The Dream Is Winning The Lottery

Casey has always dreamed of winning the lottery. She plays and plays. She obsesses over what it would be like to win the lottery. She looks at past winning numbers and tries to make her own winning combination. Casey tries and tries, but she is unsuccessful. She continues to play and yet she is still broke. People think she is crazy, but she knows her day will come when she wins the lottery. It’s now Tuesday and the lottery is at $340 Million! Can you believe it? Here is her chance to really win the lottery. She knows she is going to win. Casey goes down to the market and buys a few tickets. Her hand begins to itch. “I’m going to win! I just know it. I feel it.” She buys herself a nice dinner and comes home and waits for the numbers to pop up. It seems to take forever. Finally the numbers come up. “Oh my!” They get to the last number. “NO!” Casey only got five numbers. “I still get a big chunk of money. Not bad. All my hard work is not in vain.” She looks up the lottery to see who won Tuesday’s drawing. Only two people had five numbers. No one won the lottery! It is up to $400 Million. “OH! I have to play. This is it! This is the largest in history. I am about to make history. I can’t believe it.” She begins to sweat just thinking about it. She can’t believe it. “I am going to win the lottery.” She begins to think about how she will go about claiming her winnings. She thinks of all the things she will be able to buy.

The day has come for the drawing. She goes down to the market and buys several tickets. She prays over them and her hand is itching like crazy. It just won’t stop. See Casey is superstitious and believes when your right palm itches, it means you will receive money. She is trying not to scratch and the itching gets more intense. “Oh my! This is it! I am going to win the lottery. I have waited my entire life for this moment. I better not screw it up. It’s not going to happen again.” Casey already knows she is going to win the lottery, so she goes to a nice restaurant and eats a wonderful meal. It set her back $200, but she will get that back plus more. She goes to a nice boutique and buys herself a nice outfit, so she will look nice when claiming her winnings. She goes home and sits and waits for the numbers to be told on television. It seemed like it was the longest wait of her life. The time has come and the numbers come up. “They are my numbers! Oh my! I knew I was going to win, but I am nervous and scared now. Why did I buy these tickets!?” She says to herself. She begins to jump, scream and cry. “I can’t believe I won twice! I am one lucky person! It is amazing to know I will never have to worry about money again!”

Casey takes a limo to the claims office and of course she is in the outfit she bought. There are cameras and lots of people. Casey makes her claim and people interview her and take her picture. Casey feels like a celebrity. She is set up with teams of people and now it is starting to sink in. She has not told any of her family. She goes on a spending spree and buys herself a beautiful mansion, a Bentley and an entire new wardrobe. Casey finally tells her family. Her family does not respond the way she thought they would. “I think I made a mistake. I was not expecting the reaction,” She says to herself. Relatives are very angry and some are sending her emails begging for money. She thought they would be happy and they aren’t. Family members begin to stalk her and now she has to have security everywhere she goes. She had relatives call with death threats and feels alone. Casey has the life of luxury, but her family hates her.

The pressure and actions from relatives begins to take a toll on her and she moves. She now lives in another mansion and has bought herself a Lexus. She has maids, a butler, a chauffer and a chef. What a life. She has lost all contact with her family. They were begging too much and she couldn’t deal with the death threats. They were driving her crazy. Casey has made a few friends and they are wealthy like her. She has moved on and living comfortable. Casey doesn’t ever have to work or worry about money. She thought everything was okay.

Her mother is kidnapped and held for ransom. Casey is told not to tell the police, but to drop the money off. She does as she is told. “Oh my goodness, is this really happening?” She is sent tapes of her mother being tortured. They ask for more money. She gives them what they ask for and asks them to release her mother. They won’t let her go. Casey blows through a very large sum of money before she gets the police involved. The police work with her to get her mother released and it takes several months. In the meantime, she is receiving tapes of her mother. She is starting to regret her win. Finally her mother is released. Casey is happy and so is her mother. Casey is relieved her mother survived. Her mother is thankful and heads home to be with the rest of the family. Life is back to normal, but what an ordeal she went through. Winning the lottery is not what she thought. Her family finds out where she lives and begins pestering her about money. Casey gives them whatever they want so they will leave her alone. She is going through so much money it is unbelievable. The begging won’t stop, nothing is enough. Casey is becoming very annoyed and stops sending money. If she continues on the path she is on, she will go broke.

She decides to go on vacation with a couple of friends and have some fun. Everything went great. She was on vacation for about a week and felt really good. It was time to come back home. “Oh my god!” Her house was broken into. There is nothing left. “How did they get through security? There is nothing in my house, not nothing. I can’t believe it.” Winning the lottery is not what she thought. Casey is very angry. She doesn’t want the money anymore. She gives most of the money away to charity and makes a public announcement so her family will know. She has a little bit of money for herself and moves into a nice apartment. She has gotten rid of both cars and buys a nice Toyota Camry. There are no more calls, no more drama and the family has not talked to her. Casey wants a relationship with her family. She calls and they don’t pick up. “Are they mad because I don’t have money to give them?” Her wealthy friends have stopped speaking to her. Casey feels so alone. This is not the life she thought she would have. She tried calling her mother and she too is not speaking to her. She begins to wonder why. She did save her right? Casey manages to get over it and move on with her life.

The ransom investigation was still open. A few years go by and two men and a woman come to her apartment. Casey is nervous and doesn’t know what to think. “Did someone in my family die?” They sit her down and tell her the news. “Maam, I am sorry to have to tell you this, but your family was in on the ransom. The entire thing was set up by your mother, with the involvement of family members. The money you had given hoping for the release of your mother was received by family members. We have recovered most of the money.” Casey sits their stunned in tears. “Wow, I don’t know what to say. Thank you for solving the case.” She receives the money and moves out of the country. Her mother, father, and siblings are serving a 20-year sentence. Winning the lottery was not what she thought.