Chapter 0; Cold Dish

The post lamp flickered right beneath the half-moon’s light. The old man sat comfortably on the small wooden bench as he always did, right across his beautiful home. It was quite late and the lights within the house were silently getting put out. But you could still hear the children’s voices, arguing whether it was time for bed or not as their mother was trying to desperately tuck them in. The old man smiled whilst watching his family going through their daily routine. The light footsteps signaled the end of his relaxation, the man who accompanied the footsteps, looked young and by all standards good looking.  Straight hair on the color of the sand in the evening fell short beneath his gray hat, his muscles seemed the work of many years, not impressive but not undistinguishable either.

His blue trench coat waved behind him.

''every time i look at the stars I notice more and more, they never end'' the old man said as the young man came closer, ''sometimes I think that's how everyday life is; you always notice something new, more and more come into your horizon forming infinity. While man doesn't realize no matter how far   he gets or achieves, he is only a tiny part of infinity. Right next to nothing...still they strife their best to get the ‘nothing’, how tragic''. He took a sip out of his tea and he looked at the man who was taking a sit right next to him.

 ''You grew into a philosophically senile old man’ ‘the young man said and he

stared towards the sight of the Old man’s admiration.

 ‘‘Old age changes people, at least some of us'' He said amused turning to face the young man.” ‘’You took your sweet time coming here, didn’t you?’’

“I run into a situation. But I am here now’’

The old man nodded whilst still sipping his warm tea.

 ‘’you remember when we went through the asteroid belt near orion? I swear you were screaming like a baby, now I think that wouldn’t even faze you’’, the old man cracked a smile.

‘’ I did not scream, you were imagining things cause you were too shaky yourself, you always said afterwards

that you would never go to a mission on the north end’’ answering back with a sweet smile of his own, ‘’but as much as I want to say our experiences don’t make who we are, I would be lying my old friend’’.

The old man looked saddened like a man about to shed a tear for a sweet memory that is lost ‘’Why couldn’t you let that wound close? Why do you have to keep picking it and make it fester?’’ He turned to young man and grabbed his forearm. ‘’Let me go my friend, give me what was not given to you, I will never forget

it. I have grandchildren waiting for me, I love them and I love my life’’. His eyes focused on him in a pleading display.

‘’You want happiness, which I was denied from, and you want your life, which was denied from me as well. I can give both to you my friend, I can forgive you for what you did to me that is very easy indeed.’’ A crooked smile formed in the young man’s mouth ‘’but... ’’ In a swift notion he took out the knife his years

of training did not allow him to miss, burning into his mind all the fatal points, one second later the knife rested in the soft spot between  ribs followed by a silent grunt . ‘’I can’t forgive what you did to our brother’’. His mouth muscles tensed as he pronounced the words.  A puddle of the old man’s blood started gathering before him as he watched his own life sipping away from him, his cane dropped with a resounding clang, his gaze fixed one last time on the young man.

 ‘’How does it taste? ‘‘. He said while spitting blood. ‘’Is this blood finally enough for you?’’ Before his body even hit the pavement, the young man disappeared into the shadows whence he came.

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