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Macau makes his way to the front door and curses whoever woke him up at such an early hour by ringing the doorbell. The bell rings again, impatiently, just as he pushes the door open.
He blinks tiredly as he tries to make sense of the scene greeting him outside. There are five – no, six – men standing on his doorsteps. Half of the men are armed and one of them is pointing a gun straight at his head.
Macau recognizes none of them. And judging by the surprised look on the man’s face and the way he lowers his gun slightly – the men don’t recognize him either. It could also be because his response to being pointed at by a gun was to yawn. (To his credit, his brother died, and he has barely slept since it happened.)
“Vegas Theerapanyakul?” The man, who he presumes to be the leader of the little group, asks.
The other speaks with a slight accent and Macau, still half-asleep, cannot place it. He doesn’t know who these people are or to what crime family they belong to. He doesn’t know why they are looking for his brother.
Their father never allowed him to join in business meetings of any kind, as he didn’t think of him capable of such things. All thanks to Vegas, who always tried his best to shield him from the kind of work they do. He wonders did either of them ever think that one day Macau would be the legacy of the Minor Family. Or all that is left of it.
The Main Family systematically got rid of nearly all the people who worked for them. It was cruel – but smart, Macau knows that. Their people are loyal and wouldn’t follow Porsche just because they were told to.
He yawns again and watches the men exchange confused glances from the corners of their eyes. His silence is making them feel unsettled.
These men must have come from overseas, Macau thinks. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be here, on his doorsteps, asking for his brother. It’s the only way they could be unaware of the news of the passing of Vegas Theerapanyakul.
Everyone knows the name of Theerapanyakul around here and so the passing of two members of the family was big news. The newspapers wrote how his father had suffered from a heart attack. How his brother had been in a tragic car crash and succumbed to his injuries in the hospital only days later.
Even if he did not care much of his father, seeing the pictures of Uncle Korn accept condolences for the loss of his brother had still made Macau feel ill.
“My brother no longer resides here,” he eventually says after watching the men shuffle on their feet long enough.
Pete would know who these people are, he thinks as the man in front of him tries to decide whether to raise his gun or lower it all the way down. Macau just doesn’t know whether the other man is in any shape to relay that information to him. The past few days, every time he has seen Pete, the other has been passed out drunk. (If he keeps going like that, Macau expects to find a body in his house one of these days.)
It also might not be a good idea to bring Pete into this. They might recognize the other as being from the Main Family. If these men don’t know Vegas is dead, they surely don’t know that one of the bodyguards from the Main Family left.
The man finally lowers his gun as he yawns once again. Typical, Macau thinks. They underestimate him, don’t see him as a threat. To them he is just a little boy even after hearing he is Vegas’ brother. They don’t realize he is crazy just like the rest of his family.
“Vegas has run away and left his little brother behind to take care of things?” The man sneers and the others laugh at his words.
By every passing second, he likes these people less and less. Not only did they wake him up after having struggled the most of the night to fall asleep but they also laughed at his brother. Thought the man would ever leave him behind.
(Only death would ever be able to take Vegas away from him. Only death would ever be able to stop Vegas from taking care of him. And Macau must be death itself as he was the one to take Vegas away from the world.)
“Oh, it’s nothing like that. I am sure he is expecting all of you already.”
“Where would that be?” The man asks, his tone rather amused.
Macau pulls out his own gun and aims at the man in front of him. He smiles the sweetest smile he can manage and says; “in hell.”
He pulls the trigger.
Why are you full of rage?
Because you are full of grief.
- Anne Carson, Grief Lessons: Four Plays by Euripides