When The Villain is Victorious

My name is Robert James Etienne. This is my story. I am a businessman living in Boston. What am I into? Well, what do you need? If you're a rich man who wants some thrill-inducing substance, I've got the best quality. If you want something stronger, to get a bigger buzz, I can do that too. Just let me know what you want and get your cash ready. I'm afraid that in my business, we don't take checks or credit cards. Lots of folks just don't keep their word. Hope you folks can understand.

I do my business mostly out of the Back Bay, believe it or not. I know what you're thinking. The Back Bay is one of Boston's wealthiest neighborhoods. What's a hustler doing there? First of all, I'm a businessman and not a hustler. Second of all, the Back Bay is where I do my best work. I'm a tall, good-looking, well-dressed and impeccably well-groomed black gentleman in a Brooks Brothers suit. I look hot. No, I'm not a waiter. I'm actually a manager at one of Boston's top hotels. I deal booze to the rich and powerful and make a bundle. Yes, rich people get high too. I'm just providing them with what they need. It's just business.

I know what you're thinking. This guy is such a stereotype. A Haitian-American manager at one of Boston's top hotels is actually the shady employee who does drugs while on duty. Chill out, folks. I don't do drugs. I don't smoke and I don't drink. I believe in living a clean life. As clean as possible. I'll have you know that I have a bachelors degree in business administration from Bay State University. I love the Back Bay. I've lived in the area ever since my college days. At twenty three, I live in a nice townhouse on Commonwealth Avenue, not far from the hotel where I work. I have a good deal with the owner. He's an old friend. I live among the rich and powerful. I like it. It's a cool lifestyle. And I will do anything to maintain it. Sometimes, that means supplementing my income by other means. I do what I got to do. Don't turn your nose up at me. You do the same thing.

I've always been ambitious. It's a quality which has taken me many places. It got me through Brockton High School, back when it was a violent and dangerous place. Before the reforms, the big funding and the educational awards. Back when the City of Champions was rougher than Harlem's east side on a Saturday night. I didn't have a lot of money. I came from a financially stable yet disfunctional black family. My father and mother were mean-spirited individuals. Always at each other's throats. Dad was a civil engineer and mom was a schoolteacher. As for my sister, she's a sociopath. Enough said.

We had some money. We lived in a nice mansion on Mash Street, in Brockton City's West Side. Not far from the public high school. If you looked at the house we owned and the cars we drove, you'd think we had it all. Unfortunately, the shiny possessions masked a nightmare existence. I had bad parents. They beat on me. Uncles and aunts also messed up with their constant verbal abuse. I hated my entire family. Yeah, I got out of there as fast as I could.

I graduated from Brockton High School in 2003 and won an academic scholarship to Bay State University. Bay State University was the smallest private institution of higher education in the state of Massachusetts to be granted university status. Bay State University enrolls eight thousand students, spread over two campuses, Boston and Middleboro. When I got there, I must say that I kind of fell in love with it. At long last, I was alone and free from my family. I was in college, and I felt like I could do anything. Bay State University was a mostly white school, but I didn't care. I enrolled in the business program. I did quite well in all my classes. Maintaining a 4. 98 GPA was easy, and my scholarship only required me to maintain a 4.5 GPA. I am a Haitian man and my people are used to hard work. When my wicked folks and I lived in Haiti, life was much tougher. Americans have it easy. I took my Haitian work ethic and made it work for me in a school teeming with male and female slackers. It worked wonderfully.

For my first semester at Bay State University, I was all work and no play. Bay State University was packed with rich white brats. Young white men and young white women whose moms and dads were the state's richest people. I was a scholarship student, so I couldn't enjoy the lavish lifestyle they had. If I did something wrong or if my grades slipped, I'd be out of there. This was something I kept reminding myself of, almost every moment of every day.

The only distraction I allowed myself was going to the movies at least once a week. I loved science fiction and action movies. I also liked artful and tasteful dramas but I didn't like dumb comedies. I shunned romantic movies. I'm not a romantic at heart. I'm an atheist, yet you could say that I am a lifelong member of the Church of the Pragmatic. Two plus two equals four. I believe in what I can see, and even that I take with a grain of salt. The world is what it is. There's very little anyone can do to change it. I am not a hero. I am not a bringer of change. I am nobody's knight in shining armor. I'm just a man.

I didn't get involved in campus life. I just went to class, stayed in my dormitory, or went to the movies. I enjoyed walking around Boston. I love the city. It's so lively on a sunny day. I would walk from Harvard Square to South Station, taking in the sights. The Bay State University campus was quite lively, I just wasn't interested in it. The rich students would talk about mansions in Wellesley, yachts in the Boston Harbor and weekends spent in Vermont. Although we attended the same campus and shared the same dorms, they really lived in another world.

One thing I'm grateful for is the fact that Bay State University had some pretty good athletic facilities. I went to the gym and worked out every day. It helps me unwind. The gym is my sanctuary. That's where I met Lucas Jenkins, a tall, red-haired white guy who was the captain of the Men's Volleyball team. He was an okay guy. Four years before I came along, Bay State University created a Division One Intercollegiate Sports Program. They offered Men's Varsity Baseball, Basketball, Football, Cross Country, Swimming, Volleyball, Wrestling, Ice Hockey, Golf, Cycling, Fencing, Gymnastics, Lacrosse, Soccer and Tennis along with Women's Varsity Softball, Basketball, Cross Country, Water Polo, Gymnastics, Swimming, Equestrian, Fencing, Volleyball, Field Hockey, Cycling, Rugby, Golf, Lacrosse, Soccer and Tennis. The sports teams were located at the Middleboro Campus. Bay State University simply couldn't afford the amount of real estate it would take to house an athletic complex in Boston.

Lucas invited me to join him and his teammates as they practiced. They were pretty good. I've never been into Volleyball, but Lucas explained the rules to me. I joined the game, and I did alright. I stand six feet two inches tall and I'm pretty quick on my feet, so I did good. The other guys on the team were pros. They'd been playing for years. After the game, Lucas and I hit the showers. He was impressed with my moves, and invited me to a little party he was having with some friends afterwards. I hesitated, but figured it would be alright. I went to an off-campus apartment whose coordinates I received by text, and met with Lucas and his buddies. I knocked on the door, and identified myself, then someone buzzed me. I was greeted by Lucas himself. He introduced me to his girlfriend, Jennifer Avoras. She was a tall, good-looking young Latin woman with light bronze skin and black hair. I shook hands with Jennifer, then looked around the room. The apartment was vast, and nicely decorated. Also, it was packed with people. Good-looking and well-dressed young men and women. They even smelled expensive. I smiled. Once more, I was surrounded by those who were born into wealth and lacked any appreciation for it.

I'll say this for Lucas, he was a graceful host. He introduced me to his diverse buddies. Jason Statesman, of the Football team. A big and tall, good-looking young black man. He was flanked by his girlfriend Ashley Joseph, a tall and slender, beautiful young black woman. I instantly recognized her. She was on the Women's Basketball team as well as a freshman class officer. I didn't know Jason but the brother had good taste. He and Lucas seemed particularly cozy. I asked Lucas about that and he told me that both he and Jason had known each other since their days at Boston College High School. I was also introduced to Kimberly Johnson, a tall and blonde-haired, centerfold-like young woman who was the Women's Lacrosse team captain as well as Lucas's buddy. According to Lucas, she was one of the most popular lesbians on campus, a transfer from Wellesley. Kimberly was accompanied by her girlfriend, a pretty Asian girl named Nicole Lee. Nicole was a member of the Women's Volleyball team and the vice president of the Bay State University GLBT Alliance.

I was stunned. Lucas knew everybody! I looked at my host. He was such a charming, handsome lad. And he had money. He told me his father owned the building in which he lived. Also, both his parents were Bay State University alumni. He handed me a cup of wine, and I drank it, taking a look around and watching the other guests. Most of them sat on the huge couches in the living room, watching the Sci Fi Channel. They were giving Starship Troopers, an old favorite of mine. I just love Marines in space, don't you? I walked around the vast apartment, taking in the sights and sounds. The place was pricy, and the furniture could probably feed half a city block if sold. Lucas was swimming in money. His father owned a yacht. His mother was a corporate president. The dude had dough. And he didn't even seem to care. He had it all. He attended a great school. He had tons of money. He had a beautiful girlfriend. And last but not least, he was a handsome heterosexual white guy. I was a closeted brother just trying to get by. Forgive me for being envious.

Sorry if that surprises you but I'm bisexual. It's not something I go around telling people. My parents would have killed me if they knew while I was living with them. I kept it to myself. I wonder how Lucas would feel if he knew. I've been celibate ever since I came to Bay State University. As a tall, good-looking, articulate young black man at an all-white college, I received a lot of attention. Lots of women and even men came onto me. Black and white, straight and gay, male and female, they all wanted a piece of me. Seriously. I endured unwanted flirtation from married white female professors and single gay white male students. I passed on all of them. I wasn't looking for romance. I also didn't want any drama. Collegiate America is the wrong place for a sexually adventurous brother to be. There's a thousand ways to get in trouble. I shunned romance and sex and focused instead on academia and the pursuit of achievement.

At least, that was the plan, until I hooked up with Lucas and his friends. I guess you could say that I was seduced by their lifestyle. They could do anything they wanted. They had it all. Lucas owned a bright red Hummer. He also had a Mercedes and a Porsche. I'd kill for a Mercedes! He gave me a ride home in it, and I must say that it was smooth. We became friends afterwards. He even introduced me to his folks. His father, Kyle Jenkins, was particularly impressed with me. He told me I was a lot like he used to be, decades ago. A hard-working young man making his way into the world. I liked Mr. Jenkins for saying that. He was a cool guy. Lucas lived the kind of lifestyle I could only dream of. His girlfriend Jennifer was exquisitely beautiful. She came from money too. The eldest daughter of a wealthy Mexican-American family. Her father, Ricardo Avoras was the president of a travel agency. Like Lucas, she came from the rich people's world. A world I desperately wanted to enter. They took me into their fabulous world. They ate at the finest restaurants and a favorite hangout of theirs was Copley Mall. They also took me to parties at Boston College and Northeastern University. These are awesome schools by the way. Where the rich and powerful send their sons and daughters. Places which were closed to people like me. For now.

It was at those parties that I discovered something I should have known. In the movies and television shows, they always show drug addicts to be men and women who are poor, or come from lousy and abusive backgrounds. The welfare mother. The poor black guy. The disilliusioned Latino. The poor white trash. But I discovered that a lot of rich young men and rich young women from the country's wealthiest universities were drug addicts. I don't know why I never thought of it before. Of course rich people do drugs! Duh! One day, I found out that a rich young white woman from Harvard University had died of a drug overdose. The news reporter said the chick's parents were rich folks from Milton and regular financial contributors to their alma mater and famous art patrons. I had to smile. She had died just like any other junkie. It looks like the rich and powerful had their weaknesses too. I didn't know why but I deemed this worth remembering at the time. I wouldn't know why until after graduation.

I remained friends with Lucas and Jennifer. It soon dawned on me that aside from their wealth and power, they were like any other couple. Lucas had his affairs and Jennifer didn't like it. He hooked up with a teacher's assistant named Mildred, a plump redhead. Mildred would often pester me with questions about Lucas wherabouts while he was out doing his thing. I would lend her a sympathetic ear while wondering how come a woman so rich, so powerful and so beautiful could be so dumb. Seriously, those attributes were wasted on her. If I had money and power, I wouldn't be worrying about who my significant other was sleeping with. I'd just replace them. What's so complicated?

Seriously, those games Lucas and Jennifer were playing seemed so boring to me. They were wasting their youth, their money and their good looks. Jennifer was an expert when it came to being paranoid about Lucas affairs with other women and blowing her father's money on booze, clubs, and other frivolous pursuits. Likewise, Lucas had developed a taste for high-class and high-cost escorts and underground sex clubs. He was a sex addict. Jennifer was an addict in many ways. She didn't just crave attention and drugs. She also craved pain. I caught her cutting herself more than once. Also, she did some cheating of her own. She hooked up with Kimberly, the lesbian from the Women's Lacrosse team, who had recently dumped her girlfriend Nicole. See what I mean? Those rich brats were all weak. Male and female alike, they didn't do anything worthwhile with their good looks, money and power. I felt that those things were wasted on them. They'd be much better in the hands of someone like me.

The end came unexpectedly for Lucas and Jennifer, the Golden Couple of Bay State University. They took each other down spectacularly. Lucas endless sleeping around got him what he deserved : HIV. He passed it on to his sexually naive girlfriend, Jennifer. Since Jennifer was also sleeping with Kimberly, the lesbian athlete caught it too. When Jennifer found out she had it, she confided in Kimberly, who hit the panic button. Kimberly had only been sleeping with women her entire life and was under the mistaken impression that only men carried sexually transmitted diseases. She blamed Jennifer for this, and went to Jennifer and Lucas apartment with a loaded gun. The thing is that when she got there, she found Jennifer standing over a dying Lucas. The guy had apparently overdosed on drugs. Kimberly shot Jennifer, then shot herself. The media had a field day with it. I knew everything that was going on. I have my ways. I played the part of the ingenue who was shocked at the madness in his friends lives.

I attended Lucas and Jennifer's funerals. I personally comforted Mr. Jenkins. I actually felt bad for him. Truth be told, I had only been hanging around Lucas because of his money. What do you expect? He was a spoiled brat who was born with good looks, money and power, yet never appreciated any of it. He even managed to flush his perfect life down the toilet. If I had what he had, I would have appreciated it more and put it to good use. I wouldn't have wasted my life by doing drugs and sleeping around. Lucas was a loser. But I respected Mr. Jenkins, Lucas father. He came to America from Ireland decades ago, and tried his best to make his way into the world. He offered his wife and son the kind of life he could only dream of, once upon a time. I respected him. I only wished his son had been a real man instead of a foolish playboy. At the funeral, I simply shook his hand, and remained by his side the entire time. I remained in touch with him for years afterwards. He told me that if I ever needed anything, he'd help me. He helped me get the townhouse in which I now live.

Three years after the deaths of Lucas, Jennifer and Kimberly, I earned myself a bachelors degree in business admnistration from Bay State University. I graduated valedictorian, if you can believe that. Afterwards, I began job hunting. Eventually, I was hired as a manager by one of Boston's priciest hotels, in the Back Bay. Yeah, I live not far from the Bay State University campus, on Commonwealth Avenue. I still interact with the rich and powerful. One day, I found forty pounds of coke in a trash bag. I pondered what to do with it, then remembered that the rich and powerful loved drugs too. So, I discreetly dealt it to them. I did it at a time when I was low on cash. It helped me out of debt. I don't do it anymore. I'm still working at the hotel and recently, I got promoted. Yeah, I make enough money now that I don't have to do anything shady to supplement my income. I'm doing alright. I still walk by the college campus sometimes, looking at the rich brats and wondering what mischief the sons and daughters are doing to screw up their lives. I still remember Lucas and Jennifer vividly. What a waste. If you ask me, wealth and power are wasted on those who cannot appreciate them or wield them the right way. That's why I enjoy taking it from them. And this, I do every day.