The Tug of Loyalty

Prequel

I am lost. Everything I did, I did for them. In the moments when I am left to my thoughts, those are the moments that I remember all the fun that once was. Maybe now they are have just as much, or double the amount we shared. 

Though all I want to hear is that they're happy. That the old days could still be, or at least that for them, they still are. You know, I still remember the old days. The days when nothing mattered. The days when we could just take are shoes to our hands, and run so far our legs would shake as we found our resting spot. When that time comes, we tumble to the soft earth and giggle about how someone tripped on a lump of grass. Then our last member comes with the food for the day. We would welcome them with joy, and tease them about how long it took them to get here.

I remember the time when I had to bring the food. I ran so fast. They couldn't catch me. They yelled about the food. So I looked down and noticed nothing strange, so I ran and I ran. I made it there first, and so I plumped down and waited for my friends to come and join me. When they entered, eyes wide and mouth open, they asked how I kept the food from spilling. Secrets, I never did tell them. 

Gosh, those were the days. I long for that now. I am alone and I can't seem to find where I went wrong. All I wanted was for them to be happy. They were my everything, and if something needed to be done for them I would do it. If someone had to be sacrificed, I would jump.

I guess something really was lost in translation.

I now stand on a balcony. Hands soft resting on the reiling. Laughing as they yell at me. Asking why I must do this. Day after day, plot after plot, hit after hit. I still care. I know it is buried, but I love them still. Somehow, some reason I believe this is the only way to make them happy. For them I lost my glory.

We have been down this road before. I threaten them, they yell back, we fight, and they win and escape to fight another day. How was I to know this day was different? It started like any other. It played out like any other. But how did it end? Nowhere near where I planned. 

Standing there. Inches away from the edge of a vast, endless pit. The fog coming out of it seemed to fill the room. Every step taken made the fog swirl around the person walking. 

There they stood. Fighting my makings, my co-workers. Though one of them stood there. Pointing their weapon at me. Telling me to let as they slowly approached.

I didn't want to, but at that moment I felt a pain in my stomach. My stomach curled in and, by instinct, I move my hands to protect my chest. When I relize what I did, I fell to my knees. I scream as loud as I could. Then it snapped together. I needed to run.

So yelled retreat, my co-workers looked at me and nodded. They ran out of here. Their previous opponents had turned to look at me. I looked at them in turn. Opened my mouth to let them hear, "Don't worry, every single thing is falling into place. Plus death is quite painless. Want to try?"

Why did I say that?! WHY?! Though all that mattered now to me was that I run. So I did. I ran till my legs couldn't hold me. And so I laid down next to a garbage bin as my eyes subdued themselves to the kinda gift of sleep.