The Fall

A big wad of cash.

It's exhilirating.

To just hold thousands of dollars in your hand, all shoved in a an envelope. Just there. A big wad of money in your hands.

Well, it can't stay in my hands for long.

I shoved it down the front of my pants.

Where else was I supposed to put it?

It'd be pretty suspicious to see a sixteen-year-old boy walking down a dark road with deliciously knee-buckling wad of cash in his arms. A sixteen-year-old boy with nothing but a bulge in his crotch? Inconspicious, to say the least.

I'll let you know that money's the only thing that makes my crotch bulge.

The only human body that's ever excited me is a dead one.

I just killed someone tonight.

Murdered. Dead. Goodbye.

She was on her way to it, anyways.

I was her hired hand. Did her yard work, fed her cats.

The crazy old broad made the mistake of telling me she didn't trust banks. I peeled back the wallpaper of her closet to find this beauty.

Her envelope of money.

But she was a sly one. She knew what I did.

I had to get rid of her.

I thought about it for a while, and then just decided to choke her. Poisoning is a lot less messy, but I'm a sick guy and like to see 'em squirm.

I set the scene of real easy. Knocked a few glasses over, spilled some food, dribbled a little something from her mouth.

An innocent case of swallowing her carrots too fast.

Oopsie.

As for me?

I'm gone.

Bye-bye.

Outta here.

Where am I going?

No fucking idea.

Alls I know is that I'm getting a fresh start.

New name, new life, new everything.

I figure it'll be real simple in a big city. I just gotta find one.

I asked a couple people in cars if there were any big cities near here.

"Yeah, yeah," They said. "You got Saint Valentine just one town away, over Farsville."

Yeah, I know Saint Valentine. Ain't such a small place, which is perfect for me.

Everyone here is generally pretty young (except for the old broad. search me) because is a pretty young country.

Well, not really a country. More of a colony. We're owned by the US. We were this nice big island they found thirty or so years ago and there was no one on it. They got to civilizin' it right away, seriously. Everything's all brand new and like, you know? They call it Astra.

It's not really worth talking about much, but I guess it's pretty interesting all the same, especially to someone who's never heard of it.

You could say Saint Valentine is like a tiny verson of New York City, only a lot poorer. A nasty hurricane hit some place in the States, so the government's been kind of ignoring Astra's economy. That ain't too good.

From what I hear, they advertise Astra as this great, wonderful, utopia sort of place. It's alright. I've never been anywhere else, so I guess I wouldn't know, but it's all right.

Anyway, that doesn't matter much right now.

I figure I'll go by the name Charlie. It's plain, see, and not suspicious at all. I can dye my hair when I get to Saint Valentine, too.

But right now, I gotta hitch a ride.