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Reprisal

The worst kind of betrayal

By Byron PerryPublished 3 years ago 9 min read
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Reprisal
Photo by DEVN on Unsplash

Reprisal

Cries of 'Stop, stop!' rang throughout the Carrow Valley High hallways. Johnnie, deemed a nerd by classmates, stood at five foot five weighing one hundred and thirty pounds, with the anatomical structure of an underdeveloped seventh grader, was having his locker rummaged by Christian, a five foot eight one hundred and seventy pound bully who through the eyes of Johnnie grew a little bigger each day. There was little regard for any of Johnnie's personal belongings, including his feelings. His Lunch money was stolen, homework crumbled, Christian even found a little black notebook covered in anime stickers, a safe haven where Johnnie stored his thoughts, his fears, and his heart. Christian removed the elastic bound and opened the notebook, revealing the vulnerable content. This was an opportunity for a bully to do what bullies do. Christian hastily flipped through the pages stopping at the page labeled 'naked and afraid' after a quick skim through, Christian thought to read it aloud. "Who am I? What am I? Why do I feel so powerless? Everyday I am harassed and abused, my spirit wants to fight, yet my body is afraid. I'm so weak. Today I set a goal to complete ten push ups, I couldn't even complete one. God, why is this happening to me? Help me please God! Please God, where are you?" It read.

Six feet away stood Freddie, a six foot four, three hundred pound offensive lineman for the Carrow Valley Tigers. A bully in his own right, who watched hastily as the events unfolded. Honestly, Freddie would have bullied Johnnie himself had Francis not found Johnnie first. After observing three minutes of abuse, Freddie was over it, "Enough is enough" Freddie screamed. He did not have a problem with the theft of Johnnie's lunch money, or even Christian's physical and mental dominance, but where he did draw the line was at emotional terrorism. Freddie took only two steps, placing him directly at the heels of Christian, casting a shadow over both Christian and Johnnie. Freddie took hold to the back of Christian's shirt collar, slung and pinned him against the lockers, prying the little black book from the hands of the bully. With swift action Freddie bullied a bully saving Johnnie several more minutes of embarrassment. Freddie's act of kindness didn't stop there, he became Johnnie's protector, ensuring that no one would add any further emotional trauma. Shortly after the two became friends and were inseparable throughout the remainder of High School.

The next several years became crucial as the two friends were finally separated by two paths like chalk and cheese. Johnnie graduated Carrow Valley's Salutatorian, receiving a full scholarship into Georgetown University's business program, where he met his future wife Leslie. After graduating Cum Laude, Johnnie started Artim Construction to build homes for low income families. Johnny was all grown up, a successful business man with a beautiful wife and three kids; Jasmine, Jimmy, and Jones. At this point Johnny had become Johnathan, no longer a nerd, was six inches taller and added fifty pounds of muscle. Freddie on the other hand, received athletic scholarships for several different schools but ultimately decided to attend Northwestern University, which was closest to their hometown of Chicago. With his size and talent Freddie was in line for a smooth path to becoming a pro athlete. Unfortunately Freddie's decision to stay so close provided many bad influences. Several misguided steps spiraled Freddie's life into oblivion. From losing his scholarship, to a life of drugs and alcohol, eventually leaving him homeless.

After many years of contrasting paths, it was only right that life repaired a friendship that it so effortlessly fractured. This was an odd day Johnathan was gearing up to leave Core Central Fitness where he performed his daily two hour workout regimen when an altercation between gym staff and a strange man who seemed to be demanding access to the locker room showers. Johnathan aimed to discreetly pass by, until he heard "Enough is enough!" A yell that sounded all too familiar, a phrase that triggered flashbacks of his youth. It was the voice of his long-departed friend Freddie. Johnathan quickly intervened, pulling him by his shirt collar outside the gym doors. Not knowing who he was being handled by Freddie became defensive, forcefully ripping away from Johnathan, making his way back towards the gym. Johnathan regained control with an assertive grip of Freddie's arms, gently shaking him, reintroducing himself as Freddie's childhood friend. Shocked and confused Freddie, in the fullness of time, remembered Johnathan making it a beautiful renewed friendship.

Seeing Freddie's condition hurt Johnathan, Freddie was no longer the clean cut, healthy, strong offensive lineman from Carrow Valley High. He had become slender framed because of his malnutrition, with matted dreads and a patchy beard. Johnathan felt impelled to help Freddie the way he was helped so many years ago. Johnathan took Freddie in, helped him get clean and employed him at Artim Construction as a Laborer. Johnathan, his wife, and their three children all played a part in nurturing Freddie, within a few years Freddie had worked his way from Laborer to Chief Financial Officer, alongside Chief Executive Officer Johnathan the two were nothing less than a dynamic duo. With those two in control new contracts were constantly rolling in, investors were more than doubled. Just like high school the two were nearly inseparable.

Now that the kids were older; Jasmine being 14, Jimmy 16, and Jones 18, they began taking interest in their father's company. The kids spent most of their time after school learning the business behind the scenes. With Jones heading to college next year, Jonathan pondered one day passing Artim Construction to his children.

All the pieces were fitting perfectly, until one gloomy afternoon day when two men dressed in designer shades and tailored blue suits. The two men interrupted Johnathan's tutorial teaching the kids about inventory, demanding to meet with Freddie and Johnathan. The meeting lasted for almost two hours before abruptly ending, with both parties exiting with an unsettling demeanor. It turns out old habits never die, Freddie made a selfish deal with those shady investors, promising them fifty percent equity of Artim Construction leaving Freddie and Johnathan with just twenty percent ownership after factoring in other investors, in exchange for insider trading. The investors were met with stiff rejection as Johnathan utterly annulled Freddie's shameful deal, but being the man Johnathan is, he did agree to repay their investment and be done altogether. From a business perspective these terms were sufficient enough to keep the men at bay, but the streets love multiplying investments and hate broken promises.

The next day Johnathan and Freddie found their office vandalized and defaced with a note "More to come unless debt is repaid plus extra for our troubles." In that moment Johnathan realized the type of people Freddie was involved with. Thinking of his kid's future, Johnathan immediately began liquidating nearly sixty percent of Artim Construction's assets and stashing the money in a safe kept in a secure location.

Since Freddie was Chief Financial Officer and avid trader it didn't take long for him to catch wind of the company's decreasing trade value, and for every action there is a reaction. Once reports of liquidation made it to the men in blue they began to press Freddie. Now Freddie felt betrayed by Johnathan and knew it would come down to his life versus Johnathans', So Freddie made a plan.

One week later on a beautiful weekend, Johnathan and his family were returning from a fun day at the park, a small package with Jonathan's name was left at the door. Nothing out of the ordinary packages were a normal thing at the Artim house, he just assumed it was work related. After settling in his home office Johnathan noticed a dark red substance on the shipping label and another spot on the corner. Weary about what the substance could be Johnathan put on gloves to continue examining the box. Once Johnathan opened the box he noticed tissue paper doused in the same substance on the outside of the box, with a note that had a location and time dated for the next day. Johnathan continued to unwrap the contents of the box only to be startled by a detached index finger. Shocked, Johnathan immediately thought of Freddie, calling him instantly only to receive no answer. The next day Johnathan showed up to the proper location at the proper time hoping that any issue presented could be resolved peacefully. Upon entering the location Johnathan was met by several men in blue, this meeting was turning out to be favorable for everyone but Johnathan. The men demanded he pay what was owed to them, which were the future profits promised by Freddie. Johnathan attempted to negotiate, requesting a trade of Freddie for the location of the money acquired through liquidation. The men agreed and brought Freddie from the back, Freddie seemed to be fine with no signs of physical trauma and all fingers intact. Taken aback Johnathan now knew this was a set up, but being the honest man he was Johnathan kept his end of the bargain. He proceeded to detail the location of the safe...POW! Gunshots rang out as Johnathan fell lifelessly to the floor, the smoke cleared from the barrel of a German Luger, a Luger Freddie was standing at the other end of. Infuriated, the men in blue demanded answers, but there was no response as Freddie placed the gun on a table next to him and calmly walked out of the facility.

The next day, to complete his plan, Freddie needed to find the whereabouts of the safe. He knew exactly where to look, Johnathan's old black book, the same book that began their friendship and where Johnathan kept all of his business transactions. Freddie spent the rest of the day wrecking their business office determined to find it. At nightfall Freddie finally found the little black book, which was taped under Johnathan's office desk. Freddie reminisced on when he first helped Johnathan, only one faded sticker survived all those years. Freddie needed to get out of town fast so he hurried to the safe, which was in a storage unit twenty minutes across town. Once Freddie made it to the storage unit he collected the briefcase containing one hundred thousand dollars cash. Freddie’s plan was almost complete, all he needed to do was make it out of town and he would be scot-free. The only problem was that the men in blue were watching his every move, when Freddie exited the storage unit he was confronted by the two men, one of which was holding the same Luger was used for Johnathan. Before Freddie could say a word three shots were fired knocking him to the ground, causing the briefcase to unlatch with the money ejecting into the air, slowing falling to the ground. The men gathered as much of the money as possible before hearing sirens approaching. Next to Freddie's body laid thousands of dollars, dollars waiting to be claimed by police as evidence. Except there was a homeless man living nearby, fortified under his blankets he witnessed the entire act. Before the police arrived this homeless man collected the money along with his belongings and departed twenty thousand dollars richer.

fact or fiction
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About the Creator

Byron Perry

"A Writer with a cause, is a rebel with a pen."

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