~Not of my own choice, I became a hero for peace, and I did whatever I was ordered to do. I killed, and I killed, and I killed. I killed without halting. I killed until at last my heart stopped beating. Every life I removed meant I was one step closer to brokering world peace. And then, at last I achieved it. With such an impossible task, you’d think that would make me happy. But that wasn’t the reward I acquired ‘cause I became unnecessary, and I was framed for treasonous activity not of my own doing, and I was executed. Again, and again, and again! 230Please respect copyright.PENANACKMU2vTU44
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Samantha and Jennifer sat upon their checkered picnic blanket, their cooler onto the side, they were sitting at the Boston Common across the street from Park Street Church. The church overlooked them, the grand church spanned the entirety of the corner of Park street and Tremont street, hovering over the opposite side of the common. The red bricks of the church were dotted with two rows of contrastingly white windows, square on the bottom row and grandly arched on the top. There was a clock on all four sides of the brick church leading up to the belfry, and the belfry above pointed upwards like a castle tower, was white, reflecting off the light of the bright sun.230Please respect copyright.PENANAfmi9TT8HvB
Samantha and Jennifer took great care in getting the creases out of the blanket. Samantha laid face up, letting the sun beat down on her face, shielded by large sunglasses. She was resting in her t-shirt and gym shorts with her arms resting at her sides. Jennifer was laying right next to her; her face away from the sun as she lay on her belly, her legs bent in the air, shoeless, and buried her face in Pride and Prejudice. Samantha heard the birds chirping as they fluttered to the treetops, and the dogs barking at squirrels scampering up the trees. She heard the annoying sound of some pop music being played by some obnoxious college kid with their boom box. I thought those were out of style. Those shouldn’t even be a thing anymore. She saw at the corner of her eye, Jennifer twirling her brown hair with her finger.230Please respect copyright.PENANAmqAio65vYE
Samantha glanced at her silver-chained watch wrapped around her right wrist. Her ponytails rested to either side of her golden head, “3:27.” She read aloud and enclosed her hand to a hard fist. Samantha didn’t like being kept waiting, “When are they going to get here? The sandwiches are going to get soggy! They really know how to ruin a good picnic.”230Please respect copyright.PENANAFGoFg0Ec8e
“Patience is a virtue,” Jennifer snickered, bowing her head deeper into her book before putting a plain bookmark in between the pages before closing the book before turning a playful smile to Samantha, “You know Michael. And Tim is usually only along for the ride. Michael likes to take his time, never a rush to do anything.”230Please respect copyright.PENANA1Fza5cTaiv
“You’d think he’d be able to keep time better,” she was being sarcastic, reflecting on the work Michael does: business consultations. “Maybe he’s working.”230Please respect copyright.PENANA2YNQM3idnq
“On a Saturday? Fat chance,” Jennifer cackled out loud, turning on her back and covered her face with her arms, “More likely he is just lounging around waiting to come until the last minute, Michael does as Michael does.” Jennifer twirled her left wrist in her hair.230Please respect copyright.PENANAoGri7cvLgw
“Not like me.” Samantha spoke plainly, clicking her tongue. “Consulting and logistics are two completely different things.”230Please respect copyright.PENANAMF9E3ZyEDw
“No. But who comes thirty minutes early for everything except you? You are unnecessarily early for everything.” Jennifer chuckled, removing her arms from her face, squinting at the afternoon sun. “I swear, you wouldn’t be yourself if you didn’t get to your own funeral thirty minutes early.”230Please respect copyright.PENANAFZByRr6WIn
Samantha shot a sharp glare at her. Jennifer wasn’t looking, her eyes were closed as her face was pointed to the sky. Samantha closed her eyes again and turned her face towards the sun. She looked up into the clouds and looked at the shapes in the sky. Samantha reflected on this, yes, she was early for everything with anxiety if she wasn’t running at least fifteen minutes early but was it really all that necessary? Perhaps she could pray about her anxiety for such a trivial matter.230Please respect copyright.PENANATiwNS7XWwh
“I’m not that bad, am I?” Samantha didn’t think she was that bad, just punctual. Though, she found more often than not her version of punctual was typically fifteen-minutes early. She was never late.230Please respect copyright.PENANAwGnc8iO8J9
“Well, yah.” Jennifer told her, rather sarcastically. “I invited you over to my house after dinner, which was at five. I invited you at 6:00PM. You showed up in the middle of my dinner. You really are funny with time.”230Please respect copyright.PENANArglsd07DLc
“Wait!” Samantha pointed to the sky. “Look right there, it’s a cloud. It looks like—”230Please respect copyright.PENANAC1pDNOzmmb
“What?” Jennifer interrupted, opening her eyes as she shielded them with her hands. “Don’t tell me? No. Don’t. Sam. Sam. No. Bad. That’s bad! Sam! Don’t say it!”230Please respect copyright.PENANAjtkDrPkIfY
“It’s a curtain van!” She exclaimed.230Please respect copyright.PENANAWzcxPIbOSB
“You really need to stop taking work home with you,” Jennifer sighed as she looked at the cloud which Samantha pointed at. She saw something different. “I see a cloud, an image of condensed gaseous water. Only you would be excited to see some logistic import solutions in the sky.” She looked closely at it and rubbed her chin and smiled. “That might be something, now wouldn’t it? A very entertaining idea to have freight stuck in the sky somewhere! No wonder my lab supplies never show up on time.”230Please respect copyright.PENANA32F4PrRumN
“I’m not sure if that’s what clouds are made from. But it’s a curtain van!”230Please respect copyright.PENANAN569XxdG9c
“I’m not a meteorologist. I’m a biologist. Something like that is a little out of my realm of expertise.” Jennifer shook her head.230Please respect copyright.PENANAuTXDNfRrpH
“Cloud gazing?” came a voice above them.230Please respect copyright.PENANAT0RigAwejZ
“Late as usual, Michael.” Samantha scowled at him; his short light brown hair waved as the wind passed through it.230Please respect copyright.PENANAVg6TjymwuN
“Hostility is not appreciated on a Saturday, Samantha.” Michael said rather nonchalantly, smiling. “Besides, I brought a Tim with me.”230Please respect copyright.PENANA3AWfy3b1Yi
“Cloud gazing,” Tim repeated and pushed his glasses closer to his face as he looked to the cooler. “I see you brought the sandwiches. Did you get drinks too?”230Please respect copyright.PENANA6pTkwddagv
“Really,” Jennifer put her hand defensively on her chest. “Really? You think we would forget such things? Do I hear a sense of distrust from you, Tim?” She stood up with Samantha as they went over to the cooler to open it, inside the cooler were sandwiches, bottles of water, granola bars, and cans of soda.230Please respect copyright.PENANAuO2CNIU3bk
“I never knew you to be reliable,” Tim directed his joke to Jennifer, wiping some sweat from his forehead.230Please respect copyright.PENANAbdOKfBJWXA
“Wow!” Samantha exclaimed to Tim. “Rude.” She turned her attention to Michael. “So, anyway, why were you so late?”230Please respect copyright.PENANAHlKoM058co
“Well,” Michael sucked his teeth as he scratched his back over his shoulder. “I was with another friend. He needed someone to talk to. Today,” he deeply exhaled. “You see, his mother died eight years ago in an accident, I think. Today was the anniversary. She died in Nevada. There was some training accident with the U.S Army that apparently went horribly wrong, killed over two-hundred thousand people. So, he needed a shoulder. Well, that’s what he said.”230Please respect copyright.PENANACsE2YBGJka
Samantha sucked her teeth in, her eyes stretched open, and her chest puffed to take a breath. “You could have invited him to hang out with us, Jennifer and I wouldn’t have cared.”230Please respect copyright.PENANA0CSCTCqq3v
“I did but he declined,” His smile faded. “He certainly needed a friend, I was there until he was over it, just to make sure he was going to be okay before I left him.”230Please respect copyright.PENANAeYuMlEGRrf
“Well, let’s put these grim talks aside for now.” Jennifer said, clapping her hands together. “I’m hungry. We’ve waited long enough!”230Please respect copyright.PENANAWS0L4GuT60
Jennifer pulled out the wrapped sandwiches, tossed one each to Samantha, Michael, and Tim: Then tossed one each to them a bottle of water. They unwrapped their sandwiches and ate.230Please respect copyright.PENANAKBjHVvm3yG
“What is this?” Tim spat it out. His face cringed as his mouth made obnoxiously loud chewing noises.230Please respect copyright.PENANAjoqsoOigAV
“Oh, that’s just peanut butter and jelly.” Jennifer shot a smile over to him with her eyelid drooped down halfway.230Please respect copyright.PENANAeCI2YpKlUr
“What! You know this! I am allehgic to freaking peanut buttah!” he cried out.230Please respect copyright.PENANAwfoHcjzuyD
“Well, well, well,” she snickered as she covered her smile with her mouth. “I hope you didn’t fehget yeh epi pen.”230Please respect copyright.PENANApkAjdFjLNZ
“Tim, shut up and eat. We all know that’s a lie. You just hate peanuts.” Michael had some of his sandwich hanging out of his mouth.230Please respect copyright.PENANA5IsxV48Tit
Samantha said nothing. Samantha was a little distracted thinking of Michael’s friend, and those many people who died. That’s a lot of people.230Please respect copyright.PENANAtOHLwDd93H
“Michael?” She asked.230Please respect copyright.PENANAHrhGt5SCsO
“Hmm?” he took a bite and was chewing on his sandwich.230Please respect copyright.PENANAeUtj8qPIL9
“That incident you mentioned,” she began.230Please respect copyright.PENANAnbG9qnYUBh
“Not this again,” Jennifer shook her head as she took a drink of water.230Please respect copyright.PENANAhAEk3rX7hz
“Did you ever hear anything about that incident? I can’t imagine something like that happening here,” Sam asked.230Please respect copyright.PENANApZcM743mSX
“I have not. But then again, it was eight years ago. We were all likely still in middle school, except maybe Jennifer here.” Michael snapped his fingers to point to her. “Where were you eight years ago? Jennifer, you must have heard something. I mean, that’s a lot of people. I find it very hard to believe there wouldn’t be a lot of media attention. Maybe Uncle Sam covered it up well. After all, a mistake at that kind of scale would only tell our enemies we’re weak.”230Please respect copyright.PENANALxmqcJv3uL
“The only problem with that theory is that there weren’t wars we were involved with back then,” Tim argued. He rose his chin up. “However, there always was the possibility they were hiding something they didn’t want the general public to know, you know about the rumors on Area 51, aliens, spacecrafts, and so on.”230Please respect copyright.PENANAY5DViEBkTi
Jennifer took a drink of her water. “Not much. I think I was over in Texas with some family. I did hear something about it. But the news came in very briefly and in spurts. Like the news could have been censored, kudos for you Tim.” She snickered at him. “News censorship happens, doesn’t it? We’ve had the most recent election to tell us that. Besides, with a wealth of information, any number of them can be falsified facts, and if someone reports on fake facts, they could get their butts sued! For the first few days all I remember was that Nevada was a war zone for over eight weeks. That was the only thing consistent regardless if you watched left-wing or right-wing news. U.S government officials finally came out and said it was a training accident. I didn’t believe it; still don’t.”230Please respect copyright.PENANA6UpO78AmiE
“A training accident killed twenty percent of a million people?” Michael nearly spat out his water. “I don’t know if I believe that.”230Please respect copyright.PENANAM23230snxW
“Well, I don’t think many people believed it. But it did happen around Area 51. So, it is believable it could have been an accident, I guess. I mean they hide things pretty well there, and most people who believe in aliens would believe that. Alien laser just went off!” Jennifer waved both her hands excitedly with the last statement. “Well, it was eight years ago. Most people probably forgot about it230Please respect copyright.PENANAMmfWCKMIu2
by now, well, unfortunately except those who lost someone close to them, and it was in Nevada, so we probably don’t know too many people who would have been affected by it. That’s not exactly something someone likes sharing. Hey, my parents died in Area 51!” she attempted to sound gleeful. “Nothing. When would that ever come in conversation?”230Please respect copyright.PENANAMx8d7vfj1n
“Almost never,” Samantha commented, she loved Jennifer, but sometimes she can feel cold. She knew Jennifer wasn’t a cold person, but with her bubbly and spontaneous personality, the things she says could come off cold. “But they had children who they left behind. It’s sad really.”230Please respect copyright.PENANAdO07Fwb1hh
“It is in the past. For some, it is best left there. For others, they will never forget. And the memory will only die when they do,” Jennifer replied more calmly.230Please respect copyright.PENANAAj5s5jfnA5
“Well, it serves no purpose focusing on something like this right now. It is in the past, and apart from Michael, none of us really know anyone directly affected by that, unless they are exceptionally good at hiding it. The only thing we can do is pray for their peace of minds,” said Tim. “Hey, I have an idea. Let’s throw the pigskin around.”230Please respect copyright.PENANABLsE9j5Sps
“That’s a great idea! I haven’t done that since high school!” Samantha jumped up at the suggestion. I guess it was my fault for keeping up with the subject. Sam was especially thankful for Tim providing an out of that conversation.230Please respect copyright.PENANAFzNiyi8V09
“That wasn’t that long ago, it’s only been six years,” Michael chuckled. “You say that like it’s some kind of throwback.”230Please respect copyright.PENANAydFVZs1rMk
“It is,” she replied.230Please respect copyright.PENANAxT3bu0kjSK
“You were on the football team?” Tim seemed surprised.230Please respect copyright.PENANAlIscUIv8zo
“Yes. I was. A little-known fact, I was once a tomboy,” she answered.230Please respect copyright.PENANAn1UhikOOuZ
Samantha proactively packed up the picnic blanket and cooler and brought them to her car, which was parked not too far away. She opened her trunk and put the picnic supplies in, slamming the trunk shut.230Please respect copyright.PENANAAwIKxgXLSC
A lone man by the crosswalk caught her attention. His hand was in his shorts’ pocket and he stared blankly at the trees over by the common. He seemed, happy, with a smile written across his lips, but his eyes told a different story, sunken with lack of sleep and outlined with puffy eyes.230Please respect copyright.PENANAFFps9wDzYH
She returned over to her friends, who were already tossing the football. She sprinted in and intercepted a pass intended for Michael.230Please respect copyright.PENANAVGXAeI9Z5M
“Uhm. That’s my ball, Sam,” Michael turned his palms to the sky.230Please respect copyright.PENANAVkyEfdAIca
The first signs of a city at dusk appeared when the streetlights flickered to life, illumining the sidewalks, which were more hushed, and empty. The light over Park Street’s MBTA station lit up the faces of people standing in limbo of it. Droves of people briskly walked through the station’s steel-frame doors to try to catch the train. Some individuals still lounged by the fountain, sitting on230Please respect copyright.PENANA0G94K7RjxY
benches and chairs, others relaxed on the grass, laying down and looked up at the empty sky with no sense of time or place to be.230Please respect copyright.PENANA1uqmn529s4
“Michael?” Samantha asked as she threw the ball to him.230Please respect copyright.PENANA8wmW7a9yuS
“Yeah?” He let the ball strike his chest as he caught it.230Please respect copyright.PENANAZIoGqmtswy
“It’s getting late. I want to walk through the Garden before the sun completely sets.” She pointed at the shining streetlights. “Can we?”230Please respect copyright.PENANAEJ6gdo9SRF
“Honestly, that sounds nice,” Jennifer exclaimed, letting out a yawn. “We should all go. Isn’t that right, Tim?”230Please respect copyright.PENANAp7B3Y3FPcM
“Tim didn’t say no.” Samantha answered for him.230Please respect copyright.PENANAg1ydgY7xWR
“Wait, I didn’t—” Tim opened his mouth to protest.230Please respect copyright.PENANA2uZ5LBsQNy
“Then it’s decided. Come on, Tim, I know you don’t want to but it’s not far. It’s not a big garden, man,” Michael said. “It’s literally on the other end of the street.”230Please respect copyright.PENANAieRzLNe1bQ
Tim sighed, “Fine.” He put the ball back into his little traveling bag he kept with him everywhere. “Let’s go see this Boston Public Gahden.”230Please respect copyright.PENANAUAvnolNszQ
The four of them walked through the other side of the Common, leading them across the street and into the Boston Public Garden through black gates. They were underneath the covering of trees. Some swans were floating down the body of water to the right side, and on the water was a covering of leaves, hiding something underneath.230Please respect copyright.PENANApHrj6kOgg1
Samantha found something peaceful about it. It was quiet, soft, like the good Lord’s creation. Everything seemed to be in perfect230Please respect copyright.PENANAfW1cFxz8G8
harmony here, nestled away from the city but protected from the loud busy noises of the car horns and alarms, the natural noises of the miscellaneous birds, insects, and squirrels drowned out what little cars drove by. It was a little utopia inside the hustle and bustle of the city, right in the center of Boston! It reminded her of the woods in Vermont, a place she rarely visits anymore now she’s left.230Please respect copyright.PENANA4G8E03q2Ys
Tim and Jennifer were talking amongst each other. Samantha chuckled behind them as the Jennifer, the bubbly biologist had a way of annoying Tim, the introverted events coordinator. One might think that Jennifer should be the events coordinator and Tim the biologist. It was this irony of the personality traits and their respective careers that made Sam chuckle. Of course, one might think they were dating with the way they talked, but Sam knew better.230Please respect copyright.PENANAnFLkqZbZRP
It was good to just slow down a little. Samantha appreciated that Michael had a similar busyness to their respective work weeks, being able to just simply settle and get drawn back in with the majestic pull of the natural world. They had no time just to sit back and relax.230Please respect copyright.PENANA6nz5Jwrwg8
Samantha suddenly noticed that the air suddenly felt wrong, and thin. Exhaling the frost from her breath, she stopped in her tracks with gaping eyes. She felt the cold air fill up her lungs. Her hair stood on ends. The cold air felt like a cold day of winter to her, she rubbed her shoulders to warm herself up. It shouldn’t be this cold. This is spring! She turned her head to see the man from earlier. His hand was still in his pocket, his smile was still wide, too wide. Again, just like before, he wasn’t looking at anything specific. His stare was230Please respect copyright.PENANAXQHFgQA3za
just blank: his eyes sunken in, and overbearingly tired. This man was to the world as his smile is to his face: out of place, like he and it doesn’t belong here.230Please respect copyright.PENANAKfRERu8M34
She moved her feet again, catching up to Michael before the man would notice her looking at him. There was something off about the man, but she couldn’t place her finger on it, the fact remains, the sudden temperature drop was unnatural. Shortly after returning to Michael’s side, the warmth returned to the air, or perhaps she just entered an area where the air was warmer. Perhaps she was feeling things that weren’t there.230Please respect copyright.PENANAQHaU0qj6T2
“That’s much better.” She felt a little at ease returning to a sense of equilibrium, where the air felt natural, rather than the little pocket of superstitious air she walked through. Did anyone else notice?230Please respect copyright.PENANAhrOS4EVR9e
“What?” Michael asked, turning his head to her but kept walking towards the end of the Gardens.230Please respect copyright.PENANArmN2sSzCmP
“Didn’t you notice the temperature drastically drop?” Samantha’s eyes narrowed. “The temperature just dropped back there. I hope I’m not experiencing hot flashes.”230Please respect copyright.PENANAktSOGU3uXz
“I wouldn’t worry about it, I mean, I didn’t notice,” Michael said. “It’s New England. We experience four seasons in less than a week.”230Please respect copyright.PENANAQE1BkA8x8H
“That may be, but it shouldn’t have dropped that much!”230Please respect copyright.PENANAKpBAiqvxoH
“I told you, Sam, I’m not a meteorologist.” Jennifer called back to her, turning her head.230Please respect copyright.PENANAIQOY36JQgo
“I wasn’t asking you!” Samantha snapped.230Please respect copyright.PENANA3TMPeWhOxq
“Well, that was rude.” Tim commented, looking back at them over his shoulder as he kept walking. “What’s got you all worked up?”230Please respect copyright.PENANA2BsnZntKpz
“I just—I just saw a man.”230Please respect copyright.PENANAXyC0hIDkUr
“This is Boston. There’s always someone around.” Michael chuckled, likely finding Samantha’s little episode humorous.230Please respect copyright.PENANA4M7PdLxfVI
“Not with a blank stare. Not with a smile as wide as his.” She replied, “And the temperature.”230Please respect copyright.PENANAecayaaQrhD
Jennifer looked around behind them. “I don’t see anyone.”230Please respect copyright.PENANANgMSAZ34NA
“You could just be imagining things,” Michael replied.230Please respect copyright.PENANAbAPUjrDTJv
She shook her head, clenching her fists at her side, “I know what I saw; I know what I felt.” She turned to try to catch a glimpse of the man again, only this time, he wasn’t there.230Please respect copyright.PENANAdQQBlqgNTy
“You didn’t have a load to pick up, did you?” Michael asked. “You know, one of those Saturday loads that needs to be picked up, but you have no way to confirm if it did or not until Monday, and by that time it’s much too late.”230Please respect copyright.PENANAUsyoAE6IN0
“Gosh no! I took care of that one already,” Samantha said as they finally exited the garden.230Please respect copyright.PENANAaJmjyJN3q2
“Aww. Where did the sun go? I still want to be out,” Jennifer yawned. “Kong’s is not far off from here.”230Please respect copyright.PENANAB4zbOfIjB2
“Cheap beer,” Tim commented.230Please respect copyright.PENANADPRDaD4zGs
“Not me,” Samantha didn’t want to go out anyway, the presence and disappearance of this peculiar man made her want to curl up in bed with a book. She also didn’t want to spend more time with230Please respect copyright.PENANAuogHylSTZT
Jennifer or Tim, they especially didn’t seem to believe her. She was a tough woman, but she couldn’t help but feel hurt that none of them, especially Michael, believed her, “It’s too late for me right now. I’m still recovering from that nightmare those two drivers put me through yesterday.”230Please respect copyright.PENANAqEn3dJsoaH
“What did they do?” Michael asked. Her trucking nightmares were never boring.230Please respect copyright.PENANAeZEijvLq11
“The driver just dropped their trailer in the doors and unhooked their trucks from their trailer and drove off to get breakfast without telling anyone. Back-to-back. Then my customer got frantic because as far as he was concerned, he lost a truck but inherited two trailers he didn’t want anything to do with!” she said, letting out a deep sigh. “Oh well, at least he pays well for every other load he gives me. Alright, I’m tired. I’m going home, going to bed. I’ll start fresh in the morning. Tuesday?”230Please respect copyright.PENANAE2g5AQTKDO
“Yes,” Michael said. “As long as I don’t get caught in one of those overseas conference calls. Those are a pain.”230Please respect copyright.PENANADNHLjiuOAe
“I hear you. Michael, are you coming?” Tim asked.230Please respect copyright.PENANAnMG9AoLQYs
“Nah. Next time,” he replied.230Please respect copyright.PENANAsUPcoMSdBz
“Party pooper,” Jennifer frowned.230Please respect copyright.PENANA1Jnlk5eaLp
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