The card was cool in my hands, comforting as it slipped between my fingers in a familiar rhythm, in out in out. Absentmindedly I flipped the card over, the brail signaling that the joker was grinning up at me from the card face, I smiled back down. My mind was hundreds of miles to the north, to where my brother was. I sat on my bed, though it felt cold without him in the bed across from me, our room was divided down the middle; not by any definitive line, but by the mental line that had once existed. I wanted to scream, without my brother I was alone in this godforsaken place; if you asked anyone down here they would tell you there are three things to worry about; the ripppers, the thieves and the Diablos'.

Pa was screaming up the hall, he had another job for me, I smiled and put my cards away being careful to put two specific cards at the top should I need help, the joker and the King of Hearts.