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.
There were the stars and then the stars - so many stars growing from one another.
THE END
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