a penny worth of dreams

When the unthinkable happens, you tend to wonder what is the price

Perhaps we thought this would all be over with the stroke of a pen, and a wary handshake. There were frowns in the front rows and more frowns when we began packing up, getting ready to leave the room. "You will hear from my lawyers very soon". His words ached and his voice irritated the pretentious smiles we had on our faces. Unbearably we held on to them and the masks we wore. Vincent must have had the most pretentious smile of all of us, he even compelled himself to show some teeth, even I was confused to whether he meant it or not. He gave the most handshakes before tapping the shoulder of our oppressor, Micheal Knox, the man who had taken our future and a life long dream from us. A group of his fat belly lawyers with their old grayish hair and overwhelming knowledge of how to strangle the mind till it gave up. Walked out the room first, feeling good about themselves- you could see it even though it hid behind frowns. Mr. Knox was the fifth man to walkout the room leaving myself Vincent and Darel to gaze upon them as conquered men did when colonists took away their families in ships-thats what it felt like at the time.
"There is nothing we could do gents, am terribly sorry" Darel said- I looked at him, packing papers into his brown case and pulling of his jacket. I found it hard to feel his sincerity-a lawyer always gets paid win or lose, 'so f*ck him'.
Vincent walked out the boardroom in disgust."F*ck you, Darel" being his last words.
I watched him walk down the corridor in the direction Mr.knox and the lawyers took. The bar and coffee room were situated on the floor beneath the one we had just settled a lawsuit against us and Knox Holdings, a five hundred million's worth of debts awaited, for something we had come up with, something we spend our last college life pursuing, and it was gone, with just a breath of words and unfilled papers and a lack of knowledge about, what Mr.knox called the law. I had never seen that amount of money nor imagined ever having to pay someone for it, i doubt even three generations of my family could pay such an amount, even if we dragged them from the dead and tried putting all our assets and pension funds together. My heart felt swallowed in deep thought and stress of the poverty that stood outside the building walls. Then without a moment to grasp and take it all in. A gunshot went off; its roaring after sound spreading through the office to the terror of screaming voices and people ducking under desks. I dropped to the ground along with Darel, our so called lawyer-yeah right. Three more shots went off. I crawled on the floor like a soldier at war and creep out the boardroom, only to be trampled by a Susan Emilson, the old lady working at the front desk near the elevator. Pain pinched and ached the outside of my hand as her heel left a bloodied wound on it. I watched her turn the corner towards the restrooms. Then a shade came approaching at the far end of the corridor growing with the wall. The gun peaked first puffing smoke. The footsteps were slow but I recognized the shoes before I even saw the face of the perpetrator. They were Brown with a sharp nose and a symbol of an eagle on the side, they belonged to Vincent. I became paralyzed, confused staring at him approach. He raised his gun once more and placed his finger on the trigger. I closed my eyes, blinding myself from seeing my own friend shot me in cold blood. It was easier for me to give up on life- the mrs was going to leave, I was losing the house, the car, I might as well sell the dog too; the thoughts ran fast in my mind. it was all a penny worth. There was a slight click; as tears filled my eyes. My body trembled, my legs felt numb- I cleared my conscious, embracing the end. Then the gun went off.

....To be continued....

Author's Note

Enjoy, I only hope to never waste anyone's time