Post 5

Chuck hated Christmas. He wasn't a scrooge or a grinch. Chuck didn't take issue with shameless overspending or cheesy advertisements. The truth was that Chuck always felt lonely at Christmas time. Besides, Chuck was never a big fan of cold weather. He dreamed that one day he would move to the tropics live the rest of his days sipping frothy drinks under a coconut tree.
All eyes were on Chuck as he entered the gym. He hadn't worked out since the title fight.
"Hey Fred what's good buddy?" Fred was the janitor. Chuck had become well acquainted with Fred.
"Where have you been? There was talk that you quit. I never believed a word of it though."
"I was recovering from my injuries."
"What injuries?"
"From the fight. The injuries from the fight. Don't you remember?
"Chuck, there were no injuries. The fight was less than a minute. You knocked him out. Is this completely unfamiliar to you?"
"They were there when I woke up in the clinic."
"Well I don't know what you did that day, but those injuries happened after the fight... Oh yeah. A message from Jimbo. Your prize is at St Madelines."
"Thanks Fred."

2 hours later Chuck left the gym. A hooded man was leaning against Chuck's car. Excuse me sir I am about to leave. The man pulled out a taser. The next thing chuck felt was the trapped feeling of being stuck inside a car trunk with a diminishing supply of oxygen.

Post 4

In the morning, Charlie was confused. He remembered escaping the hospital but remember anything before that. He assumed that his injuries were from the fight-- What happened? His apartment was trashed. Beer bottles littered the floor, both broken and intact. An empty liqueur bottle lay in a puddle of vodka and cigarette butts. In the kitchen a bowl of snacks was overturned. The phone display read 0 new calls. This was strange. It would be very improbable that Charlie's phone didn't ring once in 36 hours. someone must have been there to check the messages. The phone rang.
"Charlie?  Charlie.. are you there?"
"yes mom"
"Charlie how are you, I've been meaning to congratulate you on your win yesterday. You really put up a fight out there."
"What? won? did I really?"
"Of course you won Charlie. Don't try to fool me. I know what I know. You don't have to act like you don't even remember you know. There is no reason not to enjoy winning."
"No, no there isn't."
"Charlie?"
"Yes"
"Charlie I do worry sometimes."
"What for?"
"Don't you think It's dangerous. All this fighting business i mean.
"No not what do you worry about. Why? Why do you worry?"
"Charlie? are you there Charlie?"
"Yes. Right here."
"Charlie, you put up a wonderful show yesterday."
"That's what you told me mom."

"Oh did I? How is Caroline? you will Tell her I said hello won't you?"
"Yes I'll tell her you said hello. Bye Mom." Caroline was Charlie's only child-- the last tie to a miserable marriage. Until she disappeared a week before she turned 21. But Charlie couldn't bear to tell his mom again only to hear her cry for 5 minutes before forgetting completely.
"Charlie, how are you holding up Charlie." He hung up. She would forget it anyway.
Vinny ought to know something more about this mess, He thought. Vinny was a long-time friend of Charlie's. So he left.
Vinny was in a frenzy. "He's gone Chuck."
"Who? What?"
"It's Laney. She is gone. She was abducted from the Bathroom in the Orphanage. She's gone."
Chuck didn't know what to say. It would have been rude to burden Vinny further in his unstable condition. Instead chuck just sat there in silence.
"This town is going down in flames," Vinny said. Chuck followed his gaze out the window. Sure enough the forever 21 was on fire.
"Yes it is, but you and me, were not going down with it"

Blog 3

When Charlie woke he couldn't feel his face. He peered past his swollen eyelids into the room. Florescent lighting-- a sink-- and a heart monitor. He was in the clinic.
He got up to look in the mirror. The damage to his face was clearly evident. A swollen bruise under his left eye glistened in the light like ripe fruit. The doctor had cleaned the blood from the gash on his cheek. His nose was invisible behind a large piece of gauze.
"Ouch!" Charlie quickly retracted his finger from the bandage, wincing in pain. He tried to remember the day before, but he had no idea how he had gotten there.
A voice sounded down the hall, "Nobody knows how he got there. No ID. No nothing. He was abandoned at the front door in a bloody mess. He will be fine soon enough, although that fractured nose may stick around for a while. We will take his picture and run it through the sys--" The doctor stared blankly as he reached Charlie's room. "He was here. He... hes gone."
Meanwhile, a man in a black suit watched as Charlie fell 2 stories out of the hospital window, gracefully rolling to brace his fall. The man snapped a picture then disappeared back into the window.
Charlie didn't stop once all the way home. He didn't notice the unusual traffic, or the crowd at waffle house, or even the black town car that followed him all the way home. He made it all the way in his door. Then he collapsed.

2

"What will come will come.  Even if I shroud it all in silence." 
Chuck paused and looked over towards the source of the sound. It was that fool of Russian, Dmitri, from down the hall, and he was feeding that damn homeless man with hat again. Dmitri was simple, and simple was Dmitri's saving grace; if not for his appearance of idiocy, he would almost surely be considered a pervert for his attachment to animals. 
Neither Dmitri nor the homeless prophet concerned Chuck much, so he continued onward.
Then suddenly, he was on the steps of the church. It was 9 AM and the man was there, in the 4th row as he said he would be. The man was short and squat. His features were forgettable, but his somber expression was enough to piece the soul. It was the only visible sign of his infamous iron will.
The man turned his head slightly, so that Chuck could make out one glowering eye against the glare of the morning sun in his face. "Sit." Chuck sat. "Today is the day," the man said. "Seize it if you can." He handed Chuck a sealed manila envelope. "This," he said, "is your way out. Open it, and you will lose everything. Good day." Then he left without another word. 
Chuck remembered what the homeless man had said earlier, "What will come will come.  Even if I shroud it all in silence." What will come? What did it mean?
Chuck ran to find the homeless man who had first uttered the saying. He sat there against the wall,  just as before, bowl outstretched. "Spare some change?" 
Chuck reached into his pocket, but found none. "I have none, but earlier I was walking past and you said something to that  russian fool. You said, 'What will come will come.  Even if I shroud it all in silence.' what did you mean when you said that?"
The man Froze for an instant, as if from a seisure, then extended his hand. "Spare some change?"
"Don't try my patience. I asked you a Question." 
The man looked off in the distance, then smirked and repeated, "Spare some change." Then he laughed. 
Chuck's eyes narrowed as he realized he could not have his way. He spat at the beggar, who had since shifted his attention to a more profitable audience.

post 1

The day started with a banana and two raw eggs in the blender. The air smelled like victory. It was the day of the title fight.
Chuck sat down and turned on the TV. Chuck did this every morning, although he didn't really know why.   He didn't care enough to watch, it was a habit. Chuck's father told him he turned the tv on to avoid the sound of his rotten thoughts, but Chuck didn't care about that either. In fact, Chuck didn't really really care about anything at all. Anything except winning.
Chuck was strong for 170 pounds. He looked intimidating by most standards. His gaze never wandered, and he had a habit of ignoring people whenever they started talked about themselves. There was nothing quite so boring as people talking about themselves.
On that day chuck wouldn't be bored by anything. On that day chuck knew he would face the greatest challenge and the greatest opportunity of his lifetime.
The phone rang, interrupting Chuck's thoughts, "Hello."
A man answered, "Look for a red tie, 4th row pews at St. Madelines, 9 AM." Then the man hung up.
Chuck then took the elevator down from his flat at castle apartments and walked out the door.