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‘ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST BIZARRE TOURIST ATTRACTIONS’

Then he killed a black cat by twisting its neck, because the devil had told him to. He had to move to Pinos, but then he was kicked out of there and eventually ended up in Prefectura.

After he killed the cat, I didn't visit Fantasma for quite some time. We were still on reasonable terms, but I only saw him when he wanted to help with the tours. Then, one afternoon, he unexpectedly showed up at my room.

‘Thomas! Open up!’ he yelled, banging on my door urgently. I pretended not to be there.

‘Now! Thomas, open it! It's me.’ As soon as I unlatched the door, he thrust something wrapped in a T-shirt into my hands.

‘Quick! Take this,’ he said, looking around to make sure no one had seen him give it to me. ‘I'll be back for it soon.’

I didn't see him again for two days, but when he finally reappeared to collect his package, I was relieved. Inside the T-shirt was a gun. He was more relaxed this time and wanted me to hold it, so that I would know how powerful it made you feel to have a gun in your hand.

‘No way, man,’ I said, making my fingers into the figure of a pistol and touching them against his temple. ‘I might get carried away and shoot you.’ But really, I wasn't stupid enough to put my fingerprints on any gun owned by Fantasma.

‘No hay problema, homey.’ He gave me a friendly punch in the chest that knocked the wind out of me. From that day on, I stayed on Fantasma's good side. He was no longer acting tough, he was tough. And since he now wanted to run the tours himself, I had to come to an agreement with him.

Of course, I still had my bodyguards, although they sometimes gave me problems, especially Lucho. During one of the gang wars he had been stabbed five times in the stomach with a huge knife. Before passing out from loss of blood, he managed to strangle his two attackers almost to death. When he returned from hospital, Lucho had become a legend, and with all the money he was making he became lazy and often refused to work. Other times he was too drunk or hungover to help with the tours. He was also jealous of the friends I made and all the girls who came to see me. Eventually, I told him he couldn't be part of the business anymore. That very afternoon, Lucho was waiting for me in the stairwell with two other inmates as I went down to the bathroom.