Winner Takes All

By Lauren Order

Chapter 1: Arrival

He walked through the dark alleyway, his crimson hair falling lightly across his eyes as he looked up at the sign above a doorway.

"Hmm… this is really the place? I didn't think Wright was this bad off." He put his hands in his pockets and smirked. "But then again, who hasn't been affected by this economy?"

He rapped on the door twice and gave the password to the bouncer, who looked vaguely familiar. Mission accomplished. He had arrived at the underground poker club at last.

"Wright. It's been a while, and I expect nothing but the best from you during this tournament… I've been practicing," the man said as he approached the table where a hobo was sitting.

"You're not the only one to gain serious skills in the poker world," Wright replied. "Let's get this over with."

"You're on," the mysterious man said. This would be easy. He would take all the winnings and live the good life. After all, he was, up until this point, the number one poker player in the country. His name was Jackson Hart.

Chapter 2: Exposition

Wright never did realize the truth. If he knew, he might have been more reluctant to challenge me.

Although, unlike him, most people don't realize who my sister is, and I don't blame them. We couldn't be more different. One thing is for sure: I show a lot more self-control.

"Have a seat, X. Would you like something to drink?" Wright asked.

"No thanks, I'm fine."

As if I were actually fine. It was bad enough I had to go by a secret name, but now… I finally had the chance to confront the man who made my life miserable, only to have to play along with his awful charade.

I was determined to defeat him. Nothing would change my mind.

I sat down and looked Wright in the eyes. For a split second, I saw fear flicker across his face. Then, nothing. The same face that I saw when he presented the evidence that ruined my life.

The bouncer came over. "Hey, pal. Turns out, I'm the dealer, too. Could they have been any more parsimonious? All I could afford with my salary was a cup of ramen noodles and a thesaurus."

Ah, right. The detective. He, too, contributed to that fateful case. But he didn't know what would happen. He always was rather clueless.

"Wright. First, I want to talk to you." I said to get his attention.

Wright looked up. "Yes?"

"Hey, hey, I'm getting paid by the hour here! Less talk, more poker!" the stupid former detective bellowed.

Damn. I was not expecting that. I supposed it had to wait until after the match. That is, if we both made it through the match. There was a bounty on both of our heads, and that's what I intended to talk about before I was rudely interrupted.

"Gumshoe, just deal the cards, please." Wright seemed to be getting annoyed.

"Yes, sir!"

Chapter 3: Orville

We went through a few rounds. I was winning, of course, despite the fact that I couldn't focus. Neither one of us could, really. This was more than just a card game.

Wright pitifully attempted to make some small talk.

"So, uh, Trucy sure is growing up fast. She's been reading those books that are all the rage. Something about a vampire named Edgar or Edmund…"

Edward, I thought. It's Edward, you buffoon.

"Anyway, it's kind of creepy because she's been dressing like those Gotham freaks," he continued.

"Goth, you mean? And they're not all necessarily freaks," I corrected.

God. Wright showed the kind of ignorance only a parent can have, I thought to myself.

"Anyway," Wright said, completely ignoring me. "How have you been?"

Finally, the conversation turned to me. I decided to start out casually.

"I just came back from my vacation in North Carolina. Had to check in with some family."

"Really?" Wright's face lit up.

This is not going the way I wanted. What could be so important now?

"I have family there, too! Would you believe that I'm related to the Wright brothers?" he continued.

No. No, I wouldn't, I thought.

"Well I am! It's a great source of pride for my family. So great, in fact, that my middle name is Orville!" Wright was blabbering at top speed now.

"So, pal, that would make your initials 'POW' wouldn't it?" Gumshoe interjected.

How did I get stuck here with these losers? I asked myself, knowing full well what the answer was.

Wright chuckled. "Ah, yes. I remember I suggested changing the law firm's name to 'POW-MIA and Co.' Mia said it would offend veterans."

No kidding. This Mia person sounded like she had more sense than her apprentice.

"Let's cut to the chase," I said, snapping Wright out of his nostalgia. "You-" I paused for dramatic effect. "-are a wanted man. And so am I. You have only yourself to blame for all of this."

That's another thing about me. I give the straight facts to people, whether they like it or not.

Wright's face darkened. "I suppose… although, your sister is partially to blame for your predicament."

"You leave my sister out of this!" I roared. I guess I did have a bit of a problem with my temper. Even Gumshoe looked scared.

"Fine, have it your way," Wright said, reluctantly dropping the topic. It was clear his previously cheerful mood was gone for good.

The rest of the match continued in silence, except for the occasional "oops" from Gumshoe whenever he dropped the deck of cards.

I simply watched and waited. My chance would come soon enough.

Chapter 4: Victory

The inevitable had happened. I won the poker match.

Wright watched in horror as I counted the value of the chips I had acquired.

"That makes… $150, 213," I announced. "Maybe you should have bet a little less. You look surprised."

Surprised was an understatement. The look on Wright's face wavered from fear to anger, then despair.

"I guessed this was going to happen eventually," Wright mumbled.

"What, that you would lose?" I asked him.

"Not only that… I guessed that I would lose everything I had to someone so unworthy of it."

"No…" I whispered. Wright looked up at me.

"No," I said, louder than before. "The unworthy one… is you!"

"I don't know why you would think that," Wright said as his expressionless face returned.

Gumshoe sensed trouble; he inched away from the table. Wright glared at him, a tacit warning that the police were not to be involved.

Wright picked up his bottle of grape juice. I started to panic, knowing full well the damage that a glass bottle could do…

He only poured himself another glass of juice. What a relief.

"So, let's talk. That's what we're really here for, right?" he asked.

"Yes," I said, the anger almost consuming me. "I've had some problems I wanted to discuss."

Again, I had to play the game. It's always about games with him. As if someone being murdered was a game.

"All right. What are these problems? I can see anger management is one already," Wright said condescendingly.

I took a deep breath to calm myself. "Well, the main problem is, you're a murderer. And you should be in jail right now, but you're not."

"The same could be said for you," Wright replied.

"That's the other thing. I'm innocent," I said. "You know how my sister acts. She was just scared. I have a feeling that she might have been blackmailed too."

"I thought you said to leave your sister out of this?" Wright reminded me.

"That was before. Now, I just want to get to the truth."

I could feel the pistol hidden under my jacket. Now, I felt sick with the fear that I might have a reason to use it.

Chapter 5: Downfall

"Let's start at the beginning," I said. "My life was great before I met you. I had heard about you from Lotta, but luckily I never had to meet you. Until that one fateful day, of course. Right after you murdered someone."

"Jumping to conclusions already, are we?" Wright snapped. "I didn't murder him."

"Well, why couldn't you face Lotta, then? You couldn't tell her the lie. You couldn't face her like you faced the judge that day. You couldn't bear to see the look on her face as you accused her brother of murdering her boyfriend!"

"There was no other explanation," Wright replied.

"Yes, there was! You killed him and forged evidence to put the blame on me. And apparently forged evidence is something that you're quite familiar with. It was a last-ditch effort to save your own ass! Too bad I don't have a law degree, or else I could have been more credible," I said sarcastically.

"That's all great, but there's no motive. Why would I kill Larry Butz, my best friend since elementary school?" Wright asked.

"Do I look like a freakin' detective, Wright! I have no clue. But the truth is there, and you have to come to terms with it."

"If you don't have any evidence, I'm afraid no one will believe you," he said.

Of course. Now he challenged me to stay within the boundaries of the law. "If I was gonna forge evidence, believe me, I would have a long time ago. Anything to get back at you. But that's never gonna happen. There's plenty of reasons why I have to play by the rules. For one thing, it's my reputation, and I want to keep it that way," I told him.

"Such a badass, eh? What do you even do for a living that you would need a clean slate for?"

"That, my friend, is none of your business!" I shouted. I didn't want to give the stupid lame excuse that was supposedly my occupation. They told me to say I was a truck driver who made local deliveries. It was far from the truth.

"Garbage man? Professional nanny? Oh, I know, the security guard in the interrogation room!" Wright said, laughing at me.

"Shut up! SHUT UP!" Damn it. I was starting to get out of control. I took a few relaxing breaths, the kind that goes in through the nose and out the mouth. It didn't seem to have much of an effect.

"Ok, ok. Chill. Seriously, what is your problem? You get upset way too easily. And then you go ballistic like you're going to kill someone… which you wouldn't do, right? Right? Haha…" Wright looked extremely nervous, which made me laugh.

"Of course I wouldn't. And it's slightly more complicated than you think," I answered. I had always had major issues when I got upset. It wasn't like I was mentally ill, but it took a lot more effort to calm myself down. Thankfully Lotta was able to help me stay positive, and I avoided stressful situations. But here was one situation that wasn't going away for a while. Not while Wright was still a free man, anyway.

"Enough with the jokes. I'm out of here… I have a friend who's a judge. He'll take care of this," I said, getting up from the table. That was true about the judge. I had friends in higher places than Wright could even dream of.

"Let's not be hasty, here. I'm sure we could work out something…" Wright stuttered.

"Says the man who owes me more money than he has. You owe me your life at this rate."

"All right, tell me what you want. I'm taking this seriously," Wright said.

I was definitely going to tell him what I wanted. In fact, I was going to demand it.

This will be over soon enough, I thought.

Chapter 6: Flashback

I remember the day all too well. I was just coming back from one of my “errands” when I got a call from Lotta. I figured it was something stupid, like usual.

“What now?” I had said. “Is this about your little spat with Larry? I thought I told you just to leave him alone for a while.”

There had just been silence on the other end. Lotta was never silent, so I knew something was up. “Sis? Why’d you call me?” I had asked.

“Get to the police station,” she whispered.

I went as fast as possible, assuming that she had done something illegal and needed bailing out. Or at least proof of my credentials, which would most likely be adequate. When I got there, I found out that I was in for a lot more than I had previously thought.

“Jack,” Lotta said. “Larry…” The look on her face told me that Larry was the problem I was here for.

“What?” I stupidly said, not willing to believe what had obviously happened.

“HE’S GONE!!! And… they’re blaming you.” To be more precise, she was the one who blamed me, but she was pressured into it by a mysterious stranger.

My world was turned upside down at that very moment. The trials dragged on for what seemed like an endless amount of time. And Wright, that lying bastard, proved that I was guilty. It didn’t matter what my job was. There was no motive; I was deemed mentally ill. All because of my anger problem.

So I got the hell out of there. And I ran, never looking back.

Chapter 7: Finale

“Wright. There’s one thing I want.”

He stared. Finally, the tension would be over.

“I want you to leave me alone. Let me live my own life, and I’ll let you live yours.”

He chuckled. “You know I can’t do that. My life depends on yours. The only way I can become a credible attorney again is to find you and bring you back to court. Which is what I’m going to do right now. It’s a shame we couldn’t talk a little while longer,” he said. “Gumshoe! Take this man into custody!”

Hell no, I am NOT going down like this, I thought. The pistol was calling my name. But would I be enough of a man to use it?

Suddenly, a voice shouted, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, considering you’re the real criminal here!”

I turned around to see the owner of the Hydeout standing in the doorway with a gun pointed at Wright. “Don’t move, and put your hands where I can see them!” he commanded. It was fitting that Kyle Hyde, a former policeman, would be the one to bring Wright to justice.

Seconds later, a squad of policemen came barging through the door, and arrested Wright. It was the best day of my life to see him taken away. Never again would he be able to ruin a person’s life in such a terrible way. Of course, he might have had some apprentice waiting in the wings to get him off the hook. But it was no longer my problem.

I never knew his motive, but he was proven guilty of the murder of Larry Butz. Lotta could finally relax knowing that the murderer had been caught.

A few days later, I began reminiscing about that fateful day in the Hydeout. “Served you right, Wright,” I said to myself as I put away my pistol, gleaming and unused, back in its case. I locked the case and hid it where I would never have to see it again.