What do you mean you lost the lottery ticket?

Billy and Jacob had the winning ticket. Keyword: had.

Each week the two of them would split 30 dollars worth of
lotto tickets; call it a tradition, call it wishful thinking. Both
worked nearly dead end jobs and neither had any living relatives
so winning the lottery became their sole incentive.

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It was September 20th. The pot was at 65 million, after
taxes thatd be 45 million give or take. The winning ticket was
sold at a 7 Eleven on a road no one but locals drive on. It stood
alone with a parking lot 3 times its size though only 5 spots
would ever be used at one time. This exact 7 Eleven is the one
our boys used for their ritual, Billy said the odds were better
because no one went there but Jacob knew it was horse shit. It
didnt matter where, just the numbers.
The numbers were always the same as the week before,
it was a list ascending, then descending, by ones. Billy said it
helped the odds, Jacob didnt care. The man behind the counter
was short and balding, he always wore a shirt 2 sizes too large.
He knew the boys by name and always had their tickets ready
when theyd walk in. After a fifteen minute ride from their
shared apartment Jacob swung his 95 Chevy Cavalier into the
closest spot to the front door. Billy slammed the passenger door
as he got out, Jacob yelled at him. There were only two other
cars in the lot beside Jakes, the clerks and one he didnt
recognize, a Crown Vic. Jacob could hear his engine clicking
and cooling as he left it.
Hey Marco! Jacob belted as he and Billy walked
through the door. Billy nodded in Marcos direction but went
directly to the line of refrigerators on the back wall. Jake walked
up to the counter.
Jacob my boy, feeling lucky this week? Marco pulled
a stack of tickets from behind the counter and shot a cheery

smile Jakes way. Marco had worked this 7 Eleven for longer
than the boys had lived in the area, he was one of the first
people they met 3 years earlier.
Jacob laughed, Only in my dreams sir. So hows the
family?
Jake and Billy went to that 7 Eleven the first day they were in
town, moving van and all they pulled into the lot 3 years ago
last February. Billy had to use the bathroom and Jake needed to
stretch his legs. Billy slammed the door, Jake yelled. Jacob
stood leaning against his car out front of the lone convenience
store, he pulled a cigarette up to his mouth and found out his
lighter was empty. Jacob went into the store to buy a new one,
he and the clerk hit it off, end of story.
ooo
In the back Billy was following his finger down the
glass of the refrigerators trying to make up his mind. As he
walked along the back wall waiting for a revelation to come the
owner of the third car was standing in the furthest aisle from the
door. The man was on the phone and making a seemingly life or
death decision between gummy bears and gummy worms. Billy,
noticing the man, became more conscious of his surroundings
and instinctually started eavesdropping. He still didn't know
what to drink.
People-watching was a pastime of Billys, he was a
psych major before he dropped out during his freshman year. He
came from a long line of college dropouts. He liked seeing the
differences in people, just didnt like doing the work. He knew
the stuff, just didnt know how to use it. Billy took a quick look
at the guy. The man was wearing a grey suit with a white button
down and he looked tired, really tired. His black tie was loose
around his neck and his horn rimmed glasses were making their
descent lower and lower down his nose. The phone was in his
right hand. Billy could hear a small voice on the other side of
the call but couldnt tell what it was saying.
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The man looked up from the aisle and out into nowhere.
No... I understand The voice went on and on, he took a
heavy breath in. Look... you know Ive been trying, Ive been
following her for 2 weeks.. The small voice got larger. The
man stopped, pulled the phone to face him and started saying
loudly and split up ....Look...I .cant...cant.hear you.
I..Tunnel. He hung up the phone and said ..Bitch.. His
tired eyes looked up towards the ceiling and he took one more
breath in. When the man caught sight of a guy standing four feet
away he questioned how tired he really was, itd been 3 days
since he'd slept after all. Billy stood completely still with his
right ear aimed at the man. He'd missed the classes on subtlety
and stuck out like a sore thumb with a neon green Fuck Global
Warming shirt on. The mans face blinked slow and confused.
He looked around for anyone else to confirm what exactly he
was looking at. When his eyes came back to Billy he had
grabbed a RedBull and started walking back to the front. The
man watched Billy walk away and said quietly to himself
fuckin kids. He started to dial another number.
ooo
Billy walked back to the front of the store. He pulled
four wrinkled, machine washed bills from his pocket and slid
them across the counter. He popped the lid of his RedBull, said
Keep the change Marci Mark and kept going. Marco pulled
the bills toward him and shoved them in the register.
The kids are good. Genevieve started elementary school on
Monday and Henrys almost potty trained! Marcos enthusiasm
over his son's relationship with the toilet made one of Jakes
eyebrows shoot up, but he never had kids, what would he know.
Wonderful! Tell Henry Im rooting for him. Jacob
looked around for where Billy went, found him backed up to the
height strip on the door with his hand over his head. Jake paid
Marco and grabbed the stack of tickets. He looked down at a
stack of papers and read the headline, SEVENTEEN CATS
SAVED FROM SINGLE TREE. The paper was local and the
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stories were worthless but Jacob had to think That is a lot of

cats and then How the helld they all get there? He bought a
pack of Marlboro Reds and grabbed the paper. The two of them
said bye to Marco, left the store, and hopped in the Cavalier.
Jake turned the key in the ignition.
The engine turned over after a few pumps on the gas and
Billy asked what they were going to do now. Jacob looked over
at Billy condescendingly. Well, what do we always do on
Fridays my dear William? Neither of them had work until
Monday and it was only noon. Billy looked back at him then
two stupid smiles jumped on each of their faces. Billy went into
the glove box and pulled out a joint. They lit it in the parking lot
and took off down the road, away from town.
ooo
The other man in the building was paying at the register;
gummy worms and a Slurpee. He grabbed a paper and put it on
the counter. Hey, I know its a long shot, but did a young girl
come in here earlier? Black hair, early twenties?
Marco tried but he was a terrible liar, keeping quiet was
all he could do. He didnt know the man and made it a rule to
stay out of peoples business. He shook his head back and forth
to say no while he rang the man up but started sweating almost
instantly. $3.50 please.
The man saw the beads of sweat building on Marcos forehead,
he didnt understand why but he tried a new approach. Are you
sure? Shes my niece, her moms sick and no one can find her.
Marco looked up and tried to sympathize with the lying man.
Actually, I might have, but she had hood on and I couldnt see
her hair. She asked how far the next town was and I told her it
was seven miles up the road.
ooo
Two miles down the road the car was hazy. The stereo
was up all the way to Bohemian Rhapsody and the boys were
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singing along. They were going 60 in a 35 zone but no one ever

drove this road, they were heading north; just driving. The
landscape was a blur, open land on either side of them slowly
slipped into the woods. It was coming up fast when they saw it,
and it was a she. A long haired girl was walking the shoulder,
she was going the same way as them, and her thumb was out.
Dude! Stop the car, I need to ask her a question! Billy
was pushing at Jake's shoulder and the car was jerking violently.
Smoking always made Billys ADD go haywire, there was no
stopping him. I gotta know! Cmon man!
The girl was 100 feet away, Jacob slammed on the
breaks and they passed her with squealing tires. He threw it in
reverse and backed through the small cloud hed just left. He
came up alongside her and Billy rolled down the window, the
smoky contents of the car flew out the second Billy opened it.
He leaned out the window Hey! The girl stood staring at the
car, it was the first one to pass her in two hours. Billy let the
silence seep in and started up, So I was just wondering if.
The girl had long black hair that ran down her back and she had
a flannel tied around her waist. She carried a backpack filled to
the brim. Billy noticed right away that her eyes were bright
blue, and that she was exhausted, and that bandage the on her
left arm was bloody.
I was just wondering if you were the girl that dude was looking
for
Jacob was appalled. What the hell are you even talking about
man?
The guy at the 7 Eleven, I heard him on the phone!
The girl was intrigued.
And what exactly did this man say on the phone?
Jacob was still confused.
He said he was...uh...following a girl for two weeks.
Jacob just stared at his friend And you just thought oh
its gotta be her? Are you fucking high?
Uh, yes. Billy turned his head to the girl But since
were here anyway...Wanna ride?
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II
The man from the 7 Eleven wasted no time at all, he
hopped in his 15 year old Crown Vic and took off up the road.
In the backseat was a blanket and a pillow, his bed for the past
two weeks. He drove with one hand on the wheel and a Slurpee
in the other. In the passenger seat was a messy stack of papers
and notebooks covered in red ink from a cheap pen; notes filled
every margin.
The town the man had just come from was behind him
now and riddled with failed attempts. He never caught the name
and frankly didnt care to but it was Jacob and Billys town. He
rolled in about a week and a half earlier after tracking the girl
150 miles from his home, he figured she was hiding out with a
friend in the area. He was partially right.
She was on the run and he was hired to find her, the deal
was a good one that a friend had hooked him up with. His
workload had been non-existent for almost two years after the
scandal so he jumped on the chance immediately and packed up
his car with all the secondhand surveillance equipment he could
muster.
It took three days once he got to the town. He found her
in a coffee shop on the corner of a busy street and he began
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tailing her. The building was a reformed movie theatre with

windows lining both sides of the intersection, she sat at a
window seat. He watched her sit alone reading a book and
sipping at her coffee, he began taking notes.
Friday. September 13th. 2:30 PM.
-Woman is sitting alone in a coffee shop at the intersection of
4th and Main.
-She has a book with her, Vonneguts Dead Eye Dick.
-She seems calm and without worry, does she know whos
looking for her? Or even why?
-A waiter just brought a bagel to her table, cream cheese, they
exchanged words.
-Male, mid-twenties, brown hair, blue eyes. Weird.
The woman didnt act as if she was on the run, in fact
she took her time with the coffee and hardly even touched the
bagel. She scooped a bit of cream cheese off the top with her
index finger. What a waste the man thought to himself as she
paid without so much as a bite. The woman closed her book and
stood up, she left two dollars on the table and left. He walked
over, grabbed the bagel, and followed her out.
ooo
Friday. September 13th. 5:00 PM.
-Women is sitting on a bench reading alone. King Park.
-She seldom looks up. Only when people pass behind her.
-She appears to have finished the book.
The woman had become aware of her admirer on the
way to the park. She stole glances every time he turned his eyes
to his notepad. She figured he was harmless and chose to let it
be.
She thought to herself: no one could have followed me,
to here of all places. It was the town she was born in but had
long since left. especially not a man that looks that hungover.
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Friday. September 13th. 5:30 PM.

-Followed woman from park.
-She turned down an alley and made her way to a car.
-Removed black backpack from trunk then left.
-Green Ford Taurus. Year: 1998. Plate Number:
The man wasnt sure how hed planned to confront the
girl, he hadnt expected to find her so soon. The man was
unprepared and hungover, a poor mix. He decided to wait to call
his employer and try not to jinx himself. She led him four
blocks from the alley. He followed her until she went into the
lobby of a rundown motel. She walked out moments later and
went to room 107. The man found it funny that the place was
named The Oceaneer Motel since the coast was 50 miles
away. Her room was on the second floor and the door opened up
to a balcony facing the road. He watched her move within the
room, the sun starting to fall out of the sky behind him. The man
eventually walked back to his car then posted up in the lot
across from the motel. He pulled a flask from the glovebox and
waited.
ooo
As the man was walking back to get his car the woman
had slipt out of the motel. Shed begun to worry once shed seen
the man checking out her brothers car and writing down the
license plate number. She decided to play it safe and left the car.
Before the man turned his attention back from the car she made
a call to her brother.
He picked up on the first ring. Hey Jess, whats up?
Alex, I think Im being followed. I need you to meet
me at...
Wow, wow, wait, whats wrong? This was the first her
brother had heard anything.
Look, I cant explain right now, I need to The man
had finished examining the car. Can you just meet me at the
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Oceaneer motel? Ive gotta go, Ill meet you there in 15

minutes.
What? But you have my car!
Ok, 20 minutes, bye. She hung up the phone and
started walking
ooo
Jess knew the motel. This used to be her town up until a
few years ago. She spent time after her senior prom in one of
those rooms. Everything was decorated like a shitty beach
home. Clam shaped soaps, beach towels, aged wicker seats that
had no business being there. The rooms themselves were decent
at best, but its not like anyone put much time into cleaning
them. With a black light you could probably find years of build
up.
She moved away almost right after prom, didnt even get
to walk at graduation. She got her diploma in the mail, that was
five years ago. She hadnt been anywhere near Fairmount since.
She left a lot there, her home town, some good. a lot bad.
Jess was only in town because she didnt know where
else to go, she was running. The only person she knew for a few
hundred miles lived in Fairmount. Her brother.
When Jess got to the motel she went straight into the
lobby, her brother was waiting. She walked through the doors
and he was leaned against the front counter talking to the clerk;
a cute girl, early twenties if not fresh out of highschool. He
turned as the sliding doors opened, stood when he saw his sister.
He turned back to the girl, said Excuse me, and met
his sister halfway to the door. Whats up? What were you
saying about someone following you?
Cory was 19, he was her little brother. He had just
graduated highschool two years before and decided to go to
college in his old hometown. Jess didnt understand why he
would want to after what had happened but she supported him
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regardless. They moved away when he was 14, it wouldve been

too much to stay. She was always surprised that hed
rememberd so much about Fairmount. She never thought
shed have to go back.
He had an apartment just off campus, he was majoring in
business and wasnt completely sure why. He had brought his
beat up Cavalier with him when he left, loaned it to his sister
that morning. She said she was visiting, asked to take it.
Before his sister could respond he asked another
question. And wheres my car? He looked past her into the
parking lot out front. There was nothing there.

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