A game of chess
Ron was sitting next to the window with a gun in his hand, when death came into the room. He was watching the wind blowing out the leaves from the street in short but powerful bursts. As death needs no permission, no doors, no keys nor locks to come in, he did not hear it enter the room, but did not get scared when he saw it either. Did not even flinch. In front of him was a chess board, all set up, white pieces on his side. "I knew you would come eventually", Ron said. "...and I felt that you would come soon". Death said nothing, just simply leaned forward towards Ron for a while, and then moved from the other side of the chessboard, where the black pieces were standing.
- "Do you play, Ronald?",death asked."Yes I do.Would you like us to play a game?"
- "I am not sure that would be fair", death replied,"after all, I was there, present, when the game was invented.The match would not be very interesting".
- "We could make it more interesting."
- "Oh really? And what do you propose?", death asked, dwelling in front of Ron.During the whole conversation he strongly felt it's presence as being there and out of this world at the same time. Like feeling the chills down his spine, but without pause, and 10 times stronger.
- "I propose we put a bet", Ron replied," if I win, you let me live, if I lose, I die."
- "That is not much of a fun, what stops me from taking you right now? However, I have another proposition.If you win, I let you live, but in return, for each piece you lose, I get to take another soul, and not just any soul, but someone close to you, and you will have to be the one to choose. At the end if you lose...... I guess, that would mean the end of you as well."
Ron looked through the window again. He was looking at the world that he might soon have to abandon, and the very realization of that made him feel more alive then ever. Funny thing, he needed to get a death wish to feel alive."I guess you cannot know life, until you meet with death", he thought.Then, while still looking through the window he said:
- "In this world of slightly used souls, the devil has a hell of a time choosing which one to buy. And I am afraid, mine will be next. I agree with your proposition".Ron put the gun down on the floor, moved his hand slowly towards the chessboard, and played his first move: pawn to c4.
- "The English opening", death said, "silent, but deadly. Should I be worried?". Pushed by some invisible force, the black pawn moved to e5, turning the game into a reversed Sicilian defense.
- "Well I am playing for my life am I not? Reverse Sicilian. Firm defense, but yet dynamic. Are you in a hurry?", Ron asked with a steady but shaky voice, while playing Knight c3. Death replied with Knight f6 and calmly responded, "Oh, trust me, I'm in no hurry. I have all the time in the world".
At that moment Ron paused.He looked at the table, just as a dying man clinging for his life would, and played pawn d4, attacking the black's pawn, and with that proposing an exchange of pieces. A pawn for a pawn. An exchange that would cost someone his life. Death watched Ron move the piece, looked at the table for a couple of seconds, and then took the white pawn at d4 with his pawn from e5.
- "Ronald, this means you owe me a soul.Who will be the first? A colleague? A distant acquaintance?"
Ronald was holding his hand over his forehead, feeling a splash of cold sweat running down over his fingers. - "God help me.......Lisa. Lisa O'Brien. She is a coleague from work, the oldest person I know,and I worked with her for a long time. She lived her life fully, has kids, grandkids......if there is someone that has to go, let it be her. Will she ever be able to forgive me?"
- "I couldn't say, Ronald. As you may presume, forgiveness is really not in my department.Lisa it is then."
Somewhere across the town, Lisa was just coming out of the grocery store. "Damn the wind", she thought, "I can't hardly wait for the spring to come.I'm definitely taking a vacation then". She felt a sudden cold breeze on her neck, like a dash of cold breath, and that is when the chest pain started. Rather soon, she was down on the pavement, with the grocery bag and groceries spilled all over, gasping for air, but there was no one to help her. Soon after that, her eyes stopped moving and started staring towards a distant point in the sky. Heart attacks are always sudden and swift.
...and the chess match against death went on. Ronald played Queen to d4, taking the black pawn and balancing the game again, but his grim opponent answered with Knight c6 and with that attacked his queen. Ron had to move the queen so he retreated to Qd2 and right away got attacked by black Bishop at d4. He tried to repel the attack by attacking the Bishop with pawn to a3, but that is when he lost his second piece, black Bishop takes white Knight on c3.
- "Focus Ronald. This is the second piece you lost. Who do you choose now? You lost your knight, so please, amuse me and choose better this time."
For a brief moment, Ronald left the grayness of his room, and went back to a place where he was happy. He was just a little boy back then, running over the green field near his old house, and there was nothing on his mind but playing football with his friends. Especially with Dylan. As Ron had no brothers, ever since they were little, Dylan was just that, like a brother to him.
- "What was that lad's name......Dylan was it", death asked. "Should we choose him?"
- "......yes", Ron replied,barely squeezing the word through his teeth.
- "So be it", death replied."Well, what do you know, this game gets better and better"
Somewhere in the city's downtown, Dylan was walking down the street, smiling. He had his smartphone in his hand, and from time to time, a pinging noise was coming out of it, announcing that he has a new message. He would read the message, give out a smug little smile, and then he would tediously type back a response. Just as he was passing the street, he was writing a response with his eyes glued to the small 4 inch screen instead of the crossroad, and when he saw the 18-wheel truck coming at him it was already too late. The truck blew him out, his phone flew far away from him, and landed with it's screen upwards, having a message on it: "So I will see you tonight? You know what to wear ;)". It was followed by a response "Yes....yes I do :). When will we meet?". Dylan's face was barely recognizable after the impact, and his smile was gone now.
Ron did not look good at all. He was covered in cold sweat, pale as mist, shaking.
- "Look....I clearly can't do this.....let's stop, take me with you now, and let's end this".
- "Sorry Ronald, but I can't do this, I'm just having too much fun. Besides, you will have to pay for your smugness from when I came in earlier. I clearly advised against this, even before we started, but you insisted, and here we are now.What's your next move?"
Ron moved his Queen to c3 taking the black bishop in exchange for the Knight he lost. Death played Knight e4 putting Ron's Queen in direct danger,but Ron was completely out of it. He was barely able to pull himself together, let alone play chess, and then he made the worse oversight he could, by playing the pawn to f3, attacking the black Knight, and leaving the Queen completely vulnerable.
Death did not wait. Death never waits. Death does not forgive.
He moved his black Knight and captured Ron's Queen. Then, while slowly putting the queen down to the table, he asked:
- "Ronald. I took your Queen. We both know what that means, right? We both know who should be my next soul, don't we Ronald?"
- "Please....", Ron said, "Please, I beg of you.Take me instead, take anyone else, but not HER. Please....."
- "My dear Ronald", death replied, "just like forgiveness, mercy is also not something I am familiar with."
In an apartment on the other side of the city, Lucy was trying her brand new lingerie. It was a gift from a very dear person in her life.Just thinking of him made her eyes seem like the eyes of a child. "M-hm. He will most definitely like this", she thought to herself. Then she picked up her phone and checked the screen. No new messages. "Hmmm... I will call him later", she thought, and stopped infront of the mirror, to put on her make up. She was not aware though, that there was a wasp, trying to push her way from behind the curtain. As it finally managed to get herself free, it flew disoriented, directly towards Lucy, and landed on Lucy's neck. Instinctively, Lucy tried to squish the insect, which the wasp considered as an attack, and defended itself by stinging Lucy, and a couple of seconds later, Lucy was down on the floor, in spasms, white foam coming out of her mouth. She never new that she was allergic to wasps or bees, but then again, she was never stung by a wasp before. If she knew, she would take better care, as she knew that anaphylactic shocks can be deadly.
Ron was sitting in his chair, covering his face with both of his arms, and death just lingered infront of him.
- "Oh c'mon Ronald. You knew it would come to this. You agreed to this, surely you knew there will be consequences you will have to suffer."
- "Suffer?"
Ron removed his palms away from his face, and started laughing hysterically. And it was not a laughter of a mad man, it was not a nervous breakdown, it was an actual laughter of satisfaction.
- "Do you find death of people close to you funny, Ronald?"
Ron stopped laughing, looked at death and said:
- "Well......I do when it comes to these people", and burst into laughter again."How could you not see this?", Ron asked,"You do know why you came here right?"
- "Yes", death replied, "you decided to kill yourself. I came in to close the deal."
- "Ah yes, but do you know WHY did I decide to kill myself? My best friend, Dylan, my brother, my Knight, was sleeping with Lucy. With my pretty white QUEEN. They were having an affair for years now, and I had no idea. I just found out that yesterday morning while I was at the office, and I couldn't do a thing for the whole day. At the end, that old witch, Lisa, came in, saw that I did not finish any of the reports I had to deliver, so she reported me to the manager, and I got fired. Imagine that, huh? I just found out my wife is cheating on me with my best friend, and I lost a job a while later?? I was lost, I simply did not know what to do. I spent the rest of the day,and the night after, in excruciating pain and agony, and I just wanted to end it all. But then, you came in, and saved me. The thought of me dying, was not at all as appealing as the thought of all of them dying with me together. And you made this all possible.I salute you death, cause without you, my life would be so incomplete, in a manner of speaking.....", said Ron, just before bursting into laughter again.
- "Incomplete you say? Well, let's leave it at that.", death said, and a dash of doubt passed over Ron's face.
- "What do you mean, let's leave it at that?", Ron asked,".....I....I surrender the game, you have to take me now as well, there is nothing for me to live for anyway."
- "Well, I am the master of death. I AM death. Which makes me also the master of life. You cannot really separate life from death, and when you play chess with death, you play chess with life as well. And since you obviously had such great people in your life, what do you say about their miraculous recovery? Did you know that the ambulance came in on time for Lisa to reanimate her heart, and for Lucy to countermeasure her alergic reaction? And Dylan lost a lot of blood, has a few broken bones, but he will survive and recover fully in no time."
- "No,no. NO! You can't do this. Please don't do this."
- "Oh but I can", death responded, "actually I am just the right one to do it. I thought at one point about taking your life, but now I see that for you, having this life is worse then death.I will see you though, one day, and I will have your soul, but not now.....and not soon."
Ron just sat there, mouth half-opened. Although he was alive, he felt empty, felt so low that it is hard to describe with words. He grabbed the gun from the floor, pointed to the head and pulled the trigger. A clicking noise came out, but no gunshot. He checked the ammo, magazine was full. Tried again. Nothing.
- "Don't bother", death said, "you are not dying until I say so. Instead try to make peace with your life. Try to make some sense out of it". Slowly as it came, death went away but before vanishing completely it stopped, turned to Ron and said:
- "....And what is life, if not one great game of chess? Thank you for the match Ron, it was.....fun."
Then, as death vanished, suddenly, Ron stopped feeling the chills down his spine.
He did not feel anything at all anymore.
- "Do you play, Ronald?",death asked."Yes I do.Would you like us to play a game?"
- "I am not sure that would be fair", death replied,"after all, I was there, present, when the game was invented.The match would not be very interesting".
- "We could make it more interesting."
- "Oh really? And what do you propose?", death asked, dwelling in front of Ron.During the whole conversation he strongly felt it's presence as being there and out of this world at the same time. Like feeling the chills down his spine, but without pause, and 10 times stronger.
- "I propose we put a bet", Ron replied," if I win, you let me live, if I lose, I die."
- "That is not much of a fun, what stops me from taking you right now? However, I have another proposition.If you win, I let you live, but in return, for each piece you lose, I get to take another soul, and not just any soul, but someone close to you, and you will have to be the one to choose. At the end if you lose...... I guess, that would mean the end of you as well."
Ron looked through the window again. He was looking at the world that he might soon have to abandon, and the very realization of that made him feel more alive then ever. Funny thing, he needed to get a death wish to feel alive."I guess you cannot know life, until you meet with death", he thought.Then, while still looking through the window he said:
- "In this world of slightly used souls, the devil has a hell of a time choosing which one to buy. And I am afraid, mine will be next. I agree with your proposition".Ron put the gun down on the floor, moved his hand slowly towards the chessboard, and played his first move: pawn to c4.
- "The English opening", death said, "silent, but deadly. Should I be worried?". Pushed by some invisible force, the black pawn moved to e5, turning the game into a reversed Sicilian defense.
- "Well I am playing for my life am I not? Reverse Sicilian. Firm defense, but yet dynamic. Are you in a hurry?", Ron asked with a steady but shaky voice, while playing Knight c3. Death replied with Knight f6 and calmly responded, "Oh, trust me, I'm in no hurry. I have all the time in the world".
At that moment Ron paused.He looked at the table, just as a dying man clinging for his life would, and played pawn d4, attacking the black's pawn, and with that proposing an exchange of pieces. A pawn for a pawn. An exchange that would cost someone his life. Death watched Ron move the piece, looked at the table for a couple of seconds, and then took the white pawn at d4 with his pawn from e5.
- "Ronald, this means you owe me a soul.Who will be the first? A colleague? A distant acquaintance?"
Ronald was holding his hand over his forehead, feeling a splash of cold sweat running down over his fingers. - "God help me.......Lisa. Lisa O'Brien. She is a coleague from work, the oldest person I know,and I worked with her for a long time. She lived her life fully, has kids, grandkids......if there is someone that has to go, let it be her. Will she ever be able to forgive me?"
- "I couldn't say, Ronald. As you may presume, forgiveness is really not in my department.Lisa it is then."
Somewhere across the town, Lisa was just coming out of the grocery store. "Damn the wind", she thought, "I can't hardly wait for the spring to come.I'm definitely taking a vacation then". She felt a sudden cold breeze on her neck, like a dash of cold breath, and that is when the chest pain started. Rather soon, she was down on the pavement, with the grocery bag and groceries spilled all over, gasping for air, but there was no one to help her. Soon after that, her eyes stopped moving and started staring towards a distant point in the sky. Heart attacks are always sudden and swift.
...and the chess match against death went on. Ronald played Queen to d4, taking the black pawn and balancing the game again, but his grim opponent answered with Knight c6 and with that attacked his queen. Ron had to move the queen so he retreated to Qd2 and right away got attacked by black Bishop at d4. He tried to repel the attack by attacking the Bishop with pawn to a3, but that is when he lost his second piece, black Bishop takes white Knight on c3.
- "Focus Ronald. This is the second piece you lost. Who do you choose now? You lost your knight, so please, amuse me and choose better this time."
For a brief moment, Ronald left the grayness of his room, and went back to a place where he was happy. He was just a little boy back then, running over the green field near his old house, and there was nothing on his mind but playing football with his friends. Especially with Dylan. As Ron had no brothers, ever since they were little, Dylan was just that, like a brother to him.
- "What was that lad's name......Dylan was it", death asked. "Should we choose him?"
- "......yes", Ron replied,barely squeezing the word through his teeth.
- "So be it", death replied."Well, what do you know, this game gets better and better"
Somewhere in the city's downtown, Dylan was walking down the street, smiling. He had his smartphone in his hand, and from time to time, a pinging noise was coming out of it, announcing that he has a new message. He would read the message, give out a smug little smile, and then he would tediously type back a response. Just as he was passing the street, he was writing a response with his eyes glued to the small 4 inch screen instead of the crossroad, and when he saw the 18-wheel truck coming at him it was already too late. The truck blew him out, his phone flew far away from him, and landed with it's screen upwards, having a message on it: "So I will see you tonight? You know what to wear ;)". It was followed by a response "Yes....yes I do :). When will we meet?". Dylan's face was barely recognizable after the impact, and his smile was gone now.
Ron did not look good at all. He was covered in cold sweat, pale as mist, shaking.
- "Look....I clearly can't do this.....let's stop, take me with you now, and let's end this".
- "Sorry Ronald, but I can't do this, I'm just having too much fun. Besides, you will have to pay for your smugness from when I came in earlier. I clearly advised against this, even before we started, but you insisted, and here we are now.What's your next move?"
Ron moved his Queen to c3 taking the black bishop in exchange for the Knight he lost. Death played Knight e4 putting Ron's Queen in direct danger,but Ron was completely out of it. He was barely able to pull himself together, let alone play chess, and then he made the worse oversight he could, by playing the pawn to f3, attacking the black Knight, and leaving the Queen completely vulnerable.
Death did not wait. Death never waits. Death does not forgive.
He moved his black Knight and captured Ron's Queen. Then, while slowly putting the queen down to the table, he asked:
- "Ronald. I took your Queen. We both know what that means, right? We both know who should be my next soul, don't we Ronald?"
- "Please....", Ron said, "Please, I beg of you.Take me instead, take anyone else, but not HER. Please....."
- "My dear Ronald", death replied, "just like forgiveness, mercy is also not something I am familiar with."
In an apartment on the other side of the city, Lucy was trying her brand new lingerie. It was a gift from a very dear person in her life.Just thinking of him made her eyes seem like the eyes of a child. "M-hm. He will most definitely like this", she thought to herself. Then she picked up her phone and checked the screen. No new messages. "Hmmm... I will call him later", she thought, and stopped infront of the mirror, to put on her make up. She was not aware though, that there was a wasp, trying to push her way from behind the curtain. As it finally managed to get herself free, it flew disoriented, directly towards Lucy, and landed on Lucy's neck. Instinctively, Lucy tried to squish the insect, which the wasp considered as an attack, and defended itself by stinging Lucy, and a couple of seconds later, Lucy was down on the floor, in spasms, white foam coming out of her mouth. She never new that she was allergic to wasps or bees, but then again, she was never stung by a wasp before. If she knew, she would take better care, as she knew that anaphylactic shocks can be deadly.
Ron was sitting in his chair, covering his face with both of his arms, and death just lingered infront of him.
- "Oh c'mon Ronald. You knew it would come to this. You agreed to this, surely you knew there will be consequences you will have to suffer."
- "Suffer?"
Ron removed his palms away from his face, and started laughing hysterically. And it was not a laughter of a mad man, it was not a nervous breakdown, it was an actual laughter of satisfaction.
- "Do you find death of people close to you funny, Ronald?"
Ron stopped laughing, looked at death and said:
- "Well......I do when it comes to these people", and burst into laughter again."How could you not see this?", Ron asked,"You do know why you came here right?"
- "Yes", death replied, "you decided to kill yourself. I came in to close the deal."
- "Ah yes, but do you know WHY did I decide to kill myself? My best friend, Dylan, my brother, my Knight, was sleeping with Lucy. With my pretty white QUEEN. They were having an affair for years now, and I had no idea. I just found out that yesterday morning while I was at the office, and I couldn't do a thing for the whole day. At the end, that old witch, Lisa, came in, saw that I did not finish any of the reports I had to deliver, so she reported me to the manager, and I got fired. Imagine that, huh? I just found out my wife is cheating on me with my best friend, and I lost a job a while later?? I was lost, I simply did not know what to do. I spent the rest of the day,and the night after, in excruciating pain and agony, and I just wanted to end it all. But then, you came in, and saved me. The thought of me dying, was not at all as appealing as the thought of all of them dying with me together. And you made this all possible.I salute you death, cause without you, my life would be so incomplete, in a manner of speaking.....", said Ron, just before bursting into laughter again.
- "Incomplete you say? Well, let's leave it at that.", death said, and a dash of doubt passed over Ron's face.
- "What do you mean, let's leave it at that?", Ron asked,".....I....I surrender the game, you have to take me now as well, there is nothing for me to live for anyway."
- "Well, I am the master of death. I AM death. Which makes me also the master of life. You cannot really separate life from death, and when you play chess with death, you play chess with life as well. And since you obviously had such great people in your life, what do you say about their miraculous recovery? Did you know that the ambulance came in on time for Lisa to reanimate her heart, and for Lucy to countermeasure her alergic reaction? And Dylan lost a lot of blood, has a few broken bones, but he will survive and recover fully in no time."
- "No,no. NO! You can't do this. Please don't do this."
- "Oh but I can", death responded, "actually I am just the right one to do it. I thought at one point about taking your life, but now I see that for you, having this life is worse then death.I will see you though, one day, and I will have your soul, but not now.....and not soon."
Ron just sat there, mouth half-opened. Although he was alive, he felt empty, felt so low that it is hard to describe with words. He grabbed the gun from the floor, pointed to the head and pulled the trigger. A clicking noise came out, but no gunshot. He checked the ammo, magazine was full. Tried again. Nothing.
- "Don't bother", death said, "you are not dying until I say so. Instead try to make peace with your life. Try to make some sense out of it". Slowly as it came, death went away but before vanishing completely it stopped, turned to Ron and said:
- "....And what is life, if not one great game of chess? Thank you for the match Ron, it was.....fun."
Then, as death vanished, suddenly, Ron stopped feeling the chills down his spine.
He did not feel anything at all anymore.
Comments
Post a Comment