O thou, Taco Bell! Where art thou, Taco Bell! Over the fire or thy oven... into the fire, out thy oven!

Temptations, everyone has them, but not everyone gives into their temptations. But for the ones that do it, it can be disastrous or even deadly. Across the world, people giving into their temptations will do drastic things to get what they want, which could involve killing. Killing for that temptation, or getting killed for a temptation, sad. But I can't say much; I have done it all my life. My temptations are women, money, power, and making people fall over themselves. I lie, I cheat, and I steal, but I never kill.

Hello. My name is Mr. Derek Dare. Yes, the Derek Dare, the great businessman that made millions. The great businessman rumoured to have ¨cheated¨ people out of their money, when in reality, I just made good deals and decisions.

It was a Monday morning, a cold Monday morning. My life was miserable enough without the weather, and the fog and frost have succeeded to make me despise my life even more. I didn't go to work today; that would be too much effort. It is cold, I´m lonely, and no dollar I make feels enough. I knew, when I left the house this morning, that this called for something strong.

I went to a bar, for the seventh time that month, and ordered whatever I thought could overpower me. Yes, I have a drinking problem. No, I don´t go home with the effects of one showing. I care too much for my kids and wife to hurt them that way, so I spend the night at my hotel. Yes, that is the Dare Hotel I am speaking of. I am sure you´ve heard of it.

I went to the bar and got a drink or two, which is my normal thing when I go there. It isn´t a fancy place, no one there recognizes me from work. They say I look familiar, but they do not treat me different. Today, though, I suppose I got too drunk, because the owner kicked me out. Pity, if he played his cards right, he could have more business out of me. He decided that I had too much to drink, and I was too stubborn to see the truth in that statement.

“There is no such thing as, ´too much´,” I had yelled at him, before slamming the door. It would be the last time I´d ever go there. I was too intoxicated to do much, so I decided to phone my chauffeur to see if he was free to come get me. He would have to be, of course, or he´d be unemployed.

“Hey,” I asked with a hiccup following. ¨Come get me. I´m at the regular place.¨

“Sorry sir, I have to cancel. My wife is having a baby.” said my chauffeur.

“Well that is ok but you're fired. Tell your wife that I said ´hi´.” I said before quickly hanging up. I cursed inside of my head, clenching my cell in my fist. Then the gears in my head started twisting and turning. How should I get home? I thought. I´m a millionaire. I better start walking. I shook my head and smirked. That was far too common for me. I best get a taxi.

And just like that, I turned to see a taxi there, waiting. I stared at the driver, expectantly, as they rolled the window down.  It was a woman, with eyes that could look into your soul. The stained clothes she wore looked as if she had lived her whole life in them. Her skin looked as hard and rough as her hair. It looked as if she was wearing her give up on life pants. Sweat pants, I thought, certainly not my kind of woman.

¨Chauffeur not on time?¨ she spoke in a rough, gravelly voice, her eyes flicking across my suit, as if she was calculating how much she could charge me.

I tucked my phone away into a pocket. ¨Yeah… Yeah he is. Somethin’ about, “wife  in labor”. But, I think the man’s got it out for me. The man probably wants a raise.” I slurred, stumbling to get into the taxi. “Hey,” I said, climbing in. “Hey, take me to my hotel. The North Dare Hotel.”

“Sure,” the cab driver said, eyeing me in the rearview mirror as I clambered into her taxi seat. I felt misplaced back there, in my posh suit, sitting on dingy faux leather seats. There were no drinks anywhere, The North Dare Hotel, I thought. Maybe there I could get a nice drink. I could only pretend that I knew where I was. It was clear that I should’ve already known, but I didn’t know where the hotel was, but that was fine. I hope that I can get there soon I thought.

“So…” the cabbie began. I rolled my eyes. Of course, it would be a commoner who would try to strike up conversation with me. “Rough day?”

You’ve no idea. “Rough week. You’d think that people’d be down on their knees for a guy like me, begging me not to put them in debt or fire them. I’m Derek Dare. My name radiates power. People like you should fear me.”

The cab driver remained quiet.

“Yeah, and that chauffeur of mine didn’t fear me quite enough. A man like that deserves to be booted out of this country; he’s too lazy to do any real work. Honestly, a man who uses excuses just so he won’t have to do his job is a man who my name will not be associated with. His pay wasn’t even low. It wasn’t anything fancy, but I assure you, it was much bigger than yours. What do you make, anyway?” I smirked. She wanted conversation, and now she’d got it, even if it included exposing her poor financial situation.

She remained silent.

“What?” I said. “Mad because a man of wealth tried talking about your personal life? I mean, I know you don’t make much, don’t be so immature. That’s it, isn’t it? You’re embarrassed because you’re one step away from having to scrape breadcrumbs off the streets to get by. You don’t want to ruin yourself in front of Derek Dare.”

She didn’t say anything this time, either.

A signed. I win, I thought, before I fell asleep.

I woke up in a dark room with people staring me down all direction.  I gigantic wood podium looking down at me. To my right a jury box full of citizens. Miss. Harrison sitting at the witness stand. Miss. Harrison I haven’t seen her since I got her house and land, to build my hotel on, I thought, What is she doing here.  The judge then looked at me. He took his gable and slammed it against the desk. “Guilty” he screamed, “Guilty ,Guilty, Guilty!”. Over a hundred times it ringed in my head, and left room for a hundred more.

I awoke to a “Mr. Dare? Mr. Dare?” the cab driver said, reaching to unbuckle me. “We’ve reached your destination.”

“ Huh?” I said, while my eyes was burning, so I squinted at her to she who it is.

“Mr. Dare, we’re at the hotel.” She said.

She slowly helped me out of the cab.  I was about to thank her for her services, Then  I realized that this wasn’t the hotel it was a cabin. “Where. Am. I?”  I asked.

“Welcome,” she says, reaching through the window of the taxi cab, “To my humble abode.” I was shocked, my angry face morphing one of despair as the realization of what was happened came to me. She brought her arm from the cab, raising a revolver so the barrel pointed at my chest.

“I-I-I,” I stuttered, and she laughed. I dropped my head in shame. I thought inside, What can I do? What will she do? Can’t I do anything to stop her from? There is nothing I can do.

“Look, Mr. Dare, I think we got off on the wrong foot. You didn’t even give me a chance back in the city.” Her grin grew as she seemed to grow more confident. “I think, maybe if you’d made a bit of small talk with me, instead of prying into my private life, we could’ve been best friends.”

“I-Is it money you want?” I desperate, as I slowly tried to approach me. “Because, you can have it! I’ll give you a whole fortune.”

She lowered the gun, just an inch. “Is that so?”

“Yes! Yes, anything.”  I little spark of hope lit up my eyes. Maybe just Maybe I can survive I thought.

   She swiftly rose her gun back up.“So, here’s what’s going to happen: We’re going to go inside the building, and we are… going to have a chat.” I knew that that chat wouldn’t be good for me.

“So,” she said, walking me to the door of the cabin. “This is how it’s going to be, alright. You are going to comply to my wishes, and we will not have any difficulties.”

I slowly walked one foot in front of the other. Noticing the way the dirt waves as I take a step. Noticing the shed. The shed with old paint falling off the building. That building gave me the feeling that what was inside was torturous.

I had no more time to look and she let me know that, as she pointed the gun to the back of my head. “Move on,”. I let out a sign of despair. “Move.” she screamed as she hit me on the back of the head with the gun. I nearly fell down.

We continued to walk until we got t a cabin. When we got there she seemed a little slow to open the door to the cabin. Then, she smirked and said, “Having a tough time?” I remained quiet, so she went on. “I guess it’s you who’s not speaking now. You scared?”

She slowly walked into the cabin taking me with her. She flicked on the lights, and she took me to the very back room of the old cabin, she flicked on the lights as she had escorted me into the unholy room.A bed frame stood in the middle of the room, draped with thick ropes. She then started the wave
The gun in the air frantically giving me the direction to lay on the bed frame.

“You know,” she said, slowly bending down to grob the ropes,“It’s not actually that bad. You drowned in green ages ago, and you haven’t much life left. And think of all of the bad you’ve done to people. It’s like we’re cleansing this city of its biggest threat: you.”

She then started the process of tying me down to the frame it didn’t “Well, well, well… Mr. Dare, I think that you are at your best. But, you’ll have to excuse me; my tools aren’it with me at the moment. Please, wait here while I go get them. I promise, I won’t be long,” she said as she left.

I didn’t know what happened next all I can remember is the next morning I woke up back at my hotel. Was it all a dream, was it a nightmare, is it over yet?