Sustaining The Village

On her 15th birthday, I explained to me daughter how the village survived.

She of course knew about the Dungeon of The Undead Lion Queen, in the mountain behind the village. And like the world at large, she believed the village survived on the adventuring parties coming in to test themselves against the dungeon.

I explained to her that this wasn't correct. We survived by luring adventuring parties here and hiring them to kill the party inside the dungeon to stop them taking the treasure that lures parties here, each party killing the next.

She was surprisingly calm about it.

The End Pill

I looked at the box of pills, knowing they would be the end of me.

I slowly pulled out the first strip. I knew by the end of this one, I'd be on my way. By the time I got to the end of the box, there was no chance that I'd still be here.

I put the strip down and took a walk around the 'apartment' I was in, and returned with a glass of water.

I sighed, and decided to end things.

I swallowed my first dose of testosterone, and knew the old me was now officially dead.

Never Wanted

As a young teenager, the girls were all looking for a boy to explore boundaries and be nice. I was too busy fooling around with my computer.

As a young man, the young women wanted good looking boys for, well, sex and/or coolness. I had none of the above.

As a man, women were looking for a life partner, a mature bread winner. I was enjoying my time playing games.

As a middle aged man, women of a certain age are now looking for an experienced family man. Nope.

Never what was wanted, never pursued.

But I'm lazy, so...

Cheating Criminals

The two were lovers for several years before they began to work together. He'd always resisted it, not wanting to ruin what they had, but she kept pushing until he finally agreed to it.

They started with convenience stores, a few hundred each time, a couple grand on payday at the one with cheap smokes.

Then they moved to banks, one every few months, taking enough to live on, the two getting into a groove.

Then he found out that she was cheating on him with his brother.

He didn't agree that jacking cars wasn't at all the same thing.

Pigeon-Holed

I reached into my pigeon hole without looking, and was surprised to feel a small envelope. I pulled it out and opened it, finding an invitation inside. It was to Suzie's birthday party, which I was aware of, but never thought I'd get an invite to. She was the shining star of the sales team, I was just one of the tech monkeys. She couldn't know of my crush on her, so I tracked her down and asked her if this was put into my pigeon hole by mistake.

She said it was, so good thing that was cleared up.

Rise Up

Water began to fill the tank.

My efforts to break the chains, which had been steady and methodical, became rushed and desperate.

The water rose to my feet.

I began to focus on the one holding my right arm in place, since it would be the most useful if I freed it.

The water rose to my knees.

Somehow, a rivet gave out and my hand was free!

The water rose to my waist.

I forced my other hand through the loop, breaking it in the process.

The water rose to my chest.

I tried to escape.

The water blublublub....

Consequences

The lawyer walked in and sat down at the table, looking confused.

"You want to walk me through what happened here?"

"Not really."

"Well that's not going to help me craft a defence for you."

"I know."

"So... You want a different lawyer?"

"No, you'll do."

He leaned back, and after a moment he threw up his hands.

"Ok, so now what?"

"What's the time?"

"Uh... 11:35?"

"Please...."

"Please what?"

There was a knock on the door, and a cop walked in.

"All charges have been dropped."

The lawyer looked relieved. The client burst into tears.

"She's dead then..."