[charloft] (THURS) - Alternate Roads
Take a few steps back, take a left instead of a right, and walk down the road not traveled in your past.
What if Tommy had abided by his mother's wishes and stayed in Las Vegas to go to college?
- Las Vegas, NV - September 17, 1997 -
The locker room was so cold…it was never this cold, especially not after practice. Not when the Vegas heat outside was at an all time high and the building had insulation so bad that Dad joked constantly about offering to redesign the place for nothing…
Then again, the cold might have something to do with the knife buried in the small of his back and the blood pooling beneath his knees and hands as he knelt on the floor, his life pouring out of him. The blood was strangely cold under his fingers, sticky and so dark…
“Rest in peace, Master…you won’t rise again.”
His attacker leaned over him, an almost sexual tableau with his hand wrapped around the handle of the knife and his body pressed against Tommy’s back. He hadn’t paid much attention when the nondescript young man passed him on his way to his locker after basketball practice…he’d been in a hurry, after all. He promised Mom he’d come by for dinner after class and practice.
He didn’t understand what his killer was saying. He couldn’t even remember his face, and they’d passed right by each other. He ached for his parents, who would grieve for him so deeply, he felt guilt for leaving them behind…
He was so cold. Cold as the Mississippi River in November, cold as the fires of Tartarus and the snow in New York during the winter…he didn’t understand, there was a reason for this, a reason why the blade of the knife burned so badly it felt like his soul was freezing, like his spirit was ice subject to shattering if it fell…
He slid in his own blood and fell flat, cheek pressed to the cold tile floor.
He didn’t understand why he could hear a sweet female voice singing an old-fashioned song. He didn’t understand why he felt himself coming apart and suddenly feared the darkness.
He didn’t understand why he had to die. He was nobody special…nobody worthy, nobody dangerous…
He didn’t understand…
What if Tommy had abided by his mother's wishes and stayed in Las Vegas to go to college?
- Las Vegas, NV - September 17, 1997 -
The locker room was so cold…it was never this cold, especially not after practice. Not when the Vegas heat outside was at an all time high and the building had insulation so bad that Dad joked constantly about offering to redesign the place for nothing…
Then again, the cold might have something to do with the knife buried in the small of his back and the blood pooling beneath his knees and hands as he knelt on the floor, his life pouring out of him. The blood was strangely cold under his fingers, sticky and so dark…
“Rest in peace, Master…you won’t rise again.”
His attacker leaned over him, an almost sexual tableau with his hand wrapped around the handle of the knife and his body pressed against Tommy’s back. He hadn’t paid much attention when the nondescript young man passed him on his way to his locker after basketball practice…he’d been in a hurry, after all. He promised Mom he’d come by for dinner after class and practice.
He didn’t understand what his killer was saying. He couldn’t even remember his face, and they’d passed right by each other. He ached for his parents, who would grieve for him so deeply, he felt guilt for leaving them behind…
He was so cold. Cold as the Mississippi River in November, cold as the fires of Tartarus and the snow in New York during the winter…he didn’t understand, there was a reason for this, a reason why the blade of the knife burned so badly it felt like his soul was freezing, like his spirit was ice subject to shattering if it fell…
He slid in his own blood and fell flat, cheek pressed to the cold tile floor.
He didn’t understand why he could hear a sweet female voice singing an old-fashioned song. He didn’t understand why he felt himself coming apart and suddenly feared the darkness.
He didn’t understand why he had to die. He was nobody special…nobody worthy, nobody dangerous…
He didn’t understand…