In Buddhism, a Sotāpanna or "stream-winner"is a person who has eradicated the first three fetters of the mind, namely self-view (or identity), skeptical doubt (in Buddhadharma or the teachings of the Buddha), and clinging to rites and rituals.
Chapter 3
Nirvana
A distance sound of a car zooming by makes me pull myself together. I pick myself up off the ground and dust the dirt from my jeans and wipe the tears from my eyes.
I have to get home.
I follow the direction that Zack's car went with trembling trepidation recalling the last time I was this lost.
It was in Walmart when I was seven.
It was around Christmas time. I stopped for one second to watch a display of dancing penguins and when I turned around my mother was gone. I remember my little heart beating erratically in my chest and my breath becoming short from anxiety. Then I started walking down different aisles but the more I searched it seemed, the more lost I got.
At that time Walmart seemed like a vast unending emporium. So in my naive mind I thought I was lost forever, doomed to roam the aisles of frozen food and lumpy fruit for the rest of my days. Eventually though my mother found me bawling my eyes out in the frozen food section.
But what's different from last time is that my mother's not here to rescue me.
I stick to the side of the road concealed by some bush hopefully hiding my presence from unwanted strangers in passing cars. If I can help it I definitely don't want to end up like those girls you hear on the news.
I walk silently and precociously taking in my surroundings and the sounds around me.
Faintly I hear the sound of music. The Rock and roll heavy metal type. Maybe a record store or a party? I hasten my steps a little and soon come across a little bar not too far from me. It's a bit shabby with peeling paint and blinking lights. Simply named Bart's Bar.
Judging from the yelling and shouting from inside I can hear as I get closer I can definitely conclude that this isn't the place a seventeen year old girl should be in on a Friday night.
I look around but there's no place else as far as I can see but thick woods and shrubs, the empty road, and the highway up above me.
Who knows how far I'll have to walk to get to another place? And it's already getting dark. I don't want to be roaming out here alone at night. That thought alone makes me shudder.
God I hate Zack.
You can do this. I pep talk myself. Just walk in, talk to someone, and use their phone so you can call yourself an Uber or something.
There's a couple of scruffy looking guys outside. I try to avoid eye contact but they look my way as I near the door.
"Hey pretty lady wanna buy me a drink?" One of them shout. He's an old dirty man who sounds like he's been smoking since he was like ten.
Clearly this was supposed to be a joke because the rest of the guys laugh like its the funniest thing they've heard all day.
I roll my eyes and ball my fist to calm my nerves, resisting the urge to grab my ear, something I do when I'm nervous, but my heart still starts beating faster.
Dear Higher being in the sky. Please don't let me die tonight... Please."
I nod my head in reassurance, take a deep breath and push the door open.
* * * *
Daniel
"Fold." I throw my cards down in disgust. Second time losing already and the night has barely even begun. Everything's already going to shit.
I get up from the table dejectedly and scrounge up my last twenty from my pocket to go get a drink at the bar. Since I'm wasting my money might as well waste it on some cheap beer.
"Corona or Heineken?" The bartender answers gruffly.
"Heineken."
He slides over the bottle as I slide over the money, and I pop it open against the counter.
"Weak ass." I hear him mutter under his breath.
"Asshole." I mutter back.
So this is what my life has been reduced to? Gambling the little money I have and getting called weak in a stupid bar? Wow my life sucks ass.
I'm on my second beer and feeling pretty sorry for myself when the door swings open and a girl walks in.
Strange.
Girls don't usually come prancing in here, especially girls that look like her. She has curly brown hair that just touches her shoulders, pretty brown skin and almond shaped eyes that leads me to believe she's like mixed with Asian and black or something.
That's hot.
On closer inspection I realize she also has these cool looking scars on her face. And to be honest it's kind of a turn on. I love when girls have scars.
I mean she's pretty cute, not my type but I wouldn't kick her out of bed. This obviously isn't her scene though judging from her skinny jeans, cute little tank top and the scared shitless expression on her face.
The horny old drunk guys are eyeing her like a piece of meat. Which I can tell is making her very uncomfortable.
What is she doing here?
I get up with a heavy sigh knowing I have to intervene. I always have to be the good guy.
* * * *
Nirvana
As soon as I walk in half the place is looking at me and not in a good way. I gulp nervously and look down. I knew this was a bad idea. I quickly turn on my heel ready to leave.
"Hey babe!" A guy calls loudly looking in my direction.
I turn around in confusion to see if anyone's behind me that he's referring to and before I can turn back around I feel an arm wrap around my shoulders.
I yelp in surprise and just when I'm about to push him off and maybe even kick him in the balls for good measure, he leans into my ear and whispers, "Just play along. The guys won't mess with you if they know you're with someone. Now walk with me to that table."
He gestures to an empty table across the room.
I nod in confirmation. He pulls me even closer and in the process his hand grazes my boob. Instinctively I jab him in the gut with my elbow. He winces and lowers his arm.
"Sorry." I mumble.
"It's fine." He grimaces holding his stomach.
He sits me down at the table and plops himself across from me. Studying me. I look away nervously.
"My name's Daniel Travers by the way. Nice to meet you, I guess, even though I now have a bruised rib because of you. I don't know if your plan was to pick up dudes in a bar but if it was I'm gam-"
"I didn't come here to pick up guys in a bar!" I say horrifically. My cheeks blooming red.
He chuckles. "Sure you didn't."
I scoff in disgust.
He holds up his hands defensively. "I was joking. It was a joke."
I look down biting my lip and playing with my ear.
He lowers his gaze to meet mine. "And what's your name?"
"Nirvana."
He grins. "That's a really cool name. Did your parent's happen to name you after one of my favorite bands?"
"Of course. Because my parents knew you before we met and thought you so special that they decided to name their daughter after your favorite band."
He cocks his head in surprise and a chuckle escapes his lips. "Well someone's a little feisty. I like it."
"Well I live to get strangers approvals on me in bars."
"Which brings me to the next question? Why are you in a bar by the way way? No offense but this doesn't seem like your scene and I know for a fact that you're not twenty one."
"Well you don't know anything about me." I cross my arms over my chest and look over to the side feigning disinterest.
He raises his eyebrows at me and takes a sip from his beer. Now that we're face to face, I study him closely. He has dark brown hair, a five o clock shadow indicating that he probably leads a sad life, and these beautiful cerulean eyes that I can't help staring into.
He notices me eyeing him and smirks. "You done checking me out?"
I scowl. "I wasn't checking you out just sizing you up in case I have to fight you." I mumble.
He laughs."You want to fight me? After I just saved your little ass from being hit on by old drunk guys?"
"Well thanks for that."
There's a silence while he takes another sip from his beer. "Now back to my original question. Why are you here for real?"
I sigh. The final moments with Zack replaying in my head. I really don't want to relieve all of this, especially to a stranger. "It's a long story."
"Well I've got time." He looks at me expectantly. "And I'm no psychic but I think you do too."
"Great observation. Well ok. Long story short my date left me stranded on a dirt road. Even though I kind of asked him too." I think as an afterthought.
"But anyways, my phone's dead and I have no clue on how to get home. And so here I am."
"Well for starters that guy's an asshole for leaving you. Even though you didn't want to ride with him he still could of called you a cab or something. Let me guess. He was mad that you didn't give him any?" A knowing smile graces his lips.
I look at him in surprise. "How'd you know?"
He snorts. "It's not that hard to figure out. I'm a guy who knows how other guys think and act. "
I bite my lip and play with my ear. "Well there's also one other thing I did."
He looks at me expectantly.
"I smashed his window with a rock." I admit guiltily.
"You smashed the guy's window!" He stares at me in awe before letting out a loud laugh and shaking a finger at me.
"You know at first I had you pegged as one of those boring good girls but now I know the truth. Now I know you're a complete badass. You're-"
"Okay." I interrupt his praise. "I really don't want to talk about it anymore." I whisper.
"Hey." He says gently concern evident on his face, something that surprises me. "Did he hurt you?"
My mind flashes to the last words he said to me.
No but he will.
"No. No. Please I just really want to go home. Can I use your phone to call an Uber?"
"Or I could take you home." He offers shrugging his shoulders.
I eye him suspiciously. Even though he's been kind and considerate for the most part he's still a stranger.
He notices my look and puts his drink down. "No bad intentions. I just feel like you're kind of my responsibility now. And I want to make sure you get home safely."
I survey his face and his eyes. He seems innocent, sincere.
Despite meeting him in a low grade bar, he doesn't seem like a bad guy.
Plus what choice do I have? I don't even think I have enough money to get an Uber and my parents would kill me if they knew where I was.
"Yeah. Okay. Thanks."
He smiles warmly. "No problem."
He gets up and finishes the rest of his beer. "Well good lets go."
I eye him warily.
He laughs. "Trust me I'm not drunk. I just had two beers."
I nod my head and my eyes wander around the room landing on the guys playing poker in the corner. My interest is instantly piqued.
Last year I got into online poker and was immediately hooked. I would stay in my room for hours at a time playing, winning and slaying.
My mother or my sister would literally have to drag me out of my room to eat dinner. And then after dinner I would go back on and play until 2:00 in the morning.
I would go to school the next day sleepy eyed and poker on the brain.
Of course my grades started dropping drastically. So my dad ended up blocking all poker sites and moving my computer into the living room. Alas that ended my poker addiction. But I still like to play once in a while when I can.
He sees me eyeing the poker table and raises his eyebrows. "You play?"
I shrug my shoulders. But I guess he can see the anticipation in my eyes, because he leads us to the poker table.
"We're playing." He states and pulls up two chairs. There's five guys and they all eye me curiously but thankfully don't say anything.We start a new game and the guys put in what they're betting.
We put in twenty bucks combining our money. He starts to take over.
"Just leave this to me." I whisper to him. He tries to respond but I raise my hand to silence him.
"Just trust me on this."
He merely just smiles amusement evident on his face.
He'll see.
* * * *
A little while later we're looking through all the dough we won in his car. The whole time he's looking at me with newfound awe and respect.
"Damn you're amazing!" He exclaims.
We ended up playing three rounds of poker and won all three rounds. Courtesy of me.
I shrug my shoulders. "I told you you can trust me."
"There's at least 500 bucks in here! "
I continue to sift through the money and to my curiosity find two white papers stuck to a twenty dollar bill.
Strange. It looks like some kind of ticket.
I raise it to my eyes and scan the small print. United Airlines. From Houston Continental Airlines to... Picardy, France. They're two airplane tickets to France!
My eyes bulge.
"Oh my gosh!" I scream.
Daniel looks up from counting his half of the money, already he'd produced a rubber band to put around his stack. I resist the urge to roll my eyes. "What?"
"There's two airplane tickets to France in here!"
His face mirrors mine. "What? Let me see?"
He snatches the tickets from my hands and his eyes quickly scan the print.
He grins in excitement. "We fucking won the lottery!
"Wait what if this wasn't meant to be bet on?" I ask in doubt. My hand already reaching to open the car door. "We should return it."
He grabs my hand stopping me from getting out. "Or?" He says his face shadowing disbelief. "We could go?"
I stare at him like he just suggested we rob a bank. With knifes.
"There's so many things wrong with that sentence. I don't even know where to start."
"Like what?" He stares at me questioningly.
"Like I have school. Like I'm only seventeen and you're a grown man. Like I don't even know who you are yet you want me to travel all the way across the world with you!"
"We do know each other."
I raise my eyebrow.
"Well we know each other's names. Uh I know you can gamble really well. And um I know you're a girl."
I resist an eye roll. "Really?"
"And your parents named you after my favorite band so there's that."
"Tha-"
"And." He interrupts me. "I'm not a grown man I'm only nineteen. Which means I'm a teenager just like you. So I just proved you wrong. Now you have no reason to say no." He gives me a smug look.
"There's still the fact that I have school."
He waves his hand in the air as if dismissing what I've said all together.
"Fuck school."
****
"So your answer?" He asks again as we come to a stop in my driveway.
"Still no. I'll just take my half of the money and you keep the tickets. Take your grandma instead. I'm sure she'll appreciate it. Thanks for the ride though. "
He chuckles. "If you change your mind I'll be..." He stops and takes a look at the tickets. "at Gate 48. 5:00 am sharp Tuesday morning. The flight leaves at 7:00 so don't be late."
"Trust me I won't change my mind." I hop out the car. "Nice meeting you Daniel."
He nods his head a knowing smile playing on his lips as he reverses out out my driveway.
Then he's gone.
For some strange reason I feel like this won't be the last time I'll be seeing Daniel Travers.
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My story might sound boring and cliched but please keep reading I promise it will get better. This is my first story so bare with me please. I'm constantly editing so don't be confused when something sounds different.
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