The Guy and His Self

He was asked if he wanted to go anywhere where the light could not reach him. He gave a predatory nod, stared blankly, and said "Why'd I bother doing that if I can't even get so much as a single moment of quiet? Go away, all of you, and give me my space, 'cause if there's one thing I hate, it's nosy people interrupting me when I least want to be."

"But we were tasked with getting you for a very important task. We need you to come."

"I DON'T CARE! I KNOW I HAVE STUFF TO DO! I KNOW! BEFORE I CAN DO THAT, HOWEVER, I NEED TO HAVE SOME ALONE TIME. WHEN I'M READY TO GO, I'LL GO, BUT UNTIL THEN, LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!"

"Fine, fine. But don't say we didn't warn you."

The crowd went away, and the guy was once more left alone. At that moment, he let out a deep exhale and leaned against the brick wall. In front of him, the sun's last fading rays shone out, but those rays did not last forever, and it wasn't long before the sun finally fell. Once it did, night ascended, and the guy let out yet another resigned sigh.

"Life is life. I can't believe everything I've had to deal with, and yet, I wouldn't have it any other way. After all, it ain't easy being me. Sure, I get paid well, but I doubt many people would want to have the job I have."

The guy kept talking, and said "Look at me, staring here at the horizon. I should be happy and enjoying myself, but instead, I have no clue what the hell I'm supposed to be doing. If my mom were here.."

(He pulls out a locket and reminisces)

"Nope." He shakes his head. He can't dwell on the past—not now and certainly not anytime soon—since it's a sign of weakness. At the same time, however, the guy needed a way to let out the stress and emotions which he held over the course of the day. To that end, he took another exhale, and turned to his mind.

"Think..Think..Think..Think...What could I possibly do at this point?"

"Man, I really need something to take the edge off. I'm kind of a nervous wreck right now, and if I keep this load within me forever, something's gonna burst."

(He enters into his mind, searching for a thought that could lead him to something. Suddenly, a thought—one of those where something which was obfuscated becomes readily apparent—appeared, and with that, he had an idea.)

"I need to head back to my lair and get a break from all this. I need to chill."

(He begins walking. After some time walking, he finally reaches a warehouse on the outskirts of the docks. Though seemingly decrepit, with some boarded up doors, faded signs, chipped paint, and slight weeds growing on the pavement on the outside, it's actually quite nice and comfy on the inside.)

Grabbing his key, he unlocks the door and enters in. Now inside the building, he closes the door.

(The building inside is split into what would seem as though two floors are present, since there is a loft in the second floor where he has his bedroom and bathroom. A set of ladders connect this space to the first floor, where there's a kitchen, a living room of sorts, a library, and a gym. All in all, it's quite a comfortable place to spend time in, though the exterior would most definitely not make you think that.)

Now inside the building, the guy decides to sit on the couch and watch some TV. Grabbing his remote, he flips through the channels, trying to find something that will suit his fancy. Several channels later and nothing really gets his attention. Slightly frustrated, he turns off the TV.

“Stupid TV, never having anything I like to watch. Why do I even bother to have it around?” One of these days...”

Some time passes by, and the guy's stomach begins to rumble. He's hungry, and needs to eat something. He goes to the kitchen and rummages the shelves, the cabinets, the refrigerator, and a host of other things, until in a corner of the refrigerator, he found a Tupperware container with some leftover rice with meat and vegetables. He'd cooked a meal a couple of days before, and being the economizing type, ate a portion of it and stored several days' worth of portions in various Tupperware containers. Several of these were made, but over the course of time, dwindled down to two. In taking one to eat, there remained only one left.

“I'm gonna have to cook some more food to last me these couple of days. Tomorrow might work, but I can't be totally sure. After all, I have a contract I need to do tomorrow, and I'm sure that whomever wanted me at this moment, without knowing that I don't submit to being forced to do something in such notice, will want to gain revenge somehow. I'll have to keep an eye on that person, and see what happens.”

(He puts himself in a corner of the kitchen. In that corner lies a small wooden table. Jagged marks and edges indicate the many lives and the many people it served before it came into the guy's hands, but it still remains in use. Grabbing a placemat, he places it on the table, grabs a fork and knife and a napkin, which he uses to place the respective utensils on, and a cup which he fills with water.)

With his food in front of him, he stays in silence for a minute and digs in to his food. Several more minutes pass as he eats the meal and takes some mouthfuls of water. After a while has passed, he finished his meal. He got up from the table, put the Tupperware, utensils, and cup in the sink, and then promptly washed them with soap and water. Then, he removed some bits of items on the placemat and stored the placemat. He cleaned the table and with his sustenance met, left the kitchen.

By this point, he was unsure of what time it was, and as a result, stares at his wristwatch. The time on it is 9:20 PM. He still has a couple of hours before he has to sleep, but he still feels a need to do something before he showers and starts to lie on the bed.

He decides, after some debate, to head to the gym. He hoped to work out somewhat to strengthen his muscles and keep his body fit while at the same time being able to focus on something other than the day that would soon be at hand.

(The gym has a weight set, a treadmill, an elliptical machine, a rope-climbing area, and several other machines. It, much like the rest of the place, is kept well-organized.)

He grabs a set of weights and begins to lift them up and down and up and down. He does several repetitions, and breaks into a sweat. It makes sense that he would, given that he has steadily been increasing the weight he bears. He currently benches 100 pounds, so he's definitely no lightweight, but he'd like to bench more. He moves on from that, however, and goes to other machine. After repetitive motions in the elliptical, and working out in a series of machines, he comes to the last part of the workout that he wants to do for the day: the rock-climbing area.

The rock climbing set goes up to a rather decent height, and a series of steps, of the kind used in these kinds of sets, is found. As the exercise is meant to strengthen the muscles of his body, he doesn't use a rope. Instead, he placed himself on one of the steps and proceeds to climb. It's a hard and intense workout, but after a while climbing, he reaches the top. He smiles and cheers for a moment only to descend the set one more and return to the ground.

By this point, he's sweaty and tired from all the exercising he's done, and because of this, he decides that it's time for him to head to his room. Climbing up the ladder, he heads to the loft in the second floor. There, on the left side, lies the bed, a nightstand, a small closet, and the bathroom. To the right side, there lies a desk strewn with papers and an expensive desktop rig (after all, his job does give him a lot of spending money, and he does like to use his computer, so it makes sense that he'd want to splurge). There's also a small shelf of sorts where a couple of scattered books and knick-knacks can be found, but aside from that, there isn't much else to see.

He moves to the left side of the room and undresses himself. Tossing the dirty clothes into a corner of the room, he heads to the bathroom. Entering the bathroom, he uses the toilet and from there proceeds to head into the shower. After some time passes, he finishes showering. From there, he grabs a towel and dries himself off. At the sink, he brushes his teeth and combs his hair. Once that is done, he leaves the bathroom, closing the door, and hops on to the bed. In the nightstand, his smartphone is there. He grabs it, checks his email, and watches a bunch of shows on Netflix before he decides, close to midnight, to call it a day. At that moment, he places the smartphone back on the nightstand, places it to charge, turns off the lamp, and falls deeply asleep.

Rays of sunshine start to stream through the window, and as the room starts to brighten up, the guy is still deep in sleep. Several hours pass, and sure enough, the guy wakes up. At that point, the guy checks his smartphone to see the time. It's 9:30 AM. With that in mind, he gets out of bed, proceeds to shower, and gets dressed.

With him dressed, he had to check to see if he had any errands to be done. He knew he'd later on have to go to the grocery store to buy food and other such things, and he also had to check to see if there were any contracts that he would need to fulfill. Before all of that, however, he had to eat breakfast.

He went down to the kitchen and checked in his refrigerator and the cupboards. Food was running low, and he realized that what he had in his lair for breakfast wouldn't be enough. Because of this, he made a mental note to buy breakfast items and also realized that he would have to eat breakfast elsewhere.

Leaving the warehouse, he walks to a small shed located to the slight left of the building. Inside that shed were two cars and a motorcycle. He decided to grab his van and boarded on it. Driving it for some time, he finally saw a coffee shop coming up and decided to stop there and have breakfast. He found a parking spot (difficult to do considering that the area is part of a relatively well-sized city; it's been gentrified, but I'm digressing, so, anyway..) and parked his car there. He stepped out of the car and trod through the slightly worn asphalt and pavement until he saw the door of the coffee shop. He entered the shop, and as the door opened, a bell rang, seemingly to indicate that a person was entering he shop. Once inside the shop, the guy placed himself in line as he waited to order.

(He may have been a mercenary, and while he was quite skilled at fighting, he felt that he should wait in line, since he was, in spite of his prodigious talents, merely another man. In addition, he needed to avoid attention, and demanding his way to the front would most certainly cause attention to be drawn to him.)

Some time passed, and his turn to order finally came. At that moment, he glanced and saw the barista taking his order.

“Sir, what would you like to have?” stated the barista.

“I’ll have a medium coffee with an egg sandwich and hash browns, thank you very much.” replied the guy.

“Thanks. Your total will be $6.38.”

The guy paid for his breakfast and was given a small cone with the number 9. He found a small table inside the store that looked out on a window. There, he sat and looked out the window for a while. It wasn’t long before the food was brought to him, and when it was, he began to eat it.

“This egg sandwich and these hash browns are delicious. The coffee’s good too.”

Contented, he finished his breakfast. However, he remained seated at the table as the remnants of his meal were discarded by a staff member. Sipping his coffee, he thought long and hard about what it was that he had to do.

“After this, I have to go grocery shopping to buy some food, then I have to do an errand for someone who has contacted me today, in the afternoon I have to see a friend of mine, and in the evening I’ll have to schedule a session to get a tattoo. On top of all of this, I still have to deal with those people from the other day. I blew them off that one time, but I can’t keep on doing that. Sooner or later, I’ll have to do whatever it is they want me to do or they’ll get me for my lack of attention to that task.”

(At this moment, he reminisces to his childhood, a time where everything was easier and he didn’t have so much to worry about. A brief happiness washes over him, but before long, he has to return himself to the harsh light of reality. Standing up from the chair, he takes his last sip of coffee, throws it away, and leaves the coffee shop.)