Andrew Smith, a compulsive gambler and aspiring inventor suddenly finds himself falling into an abyss of doom in a selfish society. To redeem himself, Andrew must overcome these obstacles or perish along with its consequences.

The Punter

Abdul

I smile to hide my pain, but the twinge in my heart is still the same. I feel burdened in a transparent society, aching with sympathy like it’s just me against the world, drowning in the abyss of darkness. I never hoped to see much more than I see now in my life, a Lone Wolf among beasts.

The day was overcast and the air was sharp, it was 7am and I had just woken up on a ripped sofa at the scrapyard where I invented auto engines and repairs, it wasn’t fancy it was more like an advanced dumpsite, I walked through the silent street covered by mist and thick fog I had arrived at my apartment and found the door locked.

I turned the key gently in the lock, opened the door and slipped through. I rolled my eyes at junior, the soft puff of breath on his neck showed he was still asleep, I shrugged out a golden jumbo lotto ticket from my pocket and looked up the numbers one last time before the draw took place at 9 o’clock, it was my 15th ticket in two days.

“Junior! Junior! Get your ass up it’s almost time for school” I yelled out impatiently

A bed spring creaked a brown skinned boy In his pajamas got up and stretched his arms above his head and yawned, he looked under the pillow instead of a coin the tooth fairy had given him nothing but a short night.

“I won’t be allowed in school with the other kids since I have outstanding debts in my bursary” he said looking sad

“No knowledge is a waste brother, gather whatever you can I’ll make sure I sort it out before the day ends, so Junior get ready for school!”

“Alright” he said and entered the bathroom

Junior was only Nine years old, he is the last person I call family we’ve been through so many hardships together ever since we lost our parents three years ago in a house fire. I made sure I did Everything to make life easier for him, we were left with nothing we got expelled from the family house after it was discovered that our late father took a loan from the bank and never made it up to them.

We moved into the street and slept under bridges for many months, I then took a chance on the lottery for survival. At first I made a couple amount of profits which was enough to rent an apartment and keep us out of the street, but then I lost my fortune later on during the process and had to start from scratch. I Put junior in an elementary school and struggled to pay his tuition fees, I get little credits sometimes when I put things in order at the yard so we managed whatever was put on the table.

“See you at three!” Junior said and grabbed his bag then proceeded to exit the apartment.

It was almost 9 o’clock and I had to be at the store to witness the lottery draw and verify my tickets before I returned to the scrapyard. So I jumped in the shower and got ready for another very long day, My stomach growled loudly, I moved to the fridge and opened it, still starving the fridge,however was empty there wasn’t anything to eat thus I hastily swallowed my hunger and left the house on an empty stomach.

I stepped out of the apartment and started down the stairs, then darted into a hallway to the exit. Suddenly there was a blaring noise of heavy metal music coming from a room, the door opened and behind it was Jim the wannabe thug and four boys, he looked big and tough he kept a straight face and walked towards me

“Didn’t you see me when you walked by?” Jim asked and shoulder tackled me

He reeked of alcohol and horse manure, it was his usual habit to encourage oppression.

when I tried to get out of the way he pushed me to the floor. His shoes were covered with mud; he wore torn clothing and his hair was unkempt. I had a bewildered look on my face, I Never hoped to start the day battered and bruised.

He jabbed his hands in my pocket,brought out my lottery ticket and then tore it to ribbons.

“Lotto boy!” one of the boys said laughing.

I stood up,picked up my things and walked away.

As they descended the stairs, the boys laughed and said I was foolish. Two ladies, Bianca and Ruth watched from the porch as I strode off.

“Don’t live an aimless life!” they suddenly exclaimed and then laughed.

I passed a man and his son who looked the other way as I neared them and whispered

“Do not be like him, few days ago I gave him a business card and all he could do was extract my phone number and then take it to the lottery retailer to generate a ticket”

“That is completely absurd, no wonder he looks like a dead man walking” The boy told his father.

They all disturbed as hell but wouldn’t be interested in helping, so that was it, this was what I passed through every single day of my life, but that never actually stopped me from buying a lottery ticket. 

I walked down the street to the metrobus transit, tall apartment buildings lined up in a row by the roadside, sirens wailed in distance. Bocco was well known to be a very dangerous city, it wasn’t safe here the street was flooded with the likes of Jim, tough dudes lurked at every corner waiting to launch an ambush on passersby, only the dead aren’t scared. I reached the bus transit and boarded a bus going downtown.

I got off and walked another few minutes to the lottery store, I gently pushed the door open and walked slowly to the edge of the counter where the shopman firmly stood.

“Good morning sir, how may I help you?” he greeted and asked with a controlled smile.

I pulled out a ripped ticket and put it on the counter

“Did you wipe your tears with this?” he said with a look of puzzlement crossed on his face

“I’ll fix you up” The Shopman told me.

He looked up the serial number on a monitor and got back to me in less than a minute:

“Bashed”, “Better luck next time”

“Not even close, well green days ahead” I said as I made my way to the door

“Have a nice day sir!” The Shopman said and waived.

I strolled down to the scrapyard,it was only five blocks away from the lottery store. The yard was right before me, piles of rusted metal and smashed bodies of old cars littered the site, it was completely fenced with wire-mesh and had selfclosing gates.

A voice echoed from afar, I picked up a stone and attempted to throw it on the boys who scaled the fence with items they looted from the scrapyard. If they can get away with one thing, they might try to get away with more, so I ran after the awful scavengers but then it was too late they managed to flee with petty items before I got to them.

“They got away” I wheezed, "Bloddy scavengers"A strange voice had said

I rolled my eyes and looked over to see a dapper youngman who walked gingerly toward me and brought out a pack of cigarettes, it was Benjamin’s personal assistant Hali, he stood in front of me blocking my way he lit a cigarette, watched the smoke curl up high then turned toward me and said,

“I don’t want to see you here when I return tomorrow”

“you’re trespassing” I told Hali, “Tell Your boss to stay off this yard or I’ll throw your both overboard” I added and picked up a spanner.

He blew the smoke right in my face and sighed

“when I return, I will burn this place to the ground in the mean time have a wonderful day” He turned and walked away

“Tell Benjamin we need to talk, man to man!” I yelled to him as he left

Benjamin was one of my favorite buddies from childhood, I mean we grew up together so we had alot in common, but the whole story changed one day when we ran into a little argy-bargy which led to the end of our friendship since then he never looked back, after the sudden death of his father Benjamin inherited his father’s fortune and got wealthy, he got so rich and forgot about his past. I tried to reach Ben several times but he was evidently so busy and never gave a chance to talk.

Benjamin desperately wanted the scrapyard he needed some space to construct a luxurious highrise lounge, so he wanted to lay his hands on the scrapyard by all means even tho he wasn’t going to pay a penny he believed everything could be acquired through wealth and power cause he had friends in high places. Little did he know what stood in his path, the yard was the last of my father’s fortune and it was willed to junior, so there was no way anyone could take it from us without paying for it.

I left the scrapyard and took a bus home, on the bus I could see a young boy standing he wore a black backpack, he looked totally unnerved and his eyes were dull

He introduced himself by name as he accepted the offered seat

"Thank you very much sir" he said then sank into the chair and sighted with relief.

So I spent the rest of the trip standing I failed already, my life was like an empty paper there was nothing to write about it, there was no way to get over with it I did all I could to survive, I attended multiple job interviews but it all ended in tears for one reason or another a CEO once threw me out of his office, yelled at me from a transparent glass and then kicked my inventions. But it didn’t end well for him, he was left with a swollen foot.

All these never changed me as I learnt from every failure and got bigger than my struggle. The bus came to a halt, I got off and walked home through the silent street, two men trotted from behind to catch up to me I could recognize them from the bus but I didn’t know what the problem was now

“Hey fella why did you do that back on the bus?” one of the men asked, “why did you help the kid” he added

“I don’t know I was just being cool” I said and walked towards them

He stretched out his hand for a handshake “my name is Issac and this is my friend Tom”

“I’m Andrew, it is a pleasure to meet you” I said

“what you did back there was incredible, I mean I never knew such love still existed in our city” Issac said smiling

“you’re a good man, Andrew” Tom said as the duo turned and walked away

I safely arrived home, junior looked out the window anticipating my return, as soon as I reached the doorstep he raced over and hugged me, we exchanged pleasantries and shut the door.The day passed and the sun went down it soon became time for dinner, I had prepared a bowl of rice for Junior it was the last food we had.

The final golden jumbo lottery draw was already taking place, so In desperation I turned on the TV and sat in silence. Junior was quiet while he had dinner, he suddenly asked

“I’ve eaten already, I had thrice the size of what you’re eating right now”

“Not long ago” I said focusing on the television

He ate several bites without responding, he knew I wasn’t telling the truth but he remained silent

“I’ve had enough food for the night” Junior said and walked out of the room

The belly full of food made him drowsy, I needed the meal so In his absence I picked up the bowl and devoured the food.

The TV presenter prepared to announce the final draw results, Junior walked in, winked at me and raised crossed fingers, I had five lucky numbers on my ticket to win the Fifteen million dollars Golden jumbo jackpot.

My lucky numbers were ‘7, 30,10, 45 and 52’.The presenter finally began announcing the results,

Even though I was excited I remained composed, three more numbers, just three

“we are going to be rich!” I yelled to Junior

After the announcement, there was a shocked silence, everything went blank.

“Did we win?” Junior’s voice echoed, “I hope they forgive us” he cried out

It felt like I had a dagger in my heart and that I would never feel cheerful again

“Andrew, Andrew! Come with me you have to see this” Junior exclaimed.

We rushed to the window and looked out, I could see a man lying helpless on the ground by the roadside. I rushed down the creaky stairs and dashed to the man who was barely alive, I grabbed him by the arm and took him inside the apartment. Junior then bolted the door for protection. 

He was tall and slender with dark skin, ravishibg brown eyes and a tattoo of a bull on his neck that made him appear strange. He was temporarily incapacitated he must have been attacked on the street, what if he was a thug and got attacked by rivals? what if they returned to finish him off? It was late since I already took him in.

He suddenly pushed himself up and made his way towards me, he grabbed me and asked

“umm you just fell from the roof” I said and pushed myself away

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