Suicide King. (1531 hits)
Category: NoneLabels: uberbook
Rating: 1.83 on 39 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Bigmike (View user info) at 2005-04-26 01:20:21 EDT
There was a knock at the door. Jack picked up his bourbon glass, looked over at the door with disdain, lifted the glass to his lips, and polished off what was left. He set the glass down on the table, thinking about how good the last belt out of the glass always tasted. He rose from his chair, crossed the room to the door, and opened it.
The man standing on the stoop was polished and dark. He was wearing a thousand dollar Hugo Boss suit, five hundred dollar Italian leather shoes, and a wristwatch that would make Donald Trump turn red. His dark, wrinkled skin had the tone of a man that played a little too much golf, and was having a hell of a time winning. His jet black hair was slicked back close to his scalp, and the ring on his left index finger had a ruby in it that was the largest gemstone Jack had ever seen.
"You ready?" The man spoke softly to Jack, almost trying to soothe him.
"Now's as good a time as any," Jack replied. He went to pick up his coat off the banister but the man spoke to him again.
"You won't need that. C'mon, let's go."
Jack turned away from his coat immediately and followed the man out of the house. He closed the door behind him and thought that this is how mortality really feels. It feels like helplessness and poverty. It feels like humility and miscarriage of justice. It feels like death.
He followed the man out to the street where the man motioned for Jack to enter the backseat of a nineteen seventy two Cadillac limousine. Jack entered and the man entered behind him. The door shut by itself.
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The flop came Seven Hearts, Seven Clubs, King Spades. Jack was sitting in the dealers' position, called the button, and he was trying to act calm. He folded his hand over his cards and lifted a corner of them very slowly to check what he was holding. He casually glanced down to see that the Seven of Spades and the Seven of Diamonds were still nestled snugly under his hands. He had flopped four of a kind.
The well dressed man to his left, who was the only other player in this game, also looked at his hole cards. Jack couldn't tell how the man felt by the way he looked at his cards, but he knew where the man stood when he reached for his chips and said "five thousand," throwing five red and yellow chips into the middle of the table. Jack took a quick peek at his hole cards again, just to be sure, and said "Raise you five," as he reached for his stack of chips to double the bet. His opponent looked at him with just a hint of skepticism. Jack tried to be calm as if he were playing a bluff. The man shifted in his seat just a little, looked at his cards once more, and said "call." Jack's heart was going a mile a minute as he watched the man put five thousand dollars more worth of chips into the center of the table.
****************************************************************************************************
The Cadillac was warm inside. Much warmer than Jack had expected it to be. He noticed that the windows were tinted a very dark color. So dark in fact, that he couldn't see out through them. Jack turned to the man and started to speak but stopped before he could get started. The man was holding up his right hand as if to stop Jack before he could speak. Jack watched as the man studied a book very intently. It looked like a very old, hardbound edition, and as Jack tried to sneak a peek at what was inside, he could barely make out some of the writing because the man noticed what Jack was doing and abruptly pulled the book away.
To Jack it looked like some sort of list. A list of names.
****************************************************************************************************
The dealer raked the chips into the middle of the table, looked at both men calmly, tapped the back of his closed fist twice on the smooth felt, and burned the top card of the deck onto a discard pile. He reached for the next card, the turn, and casually flipped it over placing it next to the other three cards in the middle of the table. It was the King of Clubs. Without hesitation, the man next to Jack reached for his chips. "Twenty Five Thousand," was all he said, throwing five green and yellow chips into the middle of the table. Jack considered this bet for a moment. He looked at the two pair on the table and ran some scenarios through his mind.
"Four of a kind on the flop. Now it's two pair out there, Kings and Sevens. No way he has the pocket Kings. He's full at best. The odds of another King coming out on the river are phenomenally high. I've got him." Jack had convinced himself that he had this pot won. He reached for a stack of chips with his right hand and started playing with them. He wanted the man to think that he was contemplating on a full house or a pocket "over" pair. "Raise it twenty five," Jack said as he pushed ten green and yellow chips into the middle of the table.
The man next to him smiled. "I'll call your twenty five, but how about we make this a little more interesting?" he said. Jack saw the unstable look in this man's eyes but he could not resist. He had to ask. "What did you have in mind," Jack said.
"How about we raise the stakes a little. I am holding a full house right now. I am betting on the fact that you too are holding a full house and that mine is going to beat yours." Jack couldn't believe his ears. His read on this guy was right. He did have a full house against Jack's four of a kind. He believed the man because it all seemed to make so much sense. "What do you want to bet?" Jack asked.
The man was calm and cool. When he spoke it was like cream and it made Jack feel all relaxed inside. "If you win, you can have my entire stake in this game. I'm sitting with about seven hundred thousand dollars here as you can well see. Money, however important to you that it is, means nothing to me. If you win you can have it all."
Jack couldn't believe what he was hearing. "So you're going all in?" Jack asked. "What do you want from me if I lose?"
The man smiled a crooked smile and casually lit up a long, thin cigar. The smoke smelled putrid to Jack, but his interest in the wager didn't wane a bit. When the man opened his mouth to speak, Jack could hardly hear him because he was eyeballing the huge stack of chips he was about to win.
****************************************************************************************************
The man sitting next to him in the Cadillac suddenly reached up and hit a button. He spoke quickly and urgently, but he was not speaking to Jack.
"Adolph, let's get there quickly, we have much work to do before this night is over," he said. The reply that came back over the speaker was garbled at best, but Jack would have bet anything that it wasn't English that the driver was speaking. The man turned to Jack and said "Drink?"
Jack accepted the offer and the man produced a bourbon on the rocks just how Jack liked it. As he took a sip he noticed that it was his brand as well. The man, it would seem, knows most everything about him. The car continued on it's rapid pace; it seemed to Jack that they hadn't had to stop for a red light in a very long time. As he was about to ask where they were going, the man in the car interrupted him.
"You already know the answer to that question, don't you Jack?"
****************************************************************************************************
"I want your soul," the man said quickly and calmly. Jack was mesmerized by the stack of chips in front of the man. "Yeah, ok," was all Jack said, hardly hearing a word of the proposition. After a few seconds, Jack snapped out of his greed induced trance as he watched the dealer go through his motions. Tap the back of his fist twice on the table, burn the next card on top of the deck, and reach for the last card. The river.
The card came out in slow motion for Jack. As the dealer was flipping the river card over, Jack glanced at the man next to him. The man's cool demeanor and confident air suddenly struck panic in Jack.
"HOLD IT!" Jack screamed to the dealer. The dealer held the river card in his right hand, not turning it over until Jack had spoken again. Jack looked at the dealer, and then he looked at the man next to him. He looked back to the dealer and spoke to him directly.
"Did he say that he wanted my SOUL?"
The dealer just nodded his head. "Can I continue now sir?" he asked.
Jack couldn't believe that he had put his soul on the line. He was thinking that it was an unusual bet, but he really wanted the huge stack of chips that the man had in front of him. "My soul," he muttered to himself as the dealer turned the river card over.
****************************************************************************************************
The Cadillac drove for awhile, making a right hand turn here, a couple of lefts there. Going up some hills and down some other hills. Jack couldn't really make out where it was that they were, but after awhile he was afraid to ask.
After they drove for about an hour, the Cadillac came to an abrupt stop. The man turned to Jack and said "It's time for you to get out. I have a few more pickups, some people you have no doubt heard of. Maybe I'll introduce you to them when I return. Get out now please.
****************************************************************************************************
The dealer turned over the river card to reveal the King of Diamonds. There was a full house on the table now, Kings full of sevens. Jack didn't believe that the man had pulled four of a kind Kings. He couldn't believe it.
"Cards over please," said the dealer.
Jack flipped over his pocket pair of sevens. He had a smile on his face, but that smile was soon turned upside down.
"Very impressive JACK!" the man next to him said as he turned over just one card. Jack looked down at that card with disbelief and anger. The man next to him started to laugh. The longer Jack looked at the card the louder the laughter became. Jack just couldn't believe his eyes. He was staring at the King of hearts.
The Suicide King.
****************************************************************************************************
Jack looked at the man with apprehension and fear in his heart. He still couldn't believe that the man could possibly take his soul, but he had agreed to come with him this night and find out what was going to happen. He had lost the hand after all. He never welched on his bets.
The man was absolutely serious about him getting out so he reached for the door handle. As he grabbed it to open the door, he felt a tremendous amount of heat on the handle and pulled his hand back.
"OPEN IT!" screamed the man. Jack reached down, grabbed the red hot handle with his right hand and yanked the door open with a scream of pain and fear. He was sucked out of the car immediately, his scream fading with the dissipation of his body to the intense heat and flame.
"Another soul to the suicide King," the man muttered under his breath. He reached up and flipped a switch. "C'mon Adolph, get a move on, we have lots of work to do."
With that, the Cadillac drove out of sight, making its appointed rounds.
User Reviews
Submitted by Bigmike (user info) at 2005-05-04 12:16:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2005-05-02 13:17:57 (#)
Ranking: -2
Ahhhh...for no reason.
Other than to get BigMike irritated.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
You can't irritate me Schlong man. Your ratings mean nothing to me. I find you to be a bad judge of any kind of writing. You are horrifically funny though.
Submitted by sparkle_pink (user info) at 2005-05-03 13:47:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2005-05-02 13:17:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Ahhhh...for no reason.
Other than to get BigMike irritated.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Submitted by bigbabylons (user info) at 2005-05-02 00:41:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Phallic_Cymbals (user info) at 2005-05-02 00:15:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I woulda folded on the flop.
Submitted by Aiya (user info) at 2005-04-30 19:16:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Bigmike (user info) at 2005-04-28 00:41:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2005-04-28 00:13:11 (#)
Ranking: 2
Nice story. I dont think it was as fantastic as all these other people keep saying, but it was still very good. I've read better from you, anyways.
This is a good point. I also think that I have done better than this. This is just one of those interesting things that I had banging around in my head. I had 2 other alternate endings and one alternate beginning for this. It really just came out this way.
I did like the way this one turned out, however.
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2005-04-28 00:13:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Nice story. I dont think it was as fantastic as all these other people keep saying, but it was still very good. I've read better from you, anyways.
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2005-04-27 23:49:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
But of course. I need to keep myself occupied *somehow*, don't I? And it isn't my fault if I have a head full of arcane and useless bits of information, some of which happen to relate to what you write. If anything, it's your fault for writing it.
So there.
Submitted by Bigmike (user info) at 2005-04-26 23:11:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2005-04-26 17:39:43 (#)
Ranking: 2
Rock the hell on.
Lucky for me that this wasn't full of gross references to taboo topics such as cannibalism or necrophilia.
You'd be asking me all sorts of questions.
Submitted by Bigmike (user info) at 2005-04-26 23:09:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Adjomak (user info) at 2005-04-26 12:50:48 (#)
Ranking: 2
Not to sound like a moron, but what is the significance of the suicide king?
You don't sound like a moron. I really don't think there is any real significance except for in this story where the devil uses it as a tool to get souls. Jack's greed caused his death, and his soul was eternally damned because he couldn't see past the money. The suicide king, in this instance, is imagery for death and eternal unrest.
Submitted by Scatherm (user info) at 2005-04-26 21:53:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Amazing.
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2005-04-26 17:39:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Rock the hell on.
Submitted by Adjomak (user info) at 2005-04-26 12:50:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Not to sound like a moron, but what is the significance of the suicide king?
Submitted by AshK (user info) at 2005-04-26 12:40:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
"Do you think that if Hitler went to hell, his punishment would be to drive Satan around in servitude to his every whim?"
The thought that struck me was what that Satan was showing his badass side by having Hitler as the hired help.
I'm going to pretend it is Hitler. It brings me joy.
Submitted by TigerLilly (user info) at 2005-04-26 11:16:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Fantastic Mike!
Submitted by Bigmike (user info) at 2005-04-26 11:09:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by AshK (user info) at 2005-04-26 10:42:51 (#)
Ranking: 2
I don't know if the non-english speaking driver IS Hitler, or I just think he is Hitler, but the thought cracked me up.
He could be Hitler. Do you think that if Hitler went to hell, his punishment would be to drive Satan around in servitude to his every whim?
Submitted by Ainkara (user info) at 2005-04-26 11:08:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Hot
Submitted by AshK (user info) at 2005-04-26 10:42:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I don't know if the non-english speaking driver IS Hitler, or I just think he is Hitler, but the thought cracked me up.
The whole thing is excellent.
Signed,
Recently Poker Addicted, thanks to the Discovery Channel.
The World Poker Tour has taken my soul.
Submitted by Jeanneee (user info) at 2005-04-26 10:14:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This is the best thing I've read in weeks.
Submitted by Electro (user info) at 2005-04-26 10:02:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This was good.
Submitted by William_Q_Percy (user info) at 2005-04-26 09:25:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Bigmike (user info) at 2005-04-25 22:31:36 (#)
Ranking: 1
Why should I care what my parents would think of my emails?
Or, better yet, why would I care if they saw what I create here?
My old man is an adult, he should be able to handle my ultra lame life.
--
Don't be so hard on yourself big fella. You make a lot of people happy with your works, myself included.
Submitted by garyhal (user info) at 2005-04-26 09:23:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I am Jealous of your literary skills.... can I eat your liver with some beans?
Submitted by Bigmike (user info) at 2005-04-26 09:10:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2005-04-26 07:54:39 (#)
Ranking: 2
Immense, as usual, but erm... I can't help but see a kind of theme running here. I'm sure it's all in my head, mind. Are the subjects of gambling and cannibalism common themes in thriller's? I mean I don't read too many of them to be honest, but I was just wondering you know.
It all just seems a little bit fammiliar. Am I just imagining things here?
Gambling is something that many people do. not just cards or dice, but with just about anything. when we gamble in our everyday, ordinary lives it's called "risk taking'. Hell, it could be a gamble for some people just to get up in the morning.
Horror, in my mind, is a very fascinating genre. Cannibalism could be the most taboo action when it comes to the overall idea of horror films and writing. Let's face it, many people fantasize about murdering enemies or co-workers but rarely does the thought of eating someone's liver or heart fall into the equation. The thought of cannibalism is so extremely outrageous that it is a shock to consider it.
Our most evil characters consider cannibalism. Our most normal ones take risks, gambling with their lives.
Submitted by Coyote (user info) at 2005-04-26 08:40:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Wicked.
For an excellent fantasy novel centering around the occult implications of poker,
I highly recommend "Last Call", by Tim Powers.
Submitted by syd_knee (user info) at 2005-04-26 08:18:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2005-04-26 07:54:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Immense, as usual, but erm... I can't help but see a kind of theme running here. I'm sure it's all in my head, mind. Are the subjects of gambling and cannibalism common themes in thriller's? I mean I don't read too many of them to be honest, but I was just wondering you know.
It all just seems a little bit fammiliar. Am I just imagining things here?
Submitted by Viper_04 (user info) at 2005-04-26 06:50:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
That was totally awesome...even though I have no idea when it comes to poker
Submitted by Allyson (user info) at 2005-04-26 05:00:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
fu
king
awe
some!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!one one one!!!
Submitted by Ducky (user info) at 2005-04-26 04:45:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Excellent.
Submitted by snarf (user info) at 2005-04-26 04:42:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You have the natural ability to immediately draw people into your stories.
excellent.
Submitted by Davros (user info) at 2005-04-26 03:14:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Siren (user info) at 2005-04-26 03:05:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Oh, man... I can't concentrate on a narrated poker game!!! But that's not your fault. +2. I did get about 5 paragraphs into it.
Submitted by Wazza (user info) at 2005-04-26 02:42:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Good one Mikybig, good stuff man .
Submitted by DanielH (user info) at 2005-04-26 02:30:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Very Lovecraft. If you ever do come down for a week of fishing (open invitation, btw, all expenses paid) we must play cards, just leave Satan behind: he's a "Hold 'em man," I like five/seven card draw. Awesome time shifts.
You should be writing a novel. Hopefully you are. Wish I had time to read more, not just of you but many others. +++
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-04-26 02:20:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Excellent.
Submitted by kai070169 (user info) at 2005-04-26 02:13:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Nice one Mike.
Submitted by Banga3386 (user info) at 2005-04-26 02:06:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Another +2 because not many other people know who Eric Harshbarger is or the many awesome things he has made out of legos. I got to see his Angel's "painting" in person last year and it was amazing.
Biggeda-Banga
Submitted by Banga3386 (user info) at 2005-04-26 02:04:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You had me on the edge of my seat here. I loved the spicing of the story's timeline, not many people can do it well. Excellent work my friend
Banga