#obunga is OVER !

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THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW

DUSK HD : a glimpse...

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THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW

#obunga SPLASH OUT !

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Jim's Subway 30: It's a mess Jim...

  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.

  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.

  But what made this particular hangover so bad is that it was mingled with guilt.

  He knew straight away in the first few seconds that he had made a massive mistake.

  Jim's vision was blurry, and he stumbled as he dragged his aching limbs over to the sink to drink some water.

  His every move was agonising.  

  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:

  'Quickly!  Run!  There is a fire in the house!'

  Fire?  

  No!  

  He had to be going mad!  He hoped he was just hallucinating.  It would not be the first time the first time of course.

  Time to go back to bed then...

  '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!'

  What a mess...

  This was Jim's worst nightmares served on a platter.

  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.  

  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.

  'It could have been worse,' said Jim.  'At least we have still got a roof over our heads!  Now I am going to bed.'

  'We have a roof for now, sure we do, but for how long?' Rod replied.

  Jim didn't understand and asked the man to explain himself better.

  'This fire was not an accident.  It was deliberate.  It was to serve as a warning,' said Rod.

  A warning?  What was Rod talking about?

  'I think you have some explaining to do,' said Jim.

  Once they were back inside a clearly shaken Rod opened up about a few things.

  '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 they want paying back...'

  So who did he owe?

  Rod told Jim the money came from the Castle.

  '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...'

  Great, thought Jim.  He couldn't wait to hear what Rod had to say next:

  '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.'

  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.  

  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,

  But he had never expected the man to land him splat right in the middle of a war.

  Jim had to pour himself a drink - G-Juice no less.

  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.  

  He gulped the juice down in one flow.

  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:

  '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.'

  Jim wanted to attack Rod, so instead he decided to sit down.

  '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.'

  'I have told you the truth,' Rod replied.

  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.

  Any world other than the one he was currently living in.

  

(Remember!  All spelling errors and grammatical mistakes are intentional - the author 😆)

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Jim's Subway 29: "I WANT to lose EVERYTHING!"

'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!'

  Without uttering a single word Butch nodded his ugly head, and went straight to work.

  He phoned Jim sometime in the evening with this:

  '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!'

  Jim asked Butch if he had seen Rod communicate with anybody at all.

  Butch responded:

  '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?'

  '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!'

  '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.'

  '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.'

  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.'  

  Jim told Butch to never allow any of his eyes to leave Rod.  Butch responded:

  'Well, if I think Rod is taking a wrong turn I don't have to kill him...  I could just break his fingers...'

  'NO physical damage not unless I order it,' Jim replied.  

  And then Jim turned off the phone.

  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.  

  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.  

    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:

  The one heart said:

  THIS is all GOOD!  We are going to be rich!  That heart was very excited, and beat very happily inside his chest.  

  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.

  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.

  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! 

  Jim felt the need to do two things at that moment:

  1.  Calm his nerves.

  2.  And celebrate!

  And so he decided that was exactly what he was going to do.

  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.

  And Jim found such ears eventually hanging off the side of Mr Ted Bobbleworth's large nobly head.

  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:

  '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!'

  'Let's talk!' said Jim, and Ted invited him into his shop!

  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.

  But he could also see the potential for business...

  There were indeed plenty of empty shelves ripe for loading with the G-Juice brand.

  O yes!  Business could been done in such a place indeed!

  So it was time for Jim to get drunk and make friends with an old enemy!

  'Let's talk pounds and paper!' said Jim, raising his first glass of whiskey.

  The night had begun and the drinking had even begun, and Jim was already drunk on his ambition for his product.  

  'We are going to make Fenwick the production centre for the most beloved alcoholic beverage in the country!' he said.  

  'With Tony's money at your back you are going to b e a very rich man,' said Ted.  

  '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!'

  'Don't tempt fate,' said Ted.  'There is always time for things to go wrong!'

  '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.'

  'That number is better left in the bin,' said Ted.    Ted then recommended Jim throw the paper away and forget about it.  

  But when Jim herd this he just laughed.  

  He was very drunk at that point in their conversation.

  'I am going to phone them!  And then I am going to challenge them!  I am the king of this city now!'

  Ted could not believe what he was listening to.  You could see the shock in his face!

  '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.'

  Jim finished his whiskey and putting down his glass he held out his hand and asked Ted to hand him the phone.

  'I won't do it,' Ted replied.

  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.

  Jim was very drunk, as we know, but he was also very serious.

  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.

  Smiling, Jim punched the numbers in.  The phone rung thrice, three times yes, and then the gates into the castle opened...

(Remember!  All spelling errors and grammatical mistakes are intentional - the author 😆)

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THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW

#obunga is OUT THERE !

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THE LEGEND OF RUDWIN REVIEW

NEVER meet old school friends

Is it ever a good idea to meet up with old friends?

BLOOD-HOUNDS:

THE PLAYERS:

Will
Rich
Wes

ACT I

What do you do about the past?  

  You leave it there - where it belongs.

  That's right, you forget about it, like it hasn't ever happened.

  That is what a sensible person does.  

  I should have declined...

  I should have said NO!

  WHY DIDN'T I SAY NO?

  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.

  And so it was for me, that evening when I accepted an invitation to school reunion to meet some old friends.

  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.

  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.

  And who should be the first person I meet on arrival then an old school bully, Will.

  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.

  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.

  He was a nasty piece of work was Will, back in the day, but I knew well that people changed.  

  And it was a long time ago.

  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.

  He said:

   'It's good to see you again Rich.'

  I replied.

  '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:

  '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.  

  'And now it is all gone.

  '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!'

  Will replied:

  '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!'

  AS SLIM AS THE WILLOW WISPS THAT USED TO GROW IN THE PLAYING FIELD.

  He was joking again, good old Will!

  Such a joker!

  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.  

  This was somebody who I immediately knew I was really going to get on with!

  '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!'

  We both chuckled.

  '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!'

  'I like that!' Will replied.  'I am certainly in the pit...  But heck!  Whatever.  Let me get you a drink!'

   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.  

  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.

  I felt like I was with family.

  It was a good feeling.

  Will pulled my attention to a kindly looking gentleman sat alone at a table nursing a drink.  

  'Look that's Wes over there!  Such a lovely fellow!'

  'O yes!  Wes!  I remember.  Wasn't he the cleaner?'

  '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...'

  'So do I,' I replied.  'What rebels we were, hey?'

  We both sighed.  Those were the days!

  '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.'

  'Let the past be just that,' Will replied.  'It will do us good to let it rest there, forever.'

  I agreed with him.

  Will had grown wise with time, it seemed!  

  I liked him even more!

  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.

  But no.

  In a few hours after my arrival I had settled old debts, stomped out bitter memories, ended a quarrel, and made a new friend!

  All was good!

ACT II

After another drink Will started to open up a little bit more about his current personal situation.

  He had hinted at the begin about some business that hadn't worked out well for him.  Now I was about to learn more.

  '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.'

  'Is it really that bad?'

  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...'

  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?

  I felt the compulsion as a friend to push Will for more information regarding his latest dilemma.

  What was his problem?  

  'Like what?' I said.

  '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...'

  I was shocked.

  '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!'

  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.

  I decided there and then that I was going to help my old friend.  

  I asked him about the collectors.

  Will replied, and told me they were very serious men.  Loan sharks who collected in blood.

  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.  

  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.

  But not so!

  He continued to laugh.

  I started to feel uncomfortable.  

  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.

  'Thanks for the free money old friend,' said Will sarcastically.  'That will help pay for the car!'

  'What about the business?'

  'What business?'

  'You told me you had debts to pay?'

  'I say a lot of things, Rich.  But then you know me, don't you?'

  'So you didn't buy the shop?'

  '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!'

  

ACT III

  Say what?  NO!  I couldn't believe it!

  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...

  Why would he do that?

  We were adults... old friends...

  Perhaps some people don't change - such people live outside the flow of time.  Now I knew such a thing was possible!  Time can  move mountains, shape seas, kill nations, but it will never deter the whims of a fool!

  I told Will I wanted the check back.  

  He responded by laughing in my face.

  'You are not getting anything out of me.  Finders keepers,' Will replied.

  'I gave you a loan.  You have to pay me back!'

  '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.'

  'You can't steal from me!'

  '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!'

  'I want my money back Will!'

  'Right.  You won't the money?  Then get your fists out and let's see if you can do better than you used to.'

  Will started to taunt me:

  '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...'

  I responded:

  '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.  

  '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!'

  'You wouldn't do that to me?'

  '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.  Go on - take the roll.'

  'I can't believe you would threaten me in such a way.'

  'Believe me.  I am doing that right now.'

  'But...  I thought we were friends.'

  '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.'

  'No.  I don't believe you.  You are weak.  You were always a coward.  No!  Your bluffing.'

  'Okay.  Then call my bluff!  There is the door...  USE IT!'

  'I can't believe you are doing this!'

  'Believe it!'

  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!'

  'I don't want it!'

  'Then you are going to set me up?'

  '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.'

  'You are scum!'

  '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!'

  'How dare you speak about my father in such a way!  You never knew him!'

  '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..."  

  '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...'

  We argued from one room to the next.

  At that moment we were in the kitchen.  

  Will grabbed a dinner knife and stabbed me in the guts. 

ACT IIII

'I've got you!'

  It was Wes, the old school cleaner.  He had attended the party, and had been in his own quiet corner until now.  He rushed over to my aid just in time, bless is heart!  I don't know what I would have done without him without him then...

  Wes told me not to touch the knife!

  '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.'

  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.

  'I am going to drive you back to my place,' he said.

  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?

  Why drive me back to his house?

  Surely the hospital was the place to go to?

  So I asked him what he was thinking about.

  And Wes replied:

  '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!'

And so it came about, the end of my days...

END

  

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#obunga IS CRAZY !!!

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#obunga IS BONKERS!

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MR GOODBYE

  Man in The Coat says GOODBYE ?  MR GOODBYE (This is a continuous work and I will add to it over time).

It’s an act!  Life is an act.  No act and no life.  

YOU DON’T LIVE UNLESS YOU Act

INTRO

I made my rules and I was ready to die by them, literally.  

  I wasn’t the only person living in the estate who had ambition.  The only one who had a vision.  The only one who wanted to get things done.

  So there was me and three other guys.

  One of them was a friend.  We called him Bossman or Mr B for short, because he was the one who had the money, he was a walking bank account.  Yes.  He was a loanshark, but if you were good with money then he was a good to have around.  I liked the man, he was tough, and direct.  We have done a lot of business together.  Sealed a lot of deals.  I don’t know how he looked at me but I looked at him as a friend.

  The second man with a soul in the estate was Frank.  He owned the local gas station.  I saw him everyday but we never held a single conversation in all our lives!

  The the third guy in town worth mentioning was a tech guy called Pete.

  Pete and I argue a lot.  We were so different we could have been doppelgangers.

  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.  He wanted tone one of these online flunkers - he was an idiot.  I only kept in contact with him because he was good at promoting my business online.  He was on my payroll, my money put a roof over his head.  I bullied him a lot.  I was technically his landlord.  I made his life hard.  It was fun, for me anyway.  Gave me something to take my stress out on.  Whatever.  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. 

  So that’s the three main guys in town, make it four if you want to include me.  And yes, we all had plans.

  

THE PLAYERS:

Mr Bossman

Frank 

The Nameless Main Character

ACT 1

Mr B wanted to talk with me at the coffee shop.

  Along the way to the shop I was followed.  

  They made it obvious.  When I stopped they stopped.  When I walked they walked.

  It was the man in the coat…

  When you saw the man in the coat you knew you were in dead trouble.  

  There was nothing I could do except keep walking.  If the man in the coat was on my trail there was no point running.  No one could get away from him.  

  Maybe Mr B would be able to h help me!  

  So I quickened my stop and did not stop till I was through the shop door.

  Mr B had a table set up with cards, smokes and coffee.

  I took off my coat and sat down.

  Mr B started ti talk first.  He was direct.  He didn’t like small talk.  My kind of guy.  He got straight down to business:

  ‘You have got about a month,’ he started.

  I took a seat, drank my coffee, and listened.  

  ‘Do  you think you can pull some kind of magic trick?’ he continued.  ‘Are you a magician and I don’t know about it?  Honestly I am interested!  Tell me what kind of tricks do you know?  Can you concur money out of thin air?  Hmm.  Maybe not.  How about this then…  Something a bit more realistic: can you make dead bodies disappear?’

  I wanted to cry.  He knew everything.  I don’t know how he did it…  I guess it's why we called him the Bossman.  

  ‘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.'

  'Don't you mean, My fifty thousand,' Mr B interjected.

  'I am being serious here!'

  '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.'

  '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.'

  'How do we know it's a murder?'

  '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.  Probably a stiff put there by the butcher.'

  The Butcher was another name for the "man in the coat" - or just MR GOODBYE.

  'How do you know that?'

  '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.  New people took over.  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:

RUN RUN - You can do it!  Escape!  Get out.  Take what's left and flee!

  

  

  '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.

  '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.'

  The man in the coat had entered the coffee shop.  

  He slipped in without me noticing.

  What a sneak!

  But then that was his trade.

  He was a ghost.  

  within a few minutes everything turned black, and I could remember nothing.

ACT 2

So I am awake again and this is what I see:

  Man in the coat, uncomfortably close, something flash in his hand, possibly knife.

  It had to be something horrible like that, this was the Butcher after all.

  And then there was the bossman sat on the other side, drinking whiskey and looking at his hand of cards.  

  All the lights in the shop, except one, had been turned off, so we were almost in complete darkness.

  And yes, I was beyond scared.

  I guess that was the plan.

  Could things get worse for me?

  O yes indeed!

  My hands had been tied to the chair.

  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:

  '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!  Look, Mr B...

  'It’s Bossman to you.  You lost the privilege to call me that nickname the moment you tried cover up your mistake and treat me like a fool.  I don’t consider you a friend anymore.  Nay, those days are over, even if you manage to pay me back, we are still through.  I will never do business with you again.  The day we used to do all those deals together are done.  I don't give second chances.  I can’t afford to.  You were good for the money back in the day.  I give you cash and you give me more cash back.  It worked.  We built this town.

  You have had a lot of success and it has gone to your head.  I have seen it before with other guys I’ve lent money to.  Now you are getting involved with things you think you understand but don’t.  You are making rash decisions.  I can’t do business with a man like that.  A man like that is dangerous for business.  You are not the guy I knew ten years ago.  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.  Thats how it works.  But yet you know that?  If you don't then you should do!

  ‘I am taking your shop as collateral.  You understand?  And that is just for starters.  You can keep your flat.  I don't want you homeless.  But I need a stake in your kingdom if I am going to take your word going forward.  Up until now I have always like your word, but now I am not too sure.  I think you can be trusted.  Yes.  But I think you have made a lousy decision, a bad move.  I think you played a game and lost.  I think you sank your cash into a bad business, and I think even you know you can’t get anything back.  You know it’s lost.  It’s a sad way to end things, but I have seen this happen before to lots of people.  They get the idea, looks gold, they get the cash they jump in and then it all goes up in flames.  They put their cash into a blazing fire, and get burned in the process.  You’ve got burned.  I think you have got burned pretty bad, worse than you are letting me know.  I can tell.  I just know these things.  You are in a pit right now.  A deep pit.  And I can’t see you crawling out of it.  You are stuck!  But it’s not my problem!  I am in the business of money.  I don’t get my money and I make the call.  But here is the good news!  I am going to give you a chance.’  

  The man in the coat was ordered to back down.  

ACT 3

Outside of the coffee shop the lights flickered and hummed, half alive, and nearly almost dead.

  Everything elsewhere was just pure darkness.

  But there was just enough light to see me home. 

  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...

  I think he wanted me to see.

  Damn!

  It was Frank!  

  I couldn’t believe the butcher was the man I saw nearly everyday, the man who put food on my table!

  We nodded one another, and then went our separate ways.

  I knew I was lucky to be alive, but the game wasn't over.  

  I had three weeks to get the money.

  When I got home I had a call to vist the gas station.  Unfinished business, maybe?

  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.

  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.

  When I got home the phone jingled in my pocket and I drew it out and opened it.

  '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!'

  I smashed up the whole kitchen I was so panicking so much!

  But there was the bomb, strapped to the sink pipe.  I pulled it out, and turned it off.

  Frank called me en minutes later.

  '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?'

  I told him I had no choice, and that was how the conversation ended.

ACT 4

It was time for me to become acquainted with the dark web.

  So I downloaded the app, and entered the abyss...

  I got Pete to help set me up online.

  I hated that guy! 

  Fat and useless.

  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.  

  I went round to his place so h e could help get me set up.

  He did so willingly.

  'Anything for. you,' he said.  

  'Why are you so kind to me?' I responded.  

  'Because you gave me a job when no one else would?'

  '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.'

  He didn't say anything.  He looked so defeated...

  I wanted some emotion from him.

  I kicked his computer.  

  I stood on the screen.

  But nothing. 

  He just starred, like roadkill on the side of the road, looking at nothing.  

  I don't think there was anything there.

  Because I had what I wanted I just left.

  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.

ACT 5 

Within seconds I had accessed the website and crated my account.

  My online persona was KEEN.

  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!  

  He had built an empire in the shadows.  And no one knew who he was.

  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!
  In fact, I found it intoxicating:

  The mystery of TBK, the success of his business, the adoration he had from his followers, his money his power.  

  I couldn't stop reading about it.

  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.

  Not only that but his business was sound - I mean, it was useful.  He was genuinely providing a product that was helping people.  He wasn't evil, he was spreading happiness. 

  He was a good guy.

  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.

  You see, I was old school.

  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.

  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.

  I wanted to know this guy.

  I wanted to speak to him.

  Heck...   I wanted to do business with him!

  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.

  I couldn't wait!

  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.  

  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.

  TBK was in a league of his own.

  I was possibly out of my depth trying to do business with him.

  For sure.  

  I was up to my neck in it,

  I realised this.

  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.  

  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.

  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!

  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!

  So I slid along the length of my room, and sitting on the end of my bed I looked at the mirror:

  

  IT'S OVER

  I can do this:

  PLEASE STOP - I KNOW YOU

  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.

  WHAT ABOUT THOSE WHO LOVE YOU?

  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

  

  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...

  That evening TBK responded'

  'Business first.  Talk later.  Will you work for me?'

  I was looking at myself in the mirror.  

  DON'T DO IT.

  I have got no choice.  This is life or death.

  DON'T DO IT.

  This is about life and death.

  RUN

I got back to my computer and started typing:

  '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.'

  ten seconds later TBK responded:

  'I will send you a package.  It will arrive tomorrow morning.  Deliver it to No. 19.'

  I agreed to do it.

  He didn't respond.

ACT 6 

The deal was sealed and it was time to get it done.

  It was morning.

  The package arrived.

  I looked in the mirror:

  Don’t Do it.  Don’t do it!  

  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 now.  And right now I know I can do this.  I am in control.'

  

  So I followed the directions on the parcel.  Eventually I found the right address.

  The world froze as I approached the door of the building.

  Yes there was danger.  I felt it.  I knew it was out there.  But it never bothered me, not that day.  

  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?

  So on I went, alone, into the danger fields...

  I entered the building.  

  There was a corridor in front of me.  It looked like something you night find in a hospital or a hotel.

  I could hear the sound of the electric lights buzzing on the ceiling.

  There was no one around.  

  All the doors were closed.

  Apart from the electric lights there was not a single sound.  NO people talking, no chatter of tv's or radios or devices.

  At the end of the corridor was No.19.  I knocked the door and dropped the parcel and walked home.

  In the morning I received another message from TBK.  

  TBK wrote:

  '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!'

  The next day another parcel arrived.

  No.19, again.

  I didn't think nothing of it.  It was just a job and it needed to get done. 

  So off I went, back to the same building, to the same corridor.

  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...

  Strange for sure, but it was none of my business, and I got on with the job.  

  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!

  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.

  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!

  The next morn ing it was the same thing.  A parcel, for the same building, only No.21 this time.

  So off I went to do what I had to do.

  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.

  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!  

  But still, I didn't see anyone.  

  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. 

  Curiosity won out over common sense and I entered the room.  I wanted to know more about the kind of clients TBK worked with.

  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.

  I returned home to find my account pumped up with even more lovely money.

  I was very happy and slept well that day.

  I could do this job forever - I thought.

  The next day I finally got a message from TBK.

  TBK wrote:

  'I am busy right now.  But I would like to talk to you later?  Let me know if you don't have the time.'

  I replied telling him that I would be more than happy to talk.

  'We need to discuss business,' he replied.  And that was the end of that.

  So I had some time to kill, and feeling both excited and nervous I thought a drink might help.

  I was in the bar, all alone.  

  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.

  But I didn't come to the bar to listen to the music - I came for a drink, and I was growing impatient...

  And then of all people Frank entered.

  He wanted an update.

  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.

  'How is the job?'

  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.'  

  '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.'

ACT 7 

Luck depends on the flip of the coin, on the whim of fate, and for some reason fate was working with me.  Fate was on my side.  And thanks to my new affiliation with TBK I was making good money.

  You know?

  I was actually growing second thoughts of betraying TBK to Frank...

  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.

  I had to nail TBK, and that night was the time to do it.

  So I logged onto my account, and there was a message from TBK:

  'Time to talk?'

  I replied:

  'Yes.'

  'I know you are following me...'

  I froze.  I mean, I literally couldn't move my fingers to respond...

  '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.'

  So I returned to the building and found room 19.

  There was the box waiting for me on the floor.

  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!  

  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.

  And then i started to go back and back, till I was standing in front of room 19 again.

  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.

  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.  

  Was my line of luck about to fizzle out?  

  Was this how it was going to end?

  My heart was beating fast.  I was sweating like a mountain hiker.  

  I loosened my collar.  

  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?

  Madness.

  I sat on the edge of my bed and looked at the mirror.

  In the reflection I looked green and strange, like plants were growing out of me - I had to look away I was so frightened.

  I said aloud - 'I am scared.'

  

I TOLD YOU!  DON'T DO IT!  

  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!  

  WHY DID YOU DO IT?

  I told you.  I owed money...

  NO!  THAT'S NOT WHAT I ASKED.  WHY DI DYOU REALLY DO IT?  WHY DID YOU DO ANY OF IT?

  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!  

  AND YET HERE YOU ARE.  ARE HAPPY NOW?

  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...

  AND YET, ARE YOU HAPPY?

  I finally woke up in bed.  The nightmare was over!

  I returned to the computer and replied to TBK, 'I have done as you asked.'

  And TBK responded:

  'Are you with me or against me?'

  I responded saying that I was with him.

  '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.'

  I replied:

  'I am with you.'

  '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?'

  I said that I was.

  

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.  

  I waited till night.

  Then I loaded the weapon and made my way towards the gas station.

  I was going to go in and unload a round into Frank, quick and clean, job done!

  Only...

  Frank wasn't there.

  The gas station wasn't closed!  

  I got in.  But there was nobody around!

  I looked everywhere, even in the backrooms.

  The gas station was empty.

  I started to get scared...

  Did Frank know what I was doing?

  Was it a trap?

  Were TBK and Frank working together to get me?

  Was the whole business just an elaborate lure to drive the final nail in my coffin?

  It seemed that way at the time.

  I returned home and opening a bottle of whiskey proceeded to drink myself to sleep.  

  

ACT 8 

The next day I got a phone call.

  It was Frank.

  'It's over,' he started.  'We no longer need you to do the work.'

  I asked him for an explanation.

  Frank told me that TBK had been arrested!

  '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!'

  I checked the internet.  It was true!  TBK was gone and his website had been taken down!  

  'Yes.  TBK is no more,' said Frank.  'A very interesting business indeed.  It turns out that he was a local, actually.  In fact, you knew him.  He lives a few blocks way.  He worked for you, I think.  A man named Pete?

  NO!  That fat useless slob who never left his house...

  He was...

  Damn he had done it, just like he said!  FAME AND FORTUNE!  He had lost it all, and won!

  He was the man with the plan!

  He was the winner...

  I had never felt such a fool.

  Frank put the phone down on me and I was left reeling from the madness of it all.

  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.

  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.

  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!

  I felt humiliated.

  I wanted throttle him.  TBK scum!

  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.

  But he was clever...

  Sorry - but I can't take that away from him.

  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.

  Then I received a phone call:

  It was Pete, phoning me from prison.

  I asked him why he had done this.

  '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.  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:

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, infinity, please display, in thy glory cast please play: Forever is today.

  

'I will never forget it when he died.  But then you gave me a job.  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.  

  'And here we are.  The darkness must be very real right now.'

  The hand that was holding the phone started shaking, with anger and with fear - a nasty combination for any man!

  I said this to him:

  'Look, Pete!  You must stop!  You are sick!  Mad!  This isn't a game!  I could be ruined here!'

  he replied, 'Adieu, from one ruined man to another.'

  'Don't you dare cut me off!' I cried.  'You can't tell frank about our business!  If he were to find out...'

  '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.'

  'But this is my life...'

  'But is it?'

  Pete ended it like that.

    

  So I was well and truly done for.  O yes!  It was over for me.  More than ever before it was over.  

  I could withdraw what cash I had and run - I could outrun Mr B... But not Frank.

  The only person I couldn't run from was the man in the coat.  that fiend could get you anywhere.  

  He was the angel of death in human form.

  So what was I to do?

  

  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.  

  Return to sender and the deed was done.

  And what became the fate of the bottle of wine you wonder?

  Why I drank it of course!  

  Yes.

  That's it - the contents of the bottle were glugged down the neck in the most unromantic fashion imaginable!

  I didn't even bother with a glass.

  I waited till the evening, till the stars were in the sky - and then I started to drink!

  O how merry it all was that night!
  There were the stars and then the stars - so many stars growing from one another.

  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!

  And before the warm orange glow I danced and O how I danced!  

  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.  

  It was over and I had never felt so glorious!

THE END

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