Alberto walked towards the shelter with his pockets full of cash. The watch he stole from Jamie was pawned for 500 dollars. The thought of buying new clothes and eating until he was actually full after two whole years made Alberto ecstatic.
𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳, Alberto thought.
In the distance he could see Jamie waiting outside the shelter looking directly at him. Alberto gave him a cheery wave as he got closer and Jamie tapped at his wrist in an attempt to show how late Alberto was.
"In my defense, I'm homeless and I don't have anything to check the time with." Alberto voiced as he approached Jamie.
"With the watch you stole off of me, I'm sure you can afford a phone."
Alberto sheepishly looked at him and decided it might be better to switch the topic. After all, there was no reason to tell him that his diamond studded watch was sold for only 500 measly bucks.
"So you mind telling me what the hell is going on, didn't you say you were going to talk to someone else too."
"I did talk to someone else" Jamie replied, "and if you had gotten here on time you would have met him too but right now he's a little busy with a different task. Now it's your turn."
"Oh so I have to like earn my spot or something," Alberto said amused, "you still haven't told me what exactly I'm doing."
"Have some patience kid, first just listen to what I tell you. I'm still not completely sold on you and I want to see how determined you are, so your first task is simple. You need to survive a beating from me and stay standing by the end of it."
Alberto laughed from shock, he was astonished by such a weird task.
"So I just have to survive a couple hits from you? This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. You are so full of shi-"
He stopped in disbelief as he saw Jamie pull out a thick wad of bills.
"10 thousand dollars, consider this a down payment for your payment. This should also show you the...seriousness of this matter. Do not second guess or doubt what I tell you again."
Alberto nodded and quietly took the large amount of money. He was considering just running away with the cash, but the greed kept him there. It was amazing how in his hands was more money than he had ever had combined, and yet his mouth was still salivating, he was still hungry to get more.
Alberto thought about his father frantically scratching lottery tickets surrounded by bottles of alcohol, 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘥𝘰 𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺.
"So when do I take my beating?" Alberto asked, ready to do what ever he needed to get the money.
The last thing he remembered clearly was Jamie laughing as he punched Alberto right in his mouth.