cw nomination

DEBT

“Which one do you love more?” He said to me. Having to choose which loved one lives is an un-answerable question. And he knew it, “c'mon, you didn’t pay your debt, now you must suffer.”

“You can’t do this to me! I told you I'm working on getting the money!” I shouted to a gang member.

“We held up our end of the bargain, we killed the slum bag, now we want our 500k's... now, pick one, your daughter or your wife.”

The leader walked into the alley behind my wife and daughter, “you have five seconds to decide.”

“Just kill me!” I shouted, even though I know that they won’t accept. They want to watch me suffer. They have already killed off my son and told me so.

“Alright, your daughters dead.” he raised a gun and, being the coward I am, I looked away. A gunshot rung through the alleyway, followed by my wife’s screams. “You have until noon tomorrow.” they walked away.

“No! Leave her here! Please!” I heard my wife, Anne, shouting. I turn around to find neither of them was in the alley. I ran out and saw a gun pointed at my wife as my daughter’s body was put in the back of a truck.

“Don’t follow us,” the last member hopped in the back of the truck and they drove off.

“Why Jon! He was a coworker!” Anne screamed at me.

“He stole my promotion...”

“That’s not reason to have him killed!”

We went to our car and drove back to our house in silence. I called as much people as I could to get the money, but none of my friends, or the banks, would lend me the money. I ended up sleeping on the couch tonight.

I woke up late the next morning, determined to find the money. I decided to tell my wife to stay home and call the police if anyone suspicious came.

After an hour of searching for a bank I hadn’t tried yet I gave up. I was too scared to go any farther from my house so I turned around. On my way back a police car began following me. I tried to remember if I ran a stop sign, but I didn’t remember any on this road. Soon the lights turned on and I was forced to pull over.

The cop walked up, so I said, “hello, what did I...”

“Do you have the 500 grand?” he asked, holding a radio in his right hand.

“You have got to be kidding me?”

“Do you?” he asked again, more serious.

“No, I couldn't find the money. But if you just give me a little more time.”

“You were given a month before.” he held the radio to his mouth, “kill her.” A gunshot sound came from the radio, “you have 1 more hour, or your life will be ruined.”

“My life is already ruined!” I drove off to my house, watching the clock. The drive home takes a little more than an hour to complete, but I had to try. I slammed on the gas and drove off home. Checking back at the clock every few minutes just to make sure I was making good progress. The sun rapidly set during this hour. The hour was up when I was only a few minutes from my house. My phone started ringing and shaking, I picked it up.

“Times up Jon, I suggest you find a hotel room for the night. Tomorrow will be long for you,” and the phone hung up. I rounded the last corner to my house, which was now up in flames. I went to call 911 but I drove by, I decided to not let them play with me anymore.

I kept driving throughout the night, just driving, nothing more. My life was ruined, what do I do now? I began approaching a bridge and it hit me, the only way to make it stop was the last step in their game, death. I stopped and waited until I didn’t hear any cars coming. This was key in making sure no one called a rescue team. I went to the tallest pillar on the bridge and checked for car sounds again. All I know is that I want to see my family again. I took one last breath and jumped.