1 Mob Dues

With a slight smile on his face, Thomas poured the fish food into the tank. Immediately, the Beta fish swam to get the food. He stood watching them for a moment before moving onto one of the many other tanks in his store. Thomas Marrow was a normal 27 year old; he would go hang out with his friends on the weekends, and work during the week. He rented a little apartment above his store, which he also rented. He was of average build, with short brown hair. All things considered, Thomas was a normal guy… except for one thing. Thomas loved fish, alot. Everytime he hung out with his friends, he would only talk about different types of fish, and all the cool things they could do. He worked in his fish store, which he fought tooth and nail to get ahold of. His apartment is tiny, and barely furnished, as he puts all his money into his fish store. Ever since he was a child he was in love with fish, often sneaking out late at night to go fishing. As Thomas walked around feeding his various fish, the small bell above the door rang. He turned to greet the potential customers with a smile, which was quickly wiped off his face. "Welco-" he began, before he recognized the people standing in his doorway. Two solidly built men stood in the door, with a substantially shorter man in front of them. The smaller man had a big smile on his face as he walked in

"Thomas, buddy!" The little man exclaimed. He had a reedy voice, which matched his small stature. The two men behind him gave a simple nod to Thomas. "How has business been pal?" The man walked into the store, and the two brutes behind him shut the door, and placed the closed sign on the door. Thomas' tone was neutral, if not a little concerned as he replied,

"Business is going fine Tony, what are you doing here?" He positioned himself in front of his fish tanks as he spoke. Tonny beamed at Thomas' question.

"Why Thomas, is that anyway to treat your best customer?" He looked around at the empty store, despite it only being midday, "And from the looks of it, the only one you've had for a little while, huh?" The shark like smile never left Tony's face as he spoke. "I'm here because I heard you hadn't paid for this month. Now, when I heard that I couldn't believe it, I said 'Who, Thomas? Nah, it couldn't be. He always makes sure payments on time.' So, I go and check the records, and it turns out I was wrong! Now, you know how much I hate being wrong Thomas, so how about you pay and make sure I'm right, ok?" The two men behind Tony both cracked their knuckles to accentuate the point.

'How fucking clishe', Thomas thought. "Tony, listen, you said it yourself, I always pay on time right? I don't have the money right now, so how about NEXT month I-" Before Thomas could finish, Tony cut him off,

"Here's the thing Thomas, I already told everyone that the records were wrong. Now, how do you think I'll make me look to go back and say that I was wrong? I can't do that. So, get the money you owe so I can go back and prove to everyone I was right."

"Tony I.. I don't have the money." Thomas hung his down, but was secretly pissed. 'How is it I worked my ass off to get my shop, and the only place I could afford was in mob territory?!'

"Are you sure? I want you to think about it real hard. Are you sure" The smile was slowly slipping from Tony's face.

"Give me a week Tony, and I'll make sure to sell enough to make it back to you!" Thomas said quietly.

"Oh, I'll give you a week alright, no problem," The smile was back, but this time it didn't reach his eyes. "But if you want it to be delayed a week you'll have to take the added price." He turned back and nodded to one of the men behind him. From inside his jacket, the man pulls a pipe out, and smashes a tank next to him.

"NOO!" Thomas runs as the water cascades on to the floor, carrying bits of broken glass and fish. Before he can get to them, the other man grabs him. A few more tanks are smashed, and Thomas is held until all the fish stopped moving. As soon as they let him go, Thomas ran forward to his fish. Kneeling on the ground, he started to weep.

"Hey man, I know you love fish, but it's just fish. You can always buy more." Tony leaned down to pat Thomas on the back, his trademark grin beaming. Quick as a flash, Thomas turned around, and slashed at Tony's throat. Clutched in his hand was a large shard of glass, dripping with Tony's blood. Silently, Tony tries to speak, hands clutched at his throat. Before he has the chance to fall, Thomas reaches into Tony's pants, and pulls at the little snub nose pistol that Tony always had on him.

"Get the fuck out of my store. Now." The two guards looked at each other, then at Tony's still bleeding body. The one who smashed the tanks opens his mouth for the first time as he walks to the door.

"I hope you're ready to deal with what you just fucking did, you fucking idiot. I hope you're fuckin' ready." With those words, the two men exit, leaving Thomas with the corpses.

A few hours after sunset, Thomas hears cars pulling up in front of his store. He gets up, having just moved all his fish into the backroom. Before he can say anything he hears a voice outside shout out to him, the same one he heard earlier that day,

"Was it worth it? For some fucking fish?!?"

Pausing for a moment, Thomas yells back, "YES" as loud as he can. In the next second, the front of his store explodes as gunfire rains through as a wall of lead. For a split second, Thomas can see the 7 men with machine guns standing outside of the store, before he's hit with hundreds of bullets. As he falls to the floor, his chest full of holes, his last thought was

'I hope the fish are safe'. And then he falls into darkness.

To Thomas, it seemed as if he was in darkness for years, unthinking and unmoving. All of a sudden, he was aware of a crack in the darkness, from which light flooded in. He unconsciously moved towards the light, and the closer he got, the brighter and brighter it got, until he was surrounded by light. He tried to close his eyes, or at least blink, but found he couldn't. He tried to cover his eyes, but fins suddenly moved in the way of his eyes. With a shout, he tried to run away from whatever monster was in his vision, before he realized what was in front of him. He was looking at a massive fish, at least the size of a man. It had silvery scales, and a streamlined body. Before he could do anything, the fish swam above him, to join the ever growing ball of fish above him. 'Wait, above me? Does that mean..?' He tried to walk forward, but his instincts told that he couldn't. Instead, he should wiggle, lean back and forth, and let his tail push him through the water. 'Wait, my TAIL?? '

'AM I A FISH?'