Achieving Serenity

Drinking Poison

Resentments

Nick was a hard-working employee at a pizza place. It was ten years ago that he first applied for the job, and since then he was determined to climb the corporate ladder to make the most money he possibly could. Today he was the store's General Manager and feeling good about himself and his work. He has a great relationship with his coworkers, and a close friendship with his supervisor, Zach. They have lunches together and often discuss life issues.

Nick didn't want to work at the pizza place for his whole life and had dreams of becoming a millionaire. He would often visit casinos and play poker tournaments online, with the hopes that someday he could make enough money to quit the pizza place for good.

Over the years, gambling gradually becomes more and more important to Nick than his job.

He goes to a casino one Sunday night with $500 in cash, and around 3 am, he finds himself up $700. He has an important work meeting at 8 am, and decides if he goes home and sleeps, he will be way too tired when he wakes up, and that he might as well pull an all-nighter at the casino.

Around 7:30 am, when he should leave in order to make the meeting on time, he finds himself down $100. He is playing blackjack and is desperate to leave the table on a good note. By 8:01 am, he loses all the money he went to the casino with.

Brimming with remorse and self-hatred, Nick ditches the work meeting and lies to his supervisor Zach that he never saw the group text that was sent to the other General Managers regarding the meeting. Zach seems to always understand Nick and his shortcomings, so Nick doesn't think this will be a problem.

However, Nick is fired from his job, and he can't believe that Zach would do that to him. He tries calling him so they can talk about it, but Zach does not answer.

Nick accepts his termination and continues to gamble with the money he makes from pawning his possessions. He only loses more and more and starts to hate himself more and more. His life is deteriorating. Whenever he loses his last dollar gambling, the sting of the horrid decisions he has made becomes impossible to ignore. In these moments of despair, Nick calls his old supervisor Zach to yell at him, but Zach never answers.

In fact, Zach calls the police and files a harassment charge against Nick. A cop shows up to Nick's door and arrests him. When all is said and done, the judge gives him 30 days in jail.

Instead of reflecting upon life mistakes, Nick thinks about how terrible of a person he feels Zach is. He wishes death upon him, visualizing his demise clearly in his mind. He comes up with complex schemes on how he can lay his revenge on him.

After Nick gets out of jail, he still struggles to find a job- feeling as if he is "too good" for the jobs that are available to him.

He continues to wish death upon Zach. He specifically wants him to die in a car crash that will give him the karma he deserves for destroying his life. He can visualize him screaming as he dies in a car crash.

Nick finds that whenever he is stressed, envisioning Zach burning up in a car crash seems to give him a sense of serenity.

Years pass, and Zach continues to climb the corporate ladder at the pizza company, marries a beautiful woman and gives birth to 2 children. In all senses of the word, Nick's old supervisor feels successful.

Nick grows up to gamble more and more, smoking marijuana daily. He uses anything and everything he earns to buy drugs and finance his bets. 20 years after being fired, he makes enough money to enter a World Series of Poker tournament.

Since he sold his car to finance his addictions, he asks his brother to drive him to Las Vegas so he could partake in the series. His brother accepts. They take his black Honda Civic to Sin City, but they never make it. They are T-boned by a drunk driver going 80mph and die instantly in the car crash.