndicate you are obliged to carry the mark!'</div><div> 'I never agreed to this!'</div><div> 'Yes you did,' The Banker replied. 'The moment you agreed to our harsh terms! Now give me your hand! Once you have been bled I will transfer the money to an account of your choosing!'</div><div> 'I want to know more about these, Tailors?' Jim pressed on. </div><div> He really didn't like the idea of being cut.</div><div> It seemed rather to barbaric.</div><div> And necessary.</div><div> 'All you need to know is that you are one of us,' The Banker replied.</div><div> Then Rod rolled up his sleeve and showed that he was carrying the mark as well. </div><div> 'We will protect you from the Brazilians - but once you have the mark there is no way out. It's as simple as that. Once the deed is done you will not only be under our protection but also our power. There will come a time when it will be your responsibility to carry out a duty! When we give the sign, you will answer. Now give me your hand!'</div><div> Jim offered his hand unwillingly to the Banker, who proceeded to hack a nasty mark into his flesh.</div><div> Jim was scared. There would be no ridding himself of that vile red sign behind his knuckles. </div><div> The regret was very real and raw inside Jim's heart at that moment.</div><div> He really did feel a proper fool, and that he had committed himself to a possibly dreadful venture. </div><div> Who were The Tailors? </div><div> They had to be scary people if they insisted on cutting a mark into your skin there and then...</div><div> Jim wanted to wipe the cut away - but it was too late. The deed was done.</div><div> 'We have got a lot of surprises in store for you Jim my boy,' said the Banker ominously. 'We have given you a lot of money today, and we will want a lot back in return. But we will signal you when the time comes to pay. Trust me! When The Tailors call you will know it,' and after he said that he gave Jim a wink with his left and eye and the proceeded to repeat, in a very aggressive whisper:</div><div> YOU WILL KNOW.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>(Remember! All spelling errors and grammatical mistakes are intentional - the author 😆)</div><div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span>Previous part </span><a href="https://swwbooks.blogspot.com/2024/01/jims-subway-31-you-are-involved.html">here</a></div></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">===========================================================</span></div><div><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div></div><div><br /></div></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-55413503839653886142024-02-09T10:02:00.000-08:002024-02-11T04:42:52.173-08:00T Rex ATTACK! it almost got me!<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/PVqPUyO61Hw?si=7SYv83USFzxvQT5n" style="background-image: url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PVqPUyO61Hw/hqdefault.jpg);" width="480"></iframe><div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">Some gameplay footage of the PC Game, Collision Course:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">So I was ambling around the thicket when the tyrant king appeared and lunged for me!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">I am relatively new to the game and thought I was truly done for! </span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial;">But I was able to dispose of beast with relative ease using my pistol. Fascinating! </span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial;">It's not as easy as it looks - you run out of ammo quite quickly.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">===========================================================</span></div><div><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-19487640500061004332024-02-05T09:59:00.000-08:002024-02-19T09:27:45.826-08:00#obunga GETS a JOB !!!<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/9piUmiMKPcg?si=sA1d-YskOemPb-TX" width="480"></iframe><div>So I am going to give this fool a job... NO! WAITE! Don't smash up the office! AHHHHH!!!<br /><div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">===========================================================</span></div><div><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div></div></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-71343135519666436162024-01-29T09:56:00.000-08:002024-01-29T09:58:03.002-08:00#obunga IN BARS!<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/pabiNfo13e0?si=XcmXmCVozhVkzMOd" width="480"></iframe><div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">===========================================================</span></div><div><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-12252204177334966772024-01-24T03:22:00.000-08:002024-02-11T04:49:29.270-08:00Jim's Subway 31: You ARE involved...<div style="text-align: left;">Jim just could not believe it.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> He kept saying to himself: 'How could this happen?' Again and again until he started to go mad with it:</div><div style="text-align: left;"> 'It's not possible. This can't be happening. No. One man cannot be this unlucky. I have to be missing something. One minute I am signing a lucrative business deal that is going to forge the road to my retirement, and then the next I am in the middle of war with the Brazilian Cartel. In two days I go from success to colossal failure. NO! This is not a failure. I am underestimating the situation. NO! This is a disaster.'</div><div><div> 'Indeed it is all those things,' Rod replied. 'But it is also the reality of the situation that we are currently in. We are living right in the middle of what I think we definitely turn out to be a catastrophe!'</div><div> 'Well this is fabulous,' Jim returned, sarcastically of course. 'Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place! Our present position is the definition of such a thing. I mean we might as well be stuck in a drain pipe. I mean we are in that much of a jam!'</div><div> Jim was waiting for his friends to say something positive to calm him down, but they both remained highly quiet. </div><div> Butch was sitting down playing a game of cards with himself, not caring much about the situation at all, and Rod was in such a panicky state that he was as about as useful as a chainsaw without a chain.</div><div> 'I don't know how I manage to do it,' Jim continued. All he could do right then was moan, and so that is wha the proceeded to do! 'Every time something good happens I throw it away! That's always been my way! I deserve a medal for the biggest cockup in history. My whole life has been a cockup so was my birth, my mother needed a caesarean for bloody hells sake! That's proof right there on a silver plater that I just wasn't meant to be born. But I was, and here I am. Ever since my mother threw me it of home I have lived my whole life as a drifter. Plodding from one job to the other. It's been completely miserable. I have only ever been happy when I am drunk. Alcohol is the best thing in my life! Actually, I will go one step further, it is the ONLY thing in my life! I have got nothing but booze. It is my rock. It is the only thing in life that has ever really truly understood me as a man. There is no humanity in life without booze. I realised this truth from a very young age. For a long time whiskey was my muse and I thought the only thing I would ever care about. And then one day I found G-Juice. It changed my life. It made me realise that there is more to life than a single malt. There is a drink out there that is stronger and better. A drink that can literally change your life. You know a story? Oscar Wilde used to talk about absinthe and seeing fairies. I used to think what tosh that was! No drink can do that! Ha! But now a I know the truth. There was one night when I drank so much G-Juice I actually met, sat down with, and had a conversation with a giant talking frog. He talked nonsense for hours; followed me around for days like my shadow, like a ghost. Haunting me of my failings. So what did I do you ask? You are not going to ask but I am going to tell you anyway - I just drank him away! Yeah. That's the hyper boring end to my story. I drank him up and I drank him away. That's when I learned the secret power of G-Juice. The first three drinks get you to a good place. The fourth is when you start seeing things, talking frogs, fairies... well I wish I saw fairies but I only ever saw frogs - but on the fifth and then after that NOTHING. Everything gets washed away. And in the morning, NOTHING. Every problem you ever had is gone, because it no longer exists inside of your brain. So I guess the point I am trying to make is this: If you have a problem then wipe it from your brain. And that is exactly what I am going to do right now. There is a bottle of G-Juice in the basement and I am going to go down there and drink all of it.'</div><div> 'I advise against that, indeed, very strongly in fact,' Rod finally found his voice again and spoke up. 'We are all going to need our wits to deal with this situation. If the cartel find us drunk we might not be able to react appropriately...'</div><div> 'Who said anything about you getting drunk?' Jim replied. 'I am the one who is going to pour. One bottle one hand one throat. You are not getting involved with this business. I am the one who needs a wiped brain right now.'</div><div> 'This is an undrinkable problem,' Rod continued. 'Your brain might say no, but the cartel are going to say yes. And then they are going to wipe your brain permanently with a bullet.'</div><div> Hearing this made Jim's blood boil. </div><div> There was Rod lecturing him about what he should and should not do, when he himself was the catalyst of all their woes. It was his dodgy connections, his borrowing from dangerous lenders that had put them in the boiling pot of doom.</div><div> It was his fault that Jims dreams, his perfect business plan, had been dashed into oblivion.</div><div> 'Don't you dare speak to me,' Jim replied, angrily. '<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I never wanted to get involved with the cartel!</span> This is your mess! Every single inch of it belongs to you. You created this disaster, and so YOU own it. Right now I cannot bear to look at you, Rod. You make me sick and I mean physically sick. I need you to know that you have not only destroyed my life, but my dreams as well. But I am not going to get involved with this situation. Like I said, you own this mess. You started a war with the cartel, and you can end it. Goodnight.'</div><div> 'It's not that easy,' Rod continued. 'And before you start shouting again listen to what I have to say. I got a message this morning. Our names were on it. We have been blacklisted. They want you as well as I.'</div><div> Jim asked why.</div><div> 'Because I gave your name when I asked for the loan,' Rod explained. 'They want a portion of the business that loan created. And it is your business. Your name is on it as director. If anything they probably want you more than me!'</div><div> When Jim heard this he simply snapped. </div><div> He had reached his peak as a man of reserve and completely lost it with Rod, and proceeded beating the man half to death with his own hands. </div><div> Butch was forced to step in to pull Jim back before he killed Rod, which was something that looked very likely in the moment.</div><div> 'Well that's it we are dead,' said Jim, dusting himself down.</div><div> 'There is no running from this,' said Butch. 'You are either going to have to bow your head and except your fate, or fight. This is a war right now and they struck first blood! They damaged your crib, they attacked you on your own ground. Maybe what we should do next is find out where their base is and take the fight to them!'</div><div> 'What are you talking about Butch?' said Jim. 'How did we take the fight to them? If you haven't noticed I am a drunk, and Rod won't be able top move properly for a long time because I just smashed his face in! We are not an army!'</div><div> 'No but I can get a few lads together!' Butch replied. </div><div> 'O stop being so silly,' Jim replied. 'It's alright for you, Butch. You are not blacklisted. It's me they want, me and my beloved wonderful useful happy friend Rod down there on the floor. Damn my knuckles are raw! Shouldn't have punched him so hard, but he deserved it.'</div><div> 'Don't speak that way, boss,' said Butch. 'I am your friend! I am not going to abandon you now when things are going bad. I believe in you and I believe in the business as well. We are going to make money together, the three of us. Good money. Life changing money. So we are at war with the Brazilian Cartel? Who cares? We can beat them for sure. Remember this is Fenwick, our town and our home! And we are going to defend it!'</div><div> 'You make it sound the Battle for Britain,' Jim replied. 'And Fenwick is your home, not mine! I got lost and stuck here, remember?'</div><div> 'Well that maybe true, but Fenwick is MY home,' Butch replied. 'And I know its streets and its ways and most important of all I know its people. Let me put the word out, will find where the cartel are hiding. Then I will hit them with all we have got! We'll make them sorry the day they attack our base!'</div><div> 'Or we can get the money and pay them off,' said Rod. </div><div> So the beaten man wasn't dead after all.</div><div> He could only move his lips, apparently, but the voice definitely came from his mostly defunct carcass. </div><div> 'And how are we going to do that, genius? It will take weeks before we get any money back from the deal we signed with King.'</div><div> 'Then we borrow the funds...'</div><div> 'Another loan? Robbing Peter to pay Paul. Nice idea!' Jim said sarcastically. 'I am not the smartest man alive on planet Earth, I am willing to admit that. I mean I am at war with the cartel right now so I can't be that smart, right? But I know what a ponzi scheme is, and such business does not tend to work out very well.'</div><div> 'We can do this I know we can,' Rod replied.</div><div> 'Says the man covered in his blood!'</div><div> 'Just give me a chance Jim,' Rod pressed on. 'There is a man in town who can help us. He has got money, oodles of it. But it will require a sacrifice. But I know he can pay the cartel off. We have to do this! He lives in the old gate house, and has connections with the Castle staff. Some says the blood of the old line of Fenwick flows through him, and his ancestry can be dated back to the age of Charlemagne. That might be cock and bull, but I know he is the only one who can bail us out right now. Give me a hand up, let me find some plasters, and then I will take you to him...'</div><div> </div><div><div>(Remember! All spelling errors and grammatical mistakes are intentional - the author 😆)</div><div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span>Previous part </span><a href="https://swwbooks.blogspot.com/2023/12/jims-subway-30-its-mess-jim.html">here</a></div></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">===========================================================</span></div><div><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-88805207034764878722024-01-22T09:09:00.000-08:002024-01-22T09:10:33.193-08:00#obunga Is MEAN!<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/X40KjK6sqC8?si=PvGJndjBdtNmGWHG" width="480"></iframe><div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">===========================================================</span></div><div><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-68821136343269654852024-01-15T09:34:00.000-08:002024-01-15T11:05:30.009-08:00Liminal Spaces in the Source Engine<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/MLRT2H4c7fU?si=i-ZccNNlF-JxwEbU" width="480"></iframe><div><br /></div><div>What is it about games inside that Source Engine that makes them appear and feel so spooky? </div><div><br /></div><div>I have had dreams, nightmares, lucid dreams that look and feel just like the places I have seen inside Source Engine games. It's uncanny...</div><div><br /></div><div>I try to show this in my video. Click on the link above ^ to learn more, thank you.</div><div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">===========================================================</span></div><div><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-16901459357911655192024-01-12T10:05:00.000-08:002024-01-17T11:33:15.309-08:00Dinosaur ATTACK !<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/9mj8-rKODuE?si=ICGWq8VD5IK43pzN" width="480"></iframe><div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">===========================================================</span></div><div><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-78414260581096602582024-01-04T00:00:00.000-08:002024-01-04T00:00:49.268-08:00Positive Fatalism : short poem<p> <span face="Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt;">When it's over it's over</span></p><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">No way back or forth - no way around,</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">So take your glass in hand</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">and be happy!</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Because it's done:</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Time to drink up and head out,</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">With a laugh in your throat and a smile on your lips</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I call it positive fatalism!</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">===========================================================</span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;"><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-44753815951096017982023-12-31T10:34:00.000-08:002023-12-31T11:22:31.491-08:00#obunga is OVER !<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/npKqs_DNPR8?si=D6o4oUgTgqz3Hhm2" width="480"></iframe><div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">===========================================================</span></div><div><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-46290111579703678232023-12-24T09:16:00.000-08:002023-12-24T09:18:46.419-08:00DUSK HD : a glimpse...<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/7I11kwjUQu8?si=feJ3xHGfHAJj5k4R" width="480"></iframe><div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">===========================================================</span></div><div><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-65365713494251517782023-12-18T09:10:00.000-08:002023-12-18T09:12:08.421-08:00#obunga SPLASH OUT !<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/M0QeXifnq64?si=bbNjkFSju9ivLdZK" style="background-image: url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/M0QeXifnq64/hqdefault.jpg);" width="480"></iframe><div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">===========================================================</span></div><div><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-91410838818509515372023-12-04T14:23:00.000-08:002023-12-05T01:25:49.823-08:00Jim's Subway 30: It's a mess Jim...<div style="text-align: left;"> O yes! The next day came, and with it also the dreaded hammer that falls on the whole human body after the cup has been emptied.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Jim had faced many hangovers before, but the one he felt that day was up there among the worst, possibly taking second place in his personal list of top ten hangovers - number one still being the time he woke up in the back of a van headed to Germany.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> But what made this particular hangover so bad is that it was mingled with guilt.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> He knew straight away in the first few seconds that he had made a massive mistake.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Jim's vision was blurry, and he stumbled as he dragged his aching limbs over to the sink to drink some water.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> His every move was agonising. </div><div style="text-align: left;"> Jim was helplessly sick, and he was determined to spend the whole day in bed and the absolute last thing he needed to hear at that disgusting time was this:</div><div style="text-align: left;"> 'Quickly! Run! There is a fire in the house!'</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Fire? </div><div style="text-align: left;"> No! </div><div style="text-align: left;"> He had to be going mad! He hoped he was just hallucinating. It would not be the first time the first time of course.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Time to go back to bed then...</div><div style="text-align: left;"> 'What are you doing!' Rod cried. 'We need to run! The fire is raging and spreading! The fire brigade have been called, but this whole place might go up in flames before they finally arrive! We need to make a move and get outside now!'</div><div style="text-align: left;"> What a mess...</div><div style="text-align: left;"> This was Jim's worst nightmares served on a platter.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Eventually the fire engines arrived to douse the flames, but it took a day for everything to calm down and once it was declared safe Rod and Jim were given the chance to investigate the damage. </div><div style="text-align: left;"> It actually wasn't that bad. Despite the panic only one of the offices on the left wing of the building had burned down. The rest of the house was in pretty fine condition.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> 'It could have been worse,' said Jim. 'At least we have still got a roof over our heads! Now I am going to bed.'</div><div style="text-align: left;"> 'We have a roof for now, sure we do, but for how long?' Rod replied.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Jim didn't understand and asked the man to explain himself better.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> 'This fire was not an accident. It was deliberate. It was to serve as a warning,' said Rod.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> A warning? What was Rod talking about?</div><div style="text-align: left;"> 'I think you have some explaining to do,' said Jim.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Once they were back inside a clearly shaken Rod opened up about a few things.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> 'I haven't been completely honest with you, Jim,' he said. 'The money I put into the business, the ten grand. I lied. It was never my money. It wasn't my savings. I am completely broke, I have been since I inherited my parents estate. The money was a loan. Now <i>they </i>want paying back...'</div><div style="text-align: left;"> So who did he owe?</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Rod told Jim the money came from the Castle.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> 'I have worked inside the castle for years, and I managed to strike up a deal with my employers, but the other day they told me they wanted the money back, in full. I tried to explain to them that our business was not up and running properly, yet, and that we hadn't made any money and I couldn't pay them at the moment, and I asked for a few weeks, but they wouldn't give it me. So they have screwed me over, essentially. They have recalled the loan, and want paying. The fire is just the beginning. These are VERY dangerous people, Jim. I know them from old. And that is not all...'</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Great, thought Jim. He couldn't wait to hear what Rod had to say next:</div><div style="text-align: left;"> 'They have connections to the Brazilian cartel. It's those connections who torched the office. It's what they do. It is there way of letting you know that a war is about to begin.'</div><div style="text-align: left;"> While listening to all this Jim remained silent. He was just too angry, to think properly, I mean it was that bad he simply couldn't find the words that he wanted to use. </div><div style="text-align: left;"> He was livid! Not so much at Rod, directly, but with himself for making the decision to go into business with Rod in the first. Jim always felt the man was unreliable. That was why he set Butch to watch him. He had always expected Rod to let him down eventually, maybe sell him out, something like that,</div><div style="text-align: left;"> But he had never expected the man to land him splat right in the middle of a war.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Jim had to pour himself a drink - G-Juice no less.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> He looked at the glass of liquid, and started to reflect on all the pleasure and horror that sweet tasting stuff had brought to his life. </div><div style="text-align: left;"> He gulped the juice down in one flow.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Invigorated, Jim finally found the words he was looking for. He finally turned to Rod. Up until that moment he had been barely able to look at the man, but now he stood up to him and stared at him right in his eyes. Then he gave this speech:</div><div><div> 'Well isn't this all sweet? What a beautiful situation we have found ourselves in, eh, Rod. It's so wonderful right now.' Jim poured a second drink before continued. 'How do you like sarcasm, Rod? Because I have plenty more for you. It's just I am so happy right now! I mean let's just look at things. One minute I am brewing beer and then the next I am on a list for a hit by the cartel.'</div><div> Jim wanted to attack Rod, so instead he decided to sit down.</div><div> 'Tell me you are drunk and making this up, Rod?' Jim continued. 'Tell me you are just trying to frighten me? Please! I can't tell if you are being serious or not. Please tell me you are winding me up? Right now I don't think my heart can't cope with this level of fear. I need you to know something - if you are indeed being serious, and you have got us in debt to the cartel, I would do everything I can to escape this town. I can't do this, Rod. I am not cut out for it. I wanted to make money, that's all. I wanted to retire. I went into business with you because I thought you were rich, and connected. O! I was right about the last bit - I just which I had some idea of the kind of people you were connected to. It could be anybody. We could draw up a list, bankers, traders, but never in my wildest most hyper of nightmares, not even if I was writing a book about crazy mad things, could I have ever imagined you were connected to the Brazilian Cartel. Never! That's why I need you now to tell me that you are making all this up. Please tell me that you are lying, Rod. Tell me that the fire was really an accident, you forget to turn the heating off, faulty electrics, something like that. Help me here. Tell me the truth.'</div><div> 'I have told you the truth,' Rod replied.</div><div> Jim drank the rest of his juice and silently limped to his bed. He needed to sleep, and wake up again in a different world - a simple world where there were no such things as violent gangs, and street wars, and stupid people. A world where he was a success, with money in the bank having just signed the biggest deal of his life.</div><div> Any world other than the one he was currently living in.</div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div><div>(Remember! All spelling errors and grammatical mistakes are intentional - the author 😆)</div><div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span>Previous part </span><a href="https://swwbooks.blogspot.com/2023/11/jims-subway-29-i-want-to-lose-everything.html">here</a></div></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">===========================================================</span></div><div><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div></div></div></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-26114730756991269252023-11-21T04:19:00.001-08:002023-12-04T14:24:07.092-08:00Jim's Subway 29: "I WANT to lose EVERYTHING!"<div>'I don't like Rod... I don't trust him. I think he is shook. I am worried he is going to leak it all! I need you to keep an eye on this Butch!'</div><div> Without uttering a single word Butch nodded his ugly head, and went straight to work.</div><div> He phoned Jim sometime in the evening with this:</div><div> 'Relax yourself Mr boss-man Jim! I have been following him all day. He's been drinking his sorrows inside the Short Tailed Fox! He's not going anywhere!'</div><div> Jim asked Butch if he had seen Rod communicate with anybody at all.</div><div> Butch responded:</div><div> 'Not one soul. He's been a loner all day. No one has approached him, and he has approached no one. I think it is safe to presume that he is not going to cause us any trouble. But I can keep watching him if you like?'</div><div> 'Yes Butch. Track him all night! Don't let your eyes off him. The moment we let that man out of our sight things might fall apart. We can't let him cause trouble. We are too close to victory right now. I can't let him sabotage the deal just because he has a conscience and wants to play the nice guy. There is no more manoeuvrability for such nonsense, not anymore. We have taken the plunge into the well and rope leading the way back up has been cut away by the knife of fate. At the bottom of the well we have to find the gold, or don't eat . It's the only way. Now I think Rod is a good man, but I Know he is a coward, and rash. I am genuinely concerned that he might sell us out!'</div><div> 'If I suspect anything what would you like me to do? Do you want me to call you, or would you prefer I just walk the man to the Swamp.'</div><div> 'NO! Phone me first. I want to assess the situation. Rod is a resource that we cannot afford to throw away. I would rather beat him up first. Or get him to sign over the deeds of his property. If we managed to do that then by all means dump him in the err... Swamp. But right now let's keep our cool and behave like human beings. So keep tracking him. Watch his every move and listen in on every conversation he has if he makes contact with somebody. Keep me up to date! But DON'T kill him.'</div><div> Butch heard this on his side of the phone and replied: 'You're the boss, Jim. Just give me a whistle if you need me to rope the man in.' </div><div> Jim told Butch to never allow any of his eyes to leave Rod. Butch responded:</div><div> 'Well, if I think Rod is taking a wrong turn I don't have to kill him... I could just break his fingers...'</div><div> 'NO physical damage not unless I order it,' Jim replied. </div><div> And then Jim turned off the phone.</div><div> Butch knew the score. By now Butch was a trained dog with the eyes of a hawk; he would never take action on his prey not unless Jim willed it. </div><div> Jim had every confidence in his dog, but he absolutely did not trust Rod not in the least. He thought the man was a bomb ready to go off. Now Jim knew himself to be no murderer, but he also knew that he was absolutely willing to kill Rod if he felt that there was the need to do it. </div><div> At that moment in his life Jim had the souls of two very different people living inside of him. He could feel both of their hearts - their beats vibrated in two different directions:</div><div> The one heart said:</div><div> THIS is all GOOD! We are going to be rich! That heart was very excited, and beat very happily inside his chest. </div><div> The second heart however was quivering with fear. It felt like there was a thunderstorm going inside ghat heart because it beat so fast and so fierce! It felt like it was about to rip out of his chest. That heart didn't have a voice, it did not tell him what he should and should not do, it just made him feel very scared, and with that also came confusion.</div><div> He hated the second heart. He wanted to rip it out. But unfortunately that heart was the largest, and beat the hardest. He wanted to listen to it, go along with it even, and that was when the confusion started.</div><div> The first heart relaxed him from time to time, it pulled him back into the calm, soothed him even with gentle vibrations that made every atom of his body tingle sending back to his brain imagery of money...numbers in the bank... paper in the hand...drinks...good food...the warmth of comfortable hotel rooms...good company...six figures...many noughts in the bank...and finally money! </div><div> Jim felt the need to do two things at that moment:</div><div> 1. Calm his nerves.</div><div> 2. And celebrate!</div><div> And so he decided that was exactly what he was going to do.</div><div> It was time to drown out the beatings of his second heart with a glass or two of the old devil, and share stories of his victories with willing ears.</div><div> And Jim found such ears eventually hanging off the side of Mr Ted Bobbleworth's large nobly head.</div><div> Ted and Jim had not been the best of friends, and Ted had still not forgiven Jim for duping him out the animal-masks Jim used to infiltrate the Rits a few weeks ago. But the two men were now peers and fellow businessmen, and when Ted found out that the newcomer to town was in bed with Mr Tony King he decided he wanted to get know Jim a little better:</div><div> 'After all,' he said, when he and Jim met in the streets later that day, 'I think bottles of G-Juice would look very lovely on my shelves. Certainly if I could buy them for the right price!'</div><div> 'Let's talk!' said Jim, and Ted invited him into his shop!</div><div> So there was Jim and Ted, sat in that rustic old shop. Ted loved the place and was very proud, and Jim could see this, the twinkle in the other mans eye, but personally he found the place boring. He could see the dust. And he could see the cobwebs as well.</div><div> But he could also see the potential for business...</div><div> There were indeed plenty of empty shelves ripe for loading with the G-Juice brand.</div><div> O yes! Business could been done in such a place indeed!</div><div> So it was time for Jim to get drunk and make friends with an old enemy!</div><div> 'Let's talk pounds and paper!' said Jim, raising his first glass of whiskey.</div><div> The night had begun and the drinking had even begun, and Jim was already drunk on his ambition for his product. </div><div> 'We are going to make Fenwick the production centre for the most beloved alcoholic beverage in the country!' he said. </div><div> 'With Tony's money at your back you are going to b e a very rich man,' said Ted. </div><div> 'I know! I feel like I am going to explode, in the metaphorical sense, of course,' Jim replied. 'I can't believe I am saying this but things are going SO well for me right now. I could not have asked for a bigger break, and it was all brought about by my efforts alone. Of course there is Butch, but he is just a dog, and Rod, he is just an investor that's all. It was MY idea. I build this business. I got the contract signed with Tony. Now nothing short of a disaster can stop me!'</div><div> 'Don't tempt fate,' said Ted. 'There is always time for things to go wrong!'</div><div> 'Maybe you are right,' Jim replied. Then Jim pulled a card out of his shirt pocket and showed it to Ted. 'I found this:' it had a series of numbers written on it. 'Do you know what this is? It's the phone number to the Castle. I found it in the trash. Rod must have put it there. You know Rod used to work in the Castle before he got invested in the business. He must have put the number to the trash thinking that he didn't need it anymore.'</div><div> 'That number is better left in the bin,' said Ted. Ted then recommended Jim throw the paper away and forget about it. </div><div> But when Jim herd this he just laughed. </div><div> He was very drunk at that point in their conversation.</div><div> 'I am going to phone them! And then I am going to challenge them! I am the king of this city now!'</div><div> Ted could not believe what he was listening to. You could see the shock in his face!</div><div> 'Please don't do that!' said Ted. 'Let me give you this comparison. Let's say that you live in Mexico, would you go and poke fun and wind up the cartel? NO. So in Fenwick you don't poke fun or wind up the people living in The Castle. It's the golden rule we all live by. Maybe because you are new here you don't realise the power of the Castle. I get that. But you know about their power now. Don't prod them. They don't care about you. They don't give second chances, and they won't take your ignorance into consideration. Outsider or not, they will put you in The Swamp.'</div><div> Jim finished his whiskey and putting down his glass he held out his hand and asked Ted to hand him the phone.</div><div> 'I won't do it,' Ted replied.</div><div> Jim asked for the phone again, more sternly this time. When Ted did not responded Jim demanded the phone to be put in his hand.</div><div> Jim was very drunk, as we know, but he was also very serious.</div><div> Ted, who was starting to sweat at that stage, was frightened the drunken man might physically attack him. 'It's your skin at the end of the day,' said Ted, and he finally handed Jim the phone.</div><div> Smiling, Jim punched the numbers in. The phone rung thrice, three times yes, and then the gates into the castle opened...</div><div><br /></div><div><div><div><div style="text-align: left;">(Remember! All spelling errors and grammatical mistakes are intentional - the author 😆)</div><div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span>Previous part </span><a href="https://swwbooks.blogspot.com/2023/10/jims-subway-28-if-wishes-were-paper.html">here</a></div></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">===========================================================</span></div><div><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div></div><p><br /></p></div></div></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-17340848661178533282023-11-12T07:49:00.000-08:002023-11-12T07:50:49.963-08:00#obunga is OUT THERE !<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/lVni7TH-flM?si=dwjD1wk9gKQooqAe" width="480"></iframe><div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">===========================================================</span></div><div><div><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div></div></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-85160946102795598522023-11-06T05:01:00.007-08:002023-11-06T05:01:58.516-08:00NEVER meet old school friends<p><span style="font-family: courier;"><i>Is it ever a good idea to meet up with old friends?</i></span></p><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><u>BLOOD-HOUNDS:</u></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">THE PLAYERS:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><b>Will<br />Rich<br />Wes</b><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">ACT I</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">What do you do about the past? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> You leave it there - where it belongs.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> That's right, you forget about it, like it hasn't ever happened.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> That is what a sensible person does. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> I should have declined...</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> I should have said NO!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><b> WHY DIDN'T I SAY NO?</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> Want to know another bad thing about the past? You can't go back to change it... Once you have taken those steps into the mud, you can't walk back into the clearing.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> And so it was for me, that evening when I accepted an invitation to school reunion to meet some old <i>friends</i>.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> We were going to meet at the old house where the road turned, strange place for a get together because I always thought the place was abandoned.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> Not so! Turned out it was open to the public and fitted out, and there was food and drink and it looked very lovely indeed.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> And who should be the first person I meet on arrival then an old school bully, Will.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> I couldn't believe it. He walked up to me all smiles. he offered us a drink and then shook my hand and even hugged us.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> It was all very unnecessary and over-the-top, I was not a touchy feely kind of person, but because of the nature of the occasion I was willing to make an exception.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> He was a nasty piece of work was Will, back in the day, but I knew well that people changed. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> And it was a long time ago.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> We were both adults now and so it was time to let bygones be just that, and I was fully prepared to receive the man with a fresh perspective.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> He said:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'It's good to see you again Rich.'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> I replied.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'You too, Will. It's really good to see you again. Gosh! How man years has it been? Twenty five years! Damn! Long old time. And it has gone by so fast! The years have become months, and the weeks have turned into days. And the world has changed so much and I didn't notice it until the drive here. The school has been knocked down! The shop we used to knick sweets from too! And the playing field is now covered in all those ugly houses. The people who built that estate should be in prison - it was such a beautiful field, I remember it well:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'The flowers were such lookers. All year round the place was a wonder. That tree we built a den in. The stream that we used to throw rocks in. Remember that swing? We built it together from rope and an old car tire! We had such a laugh! And I was so fat back then, and you used to joke about it, but the rope held we did such a good job! It didn't snap! You all said it would, fat old Rich. But it didn't break, and I did't fall into the stream. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'And now it is all gone.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'And now the only thing that still stands is this old house. Very odd. Looks so old from outside. I thought it was a ruin when I was a kid! But standing here it looks like it has been refurbished! Strange! This old place is the only thing standing in the world where I grew as a kid. This old place. A building I never even went inside. I used to be so scared. You remember how you used to tease me about this place? You used to say it was haunted by a witch. Remember? Damn that story used to scare me to the bone!'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> Will replied:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'I am so sorry that I used to tease you, I really regret it now. We used to joke about you being fat, but look at you now! As slim as a wisp!'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><b> AS SLIM AS THE WILLOW WISPS THAT USED TO GROW IN THE PLAYING FIELD.</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> He was joking again, good old Will!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> Such a joker!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> I could tell by the way he talked alone that he had changed. Maturity is a strange thing, and the boy I remembered who used to pick on me was now a man. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> This was somebody who I immediately knew I was really going to get on with!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Congratulations on that business of yours,' Will continued. 'I remember back in the day when you were getting all that money together to make the initial investment. We all said you were a fool! I am sorry about that. But look at you now! I was the fool for trying to discourage you. Makes me wish I had out my hand in my own pocket while I had the chance. Today I might have been as rich as you, Rich!'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> We both chuckled.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'No hard feelings,' I replied. 'It is what it is. You take a risk. Sometimes it works. other times it doesn't It's just life. Life is a game, as act. There is one in a hundred million chance of you ever being born, and about the same odds that you might fail. That's what I mean when I say life is just a game. Right from the start, we playing inside a huge gambling machine. You take your chances, you roll the dice, and you hope the sun shines on you. when the numbers roll in your favour it's nothing to do with skill: it's just pure unadulterated luck. Nothing more nor less. Some people have the universe at their back, others are stuck in the pit, forever climbing, but never feeling he touch of the sun. Like I said, it's all a game!'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'I like that!' Will replied. 'I am certainly in the pit... But heck! Whatever. Let me get you a drink!'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> And like that the liquid started to flow, cup after cup, before long we were caught in the flow. O yes! We were one with it! Darn! One drink, three drinks - o yes! We were brothers locked in the juice. We talked about the good days. The lost days stored in our forgotten youth. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> It was a golden moment - I had not felt so relaxed, so... damn I will say it, yes, HAPPY! I had not felt so happy in a very long time. For the past twenty years of signing business deals I was finally conversing with someone who actually knew me, not the business man who got things done no matter what but the real me, and also the world that I grew up in.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> I felt like I was with family.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> It was a good feeling.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> Will pulled my attention to a kindly looking gentleman sat alone at a table nursing a drink. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> '</span><span style="font-family: courier;">Look that's Wes over there! Such a lovely fellow!'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'O yes! Wes! I remember. Wasn't he the cleaner?'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Yes. And has been most his life. He retired five years ago. Hopefully he is having a nice easy time of it these days! Damn he deserves it! We used to pick on him, bless him! I regret it now...'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'So do I,' I replied. 'What rebels we were, hey?'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> We both sighed. Those were the days!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> '</span><span style="font-family: courier;">You know? You are a good lad, really,' I said after we had finished laughing. 'I didn't know how much I liked you. It's a shame that we fell out.'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Let the past be just that,' Will replied. 'It will do us good to let it rest there, forever.'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> I agreed with him.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> Will had grown wise with time, it seemed! </span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> I liked him even more!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> In that moment I was so glad I had decided to take the plunge and attend the reunion! I thought it was going to be big mistake, drag up old memories, poke forgotten demons back into action.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> But no.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> In a few hours after my arrival I had settled old debts, stomped out bitter memories, ended a quarrel, and made a new friend!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> All was good!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">ACT II</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">After another drink Will started to open up a little bit more about his current personal situation.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> He had hinted at the begin about some business that hadn't worked out well for him. Now I was about to learn more.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'You remember I was telling you earlier that I was in a bit of a mess and then I changed the subject? Well, I did that for a reason. It's a bit embarrassing but I really am stuck in a pit, literally. A cash pit. The banks don't like me much these days so it seems! The problem is I can't get a loan and I sunk all my savings into that shop. You know the shop I am talking about, right? The old newsagent round the corner? Yes? The one where we used to pinch sweets as kids. Yeah. It had gone out of business and I thought I would buy it and do it up, extend it into a cafeteria. That was my old plan anyway. But the shop turned out to be a bomb. No one visits the village these days, and it turns out little corner shops are going out of business for a reason. No one is using them anymore! Like you, my friend, I took a gamble, but when I showed my hand the numbers weren't in my favour. I didn't get to see the sunshine, you know, the better side of the deal. I didn't get lucky in business like you. And now I owe money... It's not going well for me, Rich. To be honest I am scared. The future is looking pretty bad for me. I don't know what I am going to do.'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Is it really that bad?'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> Will nodded his head. 'Maybe even a little bit beyond bad. Bad wouldn't be too bad! I would love to have a bit of bad in my life! But what I am facing right now is beyond anything quite like that. Unfortunately for me, I think it might actually be over. You know, I have been thinking so crazy thoughts lately...'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> I asked him about these crazy thoughts he was having. I kept my tone casual, I didn't want to make him uneasy. I could see his kind was deeply consumed by trouble, and that he needed somebody to serve as an outlet for his grief to pour into. And I was ready to receive him. My ears were open and ready, and my heart was in the right place. I took another sip of whiskey. Crazy thoughts, hey?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> I felt the compulsion as a friend to push Will for more information regarding his latest dilemma.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> What was his problem? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Like what?' I said.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Like ending it... You know? Pressing the off-switch... Escaping The Matrix. I don't how to be more blunt. Okay. How about this... The other day I came within seconds of standing in front of a car - in the middle of the road. I should have been knocked over. The speed at which the car was moving would have easily killed me. But no. I was pulled away. Someone played the hero. And here I am. Alive and well, and in debt. I should have done it. I mean, if I don't do it then someone else will. Those debts don't pay themselves, and soon the collectors will come knocking...'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> I was shocked.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'This is a very bad business,' I replied. 'It's unimaginable that things are THIS bad for you! But I am glad that you didn't take the plunge! You were saved from that car for a reason. Fate works like that!'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> The nasty situation that Will had gotten himself in got me thinking. With the idea of fate rolling around inside of my head it made me think that our meeting like this must have been for a reason.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> I decided there and then that I was going to help my old friend. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> I asked him about the collectors.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> Will replied, and told me they were very serious men. Loan sharks who collected in blood.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> I told him I was going to give him a loan. I scribbled out a check and handed the slip of paper over to him. The moment I placed the paper in his hand he started laughing. I must have given him a confused look. I really did not understand his strange reaction. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> I was giving him money. I was helping him out of a hole, saving him from a nasty situation. He owed me now not the loan sharks, and he knew for sure that I was never going to break his legs! I thought he would be relieved.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> But not so!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> He continued to laugh.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> I started to feel uncomfortable. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> It was a very awkward situation for me to be in, absolutely. I felt like whipping that check right back out of his grubby hands, but in a few seconds he had slipped the into his upper coat pocket.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Thanks for the free money old friend,' said Will sarcastically. 'That will help pay for the car!'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'What about the business?'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'What business?'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'You told me you had debts to pay?'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'I say a lot of things, Rich. But then you know me, don't you?'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'So you didn't buy the shop?'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'That stupid shop closed down thirty years ago, Rich! If you bothered to visit you would have found that out. But no. You didn't visit. When was the last time you came back to town? You stomped out of school and turned your back on your home and your people. And now here we are! Happy reunion, Rich!'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">ACT III</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> Say what? NO! I couldn't believe it!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> Why spin such a yarn! I felt so embarrassed to have fell for it - but I could never have guessed he was making it all up...</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> Why would he do that?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> We were adults... old friends...</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> Perhaps some people don't change - such people live outside the flow of time. Now I knew such a thing was possible! Time c</span><span style="font-family: courier;">an move mountains, shape seas, kill nations, but it will never deter the whims of a fool!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> I told Will I wanted the check back. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> He responded by laughing in my face.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'You are not getting anything out of me. Finders keepers,' Will replied.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'I gave you a loan. You have to pay me back!'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'We didn't sign anything did we?' Will replied. 'So what are you going to do about it? Beat me up? Just try it, Rich and we will see what happens. We all know who was the one with the bark and the bite back in the day. Yeah it was me Rich. I barked and you danced, that's how it always was. And if I was not happy with the dance, then well, we all remember what would happen. I aced you back then and I will ace you now jut as well, Rich. So just face the facts that you have been beaten, Rich. It was always a game between us. And we know it is with games. You don't need me to explain any of that business with you, veteran lose that you are. You know how it goes, winners and losers, and today I hold the cards, just like I used to forty years ago. I want to feel sorry for you, Rich, but you were always a mug, and you are still one today. You deserve to be put in your place.'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'You can't steal from me!'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'The money is compensation, for my part in having to endure spending my entire childhood in the same company as your barely existing carcass. You were born old, Rich. No fun. No fun at all. You only wanted to mope around. You were a sad wretch of a human when you were young, and now you have grown into an old dog! You are pathetic!'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> '</span><span style="font-family: courier;">I want my money back Will!'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Right. You won't the money? Then get your fists out and let's see if you can do better than you used to.'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> Will started to taunt me:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Let's see your fists! Come on. Let's see if use them. You never could back in the day. I remember you back then, walking around with your head down and your hands in your pockets taking all the pinches. Can time really change a man? Let's see. Go on then, Rich! Do it! Hit me! Fight me! Come on you coward! Let's see if you can do this after thirty years! Let's see if you can take control. Or are you just going to bow your head and be the loser forever? What happens next is up to you, Rich. I am handing the dice over to your hand. Now play your hand...'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> I responded:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Handing me the dice, hey? Brave move, Will. You don't know me. You never really did. I walked around with my head down because I couldn't stand the sight of you. I didn't take me hands out of my pockets because I couldn't be bothered. That's why I didn't raise my fists, because the truth is this, Will: You were never worth the effort. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'But listen to me now! I am going to knock you down today, I am going to hit you worse then ever before. But NOT with my fists. I am going to hit you with something way worse. I have been making contacts over the years. I know people who could shake your little world apart. So, Will. I am going to play this game, and this is me rolling the dice and right now I have scored the higher number. So you keep that check in your pocket. Be my guest and cash it in! You would be doing me a favour if you did so. And then I will make a phone call and I will have my people reel you in for fraud. You might pay off your car but you want enjoy it for long! I will see that you are put into prison. If the court goes in your favour you might get ten years minimum. And that will be your life over!'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'You wouldn't do that to me?'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'O wouldn't Will? I have rolled my dice. I have made my move. No turning back now. So you walk out of here with that check, and I will have you locked up for a good long time. I will see to it that you are put inside with the lads. The big bad boys. I have got contacts inside as well, Will. O yes I have been a busy fellow these last few years. I will make sure you are set up with a nice little cell with a few nice little people to take care of you. A few days locked up with those fine fellows and I will teach you who the loser really is. Your turn to roll the dice now Will. Let's see what your number is! I bet you can't beat mine. </span><span style="font-family: courier;">Go on - take the roll.</span><span style="font-family: courier;">'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'I can't believe you would threaten me in such a way.'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Believe me. I am doing that right now.'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'But... I thought we were friends.'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'We were never friends. And I have no qualm in throwing inside a prison cell. I will see that the police are called round to your home tonight. So do it Will. Give me the chance to make my move. Leave now with that check, an d let us end this once and for all.'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'No. I don't believe you. You are weak. You were always a coward. No! Your bluffing.'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Okay. Then call my bluff! There is the door... USE IT!'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'I can't believe you are doing this!'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Believe it!'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> Will started to shake. His nerves had finally tweaked that he was in a bad situation. They were playing an accordion right now up and down his quivering trunk. 'I am going to give you back the check!'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'I don't want it!'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Then you are going to set me up?'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'You have done this, not I. You played the game. You thought you had the upper hand. You were tricked by your own confidence. Typical Will! You always thought you were unstoppable even as a child, and now here we are.'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'You are scum!'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'You will find there is only one piece of scum here,' I replied. 'Scum from scum. Tell me I am not right? Scum breeds scum, that is the law of nature. You can't grow gold out of filth. Slime sticks to the gutter, and it stinks over the years. Remind me what was your father again? O yes. Drug addicted. Alcoholic. Didn't he used to steal money for his addiction. I remember you telling me about he stole from his own family so that he could get high. What a fine man, I think not! I seem to remember calling your father scum. And what does scum breed, Will? O yes! Here we are again, full circle. It true that time never changes anything!'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'How dare you speak about my father in such a way! You never knew him!'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'I knew him. We all knew him,' I replied. 'He was the talk of town. How could we not know his business, his ins and outs, he made a public display of his shameful acts nearly every single day. I knew your father as well as you. He was the lowest of the low. And remember that one morning while we were walking to school, and your father came meandering into the streets, tripping on his own feet, barefooted, greasy haired unwashed and in the rags he slept in. Drunk, high and lucid, bottle in hand - we all chuckled, but we tried not to show it, because we didn't want to offend you. But everyone laughed about your father behind your back, Will. I remember him that morning, bleary eyed, hadn't slept for days I wonder, and he was singing, "Ashamed of thee! Ashamed of my child! Ashamed of thee! I say it publicly, for I am so ashamed of thee, ashamed of thee my child..." </span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'There wasn't much lower for him after that other than the bottom of a grave - and o yes! That's how he ended up. I heard about what happened to him, choking on his vomit. At least that is one less lump of scum left festering on the earth. Best thing he ever did was drop down. Shame you haven't joined him, Will. But then there is always time for that...'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> We argued from one room to the next.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> At that moment we were in the kitchen. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> Will grabbed a dinner knife and stabbed me in the guts. </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">ACT IIII</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">'I've got you!'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> It was Wes, the old school cleaner.</span><span style="font-family: courier;"> </span><span style="font-family: courier;">He had attended the party, and had been in his own quiet corner until now. He rushed over to my aid just in time,</span><span style="font-family: courier;"> </span><span style="font-family: courier;">bless is heart!</span><span style="font-family: courier;"> I don't know what I would have done without him without him then...</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> Wes told me not to touch the knife!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'We can't pull the knife out or you will bleed to death,' he said. 'We need to get you out of here, urgently,' he said. 'Here, I will help you outside into my car.'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> Propping his tough bony shoulder under my arm, he practically carried me out of the house, down the pavement, and from their proceeded to direct me into his car.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'I am going to drive you back to my place,' he said.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> I was in so much pain and I was fading in and out of consciousness, but I had enough sense to realise that what Wes had just said sounded a little strange, if not bizarre?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> Why drive me back to his house?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> Surely the hospital was the place to go to?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> So I asked him what he was thinking about.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> And Wes replied:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'We have got a feast waiting back home, a sumptuous repast indeed. Something I have been planning to cook for a long time... A celebration meal for both of us to remember the good old days! O what a memorable banquet I have prepared for the both of us... Well, I tell a slight lie. The banquet is for me alone, because YOU are providing ALL the food!'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">And so it came about, the end of my days...</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">END</span></div><div> </div><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;">=========================================</span></p><div><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-45526019218830832732023-11-05T08:13:00.001-08:002023-11-12T07:51:08.877-08:00#obunga IS CRAZY !!!<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/T9WHHgbHYkg?si=7UAYYwKDRjyMs6p-" style="background-image: url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/T9WHHgbHYkg/hqdefault.jpg);" width="480"></iframe><div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">===========================================================</span></div><div><div><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div></div></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-55233125950482383692023-11-05T01:37:00.002-07:002023-11-05T01:38:43.242-07:00#haunted #shorts #ghost #halloween #halloween2023 #scary<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/YfnspY1io-g?si=EEn0pFGckE09cAmb" width="480"></iframe><div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">===========================================================</span></div><div><div><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div></div></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-27643698622060219622023-10-29T09:28:00.002-07:002023-10-29T09:29:57.303-07:00#obunga IN ACTION !<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/BgQ7e_0P1QM?si=f4dDRrQTVeNymaMG" style="background-image: url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BgQ7e_0P1QM/hqdefault.jpg);" width="480"></iframe><div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">===========================================================</span></div><div><div><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div></div></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-10187606877501706102023-10-22T10:25:00.002-07:002023-10-22T10:28:09.720-07:00#obunga IS BONKERS!<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/ObtOSfJXmv8?si=w30F4GJFEvQymV6H" style="background-image: url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ObtOSfJXmv8/hqdefault.jpg);" width="480"></iframe><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">===========================================================</span></div><div><div><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-3167186833174168172023-10-16T18:48:00.006-07:002023-10-18T11:28:48.800-07:00MR GOODBYE<p> <span style="font-family: courier;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: courier;">Man in The Coat says GOODBYE ? MR GOODBYE (This is a continuous work and I will add to it over time).</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><b>It’s an act!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Life is an act.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>No act and no life. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b></b></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>YOU DON’T LIVE UNLESS </b></span><span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration-line: underline;"><b>YOU</b></span><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b> Act</b></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none; text-decoration-line: underline;">INTRO</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;">I made my rules and I was ready to die by them, literally. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I wasn’t the only person living in the estate who had ambition.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The only one who had a vision.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The only one who wanted to get things done.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>So there was me and three other guys.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>One of them was a friend.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>We called him Bossman or Mr B for short, because he was the one who had the money, he was a walking bank account.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Yes.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>He was a loanshark, but if you were good with money then he was a good to have around.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I liked the man, he was tough, and direct.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>We have done a lot of business together.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Sealed a lot of deals.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I don’t know how he looked at me but I looked at him as a friend.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The second man with a soul in the estate was Frank.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>He owned the local gas station.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I saw him everyday but we never held a single conversation in all our lives!</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The the third guy in town worth mentioning was a tech guy called Pete.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Pete and I argue a lot.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>We were so different we could have been doppelgangers.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>He was fat, never went outside, and whenever we sat and had drinks he used to annoy me by going on about how he wanted to fake his way to fame and fortune by using the internet.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>He wanted tone one of these online flunkers - he was an idiot.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I only kept in contact with him because he was good at promoting my business online.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>He was on my payroll, my money put a roof over his head.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I bullied him a lot.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I was technically his landlord.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I made his life hard.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It was fun, for me anyway.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Gave me something to take my stress out on.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Whatever.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I didn’t like Pete, he thought he was internet famous but what he really was was fat and dumb and I liked to remind him of it, daily.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>So that’s the three main guys in town, make it four if you want to include me.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>And yes, we all had plans.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;">THE PLAYERS:</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><i>Mr Bossman</i></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><i>Frank </i></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><i>The Nameless Main Character</i></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;">ACT 1</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;">Mr B wanted to talk with me at the coffee shop.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Along the way to the shop I was followed. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>They made it obvious.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>When I stopped they stopped.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>When I walked they walked.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It was the man in the coat…</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>When you saw the man in the coat you knew you were in dead trouble. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>There was nothing I could do except keep walking.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>If the man in the coat was on my trail there was no point running.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>No one could get away from him. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Maybe Mr B would be able to h help me! <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>So I quickened my stop and did not stop till I was through the shop door.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Mr B had a table set up with cards, smokes and coffee.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I took off my coat and sat down.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Mr B started ti talk first.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>He was direct.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>He didn’t like small talk.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>My kind of guy.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>He got straight down to business:</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>‘You have got about a month,’ he started.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I took a seat, drank my coffee, and listened. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>‘Do<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>you think you can pull some kind of magic trick?’ he continued.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>‘Are you a magician and I don’t know about it?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Honestly I am interested!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Tell me what kind of tricks do you know?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Can you concur money out of thin air?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Hmm.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Maybe not.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>How about this then…<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Something a bit more realistic: can you make dead bodies disappear?’</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I wanted to cry.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>He knew everything.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I don’t know how he did it… <span class="Apple-converted-space"> I guess it's why we called him the Bossman. </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>‘Trust me. Mr B. If I was a wizard and I could do magic tricks, no one would have seen that body. But it's too late. The police are all over it. The building sight has been shut down, the project put off indefinitely. And I have nothing to show for my fifty thousand accept a useless rubble of bricks and mortar.'</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"> 'Don't you mean, <i>My</i> fifty thousand,' Mr B interjected.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"> 'I am being serious here!'</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"> 'And you think that I am joking? Do I look like I am joking? Look at my face. Look at it. Look at long and hard. Look at my eyes? Are they dead. Okay. Look at my lips. Do they smile? Do I look like a joker? No. I don't.' He pulled up a mirror and looked at his face. 'I don't look like a joke. This is not the face of a happy man. The face in this mirror, and the face you are looking at right now, is very serious. BEYOND serious. Okay. Now we have got that out of the way, please continue talking. I want to know exactly how deep we are in.'</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"> 'It's a true nightmare made flesh. The site manager has quit, the guys have downed tools. I can't get anyone work. None of my men will wet a trowel until the police have finished doing their business. But their business is going to take forever because as we all know they are dealing with a murder.'</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"> 'How do we know it's a murder?'</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> 'Damn it Mr B! I thought you weren't joking? Now I am the one being serious here. Of course it's a murder. There's no church built around here. They are saying the body is fresh. It was a murder. P</span>robably a stiff put there by the <i>butcher</i>.'</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> The Butcher was another name for the "man in the coat" - or just MR GOODBYE.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'How do you know that?'</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Because that lunatic plants them all over the place. He is an assassin. Men pay him to whack people. He has got a field where he buries them. And a few weeks ago the psycho decides to bury someone right in the middle of one the largest deals ever sealed in my life. That building contract was going to make me mint, I mean serious cash, Mr B. Those flats were going to make us hundreds of thousands. Forget your pension those flats were going to be our early retirement fund. I got the deal sealed. It was all done! I know there is such a thing as bad luck. Risks, and things going wrong, hiccups and disasters, all that stuff comes with the territory. I have been stuck in so many dodgy situations in the past. It has been the story of my life. You don't win unless you fight, and I have always fought like a war dog. I remember the deal for the shop across the road, the one where they were going to expand it, and then there was that raid where they found the original owners distributing smack. I couldn't believe. They thought I was involved. I almost went under with that business, almost went to prison! But I didn't run away. No. I stood and I weathered that storm. I held my nerve. </span><span style="font-family: courier;">New people took over. </span><span style="font-family: courier;"> And then I cashed out. I won! All I had to do was sit and wait. That was all. And then there was the recession last year. That almost bankrupted me. All my stocks went south. I thought it was over. Part of me, the voice in my head, the voice that sometimes speaks to me in the mirror, kept telling me to run:</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><b>RUN RUN - You can do it! Escape! Get out. Take what's left and flee!</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'I didn't listen to it. I looked in the mirror and I told the voice to get lost! I said it right back at him! I said NO. I am doing it. I am going to stand my ground. I am going to weather the storm. I am going win. And I did it again. I held my nerve. I sat and I waited things out. My balance was eventually restored and I cashed out.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'But this feels different. This is a murder. A damn stiff on or lawn! I won't be able to weather this one out. I can't keep calm this time. Look my hands are shaking. This is a disaster. I am honestly scared. i think this is the end. Yes. I am sorry to say it, but I really think it is over for me. This time I want to run away, but I can't, not with the police digging up this stiff! The voices in my head are laughing at me. I look in the mirror and I can it laughing at me. I screwed up. I should have run. I shouldn't have got involved. The shop was making enough money. My shares were going up. I had money in the bank. I should have just settle. But it's like the man who plays cards, I have got a bit of the gambler in me. I could win but I am never satisfied. That's why I don't think there is such a thing as winners. A true winner is happy with what he's got - my gramps with his garden, and his shed, and his TV, died a happy man and he hadn't a single penny in his pocket let alone his bank. I know. I paid for his funeral. But he was happy. A happy man. Happy because he had nothing. And that is why he was the real winner in life. But me? I was never satisfied, even when I had won. It just wasn't enough. Maybe I am sick. I am not happy that is for certain. I had it all and i threw it away. This stupid deal! It looked too good to be real. Everything was setup, they said. Everything was good to go! And I threw the cash at them, into the flames. And here we are.'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> The man in the coat had entered the coffee shop. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> He slipped in without me noticing.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> What a sneak!</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> But then that was his trade.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> He was a ghost. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> within a few minutes everything turned black, and I could remember nothing.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span>ACT 2</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;">So I am awake again and this is what I see:</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Man in the coat, uncomfortably close, something flash in his hand, possibly knife.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> It had to be something horrible like that, this was the Butcher after all.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> And then there was the bossman sat on the other side, drinking whiskey and looking at his hand of cards. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> All the lights in the shop, except one, had been turned off, so we were almost in complete darkness.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> And yes, I was beyond scared.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I guess that was the plan.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Could things get worse for me?</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> O yes indeed!</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> My hands had been tied to the chair.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Nobody in the room was speaking so I thought I might as well be the first to break the trend as it was my life up for grabs. Might as well give a go at defending it! So this is how I started:</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Don't do this, Mr B. I am begging you with all my heart. At least give me a chance to get the money back for you. I know what your thinking. 75k is a lot to raise even in a month. Can I do it? You obviously think not, but at least let me try. Kill me now and you have nothing! You will go down just like me! Only it will be worse for you. The coat man slits my throat and sticks in under the ground and it's over for me. But you, Mr B, the nightmare has just started. What will happen to you and your friends? I know you have got connections. I know you owe people money. I mean, where do you get your money from. It's pass the parcel, right? They give to you and you give to me. I know I am good at what I do. And you do as well, look into your heart. You kill me here and now it is over. Completely over. I mean final. Done. For you and me. You need me. Without me there is no money. For goodness sake Mr B! Open your eyes. No! I can see the knife drawing closer! Please! Closer and closer - I can almost feel it! It can't end this way! You have the power, Mr B, to stop this! You can make things right. I am begging of you! If my hands were not tied I would be on my knees right now! Keep the knife away! You know me! When have I ever lied? In all the years that we have known each other I have never let you down. Never talked about you behind your back. I have always done my job. So I made a mistake this time! Give me a second chance. This is stupid! Cut my throat and your bank stays empty! </span><span style="font-family: courier;">Look, Mr B...</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> '</span>It’s Bossman to you.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>You lost the privilege to call me that nickname the moment you tried cover up your mistake and treat me like a fool.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I don’t consider you a friend anymore.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> Nay, those days are over, </span>even if you manage to pay me back, we are still through.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I will never do business with you again.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The day we used to do all those deals together are done.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I don't give second chances.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I can’t afford to.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>You were good for the money back in the day.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I give you cash and you give me more cash back.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It worked.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>We built this town.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>You have had a lot of success and it has gone to your head.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I have seen it before with other guys I’ve lent money to.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Now you are getting involved with things you think you understand but don’t.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>You are making rash decisions.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I can’t do business with a man like that.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>A man like that is dangerous for business.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>You are not the guy I knew ten years ago.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>And I sank a lot of money into your business, and if you don't pay me back I go down, and when I go down I take you with me.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Thats how it works.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But yet you know that?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> If you don't then y</span>ou should do!</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>‘I am taking your shop as collateral.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>You understand?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> And that is just for starters. You can keep your flat. I don't want you homeless. But </span>I need a stake in your kingdom if I am going to take your word going forward.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Up until now I have always like your word, but now I am not too sure.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I think you can be trusted.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Yes.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But I think you have made a lousy decision, a bad move.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I think you played a game and lost.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I think you sank your cash into a bad business, and I think even you know you can’t get anything back.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>You know it’s lost.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It’s a sad way to end things, but I have seen this happen before to lots of people.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>They get the idea, looks gold, they get the cash they jump in and then it all goes up in flames.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>They put their cash into a blazing fire, and get burned in the process.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>You’ve got burned.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I think you have got burned pretty bad, worse than you are letting me know.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I can tell.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I just know these things.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>You are in a pit right now.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>A deep pit.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>And I can’t see you crawling out of it.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>You are stuck!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But it’s not my problem!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I am in the business of money.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I don’t get my money and I make the call.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But here is the good news!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I am going to give you a chance.’ <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The man in the coat was ordered to back down. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span>ACT 3</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;">Outside of the coffee shop the lights flickered and hummed, half alive, and nearly almost dead.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Everything elsewhere was just pure darkness.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> But there was just enough light to see me home. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I saw the man in the coat, the butcher, as I started home he walked beside me. I finally caught a flash of his face in the light...</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I think he wanted me to see.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Damn!</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> It was Frank! </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"> I couldn’t believe the butcher was the man I saw nearly everyday, the man who put food on my table!</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span> We nodded one another, and then went our separate ways.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span> I knew I was lucky to be alive, but the game wasn't over. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I had three weeks to get the money.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> When I got home I had a call to vist the gas station. Unfinished business, maybe?</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Frank was sat on his side of the till with a glass screen protecting him. He had been watching my approach in the security cameras. i saw him in a new light after that, or maybe it would be better for me to put it like this: I saw him in a new shadow.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> He was no longer smiles and pleasantries. He looked at me grimly from behind his spectacles. He handed me a phone and told me to only use it when talking to him.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> When I got home the phone jingled in my pocket and I drew it out and opened it.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'There is a bomb in your flat,' said the voice. 'I put it there this morning. Orders from Mr B. It will detonate in fifteen minutes so you know how much time you have left to disarm it. It's in your kitchen under your sink! Move while you still have time!'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span> I smashed up the whole kitchen I was so panicking so much!</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> But there was the bomb, strapped to the sink pipe. I pulled it out, and turned it off.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Frank called me en minutes later.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'No explosion! Good. That means you are alive. Nice work. Now before you say anything, listening carefully. Mr B does not give second chances. He didn't put you in the ground because he didn't want to deal with the mess. He thought it better to blow you up, and let the authorities blame it on bad gas maintenance. He had it all planned. But here we are. You should be dead. And you will be, soon, if we do not act quickly. Mr B can be pacified if we get him the money. He will forget the bomb job if we pay him. Now I need you to do something for me. Something very important. Something very important to my business. You might have noticed the graffiti in town? "TBK lives." TBK is an abbreviation for THE BIG KING. He is an online drug dealer who operates on the deep web. He is very power, and very dangerous. He runs an online empire that makes millions every month. I want you to create an account on his website, and infiltrate his operation. Your objective is to find his real identity, and leak it to me. Once I have dealt with him I will pay off your debt to Mr B in full. Do we have a deal?'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I told him I had no choice, and that was how the conversation ended.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;">ACT 4</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;">It was time for me to become acquainted with the dark web.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> So I downloaded the app, and entered the abyss...</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I got Pete to help set me up online.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I hated that guy! </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Fat and useless.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Slobbering and sweating. I found him sitting in his chair, numb, sweating, eating chips. Mute. A dead man, ostensibly. he could just about move his bloated battered fish fingers on his keyboard, but as much as I despised his barely living bulk he had a brain in that fat head for sure. I hated to admit it, but he was far smarter than me. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I went round to his place so h e could help get me set up.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> He did so willingly.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Anything for. you,' he said. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Why are you so kind to me?' I responded. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Because you gave me a job when no one else would?'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'I treat you like scum,' I responded. 'Surely you can see it in my face, and hear it in my voice. I despise you! Listening to me! I don't even bother to hide it! You were good for online advertising but now my business is in the gutter I don't need to keep you sweet anymore. Damn! I don't even need to pay you anymore. Actually I can't pay you! So I guess this is me firing you! And now I am laughing at you in your face.'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> He didn't say anything. He looked so defeated...</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I wanted some emotion from him.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I kicked his computer. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I stood on the screen.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> But nothing. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> He just starred, like roadkill on the side of the road, looking at nothing. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I don't think there was anything there.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Because I had what I wanted I just left.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> As far as i was concerned that would be the last time I would ever have to see Pete again, and I was glad about it.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;">ACT 5<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;">Within seconds I had accessed the website and crated my account.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"> My online persona was KEEN.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"> </span><span style="font-family: courier;">I tried to hit up with TBK. It took a long time. I took the time while I waited to explore his expansive website. This guy was selling drugs, narcotics and remedies all over the world! He even had a forum where he gave health advice on how to deal with bullying and depression. He had literally hundreds of thousands of customers. I was in awe, no joke! TBK was a genius! </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> He had built an empire in the shadows. And no one knew who he was.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> While I waiting I did a little poking about the good old wide web. TBK was a name that shot up nearly every time you typed dark web and drugs. He was a big guy on the internet, well known but yet mysterious. No one knew who he was. Looking at the forums his, presuming it was man, loved his products. They spoke about him like he was a saint - TBK cured my arthritis and all that type of thing. But the authorities hated the name TBK. The FBI were after him. They were even dolling out monetary rewards for information! It was all sounding like some crazy real life thriller, and I loved it!<br /> In fact, I found it intoxicating:</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> The mystery of TBK, the success of his business, the adoration he had from his followers, his money his power. </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I couldn't stop reading about it.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I would sit there, with a smoke and a glass of whiskey, scrolling through the forums and thinking, this man is everything I wanted to be. Big, powerful, rich and yet with all this he still also managed to be popular as well.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Not only that but his business was sound - I mean, it was <i>useful</i>. He was genuinely providing a product that was helping people. He wasn't evil, he was spreading happiness. </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> He was a good guy.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> And a good guy getting rich! I had never heard of anything like it before, not ever in my whole life of business and making money.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> You see, I was old school.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> You stood on the little guy. You shafted your friends. You crushed your enemies. You did what you had to. It was the only way to make bread. Omelettes are beaked out of mass destruction - eggs are beaten to death - living things are crushed. That is the world I grew up in. A horrible world full of horrible people and no room for the nice guy.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> And yet this was a nice guy, apparently, and he was running the world from behind a screen. They were operating from behind a veil of true and utter mystery; a living ghost, as it were. Here was someone who was doing actual good, making a difference in a positive way, and yet somehow making mint in the process.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I wanted to know this guy.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I wanted to speak to him.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Heck... I wanted to do business with him!</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> It could be done, I felt. With a stroke of a few keys, a couple of well rounded words, add a little time to the mix, I could be in contact with the mighty mystery that was TBK.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I couldn't wait!</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I had the Bossman out to get me, I hd been killed twice by the man in the coat, and yet I was excited, not terrified. This business with TBK had really got my juices moving. </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I so wanted to speak to man. I wanted to know more about him, and his business. I wanted to know how he got started and what was his inspiration. I mean, I couldn't imagine building an empire on the internet, using the web to communicate literally with hundreds of thousands possibly millions of people.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> TBK was in a league of his own.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I was possibly out of my depth trying to do business with him.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> For sure. </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I was up to my neck in it,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I realised this.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> But it didn't stop the blood from flowing fast in my veins, it didn't stop me from imagining the unimaginable. A world where I could be in complete control, just by sitting on the other side of a screen. </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> To me it sounded like magic, but then I was old school. In my day it was apples and acorns - today it was the cloud - but I was happy to float with clouds even if I couldn't build them, let alone really understand them, I was more than willing to flow with them.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Especially if that cloud led to a nice rainbow with a lovely pot of gold at the end - sorry! There is the old celt buried somewhere deep down in me speaking out!</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I needed to take a break from the computer screen I had been staring at it for too long. I was descending into fairy tale land! needed to get a grip!</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> So I slid along the length of my room, and sitting on the end of my bed I looked at the mirror:</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> <b>IT'S OVER</b></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I can do this:</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> <b>PLEASE STOP - I KNOW YOU</b></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I have got to do this... For my own sake. My own soul. My life is practically over anyway. I am done no matter how you look at it. When you are in the pit, all you can do is fall - and so I shall fall and fall, like a fool, who cares. I don't. Not anymore. I can't afford to.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> <b>WHAT ABOUT THOSE WHO LOVE YOU?</b></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> They are gone. I am gone. I am in the pit. All is darkness. All I can do is put on the mask, and act. ACT</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I took a stroll. I couldn't stop thinking about the business. Sitting on a bench in the streets or on the side of my bed back home made no difference. I was just watching time...</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> </span><span style="font-family: courier;">That evening </span><i style="font-family: courier;">TBK</i><span style="font-family: courier;"> responded'</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"> 'Business first. Talk later. Will you work for me?'</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"> I was looking at myself in the mirror. </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> <b>DON'T DO IT.</b></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><b> </b>I have got no choice. This is life or death.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"> </span><b style="font-family: courier;">DON'T DO IT.</b></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> This is about life and death.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> <b>RUN</b></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;">I got back to my computer and started typing:</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Good to speak to you! I love what you are doing! It is amazing! I have been running businesses in all my life, but what you are doing blows away literally everything I have ever done, every project every deal. You make more in a single month than I have ever made in all my past projects combined. Sorry for all he flattery, it's just I am that much in awe of what you do. No need to explain yourself. I have read all about you prior to this message. I would like to ask for your secret to success! But we don't know each other, so I won't. But I want you to know this: Like you I am all about business, and money. The two are alike, right? And if you think I can help you make money, and obviously make me money too - just being honest here! Send me a message. I am ready to do business. ANYTHING. I mean it. I have got nothing, Literal, with a capital L, literally nothing to lose. One could say I am a dead man typing! Smiley face.'</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> ten seconds later TBK responded:</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'I will send you a package. It will arrive tomorrow morning. Deliver it to No. 19.'</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I agreed to do it.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> He didn't respond.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;">ACT 6</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: courier;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;">The deal was sealed and it was time to get it done.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> It was morning.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> The package arrived.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I looked in the mirror:</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"><b> Don’t Do it.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Don’t do it! <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b></b></span> I know that you want the best for me. I appreciate that. But I need to do this! It is the only way. There is nothing else, don't you understand? You talk to me from a different place - a place in a different time with a little bit of light left in it. A time when my heart beat a different way, when my soul walked another path. But this is me talking <b>now. </b>And right now I know I can do this. I am in control.'</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"> So I followed the directions on the parcel. Eventually I found the right address.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier; font-kerning: none;"> </span><span style="font-family: courier;">The world froze as I approached the door of the building.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span> Yes there was danger.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I felt it.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I knew it was out there.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But it never bothered me, not that day. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I knew it was already over for me, my business was burning, I was in debt, there was already an assassin out to get me - so what did I care?</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> So on I went, alone, into the danger fields...</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I entered the building. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> There was a corridor in front of me. It looked like something you night find in a hospital or a hotel.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I could hear the sound of the electric lights buzzing on the ceiling.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> </span><span style="font-family: courier;">There was no one around. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> All the doors were closed.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Apart from the electric lights there was not a single sound. NO people talking, no chatter of tv's or radios or devices.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> At the end of the corridor was No.19. I knocked the door and dropped the parcel and walked home.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> In the morning I received another message from TBK. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> TBK wrote:</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'You did a good job. You were direct. No questions asked. And you didn't pester my client. That is the key to success in my business. My I respect my clients privacy. Now I know yo can be trusted I will forward more work your way. The last job was a test. Now I know you can be depended on the next job will include payment. Put your payment details on your account today, and you will be paid on completion of the work. Good luck!'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> The next day another parcel arrived.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> No.19, again.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I didn't think nothing of it. It was just a job and it needed to get done. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> So off I went, back to the same building, to the same corridor.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> It was just like before, except one of the doors in the corridor was open. So I got curious, who wouldn't, and poked my head inside! I could hear people talking in their, but there was no one to be seen...</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Strange for sure, but it was none of my business, and I got on with the job. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> When i got home Il checked my account and sure enough it was full of money. I was seriously impressed! Overwhelmed! I had sealed business deals in the past for less pay! And all I had done was deliver a parcel!</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> TBK didn't message that day. I decided to be patient. I guessed he was a clever man, he had founded a massive online empire so he had to be, and if I wanted to learn more about him I was going to have to be careful. Get in there and be too pushy and it might repulse the man. I needed to go slow and earn his trust.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> And with money that good I didn't care how many parcels the damn wanted me to deliver. With a job like that I could pay off my debts in a few months!</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> The next morn ing it was the same thing. A parcel, for the same building, only No.21 this time.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> So off I went to do what I had to do.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> As I approached the building I had that same feeling of danger that I had the first time, like there was something sinister out there watching me. But as I approached nothing happened.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> The corridor was empty. But this time I could hear lots of sounds. There was music, and I could hear people behind the doors, families and friends talking nonsense. It was so strange to me! What felt like an abandoned building the other day was now very much alive. It felt like a thriving community had suddenly moved in! </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> But still, I didn't see anyone. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Then I found No.21. As I knocked the door opened. I put the parcel inside and looked about. No one was there. It was the only room that was completely quiet. No one home, obviously. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Curiosity won out over common sense and I entered the room. I wanted to know more about the kind of clients TBK worked with.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> There was nothing out of the ordinary about the room - it looked a rather cozy place, and there were lots of pictures, photos of people, smiling people, friends, couples, families. The really odd thing is I thought I recognised some of those faces... But no. That was impossible! I had never been in the area before.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I returned home to find my account pumped up with even more lovely money.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I was very happy and slept well that day.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I could do this job forever - I thought.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> The next day I finally got a message from TBK.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> TBK wrote:</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'I am busy right now. But I would like to talk to you later? Let me know if you don't have the time.'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I replied telling him that I would be more than happy to talk.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'We need to discuss business,' he replied. And that was the end of that.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> So I had some time to kill, and feeling both excited and nervous I thought a drink might help.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I was in the bar, all alone. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I was starting to think I was going to have to serve myself - there had to be somebody about, I could hear a radio playing music... the proprietor was into the forties and the fifties, and so they kept all the good old songs playing in the background. there was a sting of nostalgia about the place that I heavily appreciated.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> But I didn't come to the bar to listen to the music - I came for a drink, and I was growing impatient...</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> And then of all people Frank entered.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> He wanted an update.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Keeping to the shadows, he moved behind the bar and poured me a whiskey on the rocks. He waved his hand when I offered him money.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'How is the job?'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I told him it as going well. 'I have infiltrated his website. He manages a massive drug smuggling business. He's selling narcotics, weed, prescription drugs and all the illegal stuff. He has thousands of customers. His business makes millions. He is a very powerful man. There is a real risk that the DEA or the FBI will nab him first. I mean this guy has to be on the governments hot most wanted list! But that's not what you wanted to hear. Fill the glass with another one I will tell you the good stuff! I think you will be happy. Okay. Now listen. I am working for him...(TBK). He has got me doing jobs for him. And he wants to talk tonight. I am taking the careful approach, so as not to spook him! But tonight I am going to try and poke him for information. If I can't get a name, I will definitely try to get an idea of what his location might be. He sends his products via regular looking envelopes, if I can track where they dispatch from then we will have the key to the door of his empire.' </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'I am impressed,' said Frank. He game me a very pleasant looking box. 'A present,' he said. 'It contains my favourite bottle of wine. Enjoy. I look forward to the next time we speak.'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;">ACT 7<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">Luck</span> depends on the flip of the coin, on the whim of fate, and for some reason fate was working with me.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Fate was on my side.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>And thanks to my new affiliation with TBK I was making good money.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> You know?</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I was actually growing second thoughts of betraying TBK to Frank...</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> But no! I couldn't think that way. Frank was a friend who I have known my whole life - even though before now we had never talked before, I knew him, and he was willing to bail me out of my debt, give me a second chance.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I had to nail TBK, and that night was the time to do it.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> So I logged onto my account, and there was a message from TBK:</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Time to talk?'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I replied:</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Yes.'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'I know you are following me...'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I froze. I mean, I literally couldn't move my fingers to respond...</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'It's okay. I am not your enemy. Even though I don't know you, I have decided that I like you! You are a good worker. Reliable. And I think you like the work? Easy money? Right? Work for me and I will help pay off your debts to MR B. Don't respond asking how I know about your relationship with Mr B. All you need to know is that Mr B and the MAN IN THE COAT, are bigger than you think. And they are my enemy. They run a business with similar interests as mine on the deep web. When we were small we were content to ignore one another, but now our business has grown our lines of supply have crossed, and when I began to outbid their customers they decided to end me. For good. I offered them a lucrative trade deal. But they were not interested in an alliance. So we are at war. They wanted a bullet in my brain, or worse. I can't let that happen. You see, our business offer they same products, but we have separate interests. For them the deep web is a side hustle, another means to line their pockets alongside their other business, with investments and the building trade. But I am not like this. I want money, of course, everyone needs to make a living, but I also want to help people. Most of my customers are people who are sick, physically and mentally. My products help them. I help ease their suffering. My business is to heal people. I am not a drug dealer. I am a healer, a doctor. And I will not let the powers that be stop me on my mission. Now go back to the building and find room 19. You will find the door unlocked, and box waiting on the floor. Open the box and consume it contents. After you have done this, return home and log back into your account. We will continue this conversation then.'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> So I returned to the building and found room 19.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> There was the box waiting for me on the floor.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I opened it and inside there was a plastic bag containing a slice of a mushroom. I ate it as instructed, and started my walk home. But the corridor leading to the door seemed to go on and on, like I couldn't reach he end of it! </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Then suddenly all of the rooms started to make a noise, I could hear 50's music and people talking. And then all of the doors opened, but when I tried to go into a room some force, or wind, pushed me back.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> And then i started to go back and back, till I was standing in front of room 19 again.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I could enter room 19. I could hear lots of people talking. There was the buzz of the lights and the sound of the music. The people sounded happy, and the music sounded very upbeat, very pleasant - but yet there was a feeling about the room that was the opposite of pleasant. I felt surrounded by something. something mighty and threatening.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I started to worry I had been poisoned! Maybe that was TBK's intent. He had fathomed out my game and this was his way of ending it. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Was my line of luck about to fizzle out? </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Was this how it was going to end?</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> My heart was beating fast. I was sweating like a mountain hiker. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I loosened my collar. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I started flailing. I collapsed and for a few seconds everything went dark. When I awoke again I was back in my home. So somehow in my crazy drunken state I had made it back to my office?</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Madness.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I sat on the edge of my bed and looked at the mirror.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> In the reflection I looked green and strange, like plants were growing out of me - I had to look away I was so frightened.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I said aloud - 'I am scared.'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><b>I TOLD YOU! DON'T DO IT! </b></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I had no choice. My back was against the wall. I was done for. I owe so much money... They are trying to kill me! </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> WHY DID YOU DO IT?</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I told you. I owed money...</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><b> NO! THAT'S NOT WHAT I ASKED. WHY DI DYOU REALLY DO IT? WHY DID YOU DO ANY OF IT?</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Because... I was acting. If you don't act then you are not alive. No act and no life. Every morning I put on a mask, and I perform. It's the only way. What else is there to do? Mope around. Keep my head down. Work in a shop, do the 9 till 5 thing till I retire. Die rotting and unknown. there is no point living unless you become a thing - put on the mask and act. You have to act like you are on stage if you really want to live. And I have acted all my life! I always knew that I was different from all the other kids at school when I was growing up. Those kids turned into adults and spent their days moving either left or right, to the side. But I knew I was different from them. I wasn't going to float around, bob about left and right like the others, I was going to go up! I was going to grow. Grow like a tree! You know what comes from little acorns, right? I was going to up, and I was going to branch and leaf. And look at what I have done! Look at the business I have built! </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><b> AND YET HERE YOU ARE. ARE HAPPY NOW?</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I made one mistake! Out of a hundred deals ONE went wrong! One branch was cut off! But branches can grow back and bear new leaves. And that is what I am doing right now! I am growing. That is why i put on the mask and act! Without thew act then the whole tree might as well be chopped down...</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><b> AND YET, ARE YOU HAPPY?</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I finally woke up in bed. The nightmare was over!</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I returned to the computer and replied to TBK, 'I have done as you asked.'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> And TBK responded:</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Are you with me or against me?'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I responded saying that I was with him.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Tomorrow morning a parcel will arrive outside your door. Open it. Inside you will find a tool. You will use it remove Frank from this world. He is a very dangerous man. With him taken out of the scene his business online will collapse. The Bossman will back off. Are you with me.'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I replied:</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'I am with you.'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Once the deed is done I will pay off your debts. And more. I will offer you permanent work. In a few months you will be very rich. Are you with me?'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I said that I was.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;">In the morning a parcel arrived. There was a gun inside. I was scared, my hand started to shake when I held the thing, but I knew I had to do it. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I waited till night.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Then I loaded the weapon and made my way towards the gas station.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I was going to go in and unload a round into Frank, quick and clean, job done!</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Only...</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Frank wasn't there.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> The gas station wasn't closed! </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I got in. But there was nobody around!</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I looked everywhere, even in the backrooms.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> The gas station was empty.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I started to get scared...</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Did Frank know what I was doing?</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Was it a trap?</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Were TBK and Frank working together to get me?</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Was the whole business just an elaborate lure to drive the final nail in my coffin?</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> It seemed that way at the time.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I returned home and opening a bottle of whiskey proceeded to drink myself to sleep. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> </span></p><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span>ACT 8 </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;">The next day I got a phone call.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> It was Frank.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'It's over,' he started. 'We no longer need you to do the work.'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I asked him for an explanation.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Frank told me that TBK had been arrested!</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'He was caught? Mo way! I told you something like this was going to happen didn't I? The government beat us to the race!'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I checked the internet. It was true! TBK was gone and his website had been taken down! </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Yes. TBK is no more,' said Frank. 'A very interesting business indeed. It turns out that he was a local, actually. In fact, you <i>knew</i> him. He lives a few blocks way. He worked for you, I think. A man named Pete?</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> NO! That fat useless slob who never left his house...</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> He was...</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Damn he had done it, just like he said! FAME AND FORTUNE! He had lost it all, and won!</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> He was the man with the plan!</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> He was the winner...</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I had never felt such a fool.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Frank put the phone down on me and I was left reeling from the madness of it all.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> That fat slob had outsmarted us all! He had played us against one another! He was going to spend the rest of his life in prison but it didn't melt the fact that he had tricked us, and won the game.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I went for a walk to try and clear my mind. It didn't work. I felt like I was losing my mind, it really did.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I just kept seeing that man's fat flabby face. The fat sweating pig! Sitting on his yellow sweat stained sofa, with his laptop awkwardly plopped on his chunky punching in the keys with his sausage fingers running his vast empire - he was my employee who I sacked and yet he had me working for him for all that time!</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I felt humiliated.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I wanted throttle him. TBK scum!</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> i wanted to expose him to his clients, show them what a loser he really was behind the scenes. He made us all think he was some kind of mighty drug lord... but he was just a dog in a room, all alone with a computer.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> But he was clever...</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Sorry - but I can't take that away from him.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> </span><span style="font-family: courier;">It had been a sad day for me, and slowly I returned home, pondering with every step that I took, till I closed my front door behind me.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span> Then I received a phone call:</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> It was Pete, phoning me from prison.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I asked him why he had done this.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'You acted like you owned me,' he said. 'I was always a loser. Couldn't find a job. You employed me out of pity, and because your friends pushed you. And even though i helped you build up your business, spread your name across the internet, I was always scum to you. I always admired you. Even when you trash talked me. To my face, sometimes, called me names, insulted me. I looked up to you. Rich and successful man that you are. I wanted to be like you. I asked for your help and you just stood on me. I wanted to prove you wrong. I wanted to destroy your business. That's why I pushed you to accept the building contract. </span><span style="font-family: courier;">I planted the body they found. It was my brother, actually. Yes, I did have brother, if you bothered to find out. Overdose: he couldn't take it. I loved him. He was the only person left to care for me after our mother and father passed away. We were a team. He'd been through hell, you know? During a robbery he took a bullet to the head, survived with a few stitches. You know, he wasn't the same after that. It was just the trauma, but the bullet had shaken his skull up. He became a genius! He could play the piano after the operation. He wrote his own songs. He said this to me one day:</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><i><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.03);">Something in you is endless, and that is what I love. I know that your joy will go on and on, if time is froze or if it is fast, there is never a moment forgotten in thy glory. And even if I am lost I know I am not the last to say, in you, </span>infinity<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.03);">, please display, in thy glory cast please play: Forever is today.</span></i></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;">'I will never forget it when he died. But then you gave me a job. </span><span style="font-family: courier;">I would be on the streets without you. I loved you. But you destroyed me at the same time. You treated me like scum. You spoke to me like filth. You were all I had for family. I tried to help you. I worked so hard for you. But you just trampled on me. I was just another employee, another pawn to make you money in your game. I wanted you to know how I felt, I wanted you to know the darkness that I had lived through. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'And here we are. The darkness must be very real right now.'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> The hand that was holding the phone started shaking, with anger and with fear - a nasty combination for any man!</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I said this to him:</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Look, Pete! You must stop! You are sick! Mad! This isn't a game! I could be ruined here!'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> he replied, 'Adieu, from one ruined man to another.'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'Don't you dare cut me off!' I cried. 'You can't tell frank about our business! If he were to find out...'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'I have no control over what happens to you now. All of our messages are stored on my computer, and my computer is now in the hands of Frank.'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'But this is my life...'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> 'But is it?'</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Pete ended it like that.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> So <span style="background-color: white;">I was well and truly done for. O yes! It was over for me. More than ever before it was over. </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span style="background-color: white;"> I could withdraw what cash I had and run - I could outrun Mr B... But not Frank.</span></span></p><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> The only person I couldn't run from was the man in the coat. that fiend could get you anywhere. </span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> He was the angel of death in human form.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> So what was I to do?</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> </span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> So, I sent him a gift - his favourite bottle of wine. Actually, it was the same box he gave me. Only the bottle had been replaced by the bomb I found under my sink. </span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Return to sender and the deed was done.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> And what became the fate of the bottle of wine you wonder?</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Why I drank it of course! </span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> Yes.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> That's it - the contents of the bottle were glugged down the neck in the most unromantic fashion imaginable!</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I didn't even bother with a glass.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I waited till the evening, till the stars were in the sky - and then I started to drink!</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> O how merry it all was that night!<br /> There were the stars and then the stars - so many stars growing from one another.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> The skyline lit up with bright lights everywhere - the city was ablaze! My quiet hometown was now full of sound and excitement! O the stars! The light! In one fatal second darkness had turned back to day!</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> And before the warm orange glow I danced and O how I danced! </span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> I watched the light play in the dark - I watched the orange waves go up and down, I felt them as I emptied the wine bottle down my neck. </span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: courier;"> It was over and I had never felt so glorious!</span></div><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: courier;">THE END</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: courier;">=========================================</span></p><div><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-80192571404221643062023-10-09T09:06:00.002-07:002023-10-09T09:07:29.157-07:00#obunga RuMbLeS A RICH POSH House !<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/GWcj1CVscpI?si=cf_oEGuCd0GNlTzI" style="background-image: url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GWcj1CVscpI/hqdefault.jpg);" width="480"></iframe><div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">===========================================================</span></div><div><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181560144667464310.post-80367534703261700152023-10-06T09:00:00.002-07:002023-10-06T09:03:23.323-07:00#obunga IS EVERYWHERE !!<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/0D_VAh0p65Q?si=xlP_FJkSHYjDR4Sj" width="480"></iframe><div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">===========================================================</span></div><div><div><p style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Also take a look at:</span><br /><u>My Games</u><br />Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/give-em-hell">Give 'em Hell<br /></a>Play <a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/elfin-quest">Elfin Quest<br /></a><a href="http://philome.la/septic_stork/witches-brew">Witches Brew</a> a short text based adventure game!<br />Also take a look at:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZg_Oa_kNnks9Pg9-k9dBQ">My YouTube Channel</a><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00DF31274">My Books</a><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120530045443/http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/05/legend-of-rudwin-by-sean-wadley.html" target="_blank">THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW</a></div></div>Sean Wadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699872502758525620noreply@blogger.com0