Mark was not only dumb as fuck, he was ugly too. Some would say he was a lucky guy. You know marrying his high school sweet heart, producing two lovely children (a boy and a girl of course), suburban house lucky. Others (Most) (Everyone) will not agree. If you live a life of crime you would probably just simply say he was dumb, ugly and miserable. Most would probably never notice a guy like Mark or his loser life.

His two children, James and Sarah, were probably the only good in his life. Nice and polite. Mark was very proud of them. Of course as soon as they left the house they were shits as well. Ignorance is a bliss. Had Mark known suicide would have been the most likely way out. His lovely (loser) wife Rachel had been the apple of his eye once. But name one good thing that last, they had grown apart and he had no idea why they were still living together. Her being a second assistant at some low level law firm didn't help either.

Work wasn't something Mark was proud of either. He had worked as an accountant his entire life. In the beginning he was ambitious and had great work ethics. He had been dreaming about that big promotion all his life. Every year was his year, but every single time he got disappointed. Always let down he came to the conclusion that he would have to quit his job if he didn't get it this time around. That was 10 years ago. He couldn't even succeed at that. Nowadays he mostly just spent his time at work drinking coffee and reading the newspaper.

Mark was an all around disappointment to most. Especially his family, his dog Spot didn't even come up to say hi when he got home from work. But what Mark didn't know was that his luck was about to change. Great things were in the makings and and Mark was going to be happy once again.

It was his time to shine.

Brighter then a star.

Nothing was going to stop him.

The world was going to be at his feet.

Not Really...

It was a nice day outside. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and there was a nice breeze letting everyone know that spring was incoming. Mark could feel the warmth on his skin. Surely this would be one of the rare good days. He couldn't remember the last time he went to bed and felt happy or satisfied with life. But he had a good feeling about this one.

He was on his way to work and had decided to take the long way there as he had some time to spare. Some extra steps never hurt anyone. As he turned a corner a few blocks off his regular path he couldn't help but notice this lovely looking woman sitting at a cardboard box, with a deck of cards, which she was twiddling around in her hand as if they were nothing. The whole scene looked a bit off. You had this lovely looking woman sitting in some worn out clothes. Seemingly okay with life but dressed like a bum. Successful, yet unsuccessful somehow. When the woman saw Mark standing there, inspecting her, she stood up and waved at him while saying something that couldn't be overheard by the busy road. Mark couldn't help himself, he walked over.

"- Fancy a game of Monte sir." The woman said while she kept shuffling the cards around in her hand.

Still being sure that today was going to be a good day Mark accepted. The woman quickly explained the rules and started moving around the cards. Mark had been told to find the Queen of Hearts so he concentrated and kept his eyes on the card that he was sure was the Queen. The woman stopped moving the cards and raised her hands. Mark put a $20 down on the card he knew to be the Queen and couldn't believe his eyes as the woman turned it around. He had found the Queen and the woman gave him $40. Just like that. This was easy. Mark smiled as he went again. Yet another $40 was given to him. Mark was getting ballsier. This time he put down $100 but lost.

"- Wait what..." Mark stuttered. What just happened. Mark was sure he must have made a mistake. This game was so easy. He must have blinked at the wrong time or something like that for this to have happened. Mark, still feeling ballsy, decided he had to win the money back somehow. He couldn't come home to sweet, lovey Rachel with money like that missing. This needed to be fixed. This time he put down $200 on the card that had to be the Queen. He had been so careful not to blink. So careful not making a mistake. He was excited again. The woman turned the card around. A Jack. A fucking Jack. Everything went silent. Mark couldn't make out anything. Teardrops lingering in his eyes. He was frozen to the spot. $200 doesn't sound much, but for a man like Mark it was a fortune. It took a while for him to regain control over his body. He turned around and walked away.

"- What will Rachel say..." Mark said quietly to himself as he walked off to work with tears running down his face.

Game night surely was ruined...

Mark was laying on the couch in the living room. Rachel had been furious. Mark had been a bit clumsy dropping the bomb in the middle of a game of Scrabble. Rachel had stormed off to the bedroom and James and Sarah had just sat there laughing at him. It had been very embarrassing. What had gone wrong...

In an attempt to make things better Mark had been at the store buying some groceries and a nice bottle off wine. He had borrowed the money off a colleague that hadn't been able to stop laughing at him. He had gone straight home where he had prepped a nice dinner for when his loser wife would arrive. She had been pleased. They'd shared a nice dinner talking about everything for the first time in ages. The kids had even offered to do the dishes while Mark and Rachel had prepared the snacks and the game. They had been playing for a while when Mark had decided it was time to tell the Mrs. It all went to hell after that. He had cleaned the kitchen spotless in an attempt to get to sleep in his own bed that night, but when he got to the bedroom the door was locked.

This was fifth night out of five possible he had been forced to sleep on the couch this week. Words like loser, idiot, retard was echoing in his head together with the laughter from his kids. "You're lesser then a man" together with "sorry excuse of a human being" had been extra hurtful.

Enough was enough. He had to free himself of this. Build a new life.

The next day he took out a hefty life insurance on his wife.

Latom was on her way home from the bar Atrocities. It had been a great day. She had been spending it hustling people in agame of Monte. A game that had saved her ass from hunger so many times while living on the streets. A game she had promised herself to never give up even though now she was very successful in the criminal underworld. She had promised herself never to forget her roots. She was going to do it for a couple of hours tomorrow as well. 

Waking up the next morning Latom went to the exact same place as yesterday. She prepared everything and started rolling in the cash. In her standards not a lot. But the satisfying feeling hustling poor idiots of more then they could afford was payment enough. Everything was going great until that crying bitch from yesterday arrived. He walked right up looking nervous. Making sure they were alone before talking.

"- Could I please get a moment of your time miss"

"- What the fuck do you want? Get lost"

"- I have a very lucrative offer for you if you would just hear me out."

Latom gave it a thought. She didn't really need a side job. But she was feeling a bit curious. What harm could it do listening to the poor sucker. So she dragged him off into a secluded alleyway being sure he saw the gun she was strapping. Making sure he wouldn't try anything stupid.

"- I knew it. You're a fucking gangster!" The man started screaming.

Latom grabbed the man by the neck, throwing him to the ground while putting the gun up his face. The man looked as he was about to soil himself. Sweat started materializing in his forehead. He quickly stopped talking, seemingly nervous by the silence.

"- S-s-sorry, don't kill me, sorry. L-l-listen, I have an offer for you. You can make some money. Please don't kill me. Kill my wife. I'll pay you. Just kill her. I need her gone. I'll give you $500. It's easy. Just make it look like a home invasion. Don't kill me."

Latom started laughing. Was this guy for real? What a fucking moron.

"- Seriously. I wipe my ass with $500. Are you trying to fucking pay me with toilette paper? Are you slow or just an idiot? Give me the fucking money and get out of here. You can kill your own damn wife."

Latom walked away without even looking at the man. He was too stupid to try anything. She packed up all the stuff she had brought and started walking home. Time for some real shit to go down. Enough with losers like Mark.

The next morning Latom woke up with a smile thinking back on yesterdays events. The man had approached her with a lucrative offer. What a fucking joke he was. Not having anything special on the schedule Latom went outside and started walking towards her favorite coffee shop. She needed some caffeine. She walked by a newspaper boy and decided to buy todays paper.

Once inside Latom ordered a large coffee and sat down opening the newspaper. She quickly scanned the pages when suddenly something caught her eye.

"- Dead dog an unexpected hero as man caught trying to kill his own wife" Latom read out loud to herself.

"- Man was found tied up and sat on by his own children after police was alerted to a home late last night. While everyone was asleep in this quiet and safe neighborhood a man snuck into his own bedroom with intentions to kill his own wife. While walking up to the bed he tripped over his dog and accidentally shot himself in the shoulder. Killing his own dog in the fall."

Latom started to chuckle.

"- What a fucking moron."