This is a short story I wrote for an English Literature assessment. It is about two men held captive by an devious boss. Enjoy!

1. THE TITLE OF ALL TITLES
The room was desolate with more than enough cracks in the wall. The sooty
grey colour of the walls would make anyone vomit with patches of yellow and
black on the ceiling. There was a meeting taking place between two
companies: ‘The Reliable’ and ‘The Workers’. They were both disputing over
who takes the land of their properties. But the landowner was baffled and
confused.
Suddenly, the landowner shouted “SHUT UP!” The whole room broke into a
dead silence like a graveyard in the night.
“Now, all this shouting is doing my head in! At the moment, none of you are
convincing me about selling my land to either of you. So I have a proposition”.
Both the companies leaned forward towards the landowner in interest.
“Can your managers step forward please?” stated the landowner.
Two men dressed in exorbitant clothing, stepped forward. The man from ‘The
Reliable’ was called Dave McDonald. Dave had short rusty brown hair with blue
eyes and tanned skin. The man from ‘The Workers’ was called Tom Smith. Tom
had charcoal black hair and a faint black beard with light skin.
“Now my lads”, said the landowner as he crossed his arms, “The game you
both are going to play is called ‘If you dare’ ”.
The two men looked at each other awkwardly and turned their eyes back
towards the landowner.
“The aim of the game is, you both have to do certain for me and whoever
chickens out loses and the winner’s company takes my land” said the
landowner with a smile.
“What kind of dares sir?” asked Dave nervously.
“Ones that I want to do for me imperatively” announced the landowner in an
angry manner.
The two men looked at each other to see who will cower and walk out. But
none of them hesitated. The two men gulped and answered “Okay sir” in time
with each other at which they looked at each other again.

2. THE TITLE OF ALL TITLES
“Excellent!” said the landowner and at which their response made him break
into devious laughter. The landowner asked the two men to follow him into a
room, bleak and dark as the room before. The landowner closed the door
behind him.
“Now gentlemen, I want you both to kill a member of your family” stated the
landowner with a smile.
The two men ran towards the door and shook the door handle to open it. But
nothing happened. The two men turned around and stared at the landowner
and lunged at him. Suddenly, the landowner brought out a knife, which made
the men stand rooted to the spot.
“Are you crazy?” cried the men desperately.
The landowner broke into laughter and shouted “No! No I’m not! I asked you if
you would play the game and you said ‘Okay sir. And plus if you don’t do it, I
will lock you in this room. Forever. ”He then broke into laughter.
“You’re insane!” screamed Dave.
The landowner clicked his fingers and two muscular men dressed in suits came
out of the darkness in the corner of the room. Following them, were two
groups of people; Dave and Tom’s family. The landowner laughed hysterically
as he saw the motionless faces of Dave and Tom. The landowner threw Dave
and Tom, a pair of knives. They both caught the knives that were heading
towards their faces.
The two men looked at each other and nodded slowly. The two men roared
and charged towards their families. Watching, the landowner laughed at their
stupidity as they ran towards their families. In a split second, just a few metres
away from their families, the men changed direction and ran towards the
landowner. The landowners smile faded as the men ran towards him at
hurtling speed. The two men leaped off the ground and flew through the air,
their heads tucked and knives held out. A loud ‘SQUELCH’ was heard the knives
dug its way through the landowner’s chubby chest, with blood gushing out of
wound at an uncontrollable rate. The two men in suits had ran back into the
darkness knowing their boss was hopelessly going to die. Dave and Tom landed
with a thump and looked up and as they did, their blood ran cold. The knives

3. THE TITLE OF ALL TITLES
had dragged themselves down the landowner’s chest down to his knees as
they dropped towards the floor from mid-air.
As the two men got up and wiped themselves clean, the landowner knelt down
on both knees, one hand on his macerated heart and with a faint laugh, he fell
on his face. The two men smiled at each other and cursed at the landowner
kicking his head and jogged towards their families. As they untied the gags
around the wives and children’s necks, they started to cry uncontrollably. Their
wives comforted them with a hug and walked towards the landowner at the
same time covering the children’s eyes. Dave stole the key from the inside of
the landowners pocket and opened the door for himself and Tom’s families.
The police were called to investigate the case and entered the room in which
Dave and Tom were held captive. There was nothing. There was no body. No
traces of blood. Months later, Dave and Tom had merged businesses and
called their new business ‘The Reliable Workers’. The company was very
successful and carried on for many years. They had tried to forget about the
incident that had happened, but of course the never-ending laughter of the
devious landowner would always ring in their ears…