Part 1: [link]
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Preparations for the poker tournament, and more importantly, Mr. Verrick’s arrival, continued on as usual. Or at least, they would have if it wasn’t for that mysterious little girl. Despite Big Tony’s best efforts, the child continued to elude him and his men. Half the time, they could barely keep track of her, to the point most of his men hadn’t even seen her. Rumors started to swirl that Tony had finally cracked. Those who claimed to see the girl just humoring him to stay on his good side. Anyone caught repeating those rumors quickly found themselves out of a job.
Thankfully, sightings of the girl began to slow as the preparations completed. Big Tony hoped she got bored and left, although he stepped up security just in case. The large man was left with so many questions concerning this strange girl. Who was she? Why was she here? How did she even get into his casino? How had she managed to stick around for so long? It was one thing if she was some bored or adventurous kid who found some way into the building, like through a forgotten back door or a vent. But, the fact she seemed to have lingered in the building for days made no sense.
‘The hell is she eating? Is she sleeping here too?’ Tony wondered as he sat back in his office. ‘Doesn’t she have parents to run back to? Of course, she does. Where else would she get that fancy dress from? Then why aren’t they looking for her? I haven’t seen any missing child reports. Even if it’s some rich idiots trying to keep her disappearance on the down low, how the hell could the kid of a couple of rich morons be so fucking elusive?’
“Sir?” Simmons knocked at the door.
“What is it, Simmons?” Tony was snapped out of his deep thoughts.
“Mr. Verrick is here,” Simmons peaked into the room.
“He’s what? Since when?” Tony jumped out of his chair.
“Since right now, sir,” Simmons replied.
“Shit, he wasn’t supposed to be here for another hour,” Tony panicked. “Crap, is my hair good? Do I need a quick shave? Is my suit spotless? Damn it, there’s no time.” The large man scrambled past his assistant and down into the casino. At the front entrance, surrounded by several scary men, who made Tony look like a towel boy, by comparison, stood Mr. Verrick.
“Ah, there you, Tony. You’re eight seconds late,” the old man chuckled. Mr. Verrick stood a head shorter than Tony, with a bald head and long grey beard. He walked on a fancy, jeweled topped cane and dressed in the finest designer suit. The older man’s whole outfit likely cost more than Tony’s car.
“Apologies, Mr. Verrick,” Tony bowed. “You’re, here earlier than I expected.”
“Ha, just like to keep you on your toes,” Verrick cackled. “I’ll be in my usual VIP room until the tournament starts,” the rich man declared as he walked off with his posse of guards. Tony remained firmly in place, maintaining his bow until Verrick was out of sight.
“Ah shit, I got to keep him happy for an hour longer than I thought,” Tony sweated. “Oh well, this shouldn’t be too...bad...Shit,” Tony cursed. He noticed a familiar little girl in a black and yellow dress skipping through the casino, heading right for Mr. Verrick. “Not this time,” Tony scrambled after her.
“Ooh, who’s that old guy?” The little girl said aloud as she followed after Mr. Verrick, only to be stopped by Big Tony blocking her path. “Hi, mister,” she chirped.
“Alright you little brat, you’re not causing any problems today,” Tony declared. “Mr. Verrick is a very important man, and I can’t have you ruining things with him around.”
“Okay,” the little girl smiled.
“You’re being surprisingly cordial today,” Tony commented.
“What’s that mean?” The little girl asked as she tilted her head.
“It’s not important,” Tony grabbed her arm. “Now, I’m taking you into the back, we’re calling your parents, and you’re going to leave, understand?”
“Help, I’m being kidnapped!” The girl screamed.
“What?” Tony froze, realizing what this looked like.
“Just kidding?” The mystery girl stuck her tongue out as she revealed her arm was now free. “Bye, mister,” she skipped away.
“When did she?” Tony was dumbfounded. “That brat,” he chased after her again.
~--~
Tony quickly lost sight of the girl in the casino and was forced to give up the chase. He would have put his men back on the hunt for her, but a string of incidents took up his attention. While they were doing the final set up for the poker tournament, one of his men almost got crushed by one of those giant TV cameras they had rented to film the event. Thankfully, both the employee and, more importantly in Tony’s eyes, the camera, were unharmed. When asked, the man swore he saw something run past him. He turned to find it and got tangled up in some cables.
That was only the beginning. One of the players they invited to the tournament was almost in a car wreck in the parking lot. The player swore he saw someone run across the street, and he swerved to avoid them. Then one of his employees suffered a poisoning, the circumstances of which left Tony conflicted. The large man reluctantly decided to present a bottle from his alcohol stash, one of the few the little girl hadn’t destroyed, as a gift for Mr. Verrick. The employee decided to sneak a bit of the beverage for himself before handing it off to Mr. Verrick and immediately suffered.
Tony didn’t know if someone had tried to poison him or if there was something wrong with the bottle. But, better, he found out this way instead of with Mr. Verrick. Tony decided to let the employee off on this one, as long as he stayed quiet. Although considering said employee was currently on their way to the hospital, that might not even become an issue.
As Big Tony sat in a booth overlooking the poker tournament, his nerves frayed. The event started smoothly enough, and Mr. Verrick had a nice front row seat, directly across from the table. The camera was set up to Verrick’s left, getting a nice view of the game as it proceeded. Everything was perfect, and that’s exactly when disaster liked to strike.
“Stanley Black has...” The announcer for the tournament droned. Tony silently wished he had picked a more energetic man for the job.
“Sir, there’s something you should-,” Simmons tried to tell Tony something.
“Not now, Simmons,” Tony hushed his assistant. “I got to watch this thing like a hawk, can’t have anything go wrong.”
“But sir, the light-,” the lanky man tried to continue.
“Boston Rocky has...” The announcer’s voice echoed over the two men’s conversation.
“Not now,” Tony growled, silencing the smaller man.
“Yes, sir,” Simmons slinked away.
“I haven’t seen the girl in a while, maybe she finally-,” Tony’s words died in his throat. He saw her again, he’d recognize that ridiculous hat anywhere. The little girl was skipping towards the cameraman, but she was approaching from his right side, which could only mean one thing. “Shit,” Tony swore as he stood up from his chair.
The worst-case scenario was now, the girl had skipped right in front of the gambling table, in plain view of Mr. Verrick. Tony panicked; in mere moments, she’d jump right into the unaware cameraman. She’d would knock over him and the expensive equipment and ruin the tournament all in one fell swoop.
“No, no, no,” Tony chanted as he bolted down from his booth with little care for Simmons’ cries of confusion. He had seconds to grab the little brat and slip offstage before anyone can notice. It wouldn’t be easy, but there was little room for her to escape this time.
“California Tim has...” the announcer continued his commentary over the game.
‘Good he hasn’t noticed the brat just yet,’ Tony felt a hint of relief as he turned the corner and found himself only a few feet behind the little girl. He planned it out in his head. He’d sprint, swipe up the girl, give the cameraman a pat on the back ‘for doing a good job’, and be out the other end before anyone knew what was up. ‘It’s now or never,’ Tony steeled himself.
It all happened in one swift motion, Tony ran out in front of the gambling table. A few of the players looked up in surprise as his form emerged but said nothing. Tony then lunged out towards the girl, and for once, she did not dodge out of the way. Instead, she spun 180 degrees on her heel and flashed him a sly smile, and said something he couldn’t hear. What Tony didn’t know was that directly above him was a loose lighting fixture. The same one Simmons tried to warn him about earlier. As though guided by the hands of fate, the fixture broke from its hinges and fell straight down. Yet, Tony still didn’t notice. Instead, he was focused on his capture of the girl. His hand reached out, closer and closer, until it was mere inches from her face, then his hand passed right through her.
Tony’s blood ran cold as his brain tried to comprehend what just happened. A sensation traveled up his arm. It was an unmistakable chill that any flesh and blood creature could recognize. However, Tony had little time to process this realization as the light crashed down on his head and sent him into a world of darkness.
~--~
“Wake up, mister,” a familiar voice called out to Tony, “Come on, sleepyhead.”
“Oh my aching,” Tony mumbled as he pulled himself up, “What happened?”
“You died silly,” the familiar voice answered.
“What!” Tony’s eyes snapped open, only to be greeted by a pair of familiar dull green orbs. “You!” Tony stood up and immediately realized something was amiss. The sights and sounds of the casino and the gambling tournament were gone, replaced by something else entirely. A flowing river, an oppressive fog, and an eerie ambiance surrounded him now. “What is this place?”
“Well you died, so it should be easy to guess, right?” the girl answered.
“Ha, this is only a dream,” Tony tried to assure himself. While his head was a bit foggy, the feel of water and the sounds in his ears felt a little too real to be a dream. “So, if I really am dead, where am I going?” Big Tony humored her for a moment.
“Oh, Mister,” the girl giggled, “I’m sure you can figure that out real easily.” The girl smiled, but it wasn’t the usual childish smile she’d flashed him dozens of times in the past week. The grin was far too wide for that. In fact, it was far too wide for any human to do. Tony felt a chill to his very core. He expected his heart to be pounding in his chest and his blood to run cold, but they didn’t. But of course, they didn’t, he was dead.
“Please no, it can’t end like this!” Tony pleaded.
“That’s what they all say,” the girl laughed as the fog parted behind her and made way for geysers of fire and brimstone. “If it makes you feel any better, Mr. Verrick will be joining you in a week or so.”
“No, no!” Tony tried to turn and run, but he quickly realized he had no legs to stand with, no arms to scramble away with.
“Come on, mister. You can’t fight what’s already happened,” she grabbed Tony and dragged him kicking and screaming past the geysers of flame. Big Tony’s screams echoed into nothingness as he disappeared into the abyss.
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One of the most frightening aspects of death is how sudden it can be. Even then, there might be signs to warn of the impending disaster, but they aren't always obvious.
In case my pseudo-wisdom didn't make it obvious enough, the little girl was in fact the grim reaper, or rather a grim reaper. The idea is that death is a complex thing that has different meanings to different people, thus you can't put all of it on the shoulders of a single skeleton with a scythe.
In this case, the little girl represented sudden and surprise death. She's the accident waiting to happen, the squirrel that causes you to swerve into a lamppost, the loose brick that fall and beams you in the head because you stopped to pick up a penny. I actually had a lot of fun writing her.
Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy
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