Gold knew what he had to do to repay his debts the Famamichi mafia. Struggling through college just to get enough money and sleep was already stressful for the sulfuric-eyed boy, and like most students in college, they have to resort to almost anything to get loans: from giving blood, plasma, or simple odd jobs. It was difficult for him and his mother too, for she only had one job that was as a nuclear technician and it certainly was not a thrilling experience for her. Gold had a job also, working himself to death at the Crimson Crawdaunt for around 900 Poké an hour and was harassed by his co-workers for his open and gay sexuality in college. He wasn't happy with himself or his position in life.
With numerous representations and laws that made food and gasoline higher, Gold and his mother didn't keep much of their gross and couldn't fully support his tuition; it was a tough financial life. The government wouldn't provide education grants either because his mother didn't have the best credit rating, which was very unusual and profligate. Eventually he had to do the unthinkable and seek out loan-sharks to pay off the fees. Gold being ignorant of how criminals function and being an idiot in general, didn't think of paying back the loan-sharks in the long-term and 'got a visit' at the Cerulean college he was studying at.
Two men in casual clothing and ski masks, one short and one tall in height, knocked on his dorm room that one early 3:00 A.M. Saturday morning with the security personnel sleeping on the job. Gold opened the door rubbing his eyes in his cyndaquil sleep pants and a green sweater, with his signature happy cheery smile that could warm a heart and gave a friendly greeting to the two.
He was violently pushed to the ground by the two individuals. Gold tried to run but was pulled by the left leg and crushed onto the floor. The man who grabbed him wrapped a leather belt around his mouth and the other closed the door. The gangsters picked him up by the arms and tied him with a rope to one of the wooden chairs in the room, the shorter one pulling out and gently running a switchblade across the boy's throat. He was terrified and muffled in horror, still attempting to break free from the chair. They beat him multiple times with their fists and feet, even revealing a handgun and hitting him on the forehead with it; they were merciless and laughed at his keens and tears of pain. The men were definitely angry about something and Gold knew that he had made a mistake.
The beating subsided after some time with Gold plastered in bruises and blood, still crying. The taller man shoved an envelope fiercely into the boy's chest and cut the rope, while the other left the handgun and a magazine on a table next to him and both rushed out of the room, leaving the door wide open. Gold rubbed his head hoping to comfort the contact from the gun and got up from the seat, forgetting about the envelope. He was still confused with what just happened and paced over to lock the door, as instinct for protection. Turning around, he saw the white-colored enclosure lying on the floor and walked over to pick it up. Gold sat down on the edge of his bed that the table was next to, curious at the envelope and wondering what could be contained inside.
Maybe more money for school? Gold irrationally thought while he opened it. Making a commotion over something as small as an envelope with paper ripping and going everywhere, he finally got what was inside . . . a letter. Dopamine flowed throughout his body in fear; he was in trouble.
"Dear Mr. Gold,
Your due for your payments had expired yesterday. You should be happy that these two men didn't kill you or break your legs you piece of shit . . ." Gold paused and grabbed and pulled his hair in frustration, releasing whimpering sighs and continued with what he read. ". . . Luckily I am more forgiving than most consiglieres and I'm giving you three options, as a showing of my everlasting forgiveness. 1) You bring your five-hundred thousand Poké you owe me by Sunday at noon. 2) You can run and hide, hoping we don't find you (I don't recommend), or option 3 that is listed on the back of this." He flipped to the back, still scared out of his mind. Unlike the front side that had black ink from pen, this had red.
"Option 3) These fine gentlemen have supplied you with a P226, a wonderful pistol if I say so myself . . ." Gold glanced over at the gun from his bedside in question and back at the paper. "With this, you will go Cerulean Cape at the end of Route 25 and wait for someone from our rival mafia there this Saturday at noon. He has long hair. You will KILL this man and bring back his head as evidence. I'd watch out, he's probably waiting for you, too. Make your choice."
Gold crumbled the paper into a ball and threw it across the room, angered with the situation he was in. Collapsing into his pillows, he cried in hopelessness to how it was so useless to him, knowing it was impossible to collect 500,000 in one weekend, if not three months. His mom didn't have the money or savings either, and he didn't want to hide for the rest of his life being hunted. Gold had no choice or he'd die, and he loved to live and have fun with his friends. Killing this one person would surely preserve himself, but at the same time he didn't ever want to end someone's life for his sake, that would be selfish.
He gave it thought for hours, walking around his cold air-conditioned room with sockless feet. Live or die, what do I do?! Was all he could repeat throughout his conscience. The choice of killing someone for himself or letting this person live. But Gold came to a conclusion that it was just one person, it's not like it was genocide. He wanted to live, get through college, maybe have a decent boyfriend to have in a relationship. So many feelings ran through his mind and he wanted to experience them. He put on his regular hoodie and jeans and walked over to the table, grabbing the pistol. He inserted the magazine into the gun and charged it, putting it on safe afterwards and holstered it in the rims of his jeans, with the hoodie hiding it.
It was now 8:00 A.M., several hours after the incident in his dorm room. Gold was walking down the hallway, melancholy in appearance and still badly beaten. The hallway was empty and no one was seen loitering around nor walking, being it was Saturday, until his best friend Silver came from behind the corner at the end, wearing his traditional fleece jacket. He didn't recognize Gold at first and scanned to confirm who it was from afar, but when he did, he was shocked and ran towards the boy.
"Gold! What happened to you?! Are you okay?!" Silver grabbed his sides in concern and appeared somewhat upset. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine! Don't worry about me," Gold then stopped and leaned against a wall with Silver joining him. "Gold, you look like been hit. You're lying again aren't you? Silver asked, calming down and raising a stern eyebrow. He looked at the ground away from Silver, wondering if he should tell him what he has to do. Sure, Silver is his best friend, but Gold was too angst and paranoid to release his secret. It wasn't worth the risk for prison.
"Look, I just had a rough night. Nothing bad happened; I just kinda fell down a flight of stairs." Gold falsely explained, hoping that he would believe him. Silver crossed his arms and gave a grunt, looking at the wall adjacent.
"Well if you say so, but don't refrain from telling me something. I just hate that and you know it." Silver said, unconvinced but still not certain.
"I'm fine, Silver . . . I promise." Gold assured, trying to hold back the tears. He then proceeded to give Silver a hug and to his surprise he willingly accepted it, even not wanting to let go when he tried to pull away. Gold did find it very peculiar for someone as self-centered as Silver to be loving all of the sudden. "Gold . . . I actually have something to tell you." Silver held his arms behind his back and shuffled the floor in front him, looking away from his friend.
It was evident that he was disturbed or shy about whatever he had to say and Gold was aware of his body language. For what reason he didn't know, but he paid enough attention to acknowledge that Silver had been acting strange over the past month. He didn't call or text anyone or even come out of his room when he wasn't busy. Silver claimed that he was "just tired" from everything and needed some rest and alone-time, but he even stopped associating with his friends at lunch, other than occasionally talking to Gold when he saw him. Whatever it was, Gold suspected something.
"Well, what is it, Silver?" Gold sounded intimidatingly, still very inquisitive with his recent behavior. Silver felt threatened and hesitated, and did the best he could to get the truth out. "Um . . . well . . . " He paused, looking at Gold's feet and playing with his bangs. "Do you ever . . . well . . . like get . . . the uh . . . feeling where . . . you love someone?"
Gold felt a sensation of relief. It's good to know that the person who means the most to me isn't in as bad of a position as I am, even though he has acted strange, Gold pondered.
"I didn't really expect you to actually like someone! Come on tell me, what's her name?" Gold chuckled in a friendly manner and laid his arm on his buddy's shoulder. "Well . . . can you not tell anyone?" Silver glanced up at Gold's face slowly and puled with a hint of worry. "Just spit it out, Silver! Here you're telling me to tell you everything and—"
"OKAY, FINE! I love you! There!" the grey-eyed boy interrupted and crossed his arms, looking the opposite direction in aggravation and annoyance. Gold was astonished with what he heard; he stopped all movement and looked at him with wide eyes and awe. Silver was very masculine and would never have thought to like guys, or at least his best friend. Regardless, all Gold could think was: Jackpot! Silver was his crush and it was time to make his move.
"Silver . . . I love you too, you know?" he calmly and flatly stated, while holding his arms out in comfort. The boy turned around cautiously and was as surprised as Gold. Silver quickly grasped Gold by the chin and kissed him directly on the lips, making two hearts beat as one. The kiss was a short and dry one, but it transmitted his feelings about Gold simply. How did Gold feel? Like half a million Poké.
Silver released his lips from the boy taller than him and held a seduced stare into his eyes. They were very unnatural, being yellow, but held a dazzling and resplendent beauty that possibly held wonders. Silver couldn't help but think his desires had come true, and they did.
"How come . . . you didn't tell me? I've been searching all my life for someone like you," Gold whispered lightly, holding his partner close to him and admiring the moment. The words were like lust to Silver's ears. He had never heard Gold speak so passionately and became disoriented in his words. "Iwasif…lookin'…andfrid…" Silver mumbled under his breath, trying to speak as clearly as he could. "What?" Gold said with a louder voice and held an unglued, tilted-head look. Silver came back into reality from the normal tone of his voice and realized that he was hypnotized, blushing in embarrassment. "Ah, never mind!" Silver backed up from him and held his hands together in affection, smiling from his first kiss. Gold was still enjoying with what they had just experienced.
"Listen . . . uh . . . Gold." His eyes dilated. "I have to go somewhere and do something really fast, but I have one more question: do you maybe . . . wanna . . . ya know . . . work something out?" He rubbed the back of his head and looked away scared. "Of course, silly! We love each other; let's make it stay that way!" Gold cheeringly announced with a big smile. "Oh, great! Well . . . uh . . . do you think we can do one more kiss?" he questioned, still anticipating if Gold was trolling like he usually does with everyone. Fortunately he wasn't and he pulled him by the jacket, giving a very sultry and erotic make out session. Of what seemed for an eternity, it was heaven for Silver, as he had the opportunity to play with Gold's hair and move his arms in almost all kinds of places, with Gold doing the same. No matter how ethereal it was to be in such an event of fantasy, Silver had to break and still attend to his biddings. Breaking off from Gold, their hips hit each other and caused a metal clinging sound, frightening both boys simultaneously. Silver apologized and paced down from where Gold was walking and turned around halfway. "Thanks, Gold. I . . . uh . . . love you." he grinned in happiness.
"I love ya, too! Go get 'em Arcanine!" Gold yelled with a fist clinched, still smiling. Silver giggled in a somewhat disappointed manner and went his ways. Gold's blissfulness faded and reverted back to his sad self almost instantly. Not even his new boyfriend could comfort him with would he had to do to avoid death. He walked down the hallway into the main lobby of the college and sat down at one of the chairs, palms dug into his cheeks. Sitting around for twenty minutes in depression, he looked down at his watch; it read 8:35 A.M. In nearly three hours, he would be taking the life of some person that probably had a better life than him. Guilt overcame and he broke out in tears in the middle of the lobby. The sounds of sobering were echoed and heard throughout the room, but Gold didn't care, he had to get it out of his system or it would probably haunt him for life.
The exhaustion from not getting his full nights rest and the fatigue from crying led him to falling asleep on the chair. There, he dreamt of living a happy life with Silver, running through the hills and meadows full of flowers, laughing and giggling with their prosperity. But it wasn't the only dream he had. Another one was him walking alone through a black abyss and having no idea where he was going, lost and weary. In addition, the scenario changed to where he was in his bedroom at home and was trying to hold his teeth together as they fell out of his gums. It was the last dream until he was awoken by one of the professors.
"Hey there, buddy! Wake up! Gittup will ya?" It was Bill from the Computer Science course. Gold sprung up from his chair, startled from how he fell asleep. "Whoa whoa! What time is it?" he shook Bill and demanded. "Boy, will ya calm down?! It's like 11:00 A.M.! Come to yer senses!" Bill tried to relax the scatterbrained Gold. He looked down at his watch and gave a sigh of relief, thanking Bill afterwards. Guess it's time to go . . . do that thing, Gold thought worriedly.
He strolled out of the lobby and down the street towards Route 25. It would take about an hour to get there being that Cerulean Cape was about a mile away, so he wasn't late. Gold didn't waste any precious minutes getting there either, not stopping to view anything that appeared delicate or even to talk to strangers. But in no time, he was already at Nugget Bridge and crossed it with haste.
As he we walking, he decided to view some of the wildlife in the water. There were a few poliwag swimming around the surface of the water, while there were also some goldeen and krabby attending to their selves. Gold sadly smiled at the Pokémon, the idea of how free they were. He finally reached the end of the bridge and saw a horrifying sight. It was a dead psyduck ripped to shreds in its gore from some kind of tool or dagger on the coast. He approached the psyduck and looked at it briefly, gave another sigh and continued walking back along the trail. Everything will be fine, just got to keep moving and get this done then I won't have to worry anymore.
After climbing a few hills, he reached the flat surface of Cerulean Cape. A small clock tower read 11:55 A.M. Gold decided to stride and strategically hide behind a huge oak tree, gun in hand with safety off. He was trembling with adrenaline; he couldn't believe with what he was about to do to some poor person. Approaching the tree, he heard rustling in some bushes and turned around to view the disturbance, pointing the gun in defense. The cause was . . . Silver, aiming his handgun at Gold.
"Si-Si . . . Silver!?" he wailed in bewilderment, with Silver saying nothing but holding a determined, tenacious stare at Gold. They locked each other with no loss of eye contact and circled around. Gold was full of emotions; he just didn't know what to do. This was his boyfriend, the one he wanted to live his life with, the one who would make him happy. Kill him, don't kill him, my boyfriend or me?! Gold thought panickly. The circling stopped after a few minutes of silence, each of them wanting their desire to live. Silver thought if they could run away on the move constantly, with the possibilities of just having each other and no one else, like a couple of Ghost Riders. Different decisions flowed through each other's heads of what to do, and then Gold broke down.
"Sh-shit! I can't do it! I love you!" Gold cried out and lowered his gun to the ground. Silver started to show signs of weakness and shook with despair. He didn't want to lose him either, he'd never been loved by anyone more than his best friend, his boyfriend, Gold. Everything went out of earshot, the birds stopped chirping, the wind subsided, and the oceans stopped kissing the shore. It was if time stopped, until . . . DONG! the clock tower rang. It was noon. Silver's subconscious kicked in for a sense of protecting himself.
BANG! . . . ding-aling-ding. Gold glimpsed down at his chest not wanting to believe what happened after a few seconds of denial and saw a bullet lodged in his sternum. Looking back at Silver perplexed, he gave a quiet and painful groan then fell to the ground. Silver threw the gun beside him and fell to his knees, viewing of what he just done. He couldn't process it and surveyed his boyfriend's dead body, obscured with why he pulled the trigger. But the realization finally occurred to him: he killed Gold for his sake to live, the only person who understood him was now dead at his hands. Now, he was . . . alone.
Silver wept softly and succinctly, eyeing at the blood pool that Gold gave exuded. He spawned the different outcomes that could have happened such as: contacting the authorities, go into hiding, pleading for some other type of compensation for his own debts; just about everything. But it was too late and regret struck. He broke himself mentally and screamed to the top of his lungs, in tears, above his lover.
Thanks for reading! I thought that I may share with you some representations about certain parts of the story. I thought it was pretty neat and fun putting them in since I'm a new writer.
So with Gold having to kill the other man for his life shows a deal with the devil, hoping to succeed and win, but in most cases, the good always loses. This was somewhat of an inspiration from Stephen King. His Storm of the Century was a main factor, where the townspeople had to give one of their first sons to a many thousands of years old imp, similar to Satan, or else they'd all die. The father of the son that was taken was ultimately shattered and I wanted that kind of emotion with Silver when he did "what he had to do".
The confession of both the boys' love was intended to represent desire and attachment. It is almost related to the "deal" and the underlying emotions are very much related. If you ever watched any of the Star Wars movies or maybe read some of the books, you'd find out that attachment is one of the themes of plundering to "the dark side". Because the loss of somebody you absolutely adored and devoted your life to suddenly vanished or died, you'd be pretty heartbroken probably. With this, the following-up feelings and personality would drastically change into one of, well, darkness. Like mentioned, this is really similar to the first representation. And with a dark-kind of story like this, it was intended for that attachment to be taken away, and thus, Silver then went into darkness afterwards.
Last but not least, the dead psyduck that lay on the side of the water was a future foreshadow to Gold's death. Psyduck is yellow, like the precious metal. You could say that a representation of death is somewhat popular in literature a century ago, and still probably is now. John Steinback's Of Mice and Men has plenty of examples of something occurring to the main characters and gets worse in the future. And yes, you could say that Steinback inspired me for that part, too.
Anyway, it was really enjoyable to write a dark story and have a little fun with it at the same time. But I believe the most important part was how the public had the opportunity to read it, and I thank you. Cheers!
Darkness seems to always consume . . .