A Long Road to Fortune/Issue 27

This is the third issue in Volume 5 of A Long Road to Fortune. It is titled Shrouded Shadow. This issue is currently in preview mode.

6 months ago
Another rowdy and noisy night in Tecpan de Galeana. It was December's annual three week holiday break amidst the town so that meant parties and other festivities like such were common each night and annoying, loud fireworks were set off all around so getting a peaceful and serene night would have to wait past this era of holiday cheer. One of the town's local bars, located west of the zocalo going in the opposite direction to the main avenue, next to a basketball court and one of the few gymnasiums in town, was having a lively night. People drank, danced, watched music videos, etc. all while drinking from their beers or glasses full of scotch. Since the bar had large open windows and more than one open door, people danced outside and inside of it. Right in the middle of all the commotion, one dashing woman walked into the bar and took a seat right next to the bartender.

This woman was Yuri and she obviously wasn't in the mood to drink today. A friend of her's had called her though, saying she wanted to get together and chat. Yuri was annoyed at the fact that she couldn't have picked a quieter place to chat though. A man sat six seats from her, drinking his problems away. He was Francisco Navaja, who'd been dealing with yet another unpleasant girlfriend. He had called things off with her weeks ago but the the woman would not cease to make his life hell. All he could do was think and take sips of his beer. He did until he spotted Yuridia Baltazar stting far from him though.

“Just more sluts...sigh” he said to himself.

Yuri sat, looking away from the dancing and straight to the tv's music video while she sat. She didn't like the song on tv, some Pitbull song she didn't like, but it's not like she had anything better to do while she waited so she kept her eyes glued to the television. While this went on, the bartender approached her.

“What can I get you mama?” the bartender asked her. Yuri couldn't help but roll her eyes yet at the same time she didn't want to be rude to him so she did so discreetly. Yuri and the bartender were actually friends and he was actually a married man but she couldn't help but react negatively at comments like those.

“I'll take a coca cola. Not really in the mood for drinking. I'm just meeting a friend.” Yuri answered.

“Alright then.” the bartender replied, nodding understandably. He went made his way over to the cooler in order to fetch Yuri her soda. But while he was doing so, a group of four shady men surrounded Yuri. She could recognize them as gang members. This terrified her to no end but she knew she had to play it cool to avoid letting them know.

“Can I help you with anything?” Yuri asked the men. The look of lust in their faces made her that much more uncomfortable.

“Why is such a pretty gal lonely this great night? Why don't you come have fun with us?” one of the men asked her. They got closer and closer to her. Yuri didn't know how much longer she could keep her act up.

“I'm not looking for company tonight.” she replied simply. Wrong choice, this only made the men come closer and closer to her until one of them laid his hand on her shoulder.

“Come on baby, we won't bite. We can start off slow and then we can get to the fun.” the man went on.

Francisco was watching this exchange from his seat. He was almost drunk at this point, evidenced by the four empty beer bottles in front of him, coupled with the glass of scotch in his hand. As far as Francisco could tell, Yuri was enjoying the company of men. So with that he returned to his consumption. The bartender saw this and looked at Yuri's look of discomfort so he fixed his sights on the situation, with Yuri's soda held tightly in his grasp.

“Can I get you boys anything?” the bartender asked them. They turned their eyes towards him, amused looks in their eyes.

“Some more time alone with this beauty.” one of the men replied.

“I don't think she'd like that.” he replied.

“Come on baby, don't you wanna have some fun with us?” One of the men replied, as he slowly tried to place his hand on Yuri's thigh. She noticed this and reacted suddenly by pulling herself off of her seat rising to her feet. This sudden impulse caused one of the men to fall back. Francisco spotted this and looked at Yuri straight in the eye. She was in the brink of tears. Maybe he'd been wrong about her he thought, so he got up and slowly made his way towards her. He was drunk, angry, and frustrated. He could let off some steam with a little fight. That is until...

Sounds of fighting and brawling could be heard outside. Apparently some drunken idiot had picked a fight with one of the gang members...and the drunken idiot was winning. So before they could lay another hand on Yuri, the gang had to split but not before one of them smacked Yuri in the ass. Francisco say this and lunged at the gang member. Another drunken idiot picking a fight with yet another gang member...and this one was winning too. Yuri quickly made her way over to the back exit of the bar but not before mouthing the words “thank you” to the bartender. He nodded in response as he made his way over to break up Francisco's fight before another gang member could intrude.

As Yuri made haste to walk back home in the streets of Tecpan near the Apolonio, she grabbed her phone and dialed her friend.

“Change of plans. There's a gang fight in the bar...just meet me back home please....alright thanks.” She said, ending the conversation. All she could do now was walk back home and hope not to run into anymore trouble.