A Stroke Of Originality

The bell dinged above Donnie’s head as he walked into the pawnshop. 

“Hey, Donnie, long time no see.” The pawnshop owner spoke.

“Hey, Frank! I finally got some money.” Donnie said, waving his cash in the air. “Took a while, working at the restaurant, but I gots one hundred dollars to spend.” 

“Okay, have a look around while I see what old junk I can find in the back,” Frank suggested.

Donnie wasted little time as he walked down the aisles, looking for anything that would catch his eye. Getting down the end of aisle one, he came upon a large box full of floppy discs.

“Oh, man! I bet I can find something good on at least one of these.” Donnie insisted, quickly grabbing the box.

“What ya got there?” Frank asked, walking from the back.

Donnie held the box up as he walked it over to the counter.

“Oh, those things?” Questioned Frank, ” That asshole son of mine dropped them off months ago, he never came back for them, so I guess they’re on sale,” Frank shrugged. 

“How much?” Donnie asked.

“Twenty bucks,” Frank replied.

“Oh come on, frank, if I didn’t come in, these things would still be sitting in aisle one.” He countered. “I’ll give you ten bucks.” 

Frank chuckled, “You’re low balling me kid, but their yours to have. Ten bucks it is.” 

Donnie quickly slammed the money on the counter. “Sold!” He shouted, “What did you find in the back?” He asked.

“A few old video games, books, paintings, and scrolls.” Frank fidgeted through the box, holding up items.

“Is that GoldenEye?” Donnie’s eyes widened when he saw it. ” I’ll give you seventy for the whole box,” Donnie negotiated.

“Ninty is what I’ll take kid,” Frank asserted.

Donnie made a sad face, “You’re going to take all my cash, Frank? How am I going to survive? It took me weeks to save this money, and I…” 

“Give me the seventy bucks kid,” Frank interrupted, holding out his hand.

“Your the best, Frank!” Donnie admitted, handing over the cash and grabbing the box. “I’ll be back in a few weeks! Always great doing business with you!” He yelled as he made his exit.

“Kid’s going to hustle me out of business.” Frank laughed to himself.

Donnie arrived back at his apartment, and tossed everything on the floor, except for a few floppy disks. Promptly walking over to his computer, he pushed in one of the disks. While it loaded, Donnie grabbed snacks from his fridge and a beer. Walking back into the front room, he kicked some items out the way of his tv, grabbed GoldenEye, and jammed it into his Nintendo 64.

“Man, this is a classic! Can’t believe the old guy had this just sitting in the back somewhere,” he said out loud as he played the game.

Shooting people on single-player mode, a distant beeping from his computer caught his attention. Donnie turned around and looked at his computer, and dropped his controller in disbelief. 

Part 2 (Carter)

“Tell me, what did you do with the disk?” Helen asked, slapping Carter with tremendous force.

“Look, lady!” Carter said, taking a breather. “I told you, I don’t have the disk, and if I did, I wouldn’t tell you where I hid it. But if you keep hitting me, I’m gone drop my rule against striking women and smack fire to yo face. Okay, maybe not the face, you a little too pretty to get hit in the face…”

“Oh, you think I’m pretty?” Helen interrupted, giving Carter a kiss on the cheek before striking him across the head with a vicious left hook, sending him falling to the floor.

“Okay, I kind of like this kinky shit you doing but it’s definitely gone get you hit in the face. You won’t be pretty, no mo!” Carter decided as Helen’s henchmen picked him up from the floor and slammed him back into the chair.

Helen laughed and walked in circles around Carter, his eyes followed her. 

“So, if you won’t tell me where you hid the disk, how about, I go to your father’s pawnshop, and I look there first. Then If I can’t find it, I’ll torture your father for fun, while you watch. Maybe burn the shop down, depends on how I feel at that moment.” Provoked Helen, moving her face closer to Carter’s.

“I never liked that asshole, me watching him die, would probably be the best thing since the Lions made the playoffs.” Jested Carter, slowly trying to loosen the rope that binds his hands.

“You’d like that?” She asked. “Let’s go make it happen then.” Helen stood up and grabbed her coat.

“Boss, it looks like the disk was just activated, and we have its last known location.” One of the Henchmen spoke.

“That’s great news,” Helen assured him. “Looks like we won’t be needing you, after all, Carter.” She said, pulling her gun from its holster.

Quickly, Carter charged at Helen, knocking her gun out of her hand. He freed his hands from the chair and struck her across the chin, sending her reeling. Helen’s henchmen drew their weapons, but Carter swiftly threw his chair at them as a distraction. Promptly fleeing the basement, Carter made his way onto the street.

Entering his father’s pawnshop, Carter walked behind the counter to a back room where he found his father sitting down, watching tv.

“Hey old man,” Carter greeted.

“Well I’ll be damned, you look like shit,” Frank replied, standing up from the recliner, hugging his son.

“You should see the other guy,” Carter laughed, “But I can’t stay here long, do you still have those floppy disks I gave you a few months back?” he asked.

“Oh, that junk? I just sold it the other day, why?” Frank asked. 

“I told you to keep it!” Carter shouted.

“Lower your damn voice, boy. Now I haven’t seen or heard from you in months, so I thought it was okay to sell,” he explained.

“You’re right, my fault, didn’t mean to yell, but who did you sell the disks to pops?” 

“Kid named Donnie, he comes in here all the time.” Noted Frank, “Is everything okay? Are you in some sort of trouble? Do you need cash?” Frank wondered.

“No, I don’t need cash, pops, I need those disks. Remember when I told you that I deal with bad people all the time? Well, unless I find Donnie, those bad people are going to be dealing with him. Catch my drift?” Carter explained. “Now, please, get me his address.”

“That’s all you had to say, always one with the dramatics,” Frank said, walking over to a closet, pulling out Donnie’s address. “Here,” he gave a piece of paper to Carter.

“Thanks, pops, and I need you to do me one last favor,” Carter begged when he saw his father getting agitated. “Close up for a few days, and I’ll explain everything afterward.”

“If you didn’t go driving all these women crazy, I wouldn’t have to close up!” Frank hollered. “Fine, but only for a few days.”

“Thanks, pop,” Carter hugged his father and promptly walked out the door.

Part 3 (Donnie)

Donnie rushed over to his computer and saw what appeared to be a cold war missile site.

“What… the… fuck…” he mumbled, his hands on his head.

A noise outside of his window caught his ear, and quickly he ejected the disk and shoved it in his pocket before running to his window. Down below at the entrance to his apartment, Donnie saw what appeared to be three black Suvs and a crowd of people standing around.

“Shit! What did you sell me, old man,” he howled, running to his door.

He opened the door, making eye contact with someone walking down at the end of the hallway.

“Hey, you!” The man yelled.

“Hey, I didn’t know what it was!” Donnie pleaded, holding his hands up.

Wasting no time, the man pulled his gun from within his jacket and fired a few shots at Donnie. Adrenaline rushed through Donnie’s body as he ducked back into his apartment, avoiding the gunshots. Locking the door, Donnie started to pile up whatever he could by the door. He ran to the window, opened it and thought about jumping, but as he glanced below, the crowd of people was still there. Then it dawned on Donnie, there was a hatch under the bed that the previous renter installed, they swore the government was after them. Now that doesn’t seem too crazy, Donnie thought as he ran into his bedroom. Sliding under the bed, Donnie quickly removed the floorboard and fell into the hole. After placing the floorboard back, he heard what appeared to be a group of people barging into the apartment looking for him.

“Where did he go?” One man asked.

“You idiot, you lost him?” A female voice followed.

“Boss, he came in here, I saw him.” The man replied.

Two gunshots quickly followed, “Won’t be disappointed again,” The female said.

Donnie tried to control his breathing after he heard the gunshots, but it was proving to be challenging.

“The rest of you spread out and find him before that asshole Carter gets here!” she yelled.

Moments later, Donnie could hear the sound of heels walking around the bed and covered his mouth. It felt as if he was about to pass out until he heard some gunshots below, nearly sending him into shock.

(Part 4)

Carter walked up to the apartment building with his hood covering his face. A man placed his hand firmly on Carter’s shoulder and gave him a grim look.

“Hey, this building is off-limits, get the hell out of here, and come back later.” The man asserted.

“Look man, I just need to turn off my stove and grab a raincoat for a date later.”

“Hey! The hell did my friend just say? Scram!” Another man approached Carter with his weapon out.

Carter held his hands up, and took a step backward, “Whoa, I don’t want any trouble I’ll just come back later.” 

“Dam right, you will.” The man replied.

Carter slowly walked away, glancing over his shoulder at the same time. When he noticed the man put his gun away, he promptly turned around and walked back towards the building. 

“Hey! What did I…”

Carter had reached into the henchman jacket, pulling his weapon out, and quickly firing two rounds into his kneecap. While the man screamed in pain, Carter pointed the gun at the other guy who guarded the door.

“Bet you wish you would’ve let me get my raincoat now, huh?” Carter asked.

The man’s breathing picked up rapidly as his body started to shake.

“Oh, don’t get quiet now, you were just tough five seconds ago.” Jested Carter, tapping the gun on the man’s forehead. “Now I’ ma ask you one question and if you lie I’ ma shoot you in yo kneecaps, yeah, both of them. If you tell the truth, ima just knock you out. Understand?” he asked.

The man closed his eyes and shook his head.

“Okay, is that crazy-ass woman Helen upstairs looking for Donnie?”

The man shook his head, yes, and Carter swiftly followed up with a blow to the back of his head, knocking him unconscious. Guess I better get up there, Carter thought. He jumped up and down, warming himself up. Come on, you got this, he thought. After pumping himself up, Carter sprinted through the door and up the stairs taking down two henchmen in the process. He arrived at the door, placed his ear against it, and couldn’t hear anything. Oh yeah, she’s in there. Carter bust through the door with his head down, and gun blazing. Helen hid behind a nearby wall and returned fire. She watched him trip over a game controller and land behind the adjacent wall. 

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this!” he yelled.

“This will be the last time we meet. I’m going to kill you this time.” Helen replied.

“You hear that, Donnie! She wants to kill both of us!” Carter hollered. “From the look of things, she still hasn’t found you, since I don’t your body tied to a chair or lifeless on the floor.” he paused and looked around. “So here are your options, you can choose to stay here with the crazy woman who probably came in here shooting her own people. Or you can run out of here with me after I shoot these last three rounds at her. Cause after I run out of bullets, I’m not going to be sticking around much longer!” Carter yelled. ” Here goes! I’m going to count to three! One…” He started counting, and Helen began to fire at him, drowning out his voice.

Helen had Carter pinned down until she felt something knock her to the ground. She slowly shook it off and glanced up to see what hit her. To her surprise, she saw someone who she could only assume was Donnie running out the door with Carter.

“Please tell me you have the disk with you.” Carter wondered as he ran down the hallway with Donnie.

“Yeah, it’s in my pocket,” Donnie replied.

“Okay, we gotta get out of here. That woman you hit is definitely going to be coming for us.” Carter turned around and saw Helen about to fire at them.

Carter quickly fired his last few shots and tossed the weapon.

“Alright, run as fast as you can,” Carter said, kicking open the exit door.

When Helen finally got to the door, Carter and Donnie were gone. Rage filled her lungs as she let out a vicious scream.

“I’ll find you, Carter, I swear, I’ll find you,” 

 

 

This is my first short story of 2020, let me know what you guys think of it.