Page 152 - Musings 2022

The (Un)Lucky Gambler

Tanmay Parab
2019A7PS0044P

It was a rainy night at the city of Backlund, despite the rain the night life of the people was at
full swing. In a particularly loud casino Joseph is sitting in front of the dealer with a depressed

face. The cashier said “hmm, so this makes it 36 losses in a row. I assume you have finally

decided to give up and try something different?” The look of depression on Joseph’s face turns
into reluctance and finally morphs into rage as the half-drunk man rises up from his seat and

grabs the collar of the cashier and yells “This is none of your business, you better stick to
dealing cards and stay off my matters!” He then forcefully pushes away the cashier and rushes

out of the bar like a furious storm. As he walks home drenched from head to toe, Joseph thinks

about his experiences at the casino. “Why is it that every time I come close to winning
something always goes wrong at the last step?” He had always felt suspicious about the fairness

of the casino on multiple occasions and as a result gone to different places to gamble but alas,
the outcome was the same. “I refuse to believe this is the result of luck alone! Something must

be wrong here. Either I am being targeted or it must be a curse of some sort”. In the fit of rage
he starts punching the stop sign until he finally slumps and lies down beside it. “This was my

final bit of saving too, now I have no choice but to work in some shoddy shop that hires people

regardless of their past portfolio”. Weak and tired as his eyes slowly close he notices a bright
light approaching. With shock, his eyes fly open as he tries his best to avoid the truck but his

body does not seem to respond, with fear filling up his heart, he watches as the impending
doom draws closer. With a loud bang he falls unconscious. After an unknown period of time,

Joseph finally wakes up. As he looks around to find out where he was and what happened to

him, pain engulfs his head as the memories of the accident return. In panic he starts cursing
and screaming but no voice seems to come out of his mouth. After another long-time of

screaming, Joseph finally calms down and tries to look around. He notices everything is dark
except a small bright corner. He notices a figure in the light that seemed to be a man. He then

says “where am I?” This time his voice sounded like normal. The man in the light replies “I

have watched you for a long time; I have been there long before the beginning of your downfall
as you fell into the misery of gambling. In fact I am the reason why you haven’t been able to

win any games”. At first Joseph is shocked at the man’s words as he never noticed such a
mysterious figure

watching him but that shock quickly turns into anger at the last few words. “WHAT! What do

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