Late nights

XXXI

The four of them went upstairs into one of the rooms. The room they picked already had some people in it but they didn't mind. Lola immediately noticed people playing chess.

 - Mind if I join? - Lola asked.

- Sure, we can play after this game, - the guy playing said, - you know how to play?

- I know the basics. - Lola wasn't trying to be cocky. 

- I think I've seen you somewhere. - Caroline told the guy.

- Have you? Possibly.

- Where?

- I don't know, but you look very familiar. 

- I think I know, - Emily joined in, - you're the guy who killed someone, right?

 - Don't put it that way. I didn't kill someone, I defended myself from someone who was trying to kill me.

- Still murder mate. - Emily responded.

- Alright, calm down. - Tom said.

- I'm just saying. I agree that it's defense. What happened by the way? I don't think I've ever heard the real story.

Everyone sat around the chessboard. While the guy was playing Lola, he was telling them the story:

- So. It was a really late night, I was at my computer just doing some school work. All of a sudden, I hear my front door open. My parents were out and they weren't supposed to come back until the next day, so obviously, I got a bit confused. I stood up, went to my door, and lo and behold, there's a man. He had a gun, but for some reason he tackled me. Looking back at it, it was stupid to tackle someone when you have a gun but he did it anyway. When you're in that situation you don't really think that hard, - he moved some pieces around the board, - so, we were on the floor in the doorway kinda, and he grabs my neck and now, he's on top basically choking me. There was like a wooden door stopped and it was quite small, so I grabbed it and shoved it in his nose. Now, the door stopped didn't do that much, it was quite sharp, but it wasn't deep in his nose, so, I took a stone - my mom does like rock decorations - so I took a rock, and with all the force I had I hit the door stopper that was in his nose. It went right up there and he let me go, fell on the floor and there was no reaction from him. I immediately called the police, they came, there was a lot of blood and after some tiring stuff, I was innocent.

-  Wait, so the door stopper went all the way up to his nose? - Emily was intrigued.

- Yeah, it's like 7 inches, so I'm sure it reached some vital stuff. Yeah, he died very fast. Since it was my house, I was innocent.

- That's crazy. - Tom was fascinated.

- Didn't you get traumatized by that? - Lola asked. - I win next turn, by the way, doesn't matter where you go.

- Oh yeah, it was terrifying. Some people think that a tall muscular man wouldn't be scared of that, but man, seeing him just lay there wasn't a pleasant experience in the slightest. Who am I kidding? It was absolutely disgusting. I definitely didn't sleep that night.

- I don't think I would sleep...ever, I don't think I would ever sleep again. - Lola won the game.

- That was fast. You definitely know how to play chess, - The guy smiled, - I'm Lucas, by the way.

- She's a grandmaster, boy. - Caroline finished her drink.

- A woman grandmaster. But yes, I pride myself on that but I try to stay humble.

- A grandmaster? I can't even win at some party. Anyway, why aren't you all downstairs? That's where the music is.

- Actually, let's go. - Caroline winked at Lola. They walked out of the room, leaving Emily, Tom, Lucas, and some other people in the room.

Tom was still stressing about the plan since the next step was totally up to Olivia and Tom - people he couldn't control.

Little did he know about the conversation that they were having outside.