The snow beat sideways against Veila’s brow. She pulled her hood defiantly and sneered into the wind. The whipping gale spun a solid veil across her vision.

“Close the door, my Veila!” her mother called. “They will be back when they’re back. Your watching is only letting in the cold.”

Growing up, I loved playing board games. We had one called ‘Uncle Wiggily’ that I really loved. There was also a Berenstein Bears one called ‘Spooky Old Tree’. Anything with a meandering, map-like board, a spinner, and little characters fascinated me. I was inspired to develop my own games with the same basic “go forward 4 spaces, then go back 2 spaces” format. As I got older, I became the only person who was excited to play Monopoly. I’d offer to set it up, play banker, and try to get the game to go as long as possible. Why?

I left the two idiots back in the concourse. They had just about got the bleeding to stop. Just as they described, there were two more goons in the executive suite. One was sitting right next to the governor, talking animatedly. The other was standing at the front of the suite where floor to ceiling windows looked over the arena, but he was looking back at the door, where I had just stepped in. The gun in one hand was poking out from under his crossed arms. His eyes narrowed in confusion for just a moment, but he didn’t react otherwise. He just stared.

“Dad! You’re freaking me out!” Jadey cried as the speedometer just touched 90 miles per hour.

“Yep,” I growled through gritted teeth as I took my foot off the gas and eased it onto the brake pedal. I pushed harder until we started to quickly decelerate right up to the front of the convention center. Despite executing my stop in a completely safe manner, a handful of passersby scurried as if I were going to hit them. Jadey gasped in response.

“Dude, chill,” I shot back. “They’re like thirty feet away.”

I threw the car in park and quickly got out.