Playing With Madness

"I see you
And raise you five!!"

Five years,
five months,
five days,
five hours
five minutes
five seconds.

It didn't matter which
They were pebbles to me
And I was focused on the pot.
Eternity with both
My sanity and insanity.

Madness eyed me
Through his lashes,
Measuring my bravado
Like a high class tailor.

But we were not in Seville Row,
Instead we were in
The belly of the beast
And for the first time
In my entire life
I felt no fear,
No apprehension,
No hesitation.

This game was mine,
The prospect of having
Both my gifts had made
Madness sloppy and
I was winning game
After game after game.

"Call."
His voice scratched
The silence, a command,
Nothing more, nothing less.

I spread my cards,
Slowly, ever so slowly,
Drama was everything.
Four queens and a king,
Oh so royal.

Madness pinned me
With a stare, then
Slowly a smile washed
Over his face and
With equal bravado
He showed his cards.

The smirk on my face
Was flushed away
When I saw a straight flush.

Madness reached across
And held my head
By the sides, then
Ripped out my sanity
And insanity from within me.

I fell back in my seat
And felt nothing but
I knew something was
Different. I lost.

As Madness pulled the cards
Together, I noticed two cards
With the same face.

In the blink of an eye,
The nuzzle of my gun
Was trained at Madness' eye.

I should have known that
Madness would cheat.
"Give them back to me,"
The edge in my voice
Was razor sharp.
He chuckled,
"Why ever for, my dear?"

I flipped the two cards
Over, removing the safety.
"Give them back."

His face became a stone mask,
But I knew his mind
Was abuzz, figuring out
How to get out of this.
A slow sigh escaped his lips,
Then he tossed them
On the table just out
Of my reach.

"Shove them over."
Another sigh as he did
As he was told.

I scooped them up,
Returning them to their places
In my head. I backed away
From the table making
My way to the door,
Keeping my eye on
Madness.

At the door,
I secured my gun
And slipped out
Disappearing into the night.

Lesson learned,
Never play with madness,
It always cheats.