Castle Paradox

[Onlyoneinall]

As my eyes adjusted to my surroundings, I looked around and I was suddenly struck with realizing everything that had happened were fragments of what had happened earlier. The airport... being in the plane... it was all a hazy dream. In reality, I was tied firmly to a metal chair with several men surrounding me.

"So Mr. Hayes, you are awake!" One of them said with a slight smirk. "I hope you are ready to talk!" Being back in reality, I knew what exactly he was talking about and my throat tightened as I coldly replied.

"Never." The man's smirk got bigger as he made a motion towards the other two men, who then grabbed my left hand and drew it towards the table adjacent of me. On it was a strange looking device that almost resembled a telegraph, but as they slid my hand into a harness and attacked my index finger to something that tightly clamped my nail, my blood ran cold as I realized what they were about to do.

"Symbolism is beautiful Mr. Hayes." The man with the smirk said as he made a motion with his hand. "For each nail, the sins you have wrought on our hard earned empire of glory."

One of the men raised his fist above a lever directly above me, and my hands clenched tightly as he slammed his fist on the lever and I felt absolute agony burst through my left hand.
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http://www.castleparadox.com/gamelist-display.php?game=750 Bloodlust Demo 1.00

[TwinHamster]

My eyes opened and I found myself grasping full hand of cards.

"I fixed it", Stranger one said to stranger two. He'd finally gotten good result against stranger three. Stranger three often mixed up kings and jacks, often to her opponents' chagrin. Stranger one became his chief victim.

When Stranger one was declarer at six hearts, Stranger three, West peered through and led the King of spades-thinking it was the jack, of course.

"What a lead," I said. "He killed your entry to dummy's clubs and stranded you with a diamond loser."

"Not so fast", Stranger one growled. "I took the ace of spades, drew trumps, cashed the queen of spades and ran the rest of my trumps. Stranger three had to discard all her spades with four tricks to go, he had the ace of clubs and the guarded queen of diamonds, and dummy had J-8 of diamonds and the K-Q of clubs. So I led a club, and when stranger three won, he had to lead from the queen of diamonds.

"Well done," I said.
"Fifty more good results," Stranger one replied, "and I'm back to even agains that bastard".

[Devi Ant]

Then the stranger three said: "Hey, fancy some blackjack? It's not even 10pm and I still have a bag full of money."

"Yea, sure thing, Louis. So... I'll be the House or...", said the Stranger Two.

"No, Brad. I'm the house. After all I'm the one, who has the most money in this room"

Louis and Brad argued a while. He's mentioning of the clock made me think again the last events I remember. The impaled pilot, the blackout... and now three strangers in a misty room playing card. What happened? How am I here? How many hours I've been gone? Where am I?

Brad and Louis had stopped with their argues. Louis was the house. I wasn't on the mood to place high bets, so I put 5 dollars on.

"The WHOLE 5?" asked Brad. Louis smirked a bit and the third shook his head. I gave the look, that did he had a problem with that?

I was on the right side. Louis dealt to Brad first. Brad's bet was somewhere around 20 - 40. He lost with 14 against 19.

Then was the one, I didn't knew. Since it was an open-hand game, I saw it's cards. He had a Ace of spades and diamond 9. 10 or 20.

He stood with the cards. Louis turned out to be bust with 29 against 20.

"Nice going, Eric.", he said.

Then it was my turn. "Are you sure, you don't want to lose your whole 5 dollars?", Louis smirked. And he dealed the card. When he dealt a Jack to me and he himself got just a Heart 2, I saw him peeking at the card downwards. He gave me the second card.

It was an ace. Blackjack. 15 dollars to me.

Louis frowned. THe others looked like 'Did he mixed the cards wrong?'

I was in heaven. Thought 15 dollars isn't much, but at least it keeps me alive for a day. I was ready to leave. I packed my things and started to move towards the door.
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Activate point A by sliding slide B through points E and Z, so that the Joint TO touches the Vector 6, however avoiding an impact with vectors 34 and 5, which both are positioned at the edge of the said object near point R. Period.

Remember, Giz! You MIGHT get that candy, if you only behave well... Only.

My Art

[Onlyoneinall]

"Hey." Louis called as I opened the door. I turned to face him and I could see in his strained expression he wanted to accuse me of being a sneak. "Nice play." He said as he weakly patted my back and headed back.

"Thanks..." I said in a low whisper as I observed the others glancing at me every now and then.

The streets of the city were dimmly lit by the streetlights above, and the skies of the night glimmered faintly against our artifically lit world. I headed down the street, my mind alert and ready in case I would be attacked. It was a common thing on these streets, and I had almost been mugged once myself, but saved perchance by a passing police car.

As I returned home, my wife came up to me and stared at me, giving me that look. I took a deep breath as I spoke to her.

"I'm sorry honey... I couldn't." I said to her as she continued to give me that look.

"You said you would. What about Ali and Johnny? What about them?!" She said as she raised her voice in a hiss. I clenched my teeth as I thought of my children.

"I made fifteen playing blackjack..." I said, and Stella rolled her eyes as she let out a long sigh.

"Honey... fifteen is not enough... we can barely get by on that! You NEED to look for a job!"

"I know honey." I said as I gave her a hug and kissed her. "I'll really try tommorow..."
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http://www.castleparadox.com/gamelist-display.php?game=750 Bloodlust Demo 1.00

[Devi Ant]

I couldn't hardly sleep. My wife's words kept playing tricks in my head

"NEED to look for job -- look for job -- job -- job..."

"Hey. Wake up. Hey. You're getting late from your job."

I woke up in my bed. I had totally messed up with what is dream and what is reality. I snip myself, but the world didn't went blurry. Only, that was blurry was the smudged room, when my eyes couldn't still really see around.

Then it sharpened

I just laid in there. Sweaty, soaking wet and breathing heavily. What was going on?

Did I won in the Blackjack?

I started to search my pockets, but couldn't find those 15 dollars. Maybe my wife had took them. Or - maybe they never existed...
_________________
Activate point A by sliding slide B through points E and Z, so that the Joint TO touches the Vector 6, however avoiding an impact with vectors 34 and 5, which both are positioned at the edge of the said object near point R. Period.

Remember, Giz! You MIGHT get that candy, if you only behave well... Only.

My Art

[Valigarmander]

I stepped out of my bed slowly, my feet shuffling against the wooden floor. "Honey?" I called into the darkness. No answer. I approached the door and slowly pushed it open.

Creeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaak...

The hallway was pitch black. I decided

[Gizmog1]

I decided to return to bed. The floor was cold, and even though I tensely awaited one, there wasn't another sound to be heard. Stella looked fantastic in the pale moonlight, her sleeping face wearing the most innocent expression I could imagine.

Gently, I climbed back into bed, trying my best not to rouse her. Even though I'd only been gone for a second, the sheets were already icy. She rolled over and looked at me. "Is there something the matter, dear?"

I'd never been good at sneaking. "Thought I'd heard something. It's nothing." I whispered. She rolled back over, and I put my arm around her. Stella's warmth was a wonderful contrast to the cold of the house, and her silky nightgown a vast improvement on the hard wood floor.

I'd been lying there for five minutes, thinking of how lucky I was to have her, when I heard the sound again.

[Valigarmander]

I looked up slowly into the darkness, before shrugging it off and lowering my head back to the soft, welcoming pillow. Then it came again, even louder. Grumbling, I hopped out of bed and walked to the doorway. Stella shifted in bed, but did not wake. I opened the door slowly, and looked out into the dark corridor. Nothing.

I was ready to get back to the nice, warm bed, when the sound came again, this time louder than ever. I suddenly felt worried. I shuffled into the hallway, and closed the door behind me so softly as not to disturb my wife. Reaching out into the darkness, my hand hit the light switch. I flicked it on. No light. Silently swearing to myself, I walked down the corridor blindly, arms waving in search for a solid surface. The sound came again, louder than ever. It seemed to come from above.

[Onlyoneinall]

I wished at that moment I had a flashlight handy. Finally finding a light, I flipped it and the hallway grew bright, blinding me for a moment before it died out. I was about to curse under my breath when it flickered before dying again. I turned around and as the lights flickered again, I saw a dark hideous figure standing suddenly before me.
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http://www.castleparadox.com/gamelist-display.php?game=750 Bloodlust Demo 1.00

[Valigarmander]

The figure seemed to hover above the floor, its shadowy figure shimmering in the light. It raised a dark, bony finger at me, and spoke in an icy cold voice,

[Devi Ant]

"Greetings."

His voice went through my every single muscle, frozing them still. With this strange paralysis, I had no other chances, but to listen. I tried to answer the greet, but couldn't move my lips a bit.

The shadow tilted it's so-called head. Within the colthing I had no chances to see it's face - if it had one. A series of questions came into my mind.

"I'm Blackjack. And you're in danger."

Suddenly the fear went off me. "Riight..." After all the horror films I'm in danger now. What a suprise.

"I see, you have a bit of - should I say - reluctance in you. But you really are in danger."

"Oh really? In what sort of?" I noticed, I could speak again.

"Oh, that remains to you to find out. But I am to help you."

"How? Why?"

"Blackjack! House loses!"

He vanished. I was back in my bed.
_________________
Activate point A by sliding slide B through points E and Z, so that the Joint TO touches the Vector 6, however avoiding an impact with vectors 34 and 5, which both are positioned at the edge of the said object near point R. Period.

Remember, Giz! You MIGHT get that candy, if you only behave well... Only.

My Art

[Valigarmander]

I then released the loudest ever utteration of the words, "what the fuck," from my lips. Unluckily, it woke my wife. Rubbing her eyes, she said to me

[Devi Ant]

"What you are swearing for?"

I looked at her confusingly: "Nothing - just - a bad dream, that's all"

I saw the clock behind him. It was 7:00 am. My shift would start at nine.
I put my head back to my comfy pillow, not wanting to either fall asleep or wake up.

My job was quite unusual from the normal guy on the street. I was a croupier of a blackjack table in one of the casinos in Las Vegas.

(End of part one? )
_________________
Activate point A by sliding slide B through points E and Z, so that the Joint TO touches the Vector 6, however avoiding an impact with vectors 34 and 5, which both are positioned at the edge of the said object near point R. Period.

Remember, Giz! You MIGHT get that candy, if you only behave well... Only.

My Art

[Valigarmander]

END OF PART ONE

PART TWO
The Comeuppance

[Lyhn Sohler]

I awoke early in the morning, and to my surprise, my wife was gone and the entire house was empty and quiet. I peered out the window. Her car was gone. She must have gone to work early. Quickly and eagerly I hopped over to my computer to begin looking at internet porn. YAY!