Neel felt the sweat beads start to form on his forehead, like condensation on a window pane. The air conditioning was at full blast, but the bright lights of the casino offset most of the cool air that floated through it. He could already feel the perspiration under his arms , soaking into his white shirt, making dark stain circles, as if announcing his fear. Nervously, he tugged at his shirt collar, as if to adjust his bow tie.
 

He was very conscious of the sweat slowly starting to slide down the sides of his face, dripping onto his black trousers. A tiny muscle twitched involuntarily at the corner of his left eye, and he nonchalantly rubbed the eye with the back of his palm. On a whim, he tightly clasped both his hands in front of him, weaving his fingers in and out of each other. The action had always helped him calm down when he was a child. But today, it just made him tense up even more.

Cautiously, he eyed the two men who stood behind the dealer, pretending to be disinterested in the going-ons at the roulette table. Almost seven feet tall and built like wrestlers, they were completely out-of-place on the casino floor. But Neel knew that they were there for him. They were there to keep an eye on him. If he so much as tried to run, the pair of them would pull him apart with their bare hands. Jose had made that explicitly clear before giving him the money.

For a moment, Neel wondered how life would have been if he had not met José. Would he still be in the position that he found himself in today?

‘Probably, yes!’ he exclaimed to himself.

He’d had his first brush with gambling and the sweet taste of success and money, long before his path had crossed José’s. He’d tried to give it all up. Many times, in fact. He’d even succeeded once. But like an addict, he found reasons to keep going back to it. The excitement, the anticipation, the unpredictability – all it gave him such a high; so much that there were moments when he felt that he could never care for anyone or anything like the way he cared about it. And slowly, everything that he had once cherished, fell by the wayside – his career, his friends, his family.

But through it all, one person had stood by him. His beautiful wife, Elina. There were times that he’d pinched himself to make sure that she wasn’t a dream; a figment of his imagination, created by the buzz of winning. She had the kindest pair of coffee brown eyes, surrounded by gorgeous eyelashes. There was a genuine warmth in them, that he had never found in anyone else. He still wasn’t sure how a guy like him had managed to get a girl like Elina.

‘Love is such a strange thing, isn’t it?’ he muttered, as the dealer announced for the bets to be placed.

He wasn’t devout by any definition of the word, but he found himself wishing for Lady Luck to be on his side tonight.

‘I promise this will be the last time I do this!’  he heard himself say, even as his inner voice chuckled at the lie.

He calmly ran his fingers over the roulette chips. He was about to place the biggest bet that he’d ever placed. The stakes were higher than ever. But there was no other way out. In order to win big, he had to go big. His future, Elina’s future – everything depended on it.

Neel closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. José’s menacing words still rung fresh in his mind .

‘Such fragile lives we lead, Neel. Look at you! You’re ready to sacrifice everything you have, for the odd chance that you’ll win and be able to pay us all back.

What happens if you lose? Are you sure you want to go ahead with this deal? Because if you lose, it won’t be just the money; it’ll be your life!’. 

He opened his eyes and blinked twice for good luck like he always did. His eyes scanned the roulette wheel, slowly taking in the position of all the numbers.Taking a deep breath, he loudly announced the number he was placing all his chips on. He smiled when he realised that he had subconsciously bet on Elina’s favourite number. He needed to win this to get her back.

As the roulette dealer spun the wheel and the little ball started to spin around in circles, Neel felt his muscles tense up. His mouth felt parched and he could sense a slight metallic taste on his tongue. ‘What if….?” asked his inner voice, trying to play devil’s advocate. “It’ll be fine. I will win” he repeated to himself.

Keeping his fingers crossed, he watched the silver ball slow down gradually. Suddenly, his phone buzzed. Muttering an excuse, he pulled it out of his pocket. It was a message from José .

‘Feeling lucky, punk?’ 

Before he could respond, he heard a loud yell from the table he was sitting at. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a woman jump up and scream happily. As his eyes scoured the roulette wheel to see where the little ball had landed, his phone buzzed again.

‘She’s mine now.’ flashed the message on his screen.

              Today is Day 3 of the #Barathon. The prompt is : 'Fragile Lives'