Questionable Beginnings

“So, did he say how long?” I asked.

“Four to six months, tops.” Adam said without even the slightest notion of caring, but I knew he did, why else would he be here.

“F**k. And there’s no alternative?”

“Nothing worth trying, the treatments are worse than the disease. He’d be begging for death in a month.”

“Damn. I knew we talked about this day coming, but- “

“But what? You trying to back out on this, on us?

“No, no never. I just… I just never thought this day would actually come, okay. I always believed he would get better.” That wasn’t bullshit. I always thought he would just get better, and this whole thing would just be a joke among us. But it wasn’t a joke, it was real. Damn.

Adam looked up from the coffee table with a glare I had seen far too often. “Well the day has come, so you had better straighten the f**k up before he gets here. We all agreed on this and there’s no getting out of it. Not alive anyhow.”

Just then, I heard Nolan’s bike creeping across the rocky driveway.

“Go get the door.” Adam barked. “And remember, not a word about his health.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” I trotted towards the door trying to keep my mind steady. “Just keep it together, man, for all our sakes.” When I grabbed the door and pulled it open, Nolan was staring at me like always, but this time something had changed in his eyes. They say the eyes are the key to the soul, I think Nolan’s were the gateway to somewhere much darker. “Look what we have here, dead man walking!” I blurted out.

“Jesus Christ, Trevor, what the hell did I just say?” Adam screamed at me.

“It’s okay, boys.” Nolan said with his signature smirk. “Talk about it or don’t talk about it, doesn’t change the inevitable.”

Nolan always, always, had this unwavering calmness about it. He was like still water.

“Well I just figured you didn’t need any distractions.” Adam was still glaring at me but calming down, well, calm for him.

“Let’s just get down to business, okay. What do you two have done?” Nolan asked, as he grabbed a small black bag from his backpack.

“We’re all set up in the kitchen, just waiting on you for the specifics.” I didn’t notice it then, but as we gathered around the plans I looked at Nolan again and he was still wearing that odd expression. He was excited, truly excited. It makes sense when I really think about it.

Nolan scanned our plans, running all the info through that computer of a brain. “This is good, really good.”

“Well we have the foundation planned out, just need the location from you before we can proceed.” Adam said.

“Boy’s, before we get into this I just want to say, well, I want to say thanks. This means more than you know.” Nolan said with a sliver of warmth in his breath.

“We know man, we know, but this isn’t just because of you. We all want this.”

Adam was right, we all wanted it. And no matter how ludacris I thought this was from the beginning, there was a part of me that hungered for it. God I was hungry.

“Alright, enough of this sappy bullshit. Let’s get to it. Nolan, what bank is it going to be?” Adam said as we both looked up from the table.

Nolan produced the smirk again, “banks, fellas, banks.”

Author's Note

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