GAMBLE: Rule of Cards

LIFE IS A GAMBLE

The younger gangster looked at him and released a smirk. “What our boss told us to do is what we will do,” one of them retorted. “Get him.” Denton has no choice but to step backward and get something to protect him but there was none. They are currently in the parking lot of an abandoned hospital, where the gang resides. The abandoned parking lot was dark and no hint of lives or anything for him to ask help with, and even asking for a help with a person, there’s only little chance for them to survive.

He was tripped after a couple of steps backward. He thought it would be the end of him, not until he grasped a handful of sand in his fist and threw it on the younger gangsters. The young gangsters groaned while wiping the sands out of their eyes. “Why is it always happening to me?”

Denton flew and ran away from the basement of the abandoned hospital. “Follow that s**t,” one of the young gangster scowled, commanding all the other young gangster in the area. “That clever, piece of s**t…” He then followed his boys following Denton who has already ran a lot of meters away from the place.

Looking at his back while furiously dashing through the dark streets, Denton strived harder to escape from the hands of that gang. “Why did I even bother playing poker with that big fat boss?” he muttered in between of his breath. Though he is already struggling with breathing as he continues on running, he cannot hide the disappointment in himself that pushed him to sigh. “That is the least money that I have. I bet it all-in. I won… and I am now being chased by those gangsters who even thinks that I cheated when they are the one holding the deck of cards.”

He stopped running and hid behind a wall after hearing some guys’ footsteps who are obviously running to find him. He looked back and changed route. Denton has no choice but to run with all his might towards his house which he eventually came into. What greeted him was his younger brother, Dennis, looking at his laptop but eventually looking back to see who came in. “You just came home…” Dennis looked at him, fully wasted and was panting heavily while leaning on the door inside. “What’s with the heavy panting and that wasted look?”

The older brother came in, sat in front of Dennis and gave himself a cup of water. “Nothing,” he alibied. He looked at Dennis who was suspiciously looking at him. “I said, nothing. I was just chased by a dog, that’s it. I ran to save my life.”

“Is it a literal dog or the dog you also told me the other day?” Denton avoided gazes and looked somewhere else. Being chased by the dog is his alibi every day that his brother already knows that he was lying. “Kuya, when will you stop playing poker with those gang members? You are investing a lot of time to your addiction yet you cannot even have time for your two daughters here.” What he called Denton was a term used to address older brothers in Filipino language.

Denton just looked at his younger brother with awkwardness. Dennis obviously younger at him but he thinks like an older guy, even older than his brother. He is a mature guy, based on his views and thoughts. “I just want to win big-time. At least, in one win of poker, I can already win a lot of money already. We do not have to suffer…” Then, a picture of the money he was about to win flashed in his mind. He heaved a deep sigh before continuing on talking. “Where’s the two kids? Did they already eat?”

“They both have eaten their dinner already. You do not have to worry about that. About Denise, I told her to take her meds but he declined. She said she want you to feed her the medicines she should take.” Dennis stood up and started scooping rice and placing the dish on the plates before giving it to his brother. “Kuya, I do not want you to stop playing the games you enjoy of doing but please, do not let your time be covered by it only. You have your daughters with you. They recently lost their mother and they are still in the moving on stage. Good thing, they are not giving up on you. If I were them, kuya, I could have left this house and lived on my own. You are a father of two; be a father to them.”

The last statement hit different as per Denton’s thinking. Dennis has been scolding him a lot because of all his addiction and Denton has not been listening to his brother. Now that it hit him like a bullet finding its aim, he realized he was wrong and that… Dennis has been right all along, and he was not listening to his brother. He never listened to any of Dennis’ remarks and he has been an impulsive guy ever since.

It has been not more than a month since Denton’s spouse left the world due to kidney inflammation. That has brought him a lot of stress that urged him to do everything to forget him wife’s death. He has always thought of ways for him to move on that he forget the fact that he has two daughters, suffering from the same pain. “I was that selfish,” he muttered to himself. He was right. He was selfish.

The savings inside the bank, which is all they have, has been in zero credit for one month already… and no one knows that aside from him. Where did it go? Through all of his addictions; poker, gambling and smoking cigarettes.

He spent all his dollars to all of his addiction. He realized he should have spent all the money through something better, and that something better should have been the maintenance and medicines for his daughter suffering from the same disease his wife has had. He realized his wrongs after taking it into consideration now that it is too late to bring those moneys back.

“Dad…” a thirteen-year-old girl muttered while walking onto him. It was Denise, one of his daughter who is also diagnosed with kidney malfunction. While looking at his daughter, he realized and felt the guilt more than ever. “This…” the girl grabbed his father’s hand and placed the medicine box on his palm. “I am ready to take meds, dad…”

Denton raised his hand and caressed his daughter’s head before opening the medicine box and grabbing the right medicine for her to take. “Did you swallow it?” The little girl slowly nodded which put a smile on his face. He carried the girl and made her sit on the chair in front of him. “How was your day, baby? Where is your sister?”

The little girl pointed at the room just in front of where they are right now. “Donna is already sleeping, dad…” The father looked at him, putting on his full smile. In this house, Denise is the sunshine. However, after putting all his attention to all of his addiction, Denton realized that he lost light in his world. It was dark not putting his attention to Denise who provides him the light when the world has stopped lighting. “Where are you from, dad? You look too tired…”

“I just went somewhere.” He was being eaten by guilt that he did not want to tell his daughter where he went, not because he wants his daughter to see him as an innocent and not the jerk he is but because she is too young to understand things like this. “You should not worry about me, baby. You should worry about yourself. Why aren’t you sleeping yet?”

The little girl told him that she wanted to sleep with his father in order to sleep, which is why Denton did not bother eating and went to the room together with his daughter. He placed himself between his two daughters. The younger daughter placed her head on her father’s arm. “Dad, sing some song…”

“Should I sing your mom’s song?” he asked and the girl nodded. He started humming the melody of the song and sung the lyrics. They were all longing for their loved one who recently just left; and singing that loved one’s song would trigger their emotions and it really did trigger Denton’s emotions. He was stuttering lyrics a lot but tried his best to sing it as great as how the mom would sing this. “I am really sorry… I failed you all…”

He looked at both his daughters and placed a kiss on both of their foreheads. “When you two needs me the most, I was focusing on myself. I never really noticed that there is the two of you whose longing for your mother’s love and that I can give it to you by showing my focus and attention to you…” He let his tears crawl down while sniffing. He is indeed weak, but he does not show it. He is the only one whom the two can look up to and he wanted the two to be brave, and that is why he only cries when no one is looking. “I really am selfish. I only looked at myself and never looked at you two who is also suffering. Don’t worry, my daughters, I will try my best to be a good dad for you from now on…”