You Lose!
New City, New York, Fifteen years ago.
Knock … knock ….
Gavin glanced up at the door to his room, listening to the irritating sniffles and whimpers of the tiny girl behind it.
“G-Gabin, pwease, open. I’m s-scawed!” Jamie cried between sobs.
“You’re always scared!” Gavin retorted.
He pulled the bed sheet over his head and continued playing on his Nintendo while he had it. His mother would surely lock it away if she ever found him playing with it. Especially since it wasn’t his. Jamie didn’t even know how to play yet she was better than him.
The dead of night was the only time he had to do what he wanted and Jamie was ruining this for him like she ruined everything else. He was never this much of a crybaby when he was four. If she didn’t stop crying soon, someone would smack it out of her like his father did to him.
He glanced at the door, wincing at the thought of someone smacking her. No. It had to be done. Jamie cried a lot. Too much.
“I h-have to use the bathwoom, Gabin,” she whispered, desperately trying to hide her sobs.
“The bathroom isn’t in here. Leave me alone!”
She whimpered, rattling the doorknob, knocking her knee to the door three times. Gavin wasn’t her brother and he didn’t want to be. He didn’t want to be here at her mansion, in her country, begging from her father. He didn’t want to see her father smothering her with kisses and hugs in the rare moments he was here while his father beat him and his mother until they couldn’t move. He gritted his teeth, pressing buttons at random, unsure of what any of them did, just that he was losing the race. Badly. And it was Jamie’s fault for distracting him.
“Gabin, pwease! Someone is hewe!”
“Go get Mr. Wolfe or Odette! I’m not your butler. Leave. Me! ALONE!”
Ka-san always tried to make him see she was just a little girl with no mother but he didn’t care. If she didn’t have a mother, he wished he didn’t have a father instead of one like his. He wished her father was his. He wished this mansion was his. He wished her life was his. That way at least he would have a home. He wouldn’t have to live here temporarily, waiting until his father came to drag him away.
“EEEK!” she shrieked, her tiny footsteps scurrying away.
Gavin rolled his eyes. CRASH! A loud sound burst somewhere distant in the darkness. He flung the bed sheet off, glaring at the door. The Nintendo vibrated in his hand.
You Lose!
What? How did he lose when Jamie always won so easily? She was only four! Why was everything so easy for her?! Why? He growled in anger and threw it down on his pillow. Jamie screamed as he slid off his bed. He unlocked the door, stepping out into the dark hall. He slid into her room next door and plugged the Nintendo in before she noticed it was gone and made trouble.
Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.
He froze. That didn’t sound like Ka-san. It wasn’t Mr. Wolfe, the butler, either. He walked quiet, like a shadow. Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. That was definitely not Odette, Jamie’s nanny. That sounded like a monster. It sounded big and very very heavy. A smell like saké, cigarettes, and rubbing alcoho wafted through the hall, bringing goosebumps to his arms. He didn’t like that smell at all.
Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!
Gavin ran down the hall, switching on the lights. He opened the door to his mother’s room, switching on her lights. He stood by her bed, staring at her open eyes, the red wine poured down her throat and all over her bed, dripping off her dangling fingertips. He shuddered, sucking in a deep breath, so relieved Tou-san wasn’t here. He would have hurt her for this mess.
“Ka-san,” he called, vomit bubbling in his throat.
Jamie screamed again. He followed her voice, screaming her name. He switched on the lights as he passed, searching the rooms for Mr. Wolfe or Mrs. Ines — any of the helpers at the mansion. He was tempted to run back to his mother, force her awake.
Standing at the top of the stairs in the foyer, he found Jamie kicking and screaming in the grasp of a giant man dragging her out the front door by the ankle.
Gavin stood in relative darkness, petrified.
“GABIN!!” she screamed. “I won’t cwy anymowe! HEWP! Gabin! DADDY!” She grabbed the front door frame, nearly squirming her tiny body free. The giant dropped his flashlight, tugged her shirt so hard her pajama tore off her shoulders, revealing a gear-shaped birthmark beneath her left armpit. The giant smacked her hands down so hard it made her howl in pain.
Gavin’s legs trembled as he followed them out through the darkness. Where was the light switch? Where was everyone else?
He picked up the heavy flashlight, searching for her in the darkness that stretched into forever outside. The monster carried her across the lawn. She reached for Gavin as he came out onto the porch. Gavin gathered his courage to race after her when bam! A second giant came out from the darkness of the porch, punching him in the head. He tumbled down the stairs, head spinning. He landed on his stomach, watching Jamie dangle still.
Lifeless.
Quiet.
Finally, she stopped crying and whining.
No…. He didn’t like her silence. He didn’t like seeing her get hurt like him. She was too still. Too quiet.
“Jamie,” he croaked, crawling onto his hands and knees.
BAM!
He was knocked back onto the cement path, hammered and stomped and crushed into it. This felt too familiar. Maybe he brought his bad luck to Jamie. He didn’t want this. He didn't want to ruin her life, too.
He should have never come here.
