Emperor of Poker

"Is poker a game? Is it a sport? I don't know. I look at it like this…shut up and give me your money. - Joey Fiore, World Series of Poker Champion"

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Joey gazed upon the minefield blocking his return to school. He didn't have time to go around. Next period was about to start.

New York City was supposed to be one of the most walkable cities on Earth, but not for Joey. Each one of those mines had the potential to send him reeling.

He could survive one or two but if he was hit by more, he didn't know what would happen.

He needed to get through them without triggering them. What made them even more dangerous is most moved, and sometimes even changed directions at random.

Joey swallowed. 'I need to do it,' he thought. He exhaled and his face became firm.

He dove in.

'Left'

'Left'

'Right'

Joey predicted the movements of the mines. He didn't know how he was doing it. He just did it. Like that, he weaved through them one by one as he made his way forward.

10 seconds later, he could see the end. 'I'm almost there!' His eyes shined.

*Boom* He got distracted! He was hit by a mine on the shoulder!

'This one was...boredom. Apathy. Not so bad.' He ate the damage and kept moving forward.

*Boom* A mine rushed from his blind spot behind him! It brushed past his arm and triggered the explosion!

'...Excitement. Anxiety.' Joey's breathing became hurried. 'A little more...' He was almost safe.

He looked ahead. 'No...' His path was blocked!

Two mines were colliding against each other over and over, taking up all the space in front of him...Joey looked back the way he came.

A huge group of mines was heading in his direction! If he was swallowed by that...

Joey started to sweat. His breathing became ragged. His eyes were dilated. He clenched his fists and looked at the two mines ahead.

He didn't need to experience their explosions to see these were the worst kind of mines from a distance. 'Anger. Hatred. Jealousy. Love.' Joey's eyes shook. He was afraid. If he was hit square by that, forget returning to school. It would be the end.

The female mine pushed away the male mine creating a sizeable gap between them.

Joey gritted his teeth. 'It's now!' He dashed forward, aiming for the space between them!

The two moved in for a new collision. As the gap was about to close...

*Whoosh*

A hair's breadth! Joey just made it!

He looked back at this deathtrap.

The two mines were too involved with each other to care about him. The female mine beat on the chest of the male mine as he tried to calm her down. Her tears ran down her face like battery acid. "How could you cheat on me?!? I loved you!"

Joey rubbed the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve. He watched as the light on the intersection turned red and the mines lined up waiting to cross. They had different destinations. Some were heading to work, some school, but what they had in common was they were all bombs of unstable emotions.

Joey didn't know how he wandered into this busy commercial district packed with foot traffic. He knew not to come here, but he was so hungry today. He must've gotten lost in daydreams and ended up in this mess.

Having returned to the uncrowded area, Joey walked through the snow with relative calm.

'Starving...' he thought. It was lunchtime. Yet, while everyone else sat in the cafeteria eating, gossiping, and copying homework, here he was wandering by himself...like every other day.

He neither had lunch to bring from home nor could afford to buy any. Rather than sit through the ridicule of other students, he preferred being alone...always more comfortable alone.

Joey stopped at a red light. He glanced down to the mounds of ice lining the street. 'I read ancient people used to eat tree bark and dirt when they were starving. It wasn't nutritious, but it made them feel full. Should I eat some ice?'

*Pssssssss*

Joey heard a sound to his left and looked over. There stood a drunk homeless man wobbling left and right at the side of a building. Joey tracked the source of the sound, his eyes lowering to discover the man was...urinating on the ice.

The homeless man noticed Joey looking in his direction and turned his head. They locked eyes...as he kept urinating.

*Pssssssss*

Joey jaywalked across the red light. 'No ice. Not ever. Warm drinks from now on.'

Near his school now, he passed by an electronics shop when a TV blasting through the window attracted him. "We have witnessed the impossible! Chris Moneymaker, a complete amateur, has turned $40 into $2.5 million by winning the biggest poker tournament in history--The 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event Championship!"

'Moneymaker...Is this the power of a name? If I changed my name to Bruce Wayne, would I win a Batmobile?' He contemplated the prospect in solemn silence. Several moments later, he shook his head. 'Absurd, I need to be realistic...there must already be 1000 Bruce Waynes out there who are all a step ahead of me. The early bird gets the worm…'

'It'd be good if I won $40, let alone $2.5 million.' His sigh melted into the sloshing sound of his steps, which grew ever heavier as he approached the ashen school gate, separator of bleak present from mundane future.

***

*Bzzzzzz* The bell marking the end of the school day rang out to the ears of restless students. A crowd raced to the door while Joey waited at his desk for them to pass. When he was the last one left, he rose to leave but was stopped by his teacher.

"Joey, may I speak with you for a moment?" asked Ms. Rodriguez.

"Yes?" he responded.

"Your guidance counselor mentioned you haven't applied to any universities…" She sighed. "I wish you'd give more thought to your future."

"Future?" Joey touched the base of his neck, contemplating the word as if it was foreign to him. "Ms. Rodriguez, thanks for your concern, but people like me don't have that kind of future," he said with a helpless smile.

She stared at him, rendered speechless. A few moments later, he walked away, leaving her only the view of his desolate back. Before it disappeared from sight, she remembered something. "Ah! Wait, Joey! Will your mother be attending parent-teacher night tonight?"

"...I think so," he answered over his shoulder as he proceeded down the downcast hallway.

After he turned the corner, the bluntness of his words stayed with her, beating against her mood in crashing waves. Even more deafening was her previous silence, replaying in her ears like the melody of a stubborn song squatting in the back of her mind.

...

Joey's mother had said she would come, but with a demanding work schedule, it would be no surprise if she couldn't. He needed a place to wait. Many of the student facilities were closed, so the open cafeteria became his goal.

"Joey!" someone yelled as he entered. It was Matt, a friend, or as close to a friend someone like him could have without losing their sanity.

"What's up?" Joey greeted, as he browsed over Matt and several other students playing some card game.

"Hey bro, perfect timing, we need another player. You down?" asked Matt.

"What game is this?" questioned Joey.

"Game? Have you been living under a rock? This is poker, Texas hold 'em! Don't you watch tv?!? it's all over ESPN, some nobody won 2.5 mil this year! Sit down, it's fun. Besides, what else you got to do now?"

"...I don't know the rules though."

"Piece of cake, grab a seat buddy, I'll show you how it's done." Matt made space for Joey, who sat down and listened while Matt explained the basics.

With hesitant steps, the last rays of sunlight retreated from the cracks of the dated cafeteria windows, giving life to the lingering light falling from the old halogen ceiling lamps, and to Joey's eyes as he stared unblinkingly at the cards dancing below.

He hadn't noticed that for the first time in a long while, all the darkness in his heart yielded, if only for a few moments.

***

*Knock* *Knock*

"Hello?" A woman's voice petitioned the room.

"Come in," Ms. Rodriguez replied. A middle-aged woman entered with the kindest smile. Her thick faded winter clothes, as weatherbeaten by the years as her once smooth skin, couldn't insulate the firmness of her disposition, as if she was a prideful mountain whose nature was to provide shelter on its back for the growth of a luscious forest.

"Hello, I'm Caroline, Joey Fiore's mother."

"Oh, I'm Rosa Rodriguez, it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Mrs. Fiore," she introduced as they shook hands and exchanged smiles.

"Actually, it's Ms. Fiore, but please call me Caroline," Joey's mother corrected while trying to maintain her smile as they both sat down.

"...Caroline, your son is a special young man. He's hardworking and has good grades. It's my first year teaching him, but I'm very optimistic about him."

"Yes, Joey's a good boy," Caroline replied, her smile becoming even warmer.

"I also understand things have been difficult for him with his...condition," Rosa's words trailed off as she collected her thoughts.

"Could you tell me more about this? That is…if you're willing, and in confidence of course. From his records, I'm not clear on the specifics. I've never seen anything quite like it. It's just...I'm concerned about Joey, he seems to be having a tough time."

Caroline looked down, weighing her response. "Joey's very...sensitive," she paused. "He's what the psychologists call an empath."

"Empath?" Rosa sounded out. "As in empathy?"

"Yes…except in Joey's case, it's more like empathy overload. He can feel people's emotions and general mindsets just by being near them. It can get intense."

"You mean like...telepathy?" Rosa questioned, blushing as the unbelievable word left her mouth.

"No, it's more like he puts himself into other people's shoes. He experiences the world through their senses and thoughts, like a type of intuition. The psychologists say he can pick up on tiny cues in people's faces and body language. These help him simulate how they think and feel. The problem is...he can't control it." Her smile dimmed.

"When it happens, he gets exhausted very quickly. It makes it difficult for him to do many things others find normal. The worst part is...he can't get close to anyone." She tried to keep her face firm, but couldn't hide her shaking voice and tensing grip on her handbag.

"I think...I think the only way he's learned to deal with it is to isolate himself. When his father and I split, it's like he...locked away his heart."

This information was far stranger than Rosa had expected. The room remained silent as she searched for some words of comfort. "I can't imagine what it's been like for you."

"...It's been tough, but we've been getting by. We'll get by."

Rosa had planned to convince Caroline to have Joey apply to some universities, but now she felt she understood him even less. She wasn't confident that she was qualified to give advice for such an unusual young man.

With other students' parents waiting in the hallway, she responded in the only manner she could think of. She switched into autopilot, summarizing Joey's recent grades, and handing out generic praise like the gratuitous lollipop ending a doctor's visit.

'Yea, it's always like this,' Caroline thought as she observed Rosa's eyes glaze over. "Well, thanks for having me," she said as she excused herself and went to meet her son.

A short while later, as they trekked back home breathing in the dense cold air, Caroline glanced at Joey with warm eyes. "You've been doing really well. I'm proud of you."

"...Are you sure it was okay to skip work today?"

Caroline smiled. "Or what? Let you slack off in class without me finding out? Don't dream of it!" she joked and tousled his hair. Soon after, they arrived at the steps of their small, multi-family brownstone.

Caroline turned the key and they walked in. "Oh, I must've left the lights on," she murmured as they passed the small interior hallway and climbed up the stairs into the apartment.

Upon reaching the dining room, their hairs rose when they heard a sinister voice, one that shouldn't be there. It was as raspy as it was unnerving.

"Hello, Caroline."