Miles clutched the pillow to his head and breathed heavily into it. He wanted to scream but he knew it would be wasted energy as no one would listen. If he stood on his front porch and screamed, it wouldn’t have changed a thing. He can hear the crowds outside and the paparazzi clicking their cameras at his home. He had to turn off his mobile and disconnect his landline as he was being bombarded. His privacy was being invaded like falling rain into soil. He was the soil. Damp and wet.

It all happened a week ago when Mile’s friends invited him to the casino. They had received coupons for a free lunch and so they wanted to do their part in taking money from the soul-consuming money-stealing gambling corporations. He had no interest but in agreement with the notion that it would stick it up to the big boss man that targets the vulnerable. He was going to do his part.

They had their lunch and Mile’s thought, one game of the slot machines would be something he could tick off his list. Said that he did it and move on with his life. So he bought a single token worth £1. And went to slots. He fingered the token into the slot and the machine whirred with excitement. He played and to his surprise, he got lucky and won his money back and more. He played again. Why not, he thought and again and again, he won.

Mile’s considered this to be pure luck and that someone above was favouring him. He decided that he would hold back some of his winnings back and use the rest for some other games. He played the machine where you put in coins and it falls down randomly onto a platform that had coins from before and usually this would be a money sink. Yet each time he put a coin in, it would shower and clatter into the winnings bucket.

By this time his friends had caught on that Mile’s was winning a lot of money. They urged him to play games with bigger stakes. They went to the roulette table. Being cautious, Miles placed a portion of his winnings on black. Unsurprisingly, he won. He couldn’t believe his luck and each time he upped his game to choose a group, then a combination and then a specific number. He won every time. The casino staff member eyed him suspiciously and then smiled.

By now, a crowd had gathered and the casino security were coming towards them. Mile’s was glad. His friends and the crowd would urge him to play higher stakes but honestly, he would be happy with even a fraction that he won. He had put in a £1 and his quite easily had up to £50,000. He hadn’t really bothered counting at some point. Security arrived and Mile’s was about to submit to them and give back the money but they spoke to him with respect. They asked him if the crowd was bothering him. He shook his head. They then assumed to create a barrier so that Miles had space.

He played once more and quite fed up, he placed all his money on green 0, hoping to lose the winnings that he felt no joy in winning.

And that’s how we got here today. Miles covering his head with a pillow, trying to block out the world. He had won that game but with the odds, he had won so much that the casino managers gave him the casino. That was why so many were outside his house, wanting to know his story and also get some of his good luck.

Miles took the pillow off his head. There was an eerie silence. He didn’t know whether he was dreaming. But then came a voice over a mega speaker.

“The Prime Minister has come to see you…”