The scary road to riches

The evening seemed bright enough as though the sun had no plans of settling. Meanwhile... Jake stared at the ceiling thinking of what move to play next.

"Dude, your time's running out." Isaac, his tight buddy, and earnest supporter, said.

"Moving the queen to G5 will give a stalemate. I need to win this." Jake replied, rubbing his jaws while staring at the chess board placed on the table in front of him.

Source

"You ain't gonna win shit bro!" His opponent who sat at the opposite end of the table shouted, "you ain't shit!" He added.

"Come on bro! Now that's the spirit." His opponent's friends who circled both chess players, kept cheering their friend on.

Isaac was the only supporter of Jake who stood within the circle of buffed up strangers with tattoos inscribed on all parts of their bodies except the face. Most wore short sleeveless tops which was body hug— Almost as though they were undersized.

"Yeesssss!" Isaac screamed, jumping into the air with his arms well above his head — Jake had won the chess gamble. He had checkmated his opponent's king.

"Who the fu*k does he think he is?" A voice from the gathering whispered.

Before Isaac could realize what was happening, all eyes were on him, including Jake who turned his neck backwards, to his friend, in response to his excited scream.

"Okay, ummmm... I'm sorry guys."

"Here's your money." Jake's opponent slammed a bundle of cash on the table.

Jake startled, quickly turning his glare away from his friend towards his front, to his opponent, who blatantly stared at Jake like a wrestler waiting for a fight — he seemed like one though!

Jake's pupil dilated "yo, thanks nigga, I mean... Misters...and mis... mistress's." He clumsily said while slowly pacing backwards with the bundle in his hands, his eyeballs drifted side to side glancing at the men who slowly moved forward, glowering at him.

"Ummm... I didn't mean to address you guys as 'mistresses' I mean, I... I..."

"Come here you moron!" A hand gripped Jake's shirt from behind, dragging him like the wind— it was Isaac's.

"Dude, learn to keep your mouth shut. Those people are gangsters, they could have beat your ass back there." Isaac said closing the exit door behind him.

"You mean our asses?" Jake replied, arching an eyebrow with a silly smirk on his face.

Isaac scuffed "I'm going home bro."

"Alright man, thanks. Here's some cash." Jake took out some notes without counting, handing it over to his friend who snatched them from his hands before striding away — he needed to be back home before his parents raised a suspicion.

"Thankk youuuu!" Isaac shouted, while increasing his steps.

"Mum I'm back! I bought some nice chips and burger, It tastes really good." Jake said as he entered his house.

"Mum?"

He suddenly noticed his house was raided, clothes and pillows were on the floor with pieces of glass littered on the floor.

"Mum? Mum? Mummmm!" he ascended the stairs, opened her room door only to see a written note placed on a little stool, it read: "If you want to see your Mum alive, head back to Jiggy's den. You win I lose; but if you lose... Death!"

"Jiggy's den? Where the hell is Jiggy's den?" he asked himself. "Shit, it's the damn gambling house!" He suddenly realized while running towards the gambling house.

Lots of board games were being played at the small gambling centre with background laughters and cheers, when suddenly, the entrance door got kicked open "where's my Mum?" Jake screamed with tears brimming his eyes. He held a long bat above his left shoulder, positioned like a baseball player.

The cheering and laughter suddenly stopped, an awkward silence gorged the atmosphere while all eyes drifted to Jake who stood at the entrance.

"You wanna fight with a tree branch?" Someone within said... breaking the prolonged silence, spurring an outburst of laughter from everyone.

"It's not a tree bra.." he then looked up realizing he was actually welding a tree branch "oh, yea! That's true, but I..."

"Jake!!" A soft voice whispered behind him which he ignored.

He caught a glimpse of his last opponent "I know you were the mastermind behind all of ..."

"Jake!!" The voice whispered a second time.

Upon hearing this, he turned around, and to his amazement, it was his mum!

"But You were..."

"Kidnapped? I know... When we get home I'll explain better" she cut in.

They both took a taxi back home... Jake's Mum turned to her little boy who was just 17 years of age.

"So... The kidnap was staged." She started...

Jake quickly glanced at his mum in surprise. "How? Why would you do that?"

She cleared her throat "you know you're all I've got left, your Dad's last words on his death bed was all about me taking care of you, and teaching you the best in life..."

"But I'm learning!" Jake interrupted.

"Not this way! Not by gambling! I mean, you could have lost your life in your last game. Look all I'm saying is you should quit gambling, I know it gives a lot of cash but we can do without it, we always have. You always turn a deaf ear to my pleas, so I decided to teach you the hard way."

"Wait! Did you just say: my last game?" Jake was surprised about how she got to know of his game.

"Oh! About that, I had a little help from Isaac." She replied.

"Isaac?" He retorted. "That little Snitch" he added, whispering to himself.

He envisaged himself knocking out Isaac's teeth throughout the journey back home. He couldn't wait to meet him in person so he could vent his anger on him. But first, he realized it was going to be a long day so he decided to take a quick nap, leaning on the shoulder of his Mum who had fallen asleep.

Deep down, he knew It wasn't the end of his relationship with Isaac but he was ready to teach Isaac a little lesson for stabbing him in the back.

It was the end of gambling for him, he didn't want what seemed like a prank to play out in reality, someday. He then took a deep sigh and fully drifted off to sleep.

The driver adjusted the rear-view mirror, catching a glimpse of the two sleeping beauties... His face slowly transitioned into a smile while he sped down the empty road.