Episode 3: Coffee Beans

Episode 3

"Coffee Beans"

(Charlie's Point of View)

I got out of bed and looked around my suite. The sun was shining in through my big window that overlooked all of Kingston, it was a nice day. I walked around and got dressed into my suit. Navy blue, and I even attached a small rose to my chest pocket. There was no special occasion, I always dressed like this. I have ever since I was a small child. I turned on the coffee machine and popped some bread into a toaster. There was a knock at my door, I looked at the clock, it was eight thirty in the morning. This was the time when Lindsey would give me the report so far. I answered the door and Lindsey walked in, she sat down at the couch by the big window. I sat down beside her.

"So? Any news?" I asked her.

"Well, nothing big. Two bandits were spotted around outpost 4, god knows what they were doing. Our soldiers scared them off. Then there were about three bandits raiding a store, our soldiers killed them."

"Pretty quiet morning so far then, good. I like mornings, wouldn't want them to be ruined by bandits."

I walked towards the window and looked out of it, I am in control, I kept telling myself. I own this city, nobody gets in or out without me knowing about it. I cracked a small smile, I was in power.

I thought back to when I was just a small child. It was a December, and our family was headed for church for Christmas Eve. My mother, Alyssa was straightening my bowtie. I was a small chubby kid, a lot of people thought I was cute, and I hated it. My father, Owen was straightening his tie in the mirror. Once my mother finished, she patted me on the head and smiled.

"You look so handsome Charlie, are you excited for Santa?"

"Eh, yeah I guess." I said, even though I was very excited on the inside.

"Alright everyone, are we ready to go?" my dad asked, turning away from the mirror and facing us.

"We are, let's go." My mother held my hand and walked me outside to the limo in the driveway, where our driver was waiting for us.

I got in the limo and we started moving away, I looked back at the mansion. It was big and blue, it had several stories and it took ten minutes to get from one side to the other. For some reason, I felt like something was missing, ever since I was a kid, I had everything yet I felt like I had so little.

Years passed and I was in high school, my final year. I was a twelfth grader, and I was planning on taking over the family business when I was done. I didn't need college, or university. That was overrated, and why would I when I was already rich? My parents owned a big hotel company, it was a well known name around the area. It was called OL, standing for Owen Lockwood, the founder of the company. My mother owned it as well, but my dad started it when he was young. They made so much money from it, it was the most popular hotel business in the area. I couldn't wait to take it over, then I could be in control. My whole life I had always felt some emptiness, and I think being in power for once would fill the emptiness. I loved power, something about being in charge made me feel great inside. I never talked to my parents about taking over the company yet, because I was expecting to just do it. I didn't think it was a big deal, but everything changed one day. I got home from school and decided I might as well take up the idea of taking over the business with my dad. My parents were getting old anyways, they can't run it for much longer anyways. My dad was in the dining room reading the news and my mother was sitting next to him with a cup of coffee. My parents drink way too much coffee, it's going to kill them someday.

"Hey guys." I said.

"Hey Charlie, how was school?" my dad asked me.

"Same as always, but I've been waiting to ask you something."

"What is it son?"

"Well," I began, "You guys are getting older, and I was thinking that when I'm done with high school I could take over the hotel business. I won't have to go to college, I can just pick up where you guys left off."

My dad didn't even hesitate, he instantly denied my offer.

"No Charlie, you need to find your own work." he said firmly.

I stood there shocked for a second, I was expecting them to jump at the offer, what the hell?

"What?" I asked, "Why not?"

"Like I said, your mother and I have talked about this before. We want you to make your own money, find your own job. That's what I did to get this company, you don't want everything handed to you on a silver platter, do you?"

I stood there for a few seconds, I clenched my fists.

"So, I'll never be able to take over the company?" I asked.

"Your mother and I will run that company until the day we die, sorry Charlie." my dad said.

I punched the wall, putting a nice, big, fist mark into it.

"Charlie!" my mother cried.

"Why can't you just give it to me?" I yelled, "Why?"

My mother ran towards me to get me to stop, I swung my hand back and smacked her across the face, she fell to the ground and looked at me in shock.

"Charlie!" my dad yelled, he got up and walked towards me to calm me down.

He pinned me up against the wall, I was defenceless.

"Let go." I demanded.

"Not until you learn to behave, don't ever hit your mother! You never put your hands on a lady!"

I broke free from his pin and I shoved him backwards.

"I will put my hands on whoever I want."

I stomped off to my room, leaving my parents in shock. I've never attacked them before. I had no reason to, I had everything I ever needed. Except for one thing, power. All I needed was this company to have everything. I will get it though, I always do.

A few weeks passed, and I was keeping distant from my parents. I was never really at home anymore. After school I would stay around, I had unfinished business to do. In those few weeks I had been distant to my parents, I was planning something. I found some connections through people at school, and I think I might have found a way to get the company from my parents. One person at my school hooked me up with a man named Derrick. This guy was a major drug dealer from what I've heard, and he had some things that could help me. I was supposed to meet him at a parking garage tonight at eleven o'clock. I followed the instructions and showed up at the parking garage with a wad of cash ready. After waiting for about ten minutes, a sketchy grey car showed up. It pulled into a parking space and a man stepped out. He had brown hair slicked back, and he looked a little older than me. He popped the trunk and waved me over to him. I walked up to him.

"You're Derrick?" I asked.

"Are you a cop?" he asked me.

"No."

"Well you look like one, seriously, who wears something classy to a drug deal? It's not a formal event."

"I'm not a cop, someone told me you could hook me up with something to get rid of my parents."

"Well, I don't have much," he said, "I have some cocaine, weed, and some steroids if you want to impress the ladies."

"I don't want any of that, and I certainly don't need to be impressing the ladies," I said, "Someone told me you had something that could get rid of my parents, for good."

"Alright," Derrick began, "No harm in advertising. Okay, this must be the stuff you came for. Warning, it's going to cost you a lot of money. This is hard to get."

He had a briefcase stashed at the back of the trunk, he unlocked it with a key and opened it up. In it were three small bags. There were eight beans in each bag.

"What is it?" I asked.

"These are like magic," Derrick began, "You use these on people, all of your problems go away, poof."

I reached for a bag, Derrick slapped my hand.

"Don't touch those, not until you show me the money."

I flashed a stack of money in his face, he took it and counted it, his eyes widened.

"Holy shit kid, I won't have to sell any more drugs for a couple of years with this money, the ricin is all yours."

"Ricin?" I asked.

"Listen kid," he began, "This stuff is extremely dangerous. I could be in prison for ever if I'm caught with these. These things are like super dangerous. Give someone a bag of these beans and they're done."

"How does it kill?" I asked.

"Man I don't know, I'm not any scientist! All I know is that if someone ingests these little bastards they're done for. Now take em, get out of here before you get caught."

"Wait, how did you even get these?" I asked, "If they're that dangerous."

"Let's just say I've been in this game for a long time, I've met some people. Is that good enough?"

I closed the briefcase and Derrick handed me the key, I locked it shut and ran to my car, Derrick shut the trunk and he jumped in his car and sped off, leaving tire marks on the ground.

I got home as fast as I could, if these things are as dangerous as Derrick says, I better not get caught with these. I headed straight to my room when I got home. I locked the door behind me and placed the briefcase on my desk. I sat there and opened it up again. I stared at the three small, plastic bags containing certain death. Was I actually doing this? Is this too far? Am I going to kill my mom and dad? Is this all worth it? I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. I closed the briefcase and locked it quickly, I backed away from it and went to sleep, I'd have to sleep on this one.

I woke up the next morning, it was the weekend. I had all day to think about this situation. I got up and stared at the briefcase, thinking over the outcomes once I give these to my parents. The only question was, how would I give these to my parents? How would I get them to eat these? I sighed again and left my room. I walked to the kitchen where my mother was talking on the phone and my dad was grinding coffee beans. My parents looked at me, and my mother hung up the phone. They haven't seen me in a while.

"Hey guys." I said.

"Hello Charlie." my mother said.

"Are you feeling better? You calmed down?" my dad asked me.

"Yeah, I'm sorry."

My mother smiled and hugged me, my parents were such forgiving people, it made it even harder for me to make this decision. I decided I needed some more space to think things over, so I told my parents I was going to head back to my room to do some homework. Once I got to my room, I locked the door again. I kept opening and closing the briefcase containing the ricin. Pacing my room, thinking over all of the outcomes. I kept coming to the same conclusion, my parents die, I take over the business, I live my life in constant guilt in what I did to get the company. After hours of pacing back and forth in my room, I made my decision.

The next morning, I got up extra early, before my parents were even awake. I was in the kitchen, making breakfast for them. I fried some eggs and bacon, and began grinding coffee beans, I knew how much my parents loved coffee. About an hour later, my parents walked in and I had everything ready for them.

"Wow," my dad began looking around in the kitchen, "You did all of this?"

"Sure did," I said, placing his plate in front of him, "It's the least I could do."

He took a sip of the coffee.

"You know Charlie," he began, "You are a good person, very responsible too. I understand how hard this must have been for you not to get the company you've always wanted. I respect you for forgiving me. I thought you never would."

"Well, I got over it." I said.

Shortly after, my mother came in. I handed her breakfast.

We ate together peacefully, and that marked my parents final breakfast. I walked back up to my room and stared at the briefcase. I opened it and looked inside, only one bag remained.

I stopped thinking about the past, and came back to reality. My coffee was done and I poured it into a mug. I started walking to the big window in my suite and started looking at Kingston while drinking it. Shortly after my parents death, I owned the biggest hotel company in the area. I was finally in power. When the apocalypse hit, I did what I do best. I took power, I turned my hotel in Kingston into a defence system, a fortress. I gathered as many people as I could, and my army just kept building from there. I am a saviour in my eyes, I saved people from this horrible world. I am the reason people wake up in the morning, I am the reason everyone is safe. As long as everyone followed me, everyone would be safe. I started walking around my suite, I placed my coffee mug down on the counter and went to my desk. I dug around in it, looking for something. I pulled out an old briefcase. I blew the dust off of it and placed it on my desk. I scrambled my hands through my drawers looking for the key. I found the small key hiding in the back of the drawer and I placed it down on the desk beside the briefcase. I slowly unlocked the briefcase and opened it up. There sat one small, plastic bag of ricin. I never did dispose of it, I felt I needed to keep it, just incase anyone else got in my way. Good thing I did, because I will be needing this very soon.