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CAFFEINE AND REGRETS

"So Moe! What do you think about all of this? Why are we here? I mean, philosophically speaking!" I asked the balding man with curiosity.

"Why are we here? I don’t know the answer to that." he responded nonchalantly as he continued to sip his black coffee.

"I mean It’s an open ended question... Do you know our purpose here? This can’t be all one huge coincidence. Can it?"

"I never thought about it that deeply to be honest."

"Really, how many years have you been here for? You have to be 70 years old at least."

"Heyy..I’m 62!!" He was offended.

There weren't many customers at the café right now; Moe and I were sitting on a table in the corner, hidden from others.

"Oh really… you don’t look like it." I didn’t stop the friendly banter.

He shook his head sideways and said,

"You kids these days," he muttered in the same tone as my Uncle did.

"No, but seriously. You never thought about it… what if we’re here for a reason."

"Yeah… I used to wonder about things like that when I was a young man like you."

"And?" I asked with anticipation.

He looked at me straight in the eyes and said,

"And then I met Elaine."

I frowned, feeling let down.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"You’ve never fallen in love have you."

"I mean, I’ve been with women in my previous life if that’s what you’re-"

"That’s not love, sonny."

I looked at him, perplexed.

"I don’t get it. How can love be the reason why we’re here?"

"I never said it was! I just said I stopped looking for one when I found my Elaine." He put his coffee mug down and continued,

"When I looked into Elaine's eyes all of my angst dissolved! It vanished just like that!" He snapped his fingers.

"She was like a goddess! She put me under her spell since the first time I laid my eyes on her! Since then, I've stopped wondering why I'm here and just started living!" He said with a smile.

"I…see." His love for his deceased wife was incredible.

"Not everyone’s that lucky Peter and even if they find that special person it's not guaranteed that it’ll work."

"But isn’t true love-"

"I never said what me and Elaine shared was true love. It was just simply…love. We had our share of disagreements and fights, but we worked through them. True Love’s for suckers who spend too many hours watching movies!" He let out a cackle and continued,

"I had some great memories with her. Most of them are happy, others not so much."

"I…see." I repeated.

"Nothing in life is easy, sonny! When you think you have it all, life just…rips it from your arms." He smiled defeatedly.

"Argh… Don’t listen to me son; I’m just an old man rambling! Go venture out and look for your own meaning. Answer the questions we couldn’t find! He raised his empty mug in my honor!

"I’m glad that you finally stopped your rambling. Geez I came here to vent to you, not the other way around." I joked,

He started laughing like a madman,

"I like you kid! You’re very different from the Peter Parker I read but you’re alright."

"I like you too Moe..as long as you give me cheap coffee that is!"

"You whippersnapper!"

We spent the next hour wasting our time talking. I mean "him" when I say "we."

No seriously, how long can an old man ramble on? Jesus at least stop to consider the well being of the person you’re speaking to!

"So I’m guessing you have superpowers, right?" I ask,

"Me? Noooo!" I didn’t know if he was being sarcastic here, so I decided to press him a little more.

"Seriously, you found a way back home while remaining a civilian?"

He put his hands up. He knew he was caught red handed.

"You got me there!"

I made sure to turn around to see if anyone was listening in; thankfully, the café was nearly empty.

"So…what’s like your powers!" I asked, giddy with excitement.

He looked at the ceiling and relaxed for a few seconds and then let out a deep breath.

"Kid….I…left that life…a long time ago! There’s no point in dredging up the past." He tried arguing.

"Oh so you know all my powers and I don’t get to know anything about you? That hardly seems reassuring. C’mon Moe you know you can trust me!"

He sighed,

I held back my laughter, it seemed I was giving the old man a headache.

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He snapped his fingers.

"That’s my power." He said with zero energy.

"Snapping your fingers…really?" I said with an amused look.

Right then my coffee started floating. I moved back into my chair, taken aback.

"WHAT the...?" I exclaimed.

The cup floated innocently in the air.

‘Wait a minute my voice must have attracted some of the custo-’

I turned back to see if anyone had taken notice at my outburst. everyone minding their business, completely oblivious to the flying cup.

Woah!

"Is it like, what do they call it, telekinesis?...yeah Telekinesis!"

He took another deep breath and said,

"I wish it ended there kiddo! It’s not telekinesis! It’s my own personal pocket dimension. I can control everything that happens here."

"....'

"Yup."

"...."

"It seems you understand."

"Dude…that’s like…that’s definitely…like…"

"Powerful?" he asked me,

"Yeah!"

"Yes, I suppose it is! I can control almost everything that happens within a ten meter radius around me. It’s really exhausting to maintain though."

"What do you mean by 'control'? Like matter manipulation."

He muttered something about how he’s one day regret telling me about his powers and proceeded to say,

"It’s easier to show you!" He snapped his fingers again.

The floating cup turned into a living sparrow and started flying around in circles. Our table transmuted into granite, the tiles on the floor turned into dirt. I started looking around as the realization set in, we were no longer inside his café.

"Holy Shit!" I looked at him in complete disbelief!

We were in a scenic mountainous landscape. It was right out of a fantasy painting.

"Yeah it’s something else isn’t it!" He smiled weakly.

"Where are we?" I say getting up to inspect the grass near me.

"This is my wife’s favorite place!" He quickly corrected himself,

"I’m sorry…it was her favorite place."

He explained further,

"She was a painter. She drew this place in a painting when we were young. I liked it enough to make it a reality. It was a birthday gift for her."

"Moe, you really know how to pick gifts!" I said laughing and barely containing my wanderlust.

I was greedily soaking in all the details of the landscape.

"Can I walk there?"

Moe smiled and replied,

"You can do whatever you want Peter!"

I started walking to the open field covered in moss and grass. The sky was full of clouds and there was a nearby lake to my left.

The other side was covered with mountain ranges! The weather was incredible!

I heard a huge rumbling from one of the mountains.

'That wasn't a mountain....that's a volcano! And by the looks of it was gonna erupt anytime now.'

"Don't worry Peter.. It won’t hurt us!"

The lava oozed from the mountain and spilled from the mountain's edge, sliding downwards. The lava was rapidly consuming the mountain and heading its way towards us.

The part that messed with me the most was that the sun was just above that particular volcano. So it looked like the sun was dripping its liquid contents onto the volcano and it was spilling over to the earth.

"Elaine insisted that we add the lava and the sun for effect!" He smiled while looking into the distance.

I sat down on the granite chair, it was no longer made of wood.

"Won’t they be looking for us back in the real world?"

"Why would they be? To them, it would look like we’re just sitting there and having a chat."

I still didn't understand the full extent of his powers and to be honest I don't think I wanted to know!

The sparrow sat on his shoulder.

His coffee cup turned into a pack of cigarettes, he took one out and started smoking it!

"Ah I missed this."

"Careful with that…Lung cancer is no joke Moe."

He gave an appreciative nod and said,

"When I smoke here..it doesn’t affect me in the real world."

I did a double take.

"I told you, in here I control everything. Every single atom or magical property answers to me and only me. I’m basically omnipotent here. Laws of physics? No such thing can bind me as long as I'm in this dimension!"

"So you’re telling me….. you’re basically god!!"

"In a way, yes but only here."

"....."

"Satisfied with your questions?" He said with a smirk.

All the people I know with superpowers are crazy powerful.

One can stop time as he fancies and the other is literally god in his dimension.

'Man…when I first came here I thought I was special but now I see the truth…the world doesn’t give a damn about me! There are more powerful people than I can imagine.’

I looked at the bald man who was now smoking a Cuban cigar.

‘Much more powerful than I can ever hope to be!’

"Moe... You don’t mind me asking but…. why don’t you bring your wife…Elaine back with this ability. It should be possible...… no?"

He took another whiff of the cigar and said,

"I want to say it goes against my principles but the truth is Peter, I can’t bring the things I create here to the ‘real world’. Whatever the 'real world' is."

"So you can’t heal people with cancer!" I asked, hoping to be proven wrong.

"Yes…I could alleviate some of their pain here and make them young and brand new. Once they leave here though, all the effects wear off."

‘Damn If only that wasn’t the case. I could have asked him to treat Uncle Ben!’

The lava was getting near, consuming everything on its path; earth and water alike.

"This is an insane ability, you know that right? All I can do is crawl on the wall like an insect."

He smiled crookedly and said,

"Sometimes Peter parker…you couldn't ask for anything more!"

"Yeah that’s rich coming from a literal omnipotent god."

The lava was now ten feet away from us and it rushed towards us like a red wave.

Just before it hit us though we teleported back to the café.

‘Woah that’s trippy!’

It was surreal, one moment you’re in a painting like landscape and in another you’re back in the old rustic café.

It felt like we never left in the first place!

"Impressed!"

"Beyond. I have no more doubts about you!" I joked with the old man.

‘If he ever became my enemy, I wouldn’t stand a chance!’ I concluded.

Maybe this was all a giant bluff, his powers might not have been as scary as it sounded but I didn't want to put to that the test.

'Besides I don't plan on fighting crime! I'll make money and retire at a very young age. Maybe I'll travel the world and help impoverished communities!'

"Still suspicious about me? Well not that I can blame. That’s also a good trait to have in this world."

Before I could respond a small girls voice yelled out to Moe in delight,

"Pop-pop!" She couldn’t be more than five, she had light auburn hair.

"Oh my sweetheart what’re you doing here?" The old man got up and lifted the little girl up and swirled her around.

‘Must be his granddaughter!’

"Where is your mother sweetie?" He rubbed his nose with hers making the little girl giggle.

"I’m here dad…Mary wanted to see you! So we decided to drop by after her school. Sorry for not calling!" A red haired woman in her late 30’s spoke.

"Well of course my sweet angel misses her Pop-pop doesn’t she? Want some cookies, we have some fresh ones right outta the oven."

‘Seems like Moe wanted some Grandpa-granddaughter alone time, I’ll excuse myself.’

I got up from the table.

"You can stay for dinner if you want, Peter." He was carrying her on his hip. She was assessing me like I was some alien.

Biting her nails on one hand and grabbing her grandfather tightly with the other.

I put some money on the table.

"Nah I’m good Moe, I’m getting late anyways. See ya later."

"Grampa, who's this?" she asked looking sacred,

"Sorry about crashing your conversation like this!" His daughter apologized to me.

I waved her off and said, "It’s no problem Ma’am!"

"This guy." Moe pointed to me and continued,

"This guy is a really bad guy.. If you don’t eat your veggies and drink milk everyday. He’ll come to your home and eat you!"

"Dad!" his daughter semi-shouted.

Mary got scared and burrowed her face inside her Grandfather's chest. She started crying like any normal child would.

She was bawling her eyes out while Moe was laughing it up.

‘I’m really sorry for that. Dad doesn't know when to stop joking!"

She said to me, Then she proceeded to apologize to all the customers near us for the disturbance .

The little girl was inconsolable.

"Dad. How many times do I have to tell you to stop scaring her like that."

Moe didn't respond to his daughter's complaints as he kept laughing loudly.

I walked up to the kid and patted her head, "Don’t worry little miss we don’t eat children anymore. The law forbids it now."

This made her freeze. She straightened her back but still couldn’t look me in the eyes. Fearing I’ll go back on my word if she made direct eye contact.

‘Oh god she’s so cute.’

"Well the monster has to go now. Miss, your grandfather is the terrifying one! Make sure to listen to everything he says!"

I turned to leave.

His daughter apologized to me again and I waved it off again.

"Peter." Moe called out to me,

Mary was now peering at me with her hands covering her face, probably wondering if I was a monster. Poor thing.

"Remember what I said! Carve your own path and find your own meaning."

I smiled and replied with a simple but cool,

"Will do boss!"