Era of Madness

Silence

Tyler... so that is my name... Argh... what an horrible pain... I quickly focus back on the memory to escape it.

"Thank you for listening I guess, Tyler..." Munch said. "So what happen is that..."

He clenched his teeth, and his entire body shook. It lasted for close to a minute before he finally mustered the force to calm down enough to speak:

"I... you know, I'm starting to get a bit old... fourty years old, to be more precise" Munch said. "Said like this, it's not that much, but in the lower sectors... well, you live here too, I don't need to give you too much details. My parents are already long dead, and I don't have any siblings. I'm a barman, and for a sector V's rat, I'm pretty rich, so you could think I'd find a wife or something pretty fast, but on the other side I'm not that young, not that handsome... and of course, not that good with women too. Haha, I'm pretty jalous of you, Tyler, it's amazing that you can still look and talk that good even with everything you drink"

I shrugged:

"You look better when you're more fit and you're fit when you exercise" I replied. "Running and parkour are the best workout, and I can garantee you I do that all day when I have to escape the cops... or really anybody I stole money from to get here and help your buisness"

"Yes... and I guess that talking is just your natural talent" Munch laughed weakly.

"If you say so... I'm not into men though, so I won't be able to help with your loneliness, sorry"

"Tssk, you bastard, you think I didn't see you kiss this guy yesterday because there was a 0.01 point bet?"

"Ehm... you know, money is money, bet is bet... Continue your story instead"

"Right. Anyway, I had money, yes, but no one close to share it with. And I didn't want a wife that would only be there for my wealth. I didn't even want a romantic relationship in particular, just someone that could help me to escape my loneliness. And that's when I met him, a young boy, left alone in a street"

I sighed internally. What a cliche story, I already knew how it'd end... but hey, having good relations with my alcohol provider, and making sure he wouldn't drop his buisness - and his life accessorily - was kinda like my job, so I kept listening to his story as quietly as I could.

"I don't know, it was just a sudden need, to help him. So I asked him if he'd like me to adopt him" the barman continued, starting to tremble again. "It's stupid right? Even a starving child wouldn't accept this kind of suspicious offer from a stranger. Yet he did. I don't remember much about the order, but after that I welcomed him to my home and filled the papers for adoption. That's one of the few advantages to live in the lower sectors: nobody ever bother to waste much paper for us, so the process was pretty quick. Then, he became a son for me. He was so adorable..."

He started crying as he kept speaking. It was obvious he was trying to keep it in, but failed miserably.

"It... it was only for two years, and we had no blood ties or whatver... but... but... he was my son... so why! WHY! WHY WHY WHY!"

He hit the bar with his fist again, almost breakng his knuckles and startling half of the people in the pub.

"Why! Why... Why did he have to die like this..." he cried. "Not even something exceptionnal, just a stupid fall in the stairs... Why did my son have to die like this... It's not fair"

I did say some words to comfort him as he snapped and bursted into tears. I don't remember them, though. Because at that time, it just felt so unimportant to me... The truth is, despite how I acted at that time, I felt absolutely no empathy for him or his 'son', or whatever.