Necklace, The

The necklace

He looked around, knew the place well?
It was a very selective casino, not everybody could become a member;
not even paying the high price they asked every year for the
membership.

Many people were having dinner that night. Not so many playing.
The food was excellent there, and the price was included in the
membership. But he didn't intend to eat .he didn't go to a casino to
fill his stomach. He went to a casino to win. Not for the money, it
wasn't that at all. Just for the sake of winning, the thrill, the
rush!

Playing had become more than a hobby, more than a business? it was an
obsession.
He couldn't sleep, and when he did he would dream of cards, dream of
beautiful women at the casino; dream of the moments just before finding
out a winning strike, and in some dreadful nights, dream of loosing and
waking up shaking and feeling sick.

His wife and kids had left sometime ago. They couldn't cope with his
lifestyle. Who would?
He hadn't cared much anyway.

He took a seat in one of the tables, and soon had a game on the go. A
woman came to seat next to him.

She wasn't anything special. Nor very sexy, neither ugly. In fact
nothing about her was worth mentioning. Nothing but the necklace. It
was big, ostentatious, and extremely bright. So bright it made him wink
like an idiot when he looked towards her. A necklace totally out of
place?

That wasn't a very important occasion. Not a celebration of any sort.
It wasn't Buckingham Palace in reception day. It wasn't Christmas for
God Sake! It was just an evening gambling. And the times when people
would take all their jewellery to a casino had well passed, except in
Monaco, of course?

It was OK to put a nice necklace, a pair of earrings and some bracelets
on. But to wear a whole mine of diamonds around the neck was gross?
utterly disgusting? and worst of all? very distracting. It was really
bothering him.

He simply couldn't take his eyes away from it.

After a few minutes she started staring back at him. The cards where
shifting places quickly. What was she looking at now? Why didn't she
pay more attention to the game? Stupid woman! And that bloody necklace!
He had to close his eyes, avoiding the sparkles of light reflected by
it. Why hadn't she stayed at home that night? Who asked her to come and
ruin his game? Why didn't she play a game of her own??

It was becoming really hard to keep on playing? Trying to bluff would
be a waste of time. He couldn't? He was too hooked by the stupid woman
and the damned necklace!

She looked weary at him again. She could feel something nasty in the
air, and it certainly didn't have anything to do with the exotic meals
being prepared in the kitchen.
It was that man; His eyes of threatened dangerous animal; His pose, his
tight lips, and the nasty shadow on his eyes.
Yes, there was something evil about him?

He finally bet quite high. His cards weren't that bad, and he thought
the croupier's smile was false. What was the woman thinking? He
couldn't tell, the necklace wouldn't let him.

The croupier unveiled the cards? bloody hell!!!!!!!!!!!!! He had lost,
he had nothing! What was he thinking of????
He felt his veins swelling; his head was about to explode. She had done
it on purpose, he understood now? that necklace had certain powers, and
she knew how to use them well. She had sat on that table to make him
lose.

His heart was gaining speed rapidly. His face started darkening?
becoming redder and redder by the second?

The man started growing big horns, and a terribly long, hard tale,
finished in an arrow? His skin was hardening, getting similar to that
of a crocodile. And he was getting of the brightest red all over. His
clothes disintegrated, letting everybody appreciate the full picture of
his horror.

In the meantime, some people in the casino had stood up, open- mouthed.
Others screaming and running towards the exits. A small number stayed
sitting, wondering when they would be able to resume their games, or
their dinners.

The woman with the necklace was still sitting. Her eyes were fixed on
that thing that used to be a man a few minutes ago. She couldn't move a
muscle of her body, and her brain had completely paralysed; when the
man jumped over her, and put his hands around her neck, he snatched the
necklace from her and threw it far from the table. And was just about
to stab her with his nails when a group of guards burst into the room
and jumped over him.

When they had taken him away, the manager of the casino came to
apologise to the woman, now without any necklace.

"I am ever so sorry, my Lady? people lately? It never used to happen in
the old days?"
He picked up the broken necklace from the floor, and come back to offer
it to her.
"But I want to assure you weren't in danger in any moment. We are
prepared, you see? We have the best security in the whole of the
country. I trust this won't be your last visit to our Casino?"

She looked at the manager with a nervous smile?

"Of course if won't, monsieur. It's been most exiting! But next time I
shall bring a riffle with me"

She winked an eye, and was off, playing with the necklace between her
still nervous fingers.

THE END.