Chapter 1: Before Lighting the Cigarette Smoke
Hours were passing. For Lukas, it was too late. He wanted to light the cigarette in his hand one more time. Suddenly, a crow came and took his last cigarette. He was so downhearted that everything felt like a dream to him. It was around 3 a.m.
From there, a fat man in a suit, with a smiling face, was walking towards him. Despite the packs he smoked, Lukas thought he was dreaming.
But it was real. The man was coming towards him.
Lukas stood up and said to the man:
— Tell me I'm not dreaming. A man in a white shirt and a suit shining in this darkness of mine cannot appear before me. Are you real?
The man smiled slightly, left a note, and disappeared.
Lukas said:
— Ah, I really am dreaming…
When he took the note in his hand, he suddenly found himself on the ground. Nights no longer passed. When morning came, it felt like years had passed for Lukas. Among all his troubles, the last bad event was that his family had abandoned him. Now he was living on the streets. He was a fugitive; they were about to imprison him just for stealing bread. While many committed worse crimes, they only targeted Lukas.
When Lukas opened his eyes, he immediately looked for the letter and noticed a paper floating in the sea. He decided to jump in right away. This was his last way out. To get his life in order—maybe this was a miracle for him.
Wearing his torn clothes, Lukas jumped into the water, took the paper, put it in his pocket, and came out. Every drop dripping from his wet, sweaty clothes created a stench on the dirty ground. When Lukas opened the paper, he saw a location and immediately set off to get there.
With no strength left, Lukas didn't even have money for a taxi. He started walking. Days passed, but Lukas still hadn't reached the location. Were the roads he took just desolate? Or was someone playing a game with him?
A truck appeared there. Seeing Lukas's ragged, worn-out state, even those who didn't want to stop were forced to. Lukas threw himself in front of the vehicle, pretending to be crushed. That way, they had to take him. Lukas gave the driver directions and, lighting a cigarette, started moving toward the location.
As he advanced, Lukas saw a building. The location indicated it was there. He began walking toward it. It seemed to be a very old building. Wait! The colors of the man's clothes he saw in his dream matched those of this building. This was probably… Lukas was about to reach the miracle.
Taking one more drag from his cigarette, he entered the building. Filth, insects… It was really terrible. With his thick, harsh voice, Lukas called out:
— Hey! Is anyone there?
A man's voice appeared. It was the voice of the man from his dream.
And Lukas went toward it. The voice was coming from a tape recorder. Was someone playing a game with Lukas?
As he approached the tape recorder, he found another letter. This time, the letter was written by his wife, Emma. Shocked and angry at the letter, Lukas thought someone was playing a game with him. It was all just a game…
He immediately set out for the house where his wife and son lived. He needed to give a reasonable explanation.
After days of traveling, Lukas had lost 2 kilos. Having found nothing but water and leaves, Lukas was exhausted and weak. But now, he had arrived home. When he entered, no one was there. Lukas immediately went to the kitchen and ate something. He had been hungry for 2 days.
Then the sounds of police echoed through the walls. Just as Lukas was about to run away, his son Jake came into the yard. He pointed a gun at his father. There was hurt and anger in his eyes. He shot Lukas twice in the stomach.
The police arrived immediately. Jake was taken to juvenile detention, and Lukas to the hospital. Hearing this, Emma went to see her son at the juvenile center. But it was already too late. Her son had escaped. Then Emma hurried to the hospital. After everything that happened, maybe she still loved Lukas.
When Emma arrived at the hospital, she learned Lukas's condition was critical. Even Emma didn't understand why Jake shot Lukas. After staying a few hours, she received a message from her son.
The message read:
"Mom, if you knew, you'd do the same. Don't worry about me. — Your son."
Reading this, Emma tried to call her son, but the phone records were deleted. Confused about what to do, Emma took the cigarette Lukas used for the first time and smoked it…
While Lukas was in intensive care, he smelled that scent and suddenly opened his eyes. Apparently, it was the smell of the cigarette that brought him back to life. A true psychopath!
Doctors quickly gathered. Emma ran in with the cigarette in her hand, thinking something had happened. But they said Lukas had opened his eyes and only said:
— Light it…
Emma smiled faintly and said:
— A total psychopath…
When Lukas was moved to a regular room, police surrounded him because they were about to imprison him. Emma asked the police for just two minutes.
— Lukas, why did Jake shoot you? — she asked in surprise.
But Lukas answered harshly:
— Don't pretend you don't know. You made him do it!
Emma got angry:
— You're talking nonsense! I'm not stupid enough to make my son shoot his father! — she shouted.
Lukas said:
— Which son? My step-son?!
Emma lost her patience and slapped him. Hearing the sound, the police kicked Emma out of the room.
A few days later, Lukas was sentenced to 2 years and 15 days in prison.
Just for stealing a loaf of bread…
Do you think this was a fair punishment?
Emma went to the police and told them about the message from her son Jake. But she had no proof. The police didn't believe her. However, since Jake had escaped, they thought it might be possible and started investigating who the number belonged to.
Lukas's beard had grown past his chin. When he first stepped into prison, he felt peaceful. For months, he hadn't had a bed or a meal in a place like this. There was a faint smile on his face.
Then a tall man, about 195 cm, approached him:
— Welcome. What's with the smile, buddy? — he said.
Everyone started laughing. Lukas thought inside:
"Just like in the TV shows… exactly the same."
He put his bag on a bed.
But the tall man didn't leave him alone:
— Hey! What's that? You can't lie wherever you want!
Lukas: — Where am I going to sleep?
Man: — On the floor, of course! People like you we throw on the floor. That's your place!
Laughing, he threw Lukas's bag, pillow, and blanket on the floor and then confidently sat in the head chair.
Lukas: — What's your name, brother?
Man with deep, heavy voice:
— Haha, brother? You'll be my slave at best.
My name's Frank. I'm the boss here. Know your place!
Lukas extended his last cigarette to Frank:
— Take this and leave me alone for a while. I need to think.
Would Frank be convinced by just one cigarette?
— What's this? Are you kidding me? Wait! This… isn't this one of the rarest and most popular cigarettes in America?!
Alright… I'll give you two days. After that, we've got business! — said Frank and went to the bathroom to smoke.
Everyone there was looking at Lukas in surprise.
Lukas: — What? Haven't you ever seen this?
You people like to judge by appearance, but then get stunned.
You know that best…
Lukas lay on his bed, looking at a family photo and began thinking.
"Why did you do it, son? Why?" he whispered to himself.
At that moment, Frank, with his tall stature, came over to Lukas again and demanded:
— Hey, give me one more, a cigarette.
But Lukas had none left.
— I don't have any more. Two days were enough, you said. Leave me alone, — said Lukas.
However, Frank, with a harsh expression, tore the photo in Lukas's hand.
"Bastard! Get up!" he shouted and pulled Lukas.
Lukas had no strength left. He took his blanket and pillow and hid in the corner of the room, quietly thinking..