Fortune was the first to watch it. Or so he claimed. I didn't believe him at first, but everyone else did.
"I watched the disk, my father had it, people's heads were completely chopped off!" Fortune laughed and told everyone who gathered around.
"If your father had it, how were you the first to discover it? I don't believe that your father would let his fourteen year old son watch some gruesome video before he did so himself." Tabris sneered and spoke loudly so everyone could hear him.
A few incoherent agreements rang throughout the small crowd.
"Okay fine," he admitted. "I didn't get it from my father but I can't tell anyone where I got it." Fortune's hands rested on his face as he stood. "Don't watch it though."
Tabris uttered, "You just claimed how amazing and truly heart grasping it is, yet now you don't want us to watch it."
"No, I don't, and I didn't say heart grasping," Fortune warned.
Everyone got annoyed with Fortune and his hypocritical attitude. A few, actually quite a few, left and headed home after this.
Soon the only people left at this "meeting" were Fortune, Tabris, Roman and I.
Roman, who still sat on the floor, "Fortune, I think your public debate speech failed." He teased.
"You guys believe me, right?" he begged for approval.
"No," Tabris and Roman said in unison.
The three of them looked directly at me and simply stared. They were waiting for my response, but I never responded, which quickly bore them. They continued their conversation without me as I watched.
"The video is real, the CDs are real. I saw that video," Fortune asserted.
Tabris chuckled, "CDs? Now there are more than one. This guy is insane."
"Pathological liar on his way," Roman continued and began to walk in the same direction every other person did.
"You staying?" Roman asked Tabris, who ran to his side. "Absolutely not."
Tabris stopped mid-walk and turned his head back to look at me. He opened his mouth to say something but just shook his head, whispering something to Roman. I had a feeling of what he said. At least three things. One, he's probably into that occult stuff. Let's leave him alone. Two, nah forget about him. Or three, he's better off with Fortune, two weirdos. When I turned toward Fortune again, he was now sitting back down on the pedestal with his eyes facing the ground and his fingers entwined. I wandered over to him and sat beside him.
"Aren't you going to go with them?" Fortune asked.
I shook my head aggressively. "I want to see the CD." I confidently stated.
Fortune raised his head and smiled ear to ear, then dropped the smile. "What's your name again?"
This is Fortune's fifty-second time forgetting my name in the past nine months. Each time I tell him he says, "Ah okay!" and then never repeats it. My name isn't that hard either. Maybe if my name was Honorificabilitudinitatibus it would make sense. Fortune and I are close friends, very close. I even know his sister and mother, and a little about his father. Unfortunately, he tells me that my face doesn't match my name and that is why he can't remember. Usually people say, "Ah! You look like your name!" but I'm often told quite the opposite.
"Treasure," I sighed.
"Ah okay!" Fortune smiled once more, "Treasure."
My eyes widened. It was the first time he repeated my name. I hoped he'd remember this time. I stood and rubbed my eyes. They were already puffy because I didn't get any sleep last night. I was so excited to hear about Fortune's story today.
"I want to see the CD," I repeated.
Fortune moved closer to me and now stood next to me, whispering in my ear, "I only have CD #3, but it's still terrible. You sure you can handle it?"
I had never seen Fortune so serious before. Another thing that surprised me, "I can."
The close walk to Fortune's house was eerie. By close walk, I mean he was holding the meeting literally right across from his own home. His two-story house was almost as spacious as mine. I am not comparing our riches, just assets. As we entered, I looked around his home as I had done so many times before, "Where are your parents?"
Fortune laughed, "What's it up to you?"
I shrugged and followed Fortune closely. Simply from the direction he was traveling I could tell he was walking towards his basement. It was cold and the floor was slightly wet. His basement was the family's game room. The arcade machines and grand billiard table is located in the center. I wondered where he was aiming with this. I kept quiet and continued following. He reached for a rug that was underneath the billiard pool table.
"Help me push this," he commanded abruptly.
"This?" I asked for clarification. "Surely you don't mean the pool table?"
"I do," he grinned.
We pushed the massive pool table as I had at least three times now, which made me break into a sweat even more. We only pushed it sixty centimeters forward when Fortune told me I needed to stop. He lifted the rug and there was another room. A secret room, I thought. The space was a tight fit, but we managed. Once we got in he locked the trapdoor above. This room had only a wooden table with rotting wooden chairs and a deck of cards on the table. I had seen this also. It was where Fortune's father did his illegal gambling. What I hadn't seen was what he began to do next.
Fortune stepped into the right corner of the room and grabbed the available crowbar. He returned to the main chair where his father sat and moved it slightly to the right. He gently stuck the crowbar into an area in the pavement and lifted it. I hadn't even noticed there was an opening there, and I still don't understand. I watched as he moved the heavy block to the side and went inside the tight space.
"I can't fit," I expressed and stood there while Fortune was inside the small area.
"You can fit, if you just try," Fortune's lip tugged as he said this.
I couldn't believe I was letting someone three years my junior boss me around, yet hear I was. With my back and legs as stiff and straight as possible, I crawled down the metal ladder. This area was just tall enough for me to stand in and looked to be around 500 square feet. There was a lengthy couch and a bookshelf with books and another with only one CD. The sound of cement snapping into place as Fortune locked us in cut me off from thinking completely.
Fortune stared at me, "Now, let's sit."
I shook my head and walked over to the bookshelf. I scanned the titles of each one. For once I agree with Tabris and Roman. This was very occult-like. The TV that I assumed we would watch it on was extremely imposing. The screen itself was almost as big as the wall behind it. Visually connected to it was a small CD player. I now sat on the couch as Fortune handed me a water bottle from the small refrigerator and a trash can in front of me.
"You think I'll throw up?" I asked.
Fortune rubbed his nose and looked at me, "If you don't I'll be surprised. Now before I show this to you, you have to sign a contract."
"A contract?"
"Yes," he handed me a pen and two sheets of paper with the words, 'HUMANITY WRITTEN CONTRACT'.
As I read everything, it was very confusing, as if this was some sort of organization. The contents of the CD were highly confidential and telling anyone what happened in full detail resulted in you being killed. Killed? I laughed to myself and thought it was simply some joke Fortune had written to make people afraid to share it. The reward for finding a CD was forty million. Yen. I did not know yen, and I was confused as to why reward cash would be in yen if both Fortune and I didn't use that value of cash.
Fortune grabbed the CD case once I signed the contract and took out the CD, handing it to me. Taking the context clues into my hand, I then opened the CD player, inserting it gently into the player. Being sure not to scratch it. As I sat back on the couch, Fortune turned the TV on.
The words, Khmer Rouge, displayed on the screen.