Mac's Choice

Death sat silently next to Mac. Death looked like a young girl with cold eyes, her clothes black and almost shapeless like they were formed from shadows. Mac was a twenty something year old man with a red hoodie and a bad haircut. Mac palmed his face with one hand, in his other hand he held a gun. The two figures stood silently in an alleyway in a big city. It was a city full of people, yet Mac never felt so alone. With so many people jammed into a city, would anyone notice if someone went missing, or if someone died?

“I don’t know what you’re waiting for, the answers won’t come any clearer” Death spoke, her words so cold that it chilled the air. Mac hesitated and seemed uneasy. “you act like its not a big deal” Mac replied. “I see it every day, so to me, it isn’t
 Death explained. Mac held his gun out and put it up to his head as his hands trembled. “Your life is pointless. What do you contribute to anything? You sedate your brain with television and beer, you work for a paycheck, not for the better of anything. Your paycheck only buys more television and beer. If you had any real friends you wouldn’t be standing in this alley with a gun, talking to yourself” Death explained. She reached out and ran a delicate finger down the side of Mac’s face. “Haven’t you ever heard of embracing death? I wonder why people don’t try it more” She said seductively. Her eyes just as icy cold as before, but her face was a fake pout as if trying to be cute. Mac looked at Death and cursed under his breath. Death wasn’t a women, it just decided to look this way for now. Even though the girl was pale and covered in black clothes and shadows, her dainty frame, round eyes and curves all made her rather attractive.

“You’re the devil!” Mac cursed, annoyed that Death was trying to seduce him into pulling the trigger. Death laughed “no my dear, I am not. If you ever meet the devil, you will know it instantly. Besides, I’m not making you do anything, I didn’t even lead you here to this alley. You bought a gun and walked here, I am here to collect you when your done” Death replied, sounding innocent.

Mac’s body continued to tremble. He didn’t want to die, but he had nothing to live for. Just being alive hurt. His body ached constantly and he was so lonely his emotional pain only seemed to add to his physical pain. He searched his mind for a reason to live, anything. He thought about friends, surely his buddies would miss him. They might at first, but their busy lives would sweep up their attention again. His family would miss him, but only because they liked to use him. He had a car and a little money so he would get phone calls when he was of use. Mac didn’t have a girlfriend and the last girl he dated was a bitch, adding to the list of bitches that Mac knew. He hoped not all women were terrible, but it was difficult to believe when he only met terrible people.

Mac didn’t have much going for him, so would he be throwing anything away if he died? People are born and others die, every single day. What is the worth of a human life, more importantly, what is the worth of Mac’s life? Mac didn’t have any answers. He didn’t want to die, he wanted his life to be better, but he didn’t know how to make it better and continuing on the same path wasn’t an option.

Mac tightened his grip on the gun as death watched, smiling softly to herself. Mac pulled the trigger and a shot range out. After one loud bang, the alley was quiet again. No one came running, no one noticed. The world moved on. The world continued to be a wonderful place for some and a terrible nightmare for others. Mac’s life had absolutely no impact on history, social events or the progress of the world. Yet if Mac’s life was so worthless why did Death show up personally to collect him? And when She did show up to see Mac hadn’t killed himself, why did she even care to persuade him?

Mac thought about all of these things before he pulled the trigger and when he finally did, the gun wasn’t aimed at his head, it was aimed at Death. Mac knew shooting Death wouldn’t do anything, but he made his point. Without saying a word, Death vanished, leaving Mac alone with his thoughts. He didn’t know what his life was worth now and maybe it wasn’t worth anything now, but he was determined to find out what it could be worth in the future and maybe he would then finally find something worth living for.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hello everyone and Happy thanksgiving. I had a story all lined up for this week but was unable to finish it. Stories will continue next week.

Adam and Patches

            Mist settled over a quiet little harbor town. The sound of waves mixed with the drunken laughter of the people from the Inn. in this sleepy town a small boat docked without anyone even noticing. A tall man muscular man stepped from the boat, his heavy boots making a loud thud when he stepped down on the dock. The man wore a long sleeved, baggy, gray shirt, black pants, heavy boots, thick workers gloves and a large, blue woolen scarf that covered his neck and mouth. The night air was frigid and besides the heavy scarf, the rest of the man’s clothes didn’t look like they would keep a normal person warm on such a night. Besides his clothing, the tall man wore a long chain wrapped around each arm. He was a menacing figure to see in the night, with his large frame, heavy footsteps and the sound of clanking chains as he moved. Next to step off the boat was a small, black cat with pale blue eyes. He had a tiny chain around his neck, though it was for decoration and hardly weighed anything. It seemed strange for a menacing figure to be walking around with a small cat, but no one yet had been brave enough to mention this.

            The tall man and the cat, Adam and Patches, walked along the cobblestone path, through the middle of town, they were stopped by a man holding a sword in each hand, the swords pointed outward and the swordsman stood as if waiting for the tall figure to arrive at this port. “You must be Adam the chained man. You have a hefty price on your head, not sure why. It doesn’t seem that you’re a criminal, but a bounty is a bounty” The bounty hunter said. “you know my name, but I do not know yours” Replied Adam, his voice was calm, but was distant as if his voice came from the air around them. The scarf his Adam’s mouth, but since it was just the two of them in the street, the bounty hunter knew it was Adam who asked. “My name is Syrad the bounty hunter” Replied Syrad. This bounty hunter wore a long, heavy coat to protect against the chill and rain and a regal looking hat with a small feather. His shoes and pants looked durable for travel but also fancy as if this man had royal blood. He even wore white fencing gloves. “your pretty well dressed and groomed for a bounty hunter. Whats wrong, tired of all the nobleman parties and fox hunting, so you decided to try your hand at bringing in people?” Asked Adam mockingly. His voice came from all directions, it was haunting. Syrad gritted his teeth. “I am a perfectly capable fighter, so surrender or I will kill you and drag your corpse back myself” Syrad shouted holding his swords out to fight. Then he smiled “or better yet, I will pay someone to drag your corpse back for me” He laughed, turning the joke around in his favor.

            Adam didn’t flitch or even reach for a weapon, he stood there ready for Syrad to advance. “are you ready, Patches?” Adam asked. After a moment of silence Adam replied “good, lets get this over with” Syrad rushed the tall man and swung his swords. his form was professional and his duel swords would make short work of anyone. The sword strikes were fast and to an average person the blades became blurs in the air. The swords made a sickening ‘thunk’ as they sank into flesh. Syrad smiled as he looked at now stabbed and slashed Adam. Syrad’s smile quickly faded when he realized he stabbed a post and Adam was nowhere to be found. Syrad turned around to see the large man’s chain covered fist fly toward his face. Adam’s fist connected with the force of a sledgehammer. Syrad’s head flung backward and he hit the ground. Adam stood over his downed opponent only to be struck in the back with an arrow. Adam let growl of pain and turned quickly to see Syrad had brought back up. The archer was loading another arrow when, like lighting, Adam had closed a large distance in a flash. Adam’s eyes glowed a pale blue and he wound his arm back. Before the archer could react, chains flew through the air and wrapped around the archers neck. Adam flicked his arm and shot the archer into the air like a sling firing a rock. The Archer flew over houses and landed into the ocean close to the shore. Syrad stood back up and quietly ran up behind Adam, ready to strike with his swords. but the black cat stopped him. With surprising skill and ability the cat jumped into the air and looked as if it could fly as it dashed through the air and tackled Syrad. Such a small cat wouldn’t knock over a full grown man, even if thrown, but this cat hit Syrad with such intense force it knocked the bounty hunter back down again. The cat’s eyes glowed with the same intensity as Adam’s eyes and it seemed that they were connected some how.

            “you did indeed find the Adam you were looking for, but made a few common mistakes” Said Adam as he and Patches walked toward Syrad. “First you underestimated patches, secondly, you confused me for a cat” Said Adam. Adam the black cat stepped onto Syrad’s chest. The cat’s glowing blue eyes seemed to be controlling Patches, the large man, who wasn’t actually a man, but a Golem with moderate to low intelligence. Syrad was speechless, so Adam continued. “I don’t know if you care for anything more than the money, but please know that I am only being perused because of my gifts. I am a wizard trapped in the body of a cat, but still incredibly useful to other wizards who want to learn my secrets. So that is why the gold is high, but the information is close to nothing” The cat finished talking then delicately jumped off Syrad and walked away. “Now you have two choices, surrender or die” Adam said. Patches now stood looming over Syrad, his breath escaping into the cold night air as he stared down at the bounty hunter with murderous intensity. “I Surrender…”Syrad said meekly.

            As if they had a life of their own, the chains wrapped back up onto the arms of Patches the chained man and the loyal golem turned to leave town with his master, the Magical cat Adam.

Two Brothers

 Blades clash and the echo of it rings out in the hallway. Two opponents face off against each other, William and Alex Herrenburge, brothers now fight to the death. The two men stand out of breath, their swords still up, ready to continue fighting. The fight had been going on for hours, deadly and fierce as neither of these skilled sword fighters would back down even an inch.

It all started when the younger brother of two year, Alex, stole something most precious from his brother William, a secret treasure that William had kept with him his entire life. Seemingly ordinary to the average person but priceless to William, this prize was given to him by his father and Alex had always been jealous of it. What the item was didn’t matter, it was the principle of it. Alex had been given gifts before, but never had he received something so extravagant.

At first Alex just wanted to see it, to be close to such an expensive treasure was enough, but slowly he let the voice in his head convince him that he was the one who deserved it. William did nothing special with his life and was only rewarded because he was born first.  Alex seethed with anger and in the dead of night, broke into Williams bedroom to steal his most prized treasure.

Once this was discovered William tried to reason with Alex and even tried to be nice. When reason failed however, drastic action had to be taken. Alex acted like a brat his entire life and it was time for William to put him in his place. The two brothers drew their swords, weapons that were identical and made by the same craftsman, the swords were even presented to the brothers at the same time during a celebration. Rapidly Alex slashed through the air, fury and injustice in his mind. He was skilled enough, but lacked the discipline of his older brother. William had a hard time dodging the erratic strikes and was struck several times by a lucky glancing blows. William held up his defense however and was determined that when he finally did land a strike on Alex, it would count.

The two parried and lunged, slashed and dodged for hours. Fighting in the hall of their family’s estate. Both brothers were tired and mildly wounded and every once in a while one of them would think of giving up before shaking it from their mind altogether. The brother that won this sword fight would be the superior sibling and would have the rights to claim the wonderful prize that they fought so dearly for.

William blocked the flurry of attacks with his own sword, then he saw an opening and went for it. Quickly he lunged forward and struck his brother Alex in the throat. Alex’s eyes widened and the air fell silent. Suddenly Alex burst out crying causing their mother to run into the living room. “Are you two fighting again? I told your father not to buy those plastic swords, but no, no one listens to me. I’m only his WIFE!” She shouted, clearly upset and also talking to herself now. Alex and William were in trouble. The boys, ages 10 and 8, bickered constantly over shiny black toy car that William was given before Alex was born. After all these years it still looked fantastic, but Alex was never allowed to play with it, so the two brothers would often get into fist fights or scuffles but now that Alex went into Williams room and took it from the top of his dresser, the two went into a child like rage and began striking each other with their toy swords. Despite being toys the swords were a hard plastic and being struck in the throat wasn’t fun for an eight year old. Mother brought Father in to survey the damage, Father just glared at his boys and sent them to different rooms after confiscating their weapons.

The two brothers were both banished to their rooms and though Alex thought the fight was a tie, William knew he clearly won. He sat in his bedroom holding his precious treasure, the black toy race car, and smiled. The battle was over, but the war would continue, just as long as the treasonous Alex wasn’t watching cartoons or asleep or something.

Any battles that took place after this had similar endings all until the passage of time healed all wounds and the brothers no longer cared for the toy car. There was peace in the land for many years up until one day, William and Alex met a young girl named Cindy, who lived just down the road, but that is a tale for another time.