“Welcome, welcome to the casino in the world”. This is what I heard when I woke up, a spokesperson doing some grand opening. The casino behind it looked like it was changing colors constantly, from red to black, green, and many other colors. Lots of people were in that casino at all times, and I am going into the casino for my first time.
“Hey kiddo, you going into the Three Ladies’ Casino today. I will help you get started, but first, we need to get inside”. That is what the spokesperson said before entering the casino, leaving the fool’s street of blackness behind. “Now all you have to do is go to the main desk to the right, they will help you get started.” After saying that, the thing went back out to the street, pulling out some flyers and shouting some more about the “great casino”. Now that I am in the casino, it was a lot fancier than outside, but it was still changing the colors, trying to pick the right color. Upon getting to the main desk, the casino was going to more to a gold color along the ceiling, and more of a red floor with black pillars. The main desk had to people, who said they are the two higher ranks of the casino. They gave me one chip, and said I can’t get any more except from others, not that I could buy any. They also said if I lose all my chips, I can’t come back to the casino. Then they wave me away toward the tables, to “have fun”. Nearing one of the first tables, someone came out of one of the doors in the side. This person ran around with a clipboard and a pen, saying someone else's name, over and over.
“Mike, Mike, you in here Mike?.” over and over again. After seeing everyone just staring at this constant speech, it stopped looked down, remembered something, and went back, ashamed. Not at others but itself. When it was all done, the casino finished changing colors, staying gold ceiling, red floor, and black pillars, with fancy lights and tables everywhere. I continued my way to the table to see a little girl sitting at it, playing Blackjack, by herself. I walked up a talked, asking for a game. She said she did not want to play, but will because she has to. Looking into her face revealed both happiness and sadness at the same time. The girl also only had one chip, as did I, so we made it a one play game. I won, with a blackjack to her 20, allowing me to take her chip. Upon doing this, she left, just like she should, she doesn’t have any more chips. Back to fool’s street, to never come back. As I move to a new table, I hear back to where the girl went, to which the spokesperson said “How many chips do you have?” to which the girl said “None”, as she sobs. I stopped listening after that. As I continued walking, I saw many more tables, spanning maybe a mile, or more. I had no way to measure, but that is my guess. There were tons of people, men, women, children, and spokespeople. After wandering around, I decided to play another game of blackjack, for it is one of the only casino games I know, except for slots, but there is not any there. I sit down with a middle aged man and what looked like his wife, but there was no ring to be seen.
He looked up to me and said to “Have a seat, sonny, so we can gamble.”. As I sat down, something passed out the cards, but I am not one to question what. We both bet 2 chips, which was all we had. This seemed very overconfident of the middle aged man, and his “ wife” clearly told him this, begging not to bet it all. The man didn’t care, but loss in the end. This caused the couple to cry, and cry the woman did.
     “Listen to me, you stupid boy, you don’t know what you did”. Then he tried to punch me, square in the face, but he couldn’t. It didn’t look like he stopped for a good reason like guilt either. He just stopped, stood there, shaking his fist really close to my face, while his wife stood there, crying her eyes out. After one or two seconds, they left, back to fool’s street. The woman said one thing right before leaving. “We lost”.
     This keeps happening, over and over and over again, and everytime, the red from the floor goes up the pillars. The worst part is the that I make them cry for losing their chips, but that I don’t feel sorry. I wish I could understand, but for now, I need to keep my eyes closed from fool’s street. I feel useless because of it. I decide to stop looking back and continue with blackjack, for I didn't want to leave. I’ve gained so many chips that it would be pointless to leave. Then someone called for the girl at table 537, the table where only I was at, to go to the main desk.
     “Congrats on your winning streak sir. In fact, the boss is so happy, he would like to see you himself”. The two people lead me to behind the desk, to which they opened a door right behind the main desk. When I entered the room, I saw a hallway, short and linear. On the floor, I see two sides of paper. One stated that the casino’s “workforce” is still growing, but is still at a good amount to give other new casinos going. It also said something interesting on it.
     “And the best part about these workers is that the are free, in both giving to the newer casinos and how much we pay them, which is nothing, yet this force still grows. I guess no one has anything better to do”. I would agree because fool’s street has nothing but everything. What could you do, besides sit around.
     The other paper said something else. “Why isn’t Mike here? He should be here, he was on the list. I should do a count to see how many people are here. *Pause*. The number is right but still no Mike, which means someone is not on this list. The problem is, how can I tell when there are hundreds of millions of people here, and no ability to see people’s name, just how many there are. Maybe he is still out there, heartbroken. Maybe he failed his chance before from a “good guy” and was replaced. Oh well, I will find the fake lierer sooner or later. Then we will see what happened to Mike. He would have been a very useful aspect to the casino, as a statue.” I put down the paper where it was and continued walking, for I was forced to.
     “Have you learned what you wanted?” It asked, staring me in the face behind his desk, at least I thought he was. “Do you know what happened to cheaters like you, who never loss? Would you like to know, or would you like to keep your eyes closed?” I looked up, looked back down at my chips, which was now one red chip going into my hand. This lets me remember one thing, to which I shout that memory at the top of my lungs with my eyes closed.
     “My name is Ailia and I saved my husband”

Bang       

“That is what happens to replacers” was the last words I heard.

                                                        Signed
                                                           Alila