Ives dragged his bleeding body home. It was a miracle he even survived the ordeal he had been through.
But fate wasn't done playing cruel jokes on him yet.
Somehow his weak eyesight caught a faint blue glow on the ground beside the garbage and to no one's surprise it was his phone.
"Hello?" Ives answered a call that has been ringing for god knows how long.
"Fuck you. You worthless son of a bitch, how could a human have the audacity to degrade himself like this…"
Before a single word could escape his parched swollen lips, his aunt rained down curses from the high heavens till his spine felt like it was being pressed down on by a boulder.
"Anut please, it was luke and his boys. They caught me after school, I couldn't fight them off… I've tied up a warehouse down saint's abbey for almost six hours.."
With a cracked voice, he frantically tried to explain but his Aunt wasn't having any of it.
"So you couldn't do anything about a bunch of kids ganging up on ya. How much of a loser does someone have to be to say that…"
Ives wondered if this same woman had actually met Luke even once despite them living a few houses down. The one who she is always swooning over for no viable reason.
A younger male voice came to the line, whispering something to Ives' aunt who relayed it with undisguised cruelty.
Ives knew who that was and anytime he was in the same room with his aunt things never ended well for him.
"You don't have to worry anymore.."
Ives knew better than to breathe in relief.
"Curtis just told me that you won't be coming back to this house anymore. From today henceforth you will be living on the streets."
The Line cut. Ives was left there unable to cope with the awful situation he had been placed in.
No home. No family. No social standing and not a dime to his name.
Ives walked home. He knew it wasn't going anywhere but just that habit alone gave him a comfortable delusion he could indulge in before reality hits.
And it hit hard. The walk back was quiet and discomforting. All eyes gazed at him, not a single one with compassion, only malice in some form or the other.
The neighbours literally glared with a murderous look and lo and behold was Luke sitting on his pouch with a beer can in hand and his lackies chuckling to themselves.
One even blew a kiss in his direction signalling that whatever they had done was probably something he would never live
down.
Ives cursed within himself. He couldn't access the internet due to his lack of cell coverage courtesy of his wonderful relatives he had no choice but to live with.
This was his life here in good old Beverly Oaks. A wonderful place if you are better off and willing to be pretentious to a fault but for a broke kid like him whose relatives only have hate for on their lips.
Things tend to get rough real fast. One cares if you are being beaten up by your neighbour's kids, it is always "you hit first."
Now was no different.
They were slowly surrounding him but no one was brave enough to make the first move.
That was left for someone more special because when folks here wanted you gone, you go.
Ives walked up to the lawn and looked at their red mailbox one last time.
The surname "Fleck" spelled boldly on it, Ives ran his hands across the imprint hoping that this name would mean something now but it was hopeless.
Several thuds on the ground later and Ives' entire possession were arranged neatly before him in three worn out gym bags.
And an angry balding hulk of man marching towards him without a care in the world.
"Here's a parting gift"
Ives saw stars repeatedly as he was knocked across the neighbourhood to the gate, not a single soul stood in his way.
Ives was a pariah and his uncle was just executing what they all wanted deep down.
Sirens blared and several officers came and wrestled this monster of a man off him.
But not before they made sure to cuff him too. An hour later and he finally got the memo, apparently when he was knocked out cold by Luke and his gang.
Their insane minds contorted their most cruel prank yet.
Dressed in a gimp suit and naked the waist down, they photographed and posted Ives' pictures on their social media accounts making sure to give info on who Ives is and where he lives. Even creating an onlyfans in his name that very day, something that would have seemed off to his persecutors if they bothered to pay attention.
Ives was on the news with every mouth condemning him or victimising him for the wrong reasons.
His life was virtually over.
The officer waited for his statement but Ives didn't have any, he wasn't going to defend himself anymore.
He just waited in silence till they released back out on the streets a day later.
The next destination, the bridge or most precisely the bottom of Lake Seymour.
Ives felt light for the first time in his life like he was finally allowed to breathe out after holding his breath in for so long.
The stares didn't matter, even the occasional attacks from radicals.
The air seemed like it parted just to let him through, the wind felt welcoming, waiting to herald his soul to the pearly gates or at least propagate the stench of his rotting corpse.
Ping!
Something pinged on his phone, an app that wasn't there a few hours ago.
It had the logo of a golden clover on a black background. Ives clicked on it and saw a message.
"Good tidings to you, Ives. Welcome to the wheel of fortune, it's simple just spin and keep anything you win but if you don't win then you will suffer a fate worse than death. You can spin only once. Good luck"
Sure enough, a spin wheel appeared though it was filled with strange markings and runes, all of which meant nothing to him.
"Fine." Ives decided to play his last game on earth as ridiculous as it sounded.
Ives touched the screen with his thumb and flung the wheel. The virtual wheel spun extremely fast, creating an illusion where it seemed like the characters engraved on it had come to life.
They moved, shrilled and made absurd motions that defiled common sense. Some bubbles up beyond the screen but when Ives reaches to grab them it was as if there was nothing there but thin air. A trick of the light.
Soon they fell back into the wheel signalling that the spin had come to an end.
One of the characters resembling a pink starfish without any discernible biological features waved at him before falling back in place.
Ives was both unsettled and impressed.
The results came and suddenly Ives felt his windpipe tighten as if something was trying to kill him but nothing was there.
The feeling vanished and Ives heard another ping on his phone.
A Bank alert of Three Billion dollars exactly.
Ives looked at the spinning results and saw his result,
"Instant Billionaire fantasy."