Long Tales and Longer Lives

A Deal

"Come on Kingsley, don't tell me you're tired now! Your shift isn't even done. Here, come take this cart to where it needs to go near the backdoor." A familiar masculine voice calls out to me. It's my friend, Isaac. He's an overall cool dude to me, and he is my supervisor.

"I'm not tired! I'm on it, I'm on it!" I shout in defiance at my friend who is yelling out at me as I rush over to the black colored cart with a few wheels under it. After I grab the cart, I start pushing throughout the massive warehouse room that we're in. On the cart is boxes of cheap chocolate coins, the kind that you'd find people giving out to little kids at places like local fairs or festivals The black cart is so cleanly polished like it was brand new, even though I know that's not the case. Its shine is so great, that I can see my reflection. My pale white skin, dark hair, light beard, and thin mustache all show up in the shine of the cart.

Just another day at this general warehouse it serves as an order fulfillment center for a few stores in my local area. I hate working as just some regular joe at this damn place. I'm better, I'm due for better things. I know that is as a god damned fact, but hell man, I'm stuck working at this dead-end job. There is a festival coming up soon, an old traditional based off what our ancestors would do, which would be to celebrate the harvest and eat a big meal before winter comes.

Pushing the cart to the destination in the warehouse. The warehouse has a tall ceiling, and stacks of shelves upon shelves that form rows in between the aisles of the stacked goods. Forcing the cart forward. I pass by a few people. Two women and a man stand talking around. The man seems young with a bald head and from what I notice clear blue eyes. There's a bit of a traffic jam in the warehouse, plenty of people who need to push a cart on by, but you can only find so much room.

"Don't you just wish that sometimes you could get a better life?" I over hear the man ask the two women.

"What do you mean?" One of the women, an older woman with silver hair responds to the man with a curious and completely interested look on her face.

"Well think about it, there will always be people in your way in life towards getting what you want. Wouldn't it just be sweet, if they were to all disappear one day, never to be heard of again?" The man carefully explains to the two women.

"That sounds terrible, of course I wouldn't want that to happen to anybody I know. Life is sacred and no one should kill someone else."

"I didn't say kill, I just meant disappeared." The man sternly asserts.

He makes a good point, I wouldn't mind if a few people like Isaac disappeared from my life. I could take his job and be making more money. I'd seriously be able to go somewhere in my life instead of just being an endless warehouse grunt. I'm due for better things. I know it, god knows it if he can even hear me, hell I bet even Isaac even knows it, I just wouldn't say that to his face as well I don't want to get fired. This job is all that I have for an income, so sometimes you just should suck it up and go through your life, no matter what the facts of it may represent.

Eventually, after a few dozen moments the traffic jam clears up and I'm able to start pushing my cart to where Isaac wants it to go to. As I do, I can't help, but think about what that man said to those women.

Wouldn't it be great if Isaac just disappeared?

I push the cart to its destination near the back-door shelves. I'm thinking that he wants me to stock the shelves as well so I start taking boxes from the cart and lay them on the closest shelf.

"Hey Kingsley, you coming with us to celebrate the festival after work today?" A recognizable feminine voice calls out to me.

I look and I see it's a black haired pale skinned woman who I know as Lilith. She's a friend of Isaac and myself. Isaac's girlfriend in fact, but we've all known each other for as long as we've worked here. Not the best-looking woman in my eyes, but you certainly don't tell a woman what you think about her looks. At least, no smart man does.