June 28, 2014 a young 19-year-old gambling addict from Toronto wins the lottery for 10 million dollars. He thought that was the best thing that could ever happen to him. 5 years later June 28, 2019 now 24-year-old Ben David has now lost 95% of the money earned from the lottery because of his gambling addiction. Ben believes since all the money is about gone the only way to gain is to spend the rest of the money in the casino. Clearly, he is not thinking about what can happen if he does lose the remainder of the luck earned money. Ben his whole life was not really a think before action type person. He grew up in an orphanage and does not have any family to support him. All his life he has not cared about anything or anybody else but himself. He also did not like homeless people and thought poorly of them. Ben is also definitely not an extrovert or introvert he likes both socializing and being alone. A dark and rainy night of July is when Bens life went completely downhill. This was the day when Ben finally decided to go to the casino with his money. Ben was a well-known customer of the casino he goes over 3 times a week. The most Ben spent a night was about $250,000 dollars. So, the casino knew every time he showed up to the casino to try to give home the best time, so he spends more money. Ben is easily persuaded and everyone inside the casino knows that. Every time Ben goes to the casino there is always homeless people asking for money, but he has never given anything. In his many years of going to the casino. Like I mentioned before Ben does not believe in giving to the homeless and he makes himself feel good when walking among them. The homeless people outside the Casino never asked for money but this time there was something different. When Ben was walking inside the casino immediately a tall man with a beard and long hair walked up to Ben. Without waiting he asked Ben for a couple of dollars for food and clothes because of how hungry he is and the freezing temperatures. Ben first ignored the man but when he was not giving up he told him.
“Go get your own money old man” in an aggressive way.
The
old man responded with “Please sir I am cold and hungry”.
To end it Ben shouted in a harsh way back to the man “Get out of my face!”
The old man finally decided to back down and go back to his seat beside the garbage can and entrance to the casino. When Ben walked in he already felt the jolt of electricity go through his bones. He is used to his feeling because every time he walks in the casino he feels the same way. Ben walks straight to the counter to greet his friends and the employees he always sees. Ben has never had real friends, so he believes they are not taking advantage of him. Just because of his spending habits. Before doing anything else Ben rushes to his favorite machine to use. It is called Spin to Win, Ben has never really made huge profits from anything in the casino. Most of the time he walks out losing heavy amounts of money. 4 hours in of him in the casino he has lost yet again a great amount of money. He walked in with $100,000 and might leave with $6,500. Ben realises that if he walks out with less than 10,000 he could be facing eviction from his rented apartment. Still he thinks there is no chance that he could be homeless with no money. 2 hours past and Ben is face to face with his last $4,000 he walks up to Spin to Win and looks back at his money. He finally gives into the excitement and plays the game, 30 seconds later he would regret it because he ends up losing all his money. Ben never shows emotion when losing his money because he believes that nothing will ever happen to him. After many hours spent. Ben forces himself to go home because he does not have any money left to spend. Too add on to his losses at the casino Ben comes home to an eviction notice taped on his door.
It reads “You have three days to leave the premises due to failure of payments.”
Ben furiously rips the notice from his door and crunches it up with his hands. The first thing he does is pick up his phone and roughly slams the keypad to call his bank. Two minutes into the call and the Bank employee explains to Ben that he withdrew all his money and spent it at the casino. They also explain that he only has $1,000 remaining in his account. As Ben starts to panic by hanging up on the employee he tries to think how he can fix the problem. He thinks of a solution by calling his friends from the casino. He is stopped by quickly realising he does not have their numbers and they never even asked him for his number. He also realises they never even showed interest into him. All they did was greet him ask for drinks then just leave him alone. As Ben clicks his contacts all he sees is the casino number and his bank. He finally understands that he has no one to contact and no source of income. He has not worked since he was 15 years old and he was forced to get a job. Even with being forced he only lasted about three weeks until he decided to quit. Finally, Ben decided to just go to sleep and try to fix the problem in the morning. 8 hours later and Ben wakes up, the whole night he was not able to go to sleep. Ben realises that he is more afraid of not being able to go the casino then having no food or shelter. Suddenly Ben realises another 2 days flew by like a bird. He starts to wonder what he needs before he leaves his home. Ultimately Ben packed some food and a few pairs of clothes with his phone. When Ben takes the first few steps outside his door he has a deep realisation of what is happening to him. The first thought that comes to mind is where is he going to go. He thinks for a minute then realises he would have to find a place somewhere outside to sleep. This makes Ben feel mad because he does not like people that are homeless and now he is joining them. Ben decides to spend the first night on a bench. That is Near his apartment and tries to fall asleep but is close to being awake all night. It finally reaches morning for Ben it seemed like time was not moving to Ben all night. After many hours of thinking Ben concludes. That his only option is to try to go to the casino and see if they would help him. Since he spent so much money and time there maybe they would help him. While he was walking to the casino many other homeless people tried to talk with Ben.
Ben just ignored them or replied with
“Stop talking to me”
When Ben finally arrives to the casino
he walks in them with sweat dripping down his shirt. Also, with dirty stains on
his pants. The casino immediately notices him and calls security to escort him
out. They were afraid he would drive customers away.
Ben starts screaming in extreme anger
“What are you guys doing its me Ben”
The employees responded with “I don’t
care who you are don’t come back”
Ben realised at that moment the casino
did not care for him. Also, how they treat homeless people like him now. When
the security threw Ben outside the casino like he was a piece of paper he knew
he was done. When he was thrown out of the casino he sees a familiar face
perched up next to the casino doors.
The familiar face asks Ben “What
happened to you?”
Ben responds with “I don’t know one day
I was walking in the casino the next I have no home.”
The familiar homeless man responds with
“I know exactly what you are going through you can stay with me as long as you
want.”
As hours then days and finally weeks past. Ben gets to know the homeless man named John. He also figures out that the reason he was so familiar was because every time he walked into the casino he was there. Furthermore, Ben realizes that he never helped him out in any way and was always treating him poorly like he did not matter. As days go by Ben and John become better and better friends. John explains to Ben how his family kicked him out of their house and he has been homeless ever since. After back and forth talk Ben decides its time to do something about their situations. Across the street he realises a Help Wanted sign posted outside a grocery store. Both men decide to try and get a job Ben hands out his clean clothes to John so they both look ready. Hours later John and Ben walk out of the grocery store with jobs and finally with an income. Ben has a deep realization of how he hated jobs before and now he feels so happy and grateful to have one. He feels connected to John because both do not have family for support. As 2 years flash by now Ben and John are living their best life and both rent out a mini apartment they both split. Ultimately Ben realises this is the happiest he has ever felt. The money he had from the lottery never made him this grateful and happy before.
Zacki's Short Story 