When does a man become more than the some of his parts? When does one realize what they were meant for? How do you truly embrace yourself when the world you were born into has no need for you? What's the point of your life when you find that your calling isn't a option anymore?
As I sat in the clearly aged dive bar booth thinking about these questions trying to find answers in the glass of mead, the face I've been waiting to see finally opened the door across the room. The person opening the door was a slightly older dark skinned man wearing a black jacket with a blue hoodie underneath and some worn dark jeans. I stood and signaled to him wear I was i couldn't lie it had been a while since I'd seen my brother my military service didn't always make it easy to see family when I want to but for 24 years old he looked tired life was certainly taking a toll on the both of us.
When he got closer I spread my arms as we embraced in a hug before we sat across from each other in the booth.
"Donny how've you been, can I pour you a glass?" As I motioned towards the bottle of chilled mead and the extra glass I had asked for before he got here.
"Yeah I'd appreciate it; I've been kinda stressed with work but that's pretty much the same as always since my coworkers are friggen idiots and management is a bunch of asshats; but I've told you that before. How've you been Maxxy?" As he turned the question back on me he accepted the glass of mead I handed him taking a few sips before replacing the sips he took with more from the bottle.
"You know me same old same old the military never really changes like slapping good makeup on a cheap hooker, she might look good in the dark but you shine a light on her and you'll regret your decision to stay the night immediately. Hahaha!" I gave a half hearted laugh at my own joke while my brother chuckled seeing the painful truth in my humor.
"I've been telling you to get out and be a civilian you hate it in the service why are staying?"
"I need the schooling and job experience I told you before I just changed to a job that should actually be useful on the outside besides we both know I've never been as smart as you when it comes to college and stuff so this seemed like a solid option, if I got out now I'd have nothing to really fall back on I'd end up like the vets on the streets and I can't go back to living with mom and dad for obvious reasons." He nodded his head took another drink before he spoke his thoughts but he didn't need to I knew what he'd say.
"You're scared of looking like a failure, so big and bad cause you've been on your own since 18 held your own in the military just to go back to the parents house with nothing but your clothes and car to your name?" I knew he'd say it, tact is not one of my brother's strong suits when it comes to a more personal conversation with me.
"Yes thanks for so eloquently exposing my most inner thoughts dearest brother, he said sarcastically." I said this with my most exasperated face and sarcasm practically dripping from every syllable. To which he just shrugged like this had nothing to do with him as he refilled both of our glasses and motioned me to drink more.
As we drank and spoke long into the night catching up mostly expressing our thoughts on current topics from politics to cars to video games. Realizing he had work tmr afternoon and while i didn't have to report back to base for the next few days I'd still like sleep so we decided to call it a night. Walking out of the bar around 12:30am we figured driving in our state wouldn't be a great idea so I ordered us an uber.
"It'll be like 15 minutes before it gets here." He nodded and leaned against a wall while I looked up at the sky it was one of those rare nights where you could see the stars with no clouds in sight. I stood that way for a bit before I heard a scream from a nearby alleyway.
I looked at Donny before we both took off running towards the scream as we turned in the alley we saw three guys ranging from early to mid twenties just based off their builds they surrounded a young woman who looked absolutely terrified. I shouted to try and get their attention before things could escalate any further.
"Hey what are ya'll doing!" That caused them to turn around and look at us they weren't wearing masks which struck me as strange but I guess criminals weren't known for their brains. But before Donny or I could get any closer to stop them they pulled guns and shot us both point blank.
I dropped like a rock on the ground adrenaline coursing through my veins being replaced with a strange almost surreal cold causing me to look around to find a lifeline. That's when I noticed the woman standing behind the thugs she was… smiling; like the cat that ate a fucking canary! It dawned on me why was she in an alley alone at 12:30 in the fucking morning, she wasn't being robbed it was a damn set up and like an idiot I walked straight into it worse yet I walked my brother into it too.
Looking over at Donny his eyes caught mine like mine he had figured it out too and was just as pissed as I was that we ran straight to our deaths and as that dawned on us everything faded to black and silence reigned supreme.
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The next thing I heard in the infinite void of black was a voice that sounded young and old; serious yet jovial; good yet evil like a living conundrum.
"What pitiful creatures but they both have so much potential for entertainment and I'm sure they won't mind they might even thank me, I'll even send them with something special so I hope they do something amusing; have fun and bring me something new to watch my worlds are getting boring if you don't it's over for real bye bye!"