Unwelcome Visitors

George returned to his room. But before he entered, he heard a loud voice coming from inside.

"This little brat. When's he going to be back?"

He thought he recognized the voice, but he couldn't quite place it.

"I haven't got all day, you know. You said he would be here."

"Mr. Long. Don't be in such a hurry. He'll be back soon," came the reply.

George recognized that one as Alex, and the other guy must be Mr. Long. George realized with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

Mr. Long was a true bully, a gang leader who extorted the dorms for what he called protection money. But of course, it was only protection from him and his cronies. George had never had any spare money. He could barely afford to get by on his living expenses. And that was before he had started dating Alice. Mr. Long's gang agreed to take their money once a month, but they always tried asking for more. George never wanted to give over what money he had. So he always did what he could to avoid Mr. Long's group.

"A classmate messaged me a minute ago," Alex continued. "He just saw George on his way back here."

"You talk too much," came another voice in rebuke. That was Sam, one of Mr. Long's gang members.

"Mr. Long. Don't worry. As long as the kid is still on school grounds, he won't be able to escape. If he tries to run, I'll break his legs."

"Yeah, he won't get away." There was a chorus of agreement from inside the room. George estimated there must be at least half a dozen of them in there. And they appeared to be waiting for him. It sounded like Alex and the others had sold him out to Mr. Long. And he was waiting with some of his gang to shake George down for more money.

"They must have told him I've struck the jackpot and gotten rich. He's here to collect protection money." He took a few cautious steps back and planned to leave.

"Hey George, why are you just standing out there?" Neil called out. George hadn't heard him approaching. "Did you forget your key or something?"

The voices in the room went quiet. They had obviously heard Neil and sure enough seconds later, the door opened and Mr. Long and his gang stepped out.

"Hey kid, where have you been?" Sam scowled at George.

Seeing who was in their room, Neil ran. George made to follow him, but Mr. Long put a hand on his shoulder and grabbed a handful of his jacket, holding him in place. It seemed there would be no avoiding him this time.

"Where are you going, George? You just got back to your room. Why don't you come in?" Mr. Long said with a sinister edge to his voice.

"I've been waiting inside for you for a long time. I hear you won a prize and became Mr. Rich." He pulled George into the dorm and closed the door behind them. Inside, Mr. Long patted George on the shoulder smoothing his crumpled clothing.

"Don't be afraid, George. I'm not here to hurt you. I'm just here to have a nice chat about old times."

"No, no, I'm not afraid." George stammered. "I just thought since you've been waiting so long for me, I should buy a few bottles of good wine to honor you."

He turned to the door and tried to leave. Sam grabbed him by the neck and pulled him away from the door. George looked around for help, but he realized that his roommates were no longer there. They must have snuck away when the door had been opened.

"Okay." He said, realizing there would be no escape, "No wine then. How about coffee? Mr. Long, why don't you take a seat?" George started to busy himself in the kitchen.

"There's no use fighting it when the odds are so stacked against me," he thought.

"That's more like it, brat," Sam scoffed.

"George, forget about the drinks. Come and take a seat as well." Mr. Long's voice oozed with danger under the pleasant tone. George immediately sat down.

"Now," Mr. Long said staring at him. "I've heard that you've won quite a bit of money. Yesterday, you invited everyone to eat at the Palace Garden and spent $30,000 on one meal."

"I could enjoy myself for a long time with that sort of money," he added in his head.

"George, I usually take good care of you, right? Don't you think it's your turn to take care of me by giving me some of that money?"

Just as George had expected, the purpose of Mr. Long's visit was to extort money from him.

"You heard about that," he thought to himself. "Who told you, I wonder? It must have been Alex and Lex."

At the door, he had heard Mr. Long talking with his roommates. "Then how much do you want from me?" He asked aloud. Mr. Long saw his chance. He looked around at his gang and laughed.

"Oh, not much. Just what you paid at the restaurant would be a nice start. In fact, why don't you round up a nice even 50,000." He smiled easily as he indicated his people. "Then everyone can have a share of the pie."

George's face paved. "Shit." He panicked as he tried to think a way out of this. "That's so much. I mean, maybe it's not so much for me now, but still."

He quickly calmed himself and said, "Mr. Long, to be honest, I don't have much money left."

"What? No money?" Sam exclaimed.

George looked embarrassed as he stammered. "I- I- I really don't have any money."

"How can that be possible?" Sam raised his fist and asked, "Your roommate told us you invited the whole class to dinner at a fancy restaurant. How come you don't have money? Kid, you are playing with fire if you think you can trick us."

"It's a long story. Someone took it from me," George sighed and said dejectedly. "Well, actually I guess it's quite a short story."

"You little brat!" Sam shouted. "Don't you think I can tell a lie when I hear one. I'm going to smash your teeth in." He took a step toward George with his clenched fist raised.

George didn't even need to pretend to be scared as he shouted, "Don't hit me, please. I really don't have any money left. It was taken away by someone."

Outside the dorm room's door, Alex and Lex were listening intently. After they had left the room, they hid around the corner and quickly came back to spy, not wanting to miss Mr. Long teaching George a lesson. After all, they had been the ones to invite him there with the promise of money. When Lex heard George's plea for mercy, a triumphant grin spread across his face. Alex was sneering coldly thinking that George deserved whatever he got. The show was about to get good. "Let's see if he still got any of his teeth after this."

"Oh, George," they heard Mr. Long say. "Who was it that took your money away?"

There were no sounds of violence. And the two students were disappointed to hear that George had a reprieve.

"I can't say. I can't say." George cried out.

Sam sounded annoyed. "Mr. Long, it's obvious that he's lying. He's just stalling while he tries to think of a way out. Why don't we beat him up a little first?"

"Uh, no, don't hit me. I told you the truth." George panicked. "I- I'll tell you who it was, but I can only tell Mr. Long."

"You want to play some tricks again?" Sam threatened him. "You won't be able to tell anyone anything by the time I'm finished with you."

"Mr. Long!" George shouted, anxiously. "If you can take the money back from that person, all of it is yours, I promise."

"Is that so?" Mussed Mr. Long. "Could you really have such good intentions or is this just some other trick?" Mr. Long was clearly suspicious.

"And so he should be," thought Lex. "After all, George is never straightforward when it comes to money. Would he really give up money when he had it? Does he not care about it? Or is it because he has more money so it doesn't matter?"

"Really, it- it's the truth," George sounded fearful.

"Who was it then?" Mr. Long asked.

"Come over here and I'll tell you," George said, "But I only want to tell you, they have eyes and ears everywhere. I'm afraid."

There were a few moments of silence from inside the room. George must have been whispering to Mr. Long. Outside, Alex and Lex couldn't hear a thing. They pushed their ears closer to the door, trying to pick up anything that was said.

Then Mr. Long broke the silence. "You're sure?"

"Yes," George replied quickly.

"Did you hear what he said?" Alex whispered.

Lex put his fingers to his lips. "Shh. Don't say anything. They'll hear you."