6 months ago.

It was a typical Sunday afternoon.

Solomon drove all the way to Utah to hangout with Chad. It was their third in-person meetup. They've been fishing for the past 3 hours. The sun was bright and warm, the fish were plentiful and ripe. Tall grass fused with the sand, as two lawn chairs rested by a pond. Solomon wore an unbuttoned red Hawaiian shirt, blue cargo shorts, red flip flops, an orange bucket hat, and those iconic cracked sunglasses. Meanwhile, his friend wore khaki shorts, Disney Cars crocs, and a floral pattern bowling shirt.

ring-ring-ring-ring

"oh, dude!, I think I got something!" whispered Chad.

Belko leaned over in quiet amusement.

"Well? Let's take a gander at it!" he replied with a smile.

Chad used all of his unga strength to rip the fishing line that was a quarter of a mile away back towards himself in almost an instant, reeling reeling reeling until the treasure was in their hands.

It was a carp. A crappy, dinky, dull little carp.

"Solomon! Look! We got it! We got a fish!"

"Yeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!" shot Solomon out in excitement.

"Let's put it in the cooler so we can cook it at home."

"Agreed."

"Now then, where were we?" asked Chad.

"You asked about my past."

"Ah! Yeah, yeah, sorry, continue."

"No worries. Would you like me to start all the way from the beginning? Or some specific parts."

"I mean, I'm in no rush, I'm gonna be with you all day so... yeah fuck it, go ahead, I don't mind."

"Whole thing?"

"Whole thing. Not a single ounce left out."

"Heheh, aaaaaaallright" chuckled Solomon.

"It all started in my humble little town in Gary, Indiana.

It wasn't a very nice place to grow up in, not at all, no. From what little mama told me about the family, her daddy's been stuck there as a kid, and her daddy's daddy's been there since they were a kid. Due to the economy crashing all those years ago, things only got worse and worse. People got poorer, the city grew desolate, the lucky ones moved out, and those who stayed got swallowed. The misery that sapped at the town's people grew 'longside the vines that enveloped the buildings. In no time, the city got blotted out, and everyone forgot its existence. I wouldn’t be surprised if the government stopped taxing Gary simply because they forgot about it!" chuckled Solomon.

"Everyone was poor and dirty. Even the top dogs, the mayor and the gangs weren't too different from the rest of us. We only ate canned goods, rice and beans back then. But even those who trampled over us didn't eat steak more than twice a month, I know damn well for sure."

Solomon paused. He stared at the grass as his expression of nostalgia morphed into a quiet monotone stare.

"Mommy took solace in the lord. In the bible. When her daddy hit her, she talked to the lord, praying for better times. The lord answered, and eventually, her daddy died in a car accident. I don't think that she specifically wanted her daddy to die, but when one asks the lord for favors, beggars can't be choosers- quite literally. Would you agree?"

Chad pondered for a sec.

"I can see what you're saying, but I think it's more of a case by case thing. If anything, I don't think every solution should warrant an extreme answer."

"But it gets the job done, no?"

"Ehhhhhhhh. Again, I can see what you're saying but like... I guess."

Solomon chuckled.

"Shall I continue?"

"Don't need to ask."

"Alright.

Now, Mama was alone. My mama was only 4 years old when her mama died; so growing up, she didn’t have anyone to live with, except for the rats and cockroaches that lived within her walls and in her pillow and underneath her bed and in the floorboards in this tiny little apartment. Eventually, she didn't have any way of paying for rent, so what was the plan? Find a man.

Find a man she did, and within a few months, she got me.

Unfortunately, daddy died when I was too young so I don't 'member much but uhhhh.... I like to imagine he was a fine man. Mama said he was either a carpenter or a plumber... and aside from that I don't 'member much.

So it was just me and mama, living in a little rundown house at the edge of town. Mama couldn't work because of her bad arm, so we just had to barely scrape by on what we found."

"Rats?" propped up Chad in a sarcastic tone.

"Prayers!"

"N-oh fuck," groaned Chad as he face palmed.

"We ate around three times a week, and if we got lucky, we would go by the grocery store dumpsters every other Saturday and find free canned goods that were only expired by one day. By one day! Can you believe it? They were throwing away perfectly fine food over a label. Tch, bet they feel so stupid.

Anyway, even though we had some success with praying, momma insisted that we pray and pray and pray all the time; whenever we had a spare moment. It's like a lottery, except the only thing we'll be spending is our time, and when it comes to the lord's infinite charity, you just gotta keep askin' for it. Now, I know what you might be thinking: if god is so full of goodwill, why didn't we eat everyday? Or live in a better place, a place where there weren't holes in the roof, or rats underneath, or fungi on our skin, or clear water" chuckled Belko nervously.

"But that's the thing:

A. The lord is a busy man. He may be almighty, but there are some folks out there who need that superhero miracle more than us. Maybe a guy who needs to survive from a car crash, or someone who's starving more, ya know?"

"Totally" responded Chad.

"And B:

It's a test."

Chad tightened his lip and furrowed his brow.

After a brief pause, Chad asked: "...what?"

"The lord is testing. Testing us. All of us

Why else would we have hardships in life? Why else would our everlasting strength and love for one another, neighbor to neighbor exist? Why else would we cause strife against one another? If it isn't to teach and punish those who are against our collective wishes, then surely, it's simply because they want to cause distrust within our human communion. He’s testing our faith, giving birth to these tempters and naysayers, watching our reactions and judging us so. Nobody deserves to live if it's not for the sake of the greater good. No. No. Simply impossible, unbearable. I've lived through that mistake before, but momma made sure to correct that a long time ago. And I've talked to the lord one too many times (though, it's never enough to see the man mind you), but I've seen him enough to know that he's up there, that he's there listening. And my actions are more than enough to prove that."

Chad shook his head.

"How so?"

Belko chuckled.

"How so? You hearin' him?" asked Belko as he pointed towards his friend.

"I'm an agent of God ya know!" answered Belko.

"Like an angel or a preacher or...?"

"No- nonono. Nothing like that. Angels are divine spiritual creatures who work the fabric of reality to cause little miracles and fight demons and such. Angels may work things from the perspective of sayyy....a head director or a uh...

uhm....

What's the word for a really busy business man?"

"Really busy business man."

"That- yeah!

I'm more of a debt collector. I reap the sins of these people as a righteous tool of god, in the name of god, for his true holiness, always and forever; Amen. And as a preacher I mean... I guess that's the closest thing to my role in life. However, there is one key difference.

Actions always speak louder than words".

Chad made small little clapping gestures with a smile.

"Bravo

Now, continue with your story."

"Right, right.

So I was with mama for basically my entire life back home. We never had money for schooling or... really anything, so most of my education was from mama and the word of the lord."

Belko paused.

.

.

.

He resumed.

"I read that book everyday. Whenever I wasn't praying, or scavenging, I was reading the holy word...

Mama had me read that book all the time. And what happened when I finished it? Read it again. She commanded me to read that book until I memorized every single verse. And I happily obliged to mama's wishes. Of course, there's times where I didn't read for a night or two because the scavenging was so exhausting that day or because we haven't eaten in a week or so. But mama was right in doing what she did. From the perspective of a mother, and from the perspective of a true follower of the lord, it was only just. Punishments are served for a reason, and thus, I never repeated them again. That's how people learn. Isn't that right?" he chuckled.

Chad wrinkled his nose and gave an expression of dismay.

"Uh... sure man."

Solomon continued.

"But, that's kinda the gist for a majority of my years there. Now, where it really changed was when I was 14. I was tired of starving at home and I wanted mama to be happy and to live in a nice little house with actual working electricity and gas and to use water that wasn't brown. That's when I got my first job.

I was a delivery boy for the local mafia."

"I'd assume their logic was that they saw an old poor runt scavenging, saw me as a little guinea pig, and offered me an easy job. I probably impressed them something fierce because for some reason, they never found a reason to kill me, and I never seemed to disappoint them. At first they offered me drugs as a form of payment, but I denied it all. I explained to them that it'd be way cheaper to not use drugs as a form of payment since it takes away from the supply itself, and to just pay me with cash. Things went surprisingly well. I held my first hundred dollar bill at age 14. That was a monumental moment in my life. I was finally able to feed mama and myself decently. Instead of canned foods that expired by a couple days, we ate canned foods that were about to expire in a couple days. In other words, we ate like kings. I knew mama grew lonely since I went to work, but seeing as how she always talked to the lord or read the bible, I think she got herself occupied some, so it all worked out for the time being.

Business was good; so good the neighborhood started tipping. Everyone at 8 in the morning waited outside their doors, knowing that I would be ringing the bell on a bike that the mafia gave me, passing out all the white medicine like newspapers. For how miserable the city was, I like to think it was alright.

One day however, and I remember this day, May 18th 2002, that's when I found my new love. I was bored, I just finished my shift at work, and I saw some kids hanging outside a comic book shop. I've heard of them before, didn't think too much of them and was like 'what the heck, I got time to spare'. I entered and saw colorful thin books; their covers covered in weirdos dressed in odd clothes and weird auras and fierce situations. It seemed blasphemous. I hated it.

So I left.

.

.

.

Then twenty minutes later, I came back...only to leave again.

I didn't enter that shop for days. Yet it haunted me; enticing me like a serpent, whispering and corroding away my patience. Those odd weapons and multicolored laser and stone men and gray figures and an uncomfortable amount of people wearing underpants outside of pants, It disturbed me. It made me obsessed. I couldn't take it. I couldn't sleep. I was wondering all those nights 'what is it? Why is it so damn weird...And why do I want to read it?'

Finally, I gave into temptation.

And I wished I didn't.

I went in there one Wednesday and picked up my first comic book issue: Superman.

It was magical, it was unbelievable, and it was beautiful. This savior, this man of virtue -and I hate to say this- but he rivaled the likes of Jesus. It was weird. It was wrong. And I loved it."

"I immediately made a huge mistake.

I showed this to mother.

I never meant to worship a god other than the lord himself, but that's the way she took it. I was flogged, rightfully so. But I couldn't help it. I lied. I kept them all between floor boards and read them every night. These people, these virtuous freaks inspired me. It made me believe, it made me hope, and it made me think. It was a toxic hobby. Pretty soon, it was harder and harder to hide all these comic books.

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Time passed, I was 16 years old now, and the mafia upgraded me from a rinky dinky bicycle to a rinky dinky Black Corolla 98. It was full of rust. It was riddled with bullet holes. It was filthy. And I loved the shit out of that thing. And I still do" smiled Solomon as he glanced at his companion of 12 years.

"Deliveries were faster, I got to go on business trips around the state, gain more money, and it was a real good time."

Chad leaned over and asked, "Wait wait wait, you were able to go around the state and do these drug deals for the mafia? Why didn't you just run away?"

Belko tightened his expression.

"I know what you're thinking, and you have a point. However, I'm not going to pretend I wasn't naïve back then. I could've, and deep down, I knew that I could. But I also had my mother, my shack that became an actual livable house, my belongings, and to a dumber extent, I had my job. I had it all there. I was ignorant and afraid of the outside world. I wasn't ready for freedom then. Ah but-"

He turned over to Chad

"we'll get to that sooner than you'll think" he finished with a smile.

"Things were going great. I had a decent job, I had food, a roof above my head, all nifty things that I've been praying for 17 years.

I was comfortable...

And by gum, he just had to show up."

Solomon's face wrinkled into a sour expression. Skewed between bittersweet happiness and sadness.

He chuckled.

He started breathing heavily.

He chuckled.

"Pahaha...That silly man, not that I mean to call his holiness silly. It's just a coincidence. A funny moment.

I know I said that mama and I talked to the lord when we prayed. Mama would often explain how she would talk to the lord, and hell, I've walked in on them discussing back and forth. Er well, it seemed like that at least, of course I couldn't hear the lord's voice, but I knew they were at it. And finally, at that moment, that moment. Right as I was using the restroom at the McDonald's, heaving over a large dump, I heard him. I was finally blessed.

And it's funny. How we all pray to him. We pray for better times, easier times. But at that moment -like I said before- the lord tests us all.

For the lord said unto me heart wrenching news. In three days time, he will task me with the most potent test of them all. And from there, the line of fate would be set for me.

It's a good thing the lord talked to me at that moment, since I was constipated that morning. And with that cold, booming voice of his, if whatever they put in McDonald's food was the thing that plugged me up- this damn well scared it out."

Solomon wiped his nose as he sniffled. His voice quivered through an awkward chuckle.

"And at that moment, in that very bathroom, that's when my life turned around instantly.

I heard voices of those around me. No, it wasn't the lord's voice, I could tell the difference. These were normal people, speaking in their everyday tone. They were speaking without actually speaking.

'This man looks ugly'

'I wonder what I'm eating for dinner tonight'

'That was definitely a body I saw under the bridge that other night'

'What a fine ass she has.

wait, that's a guy.

Eh, still would'

Those were the first things I heard as I left that accursed bathroom.

I didn't sleep that night.

For those couple days, it was an on and off stream of mundane thoughts coming from all these people.

As I arrived home, I accidentally took a glimpse at my mom's inner conversations."

Belko slowly motioned a hug towards himself, tightly gripping at his elbows.

Behind those pitch black sunglasses, his eyes widened.

"I could not look away. I could not go back.

Inevitably, the third day struck. I was working and unfortunately had the misfortune of hearing my boss' thoughts on me as he briefed me on the new assignment. Aside from that, I was fearing the entire day. I loved the lord, the only thing I could ever love more than my mother. But I was far from eager.

As I blanked out on that red light, that's when it happened.

The lord made himself known. Booming, commanding, bold, cold and hollow. A voice without a face. A hooded figure with a pale veil and an uncaring sensation.

He tasked me with the trial that Abraham failed to enact, thousands of years ago.

I argued and argued, begged and asked if there was anything else I could do.

He asked me if I loved my mother more than him.

How could I say no. How could I say yes?

Torn, I drove.

I drove forward. From 4 pm to 2 in the morning. It was inevitable, for the lord's leash and my fate were one in the same.

That night I arrived home and I... embraced my mother for the last time.

But deep down I knew, she wouldn't have wanted it any other way."

Belko paused for around 5 minutes.

He wiped his eyes.

"Anyway, the deed was done, and the lord rewarded me with his mark."

Belko raised his right palm and showed it to his friend.

"That's where I got this dandy little thing.

Yup. I went straight to bed. Went to work that morning. Apparently, this was the most important delivery of the year. So important, the goons that have known me for a couple years now patted me down and ordered me to put everything on the table and aim their guns straight at me. Like come on guys first off, you already know I have practically nothing, and second off, I can hear your minds hating this tedious process already so, chill. But whatever, basic gist, blah blah blah, something to do with national syndicate business blah blah you get it. Hell, the boss wasn't even really paying attention to what he was saying, his mind was too busy insulting me and thinking of using me as bait, completely expecting me to be killed in the delivery. Which was probably why they didn't assign any guys to come with me in the actual delivery. You know me, I believe its uncouth to swear but shiiiiiieeeeeeeeeettt. I take the briefcase, leave the facility, head to my car, whatever. In the entire walk there, all I could think about was my frustration in the situation. Oh how I wished the Lord could strike all of those men down in one fell swoop. Funnily enough, that's the first time my mark got triggered. I felt a sting upon my hand and something oozing out of it. That was pretty annoying. Not as annoying as figuring out that I forgot my keys on the table when they told me to empty everything out so I had to walk all the way back and-

They were dead.

God listened, and they were dead.

The boss had 15 bullets inside his chest. One goon successfully strangled another, before bleeding out. A chunk of skull and brain was right in front of the door, in which I'm assuming someone threw their head to the door knob so hard, it managed to do... that. In the span of the seven minutes it took me to walk to my car and back, someone's face and chest had already been flayed off and stained the entire floor in gore. Those were only a couple of the bodies but I think you get what I walked into.

Welp.

My expression was one of slight surprise, but not shock.

I guess I got what I wanted.

God listened.

The only person I cared about was dead.

My job killed itself in the span of 7 minutes.

There isn't much incentive to really stay here anymore. Hell, I practically bought up all the comic books I wanted from the store, and read all the other ones I wasn't interested in keeping.

...

Well, I do have this briefcase on me right now, and nobody's going to be missing it so why not take a crack at it. I'm not going to be busy any time soon so why not.

I slam the thing on the table; keep in mind this thing is huge. It felt like I could cram an entire torso in the thing. I examine its slick silver exterior and bullet proof texture. It felt like something that The Lord made himself and said 'here, don't lose it.'

...

Here goes nothing.

I try the first code that came to mind

``000`` ``000``

It unlocks

Say it with me now

'Are you shitting me.'

I open the pearly gates.

Money.

A lot of it.

How much?

Enough

Enough for what?

Who knows. But the thing that is true is that it's enough for anything .

Welp.

If anything, the thought of stealing the corpse's wallets was unnecessary considering the portable bank I have in my hand. But they did wrong me. However, it's the lord's teachings that state to not covet thy neighbor. Then again, murder is prohibited, yet Saint Michael is tasked with slaying all the opposers and non-believers. A moral dilemma considering I wasn't trying to step on the lord's toes. UNTIL- I came up with my life's philosophy.

Seeing as how I am an agent of the Lord, and all of these events happened because of fate, logically speaking, the lord would want me to take all their wallets. He would only want the best for his loyal servant. Makes perfect sense to me.

I reach into the back pocket of the boss.

I take out his glamorous wallet.

I studied it. It's magnificent leather texture, it's embroidered gold digits and-

In my admiration, I had a delayed realization, as a brown stain from the wallet had leaked upon my hand.

I forgot that dead people did that.

And for the first time in my line of work, I screamed like a little girl."

Out of disbelief Chad took a second to connect two and two together.

Chad propped up and hesitantly asked

"So... what I think happened... happened?"

"Yes."

"Oh.

That's gross"

Belko slowly turned to his friend

"Very."

After a brief pause, Chad continued.

"So...? What happened next? Is that where the story ends?"

"Eh, close.

In basic terms, I got the briefcase, went home, got all my comic books, kissed Mama goodbye, and then I drove. Straight forward. No real plan, and just went where the road guided me. I read books here and there, talked to people here and there, and I think the closest thing I'd call this little venture is like a modern cowboy ya know? Just me, my bottomless bag of money, whatever I was craving that day, and the will of the lord. I know it's a little silly, but I like to think I became my own comic book character that day."

Belko chuckled then continued.

"Wishful thinking, wishful thinking.

Anyway, the first thing I did: I went to Denny's.

Had delicious food..."

Chad scrounged up his nose at what Belko had just said.

"And I just continued. It really is that simple. All these years kind of blended together. Had some little hiccups here and there but, it's their problem if they didn't want to comply to the wishes of the will of the lord so-"

Solomon made a shrugging gesture

"You know how it is! I had to do what I had to do!

Thank god I awoke a new ability somewhere along the way, because as it seems, whenever I didn't want to be seen from a scene I just kindaaa.... vanished. Whenever the lord wanted me gone from an incident, he used his holy magic and nobody would be none the wiser."

Chad made a pausing motion with his hand.

"Wait, is there really no specific day you awoke this ability?"

"As far as I remember uh... nah I just left a bathroom stall at a McDonald's, looked at a mirror and said 'Woah what the heck. That's not normal'. And that was kind of the end of that."

Chad raised an eyebrow and patted his friend on the shoulder.

"You are...one entertaining character you know that? I swear you're on the spectrum but hey, I love you for it" smiled Chad.

Belko welcomed the smile.

"I don't know what that means, but I appreciate it.

Now I'm almost done uhhh...

right!

Somewhere along the line, I saw these people typing in these flat technological books- clicking and tapping away. It was annoying, and I wondered 'what in the goddamn are they doing, and what in the hell is that thing'. Found out they were called 'Laptops' and I'll admit, I thought they were tacky at first. Hard to use but I'm glad I jumped over that hurdle, or else I would've never met you and the others!"

They both smiled.

Chad asked a question:

"By the way, how did we meet up again? I remember it was through some forum... or something but I forgot the details."

Belko happily obliged.

"Oh yeah this one's funny; someone was arguing that Batman could beat all of the Avengers alone. And I don't think you were much of a comic book guy right?"

"Not really aside from the classics here and there."

"Yeah, but you saw how ridiculous the statement was, right? I schooled that guy and you were one of the adamant people on my side, even calling him names over the internet. It was a silly debate but I saw that you were a cool guy, vice versa, and we bumped into each other here and there in other discussions, traded tags and I think we've been in touch ever since right?"

"Yeah, I think that's kinda it haha.

If anything, it's weird that by sheer coincidence, we all have magic powers and such yet, we met through pretty normal means. Aside from Edward and others, but that's more of its own thing of course but idunno, I just thought it was pretty cool."

"Agreed," answered Belko.

.

.

.

Chad started.

"Don’t you think it's weird that in the couple years we've been friends, we haven't really told each other our life's stories. Don't you think that's weird?"

Belko thought for a bit then answered.

"I'm not used to friends or such, but whenever I talk to a stranger, I don't expect them to spill their life's story, even at gunpoint.

I suppose it's a slow brew. We tell each other bits and pieces here and there. And whenever it's a critical moment, I believe that's when friendships grow.”

Chad tilted his head.

"Yeah...

Yeah, that's...that's as clear of an answer that I'm gonna get."

And so the goons reminisce.

Tied together by terroristic endeavors, their shared malice grew into a fine fiendship.

The sunset simmered.

Their evil eyes gaze upon fate.

As the sun falls down, slowly but eventually.

If not by their hand, then by their actions.

Domino, domino, domino.

You'd be surprised by how petty humans can be.