Gang Up

Date: 12/8/2021

I was away on a little retreat at a B&B in the countryside with some friends. This place truly was a wonder as it had tranquility written all over it. The owners had spent a lot of money and kept the place as exclusive as possible by limiting the amount of guests that could stay there at a time. Luckily for us, there was nobody else this weekend. After some exploring, I saw fresh cut grass as far as the eye could see. Next to the house was a man made dam to and from which a river flowed. Ducks could always be seen floating atop it. The B&B had their own cows for fresh milk as well as free range chickens for eggs. They had many walking and hiking trails in the area and not a highway in sight. The B&B was singing with natural life. It was truly magnificent. Our stay and the peace was interrupted by multiple loud cars as they approached. The people driving them had no good intentions and it showed. They had no regard for the tranquility or their surroundings as they drove straight over the beautiful landscape, destroying things in their path. They even ran over some of the animals. Sensing danger, my friends and I decided to run and hide. They managed to run away, but I was forced to find shelter somewhere high. Here I lied and waited for them to be done with their business. They located some of my friends and shot them. I was seemingly alone and I think they were here for me, because they did not leave. Nevertheless, I was as still as possible. This was in vain as they knew I was there and would not have rest until they found me. I was panicking, because I knew I had done nothing wrong... or at least I thought so. It turns out that this group of people is part of a gang and somehow got the idea that I had disrespected them by stealing from them. Their leader was not impressed at all and I had a feeling I was going to be killed in the most painful way possible. He sat down next to me and pulled out a stack of instax film. It was the same stack I had put in recently with the starry pattern. He started to show me proof that I seemingly took with the camera. I was confused and informed him that my camera along with that exact film cartridge had been stolen. He was not convinced and I could feel my end approaching. I even pointed out that despite the fact that the person in the two selfies looked a lot like me, it wasn't me. He asked me who it was, but I could not remember the person's name at that moment. I only knew that he was with us on this little retreat as a plus one to someone else. His gang members had since moved closer and I was surrounded by many heavily armed men. One of them held a large gun to my groin and another one was pointing a giant knife at me. The kingpin was sitting beside me and smoking a cigar, the smoke billowing from his mouth. Intimidated by all of this, I struggled to remember the name but the name almost instantaneously popped into my head; Langley. Stupid name for a stupid guy and I cannot believe I had forgotten. I immediately felt some relief as I thought it would help me out of this predicament, but I was wrong. He wanted more proof and I was at a loss. I started to shake and tear up, because I hardly knew the guy apart from meeting him at the resort. I unlocked my phone to look up Langley on Instagram. This had it's own challenges as I was shaking so much that I opened all the wrong apps. I could feel the kingpin bevome less patient by the second. After some time and a lot of struggling, I finally opened Instagram. I was now faced with a new challenge: locating Langley's profile. I had never searched for it and didn't know his handle or his last name. I glanced at the pictures he took of himself with the instax and became more anxious and slightly furious. He clearly took the selfies in such a way that he could make it look like me and somehow throw me under the bus for the theft. While I was continuing my search, the kingpin got up to take a phone call. I felt a little more relaxed while searching, but the search itself did not become easier. It was also not aided by the gang members as they started harassing me after the kingpin left. The one with the knife kept in poking it at my side. Someone else with a handgun started pointing it at my head and the one with the gun at my crotch was blowing smoke into my face. This was not the ideal environment to search for someone in order to prove my innocence. I quickly glanced around the room and scanned the gang members and got stuck on one person. He looked familiar and I felt stupid for not recognizing him at first, but I blame it on the nerves. I quickly realized that it was Langley and exclaimed: "It's you. You motherfucker, you set me up." The gang members looked at Langley and there was a murmur. The kingpin returned and I pointed out to him that the person in the pictures was standing among his people and pointed to Langley. He was visibly furious yet calm. This was a scary sight. He gave a signal and the gang members dragged Langley away. There was a moment of silence and without saying a word, the kingpin got up and left in the same direction as the rest of them. After a few more seconds, I gave out a slow and shaky sigh of relief. This was followed by a lot of tears. I got up and walked down to the entrance of the building. One of the members was standing there, Langley's sawn off feet on the table next to him. There was a lot of blood. He told me that Langley was new and had to steal for his initiation. He stole from the kingpin as well and that is not a good idea. I nodded and there was a moment of silence. This was interrupted by a muffled scream from one of the far rooms of the building. The gang member who just spoke to me asked if I wanted to come and see what is being done to Langley. I respectfully declined as I didn't want to offend him, but I didn't want to see. I already had an idea because of the two feet on the table. I turned around and walked out the door, aimlessly for a second and then determined to get away. I woke up afterwards