//------------------------------// // Chet's Lil Chapter // Story: OTR: Escape // by The King of Hearts //------------------------------// //// Chet’s Lil’ Chapter //// “Where did you say you got this, again?” Jackson, the town jeweler asked Chet, as he carefully examined the stone he had been handed a few minutes before. “Uh… I found it in the attic of my house,” Chet lied quickly, “I think it belonged to my dad.” Silence fell in the room for a few minutes as the gem was examined further. The only noses Jackson made were the odd ‘hmm,’ or ‘ahh.’ Chet was very curious as to what he was going to be told. Alex insisted that this would answer some questions about what he had been doing for the past year. So, all that Chet hoped, was that this wasn’t a blood diamond or something, because that would be a shitty thing to hear right before the weekend. “Well, to be perfectly honest,” Jackson said, removing his eye piece and giving Chet a truly dumbfounded expression, “This diamond shouldn’t exist.” “It’s a diamond?” Chet asked instantly, “How did all those colors get in there?” “That’s a very good question,” Jackson nodded, “It’s not impossible to find a diamond that’s yellow, or red… But this is truly incredible. Was it ever treated in some kind of lab?” “Like I said, it’s been in my attic for probably forty years,” Chet shrugged, pretty confident that Alex hadn’t given him this as a sign of him hanging out in a diamond coloring store. “Well, this is natural then,” Jackson exhaled, rolling the diamond along it’s circular edge as he watched the colors change, “But you don’t quite understand, Chet. This is bigger than any stone I’ve ever seen.” “What would a thing like that be worth?” Chet asked idly, not truly intending to sell it. “Well, just let me preface this explanation by saying that a few months ago, a one hundred and twenty carat diamond was sold at auction for a cool thirty five million dollars.” He said, as Chet felt his jaw hit the floor. “How much bigger is that than mine?” He asked, “Mine must at least be a hundred, right?” “This one would at to be at least, two hundred carats.” Jackson said frankly, “And the case of diamonds, price increases exponentially.” “I should have worn a diaper today,” Chet muttered, before shaking his head and returning to the question at hand, “So, what would that fetch?” “Anywhere from… fifty, to two hundred million I’d say,” He said, placing the stone back in Chet’s hands, “But that doesn’t count the color.” Chet was a bit conflicted now… he wasn’t sure if he didn’t want to sell it anymore… He had obviously been grossly unaware of diamond prices before this moment, and millions of dollars would be a nice thing to have. “This amazing coloration, should it be proven to be natural, and not machine made… would probably put you in the neighborhood of a billion dollars.” Jackson finished, leaning back in his chair and placing his hands behind his head. “I… Don’t know how to respond…” Chet muttered, frowning at the stone now in his hand, “W-what should I do with it?” “Don’t tell a soul that you’ve got it,” Jackson laughed, “People would literally kill you for that stone.” “Huh… Well, where in the world do you think this was found?” Chet asked, hoping to shed some light on Alex’s whereabouts. “Like I said, Chet,” Jackson shrugged, “That thing shouldn’t exist. It’s an impossibility. The fact that you have it proves that it was found, but, I’m confident that a diamond of that brilliance will never be found again, in the history of the world.” “Well, thanks, Jackson.” Chet said, even more bewildered than he had been before he came in, “I guess… I’ll go home and think things over.” “A word of advice, Chet,” Jackson said quickly, as his friend turned to leave, “Don’t put it up on eBay. Come back to me if you ever wanna sell it, and I can help you set something official up.” “And what would you price be?” Chet asked expectantly. “In this case? One percent?” He said, figuring that ten million dollars would be the least Chet could do.” “We’ll see, buddy.” Chet laughed, as he walked out of the office. “But seriously, man!” He called out the door after him, “You should probably sell it!” Chet wasn’t in the mood to laugh at this moment. He was just trying to piece together what this meant. How did Alex get his hands on a gem worth a billion dollars? Where the hell did he get it from? And was he allowed to sell it, and never have to work again? ////