Slice of Life
Hi guys this is a story I wrote that I think is pretty good.
The Streets of Brooklyn Were Cold That Night
Based on true stories
The wind blows trash across the streets of Brooklyn. There is no light anywhere except for a small window on the second floor of a rundown apartment building. Inside the apartment a woman is screaming, it suddenly stops and a little cry comes out, the cry of a baby.
“Aaron, let’s name him Aaron,” the mother of the little boy shrieks.
“Aaron Kingsburg born 1900. I like that,” the father says. And so Aaron Kingsburg it was, but little did the parents know they were in for a world of trouble.
Ever since Aaron could walk he made lot’s of problems: At two, he tried to stab his mom with a knife for not buying him a toy and at five he stole his dad's gun and shot his dad's foot. After that, Aaron's family got a full time nanny to watch him at all times. He did a lot of mean tricks to her: put spiders in her bed and ran away from her when they went for their daily constitutional. By the time Aaron was thirteen, it was obvious the nanny was not working out and was a waste of money, no one could nanny this psychopath in the making.
It's 1913 and Aaron is thirteen years old, he is about to meet someone who will change his life forever. The streets of Brooklyn are busy. The dark colors are like a Jackson Pollock painting. Aaron walks by a group of kids betting on a card game and walks over. There are five kids all wearing ragged clothes. When Aaron reaches the band of boys, he says in a nonchalant way, “my name is Aaron and I want in”.
This hoodlum in the making plays for multiple hours using the 20 dollars that he stole from his mom. By the time the sun goes down, Aaron has 100 dollars and is getting ready to leave. Just then, a ten or eleven year old boy walks up with fifty dollars and he decides to play one more hand. The new boy introduces himself as Bugsy Siegel and goes all in when he sees his hand. They are playing five-card draw and when Bugsy goes all in, everyone folds, except for Aaron who calls his bet. They put their hands down, Bugsy has a full house, but Aaron has a royal flush.
As he reaches down to take the money, keeping one eye on Bugsy, Aaron watches his expression quickly turn from surprise to anger. Bugsy flings himself at Aaron, like a puma jumping on its prey. Aaron sees a silver glint in his opponent's hand, as Bugsy flies through the air aiming the point of the blade at Aaron. Aaron brings his hand up to block the deadly metal and his hand collides with the flat of the knife, knocking it out of Bugsy’s hand, momentarily stunning him. Aaron takes advantage of the opportunity and sends his balled hand flying towards Bugsy's jaw. His fist connects and there is a loud crack and Bugsy is sent flying backwards. His body hits the ground like a toy doll being cast aside, momentarily going limp.
Surprisingly, when Bugsy gets up, the two are instant friends walking off together laughing. In their teens they started their own little gang, that would go up to street vendors and ask them for 100 dollars for protection. If the vendors didn’t pay they would burn the shops down, hence they were charging for protection from themselves.
Several months later they were pulling a scam, selling fake peanuts for money when the infamous Lucky Luciano took notice and was impressed by their chutzpah. After some persuasion and deal making he recruited the two. Finally their life goal was achieved, they were in the mob.
It’s 1929, Bugsy and Aaron are men now and are Lucky Luciano’s little henchmen. After many hit jobs including the murder of other mob bosses, Luciano puts them in charge of the mob’s alcohol dealings. Being in command, gives them a lot of power, and they decide to create a secret drinking hideout so they can party without getting caught. Overnight, the duo becomes very successful and are recognized all over the country, but all the money and fame would be Aaron's undoing.
Two years later, Aaron is heading towards one of his many secret bars when a rundown old sign comes into view, which reads Bob's Barbershop. The night air of Brooklyn is cold from the rain earlier that day. His black Keds splash into a puddle sending little spurts of water up towards his black suit pants.
When Aaron reaches the door he pulls it open. Inside, two men are sitting behind a desk, one holding a pair of scissors. As Aaron passes the desk he whispers, “The sun is out tonight.” After he says this, the men leads him into the back room and kicks a bed aside. Under the bed, a staircase reveals itself and Aaron heads down the dark squeaky stairs. Inside, a bar lines one side of a loud, crowded room with at least thirty people sitting and drinking. In the other part of the room people are sitting at tables drinking and having small sandwiches.
But right as as his drink is being served, a sound of a gun comes from the top of the stairs. Suddenly, five policemen come charging in, and it becomes mass chaos. People trying to run away, cops handcuffing anyone they can take down and when it is all over everyone is in custody. Aaron is in for a much worse fate than just a night or two in jail. When the group is taken to the police station, Aaron is accused of aggravated assault, (because the cops wanted to see him suffer) which is assault with a weapon, murderous intent, or assault of a police officer. The punishment for aggravated assault is much worse than assault, the punishment is ten to twenty years in prison and soon Aaron is sentenced to fifteen years.
Jail is like a trash can to Aaron compared to the lavish houses he had been living in. It takes him time to adjust to his new way of life. His first few days are terrible. He gets beaten up regularly and by the fifth day he is covered in bruises. But then something snaps in his brain and he goes back to his thug days, beating up people and not forgiving anyone. He becomes so mean he gets his own cell and has to be escorted places by guards.
The fifteen years go by fast for Aaron and when he gets out he is as happy as a child on Christmas day. But his excitement quickly fades as he realized that he has nowhere to go, his house and car were sold and his money is drained, but help comes. His old boss lucky Luciano finds him and recruits him for a job.
The job is to kill Bugsy Siegel because of his terrible mistake with money. While Aaron was in jail Bugsy went to Las Vegas and scouted the new city out for Luciano. Bugsy came up with an idea to build a luxury casino called The Flamingo. He told Luciano that it would cost two million dollars and Luciano thought it was reasonable and got the proper funding. But by the time the casino and hotel was completed it had cost Luciano over six million dollars to build and he was angry and wanted Bugsy dead.
At first Aaron is reluctant to shoot his best friend but eventually he gives in. Aaron heads to Beverly Hills where Bugsy is living with his wife in a million dollar mansion. All Aaron brings with him is two thousand dollars and a model 11 Remington shotgun. Aaron chooses a night when Bugsy’s wife and bodyguard are gone and sneaks up to the house. Inside his trench coat is the shotgun. When Aaron gets to the study window he takes aim. Inside, Bugsy is reading his newspaper completely oblivious to the world around him. Aaron closes one eye and the ground shakes as the bullet goes crashing through the window. And then again and again and again and again and again and again then it stops.
Inside the house Bugsy has 4 bullet holes in his chest and stomach and 3 in his head, he is dead. Aaron starts to run away but then he feels a searing pain in his back and the last thing he sees is Bugsy’s body guard standing over him.
The End