-Part one-Game
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I think perhaps before the monster changed me that I might have been some sort of laborer, the cold never seems to bother me and my hands are rough feeling, though piecing together remnants of who I was before from all the things that make up who I am now is almost fruitless I cant help myself, perhaps its because I’m out so much, because Ive only myself to think of, myself and the monster. Though I bought this gun and this knife six years ago when I resolved to hunt it, I hadn’t once pointed them at anyone until I haplessly stumbled upon something my fear should have kept me from, something that my feelings should have made more memorable.
It was during that hour of the night when all the buildings lights are off, that period between night and day when the world is truly silent, truly still when I came upon the building, the aged structure the least likely to have light within, the most clearly contrast from the mood of the scene. I paid it no mind at first but as I passed I was spotted and a voice called to me and though I tried to pretend not to hear as a passer by it was expected that I respond and so I moved inside. Greeting me there was a woman in a cocktail dress with a scarf wrapped around her head letting her crimson hair fall down over one eye and out the back, she held a long, narrow pipe in one hand and sat behind a desk with a drink and several well dressed individuals sat near by, I had entered a lobby of some sort, “what were you doing out so late? Are you lost? Need a name?” her tone was so deeply patronizing, it was clear she mistook me for a blank slate already but she kept talking “hmm… Trevor, that can be your name” she smiled, thinking I was now to be her servant.
I was dissatisfied with this situation, it kept me from my hunt and worse yet lead me to an unsavory cast of characters so I put on the face of someone who was unhappy with how they had been addressed and said “I don’t need a name, you’ve mistaken me for someone Im not” I said trying to sound brisk and frustrated. She paused for a moment and took a long drag on her cigarette, the smoke just adding to the atmosphere of the room and sighed as she exhaled “hmm well then what should I call you?” Just like that I was cornered again but I though fast “my name is… Tomas, not that that’s your concern” she seemed to buy that, and I was safe for the time being. “okay Tomas, well since its so dark out you probably need a place to stay don’t you?” she smiled “if you have some money, and your lucky you just might be able to stay here a while” I changed my face from indignant to confused and said “lucky? What exactly is this place” she took a sip of her drink and said “a gaming house, a hotel, really its what ever you want it to be”
It was my turn to sigh, trying to mimic hers “well Ive got some money, and I suppose I have no choice” I had to remember that it wasn’t normal to be out at night, the part I was playing, the part of Tomas called for a desire to stay inside for the night. I handed her some of the money I had on me and she sent me though a door in to a busy, noisy parlor, thick with smoke and noise. As I scanned the busy new room I saw them, rewrittens, mostly fit and taller being pitted against each other left and right, some contests were harmless but others, such as a knife fight going on in one section of the room, and something involving remaining under water at the other were clearly dangerous. I remember being at a loss then, knowing that I should feel very strongly, knowing that I should express anger, or sadness but perhaps most of all fear, after all much of this could have happened to me just as easily, but once again I felt only out of place.
I meandered around the room, unsure where to fit in among the gamblers betting on the events, the rewritten servants so happy to risk their lives for the masters cruel enough to toy with them, the smoke and the noise but eventually I sat myself down at a table containing a dealer with cards, something that was relatively harmless, the only rewrittens were behind the table, standing blindfolded in a pen. I asked the dealer what this table was and he responded that it was some game Id never heard of, then I asked about the pen and he explained that those weren’t related to the game, those were blank slates which could be earned with enough prize money to make the game more interesting. I didn’t want to appear to ignorant so I just watched the others play the game, money was lost or earned based on a point value the player was able to score by being dealt random cards, each with a number on, six wasn’t very good, seventeen was a winner, but twenty three lost outright. Deciding that I had learned enough I sat down to join the game, putting down my money.
In the back of my mind I hoped then that I could lose, that Id run out of money and be thrown out so I could resume my hunt but I was begging to question why I had decided to come in in the first place, was it my own curiosity? Was I so bored with my fruitless hunt that the dangerous atmosphere was a welcome change? I had little time to think about all this as the game began. I was dealt two cards and looked at them, to my surprise only one had a number, eight and the other had a person on it, a man with the letter J by his face. This deeply confused me, so I decided not to take another card. When it was all said and done I must have done well because I earned over double my money, I wondered now if I could leave the parlor but my winning had drawn attention. Part of me wanted to continue my act but at last I dismissed my foolishness and stood up. In my haste I bumped in to one of the gamblers, to my horror it was the prisoner I had met weeks before, Howard.
Since last I met him Howard must have gotten free, he wore a tacky orange jacket and was smoking a cigar, at first he seemed angry but then smiled and laughed far to loud, clearly drunk. “holy shit! If it aint old no name! remember me?” I wasn’t sure weather to express hatred, disgust, or comradely so instead I simply responded with a “yes” Howard got to his feet slowly and pulled an a strap on which was one of the blindfolded blank slates, a girl no older than twelve. “yer probably wondering how I did it arrent ya? Well I never did meet that monster, see I had a plan, when they were untying me I started talking, I accused that gutless Yori guy of killing his friend, ya know, like he kept saying he didn’t and the sonofabitch goes in to a fit right? So while the guards are dealing with him I snapped the restraints off and jumped in to the river! It was like one of those movies er something” he laughed again, so amused with himself “well your still pretty damn quiet arrentcha?” I was facing him now “I was out hunting the monster when I got… sidetracked” Howard grinned “yeah Ill bet, even a guy like you gets ‘sidetracked’ now and again huh?” he nudged my arm and I began to realize what Howard had come for, he was convicted after all.
I knew I should react, I knew that it was now my duty to do something, as anyone would and again I slipped in to a role, this time one of concern and purpose, he knew something that could jeopardize me here, if the gamblers learned that I had no name, if they saw my scar for what it was from just a few of Howard’s words Id be taken in to this game with all the other rewrittens “Howard” I began “I have something you might need, as a fugitive” Howard thought a moment “oh that’s right, you’ve got a gun on you… well if you need more money for the games Id be happy to buy it off ya, Im hot tonight!” I drew him in with another lie, already planning to silence him “sure but… not here where everyone can see, if I pulled a gun out it would cause a panic” it was an ideal plan, he would come with me somewhere with no witnesses, not make a sound as I produced my gun and not have time to do anything as I shot him.
Ordinarily I should have been worried or at the very least nervous about what I was planning but the monster ate all of those parts of me long ago, so as we walked out to a backroom near the exit I felt nothing as I prepared to shoot him. The only problem now as the blank slate he carried with him, but Id deal with that in do time. As I got ready to fire a gunshot preceded mine, then another and another. Howard began to hide in the room we stayed in, quite glad Id brought him back there, but soon we realized that this was no gunfight, this was a raid, that outside the sun had risen and with it the police. I would later learn that a young investigator had placed a mole in the gaming house that would lead to the sting operation, with the police here I just pointed my gun at Howard and ordered him to go in to the other room, which after some careful voice acting on my part to sound more intimidating he did, disappearing though that door forever and so I left in to the day, with more money in my pocket and my hands washed of all that had happened. Never to see or hear from any of the people Id met that night again.
Weather what I did, or failed to do and how I reacted was correct or not, whether I had done the right thing, if anything meant very little to me, because as with most things I was mealy an observer, a bystander, someone moving though the darkness of the background, a nameless extra, my lines and my character long since crossed out by the monster.
Sun Jan 09, 2011 7:35 pm