Casino Big One

“Oh, welcome back, Mr. Lefleur. Think you’re going to try the Big One tonight?” Samson flashed his most persuasive smirk at the old man.

“No, no, not today, Samsom. Not today. But I can promise you one thing, Mr. Kaulitz. Tonight I am winning the jackpot.”

“You sound even more confident today than you did last night. Good luck,” Samson laughed, walking away.

With his hands clasped behind his back, Samson Holtz surveyed the rows and rows of slot machines and card tables. He smiled through the sounds of the slot machines dinging, the dice rolling, the sounds of celebration and the sounds of loss. This was his life.

The Big One Casino started when Samson and his brother, Kevin, decided that all casinos they’ve been to in their lives just weren’t satisfying enough. They wanted better prizes, with more at stake.

So they took all their college money and their life savings, and at the ripe age of 22, the twins created Big One Casino. They had everything you could think of - slots, Texas Hold’em, craps, they even had a strip club in the back.

When people came to the Big One Casino, they expected a lot. They expected big prizes, big people, and big luck. It sounds surprising but a lot of customers actually took the Big One - that is to say, instead of gambling their money, they gambled their lives. Only a handful of those brave people made it out of the Casino Big One alive.

It’s true - all they needed to do was throw down a special kind of poker chip. The Big One chip was somewhat bigger than a regular poker chip, and deep deep red. The twins used the blood of others to paint them, but they told no one that detail.

Samson spotted his brother watching a particularly interesting game of Craps, and sauntered over to join him. Kevin felt his older brother’s shoulder brush his own and smiled.

“The guy over there bet the Big One,” Kevin whispered, gesturing mildly to a sweaty, shaking man.

“Ha,” Samson laughed. “It’s Mr Lefleur.”

Mr Lefleur, with unsteady hands, rolled the dice. All the bystanders - except the twins, who were used to it - gasped and held their breath. When the dice finally settled, there was another collective gasp.

“Snake eyes!”

Samson approached the old man. “Mr Lefleur,” he said, putting his hand on the other man’s weak shoulder. “Come on.”

Mr Lefleur’s eyes widened, and he started sobbing. He shook Samson off, who nodded to a very large man who’d suddenly appeared. The large man roughly pulled Mr Lefleur’s hands behind his back and shoved him to start walking. “Thank you, Saki,” Kevin said. Samson followed Saki and Mr Lefleur to the back room.

All the eyes in the casino were on the retreating men. They reached the back room and when Mr Lefleur saw where he was, he sobbed harder, muttering unintelligible things.

Saki gave the crying man one more great shove and Mr Lefleur stumbled towards a smaller door in the back corner of the room.

“Wait, Saki.” The large man jerked Mr Lefleur so he was facing Samson.

“Goodbye, Mr Lefleur. Good luck.”

After the small door closed behind the giant and the old man, Tom lingered in the other room for a moment and listened. He smiled slightly when he heard the blood curdling scream.