Shinko Audo warily glanced straight ahead. Last time, that had not gone so well for him... Turns, however, had.
He and his companion strolled down the path in silence, the autumn grass making that crunchy-sound underneath Audo's feet. Finally, Clarence broke the silence.
“Go on, kid; ask.”
“Ask what?”
Clarence stopped. “You know what,” he said. “How it happened - how I died. I know you've gotta be wondering,” he added, holding up a hand to stop Audo’s protests. “I don't exactly look
old after all...”
“I… I guess it did cross my mind,” Audo admitted.
“Don’t see how it couldn’t.”
“I just… I didn’t want to pry, I guess,” he said, finding the walls of the corn maze suddenly very fascinating. “It didn’t… It didn’t seem…
right to ask.”
“I getcha, kid. I can be a touchy subject, to be sure.”
He nodded down the pathway, as if beckoning Audo to follow, then started walking again.
“I was part of a gang,” he said. “Left the town I grew up in – nice little place, right beside a river – and went to the Big City to find my fortune. Instead, all I found was corruption.” He scowled at the memory. “Even the coppers would look the other way, if you paid them enough. Loan sharks were out to get whoever they could, and some would even target widows who’d lost their husbands in the War.”
“That’s… that’s awful…”
“You’re tellin’ me, kid. So a group of us all happened to be in the same Speakeasy, and we all got to talkin’ about the situation. None of us liked it, and we all wanted to do something about it. So, we did the obvious thing and started a gang.”
“Obviously.”
“You got it. We started off small, but soon word spread, and we started establishin’ a network of information; which sharks were the worst, where they kept their money, things like that. Now, we only stole from them that deserved it – mostly those who had more money than they knew what to do with, or the worst of the worst sharks. Then, we’d… ‘redistribute’ our newfound wealth among them that needed it most.
“We had a great thing goin’,” he said, a faint smile crossing his face. “We travelled all across the country, making headlines everywhere. Some called us heroes, others wanted nothing more than to see us bumped off.” The smile began to fade. “I guess our luck ran out, though. Eventually, we started runnin’ into more and more trouble. Coppers seemed to know our every move, and even rival gangs kept getting the one-up on us. We didn’t know how, but we did know we couldn’t stay together anymore. Too many of us were getting hit by Droppers, and our numbers were dwindling. So, we did the only thing we knew
to do: We split up.”
He shook his head. “That worked for a while – we all just spread out and laid low. It seemed to be working – no one else was targeted, and we all just went back to living as normal a life as possible until the heat was off and we could regroup. It was a great plan, but then…” he sighed. “Then names started popping up in the papers – names of my old gang. Either they’d gotten knocked off or disappeared. Someone was hunting them down.
“Me?” he said. “I went back home – back to where I was born. I figured it was safe, that no one would come lookin’ for me there. And well… I was almost right.”
“What happened?”
“My best friend found me,” Clarence said with a rueful smile. “Shoulda known I wouldn’t be able to hide from him, of all people – always did have a knack for finding people, that Richard. Anyways,” he continued, “He came to town hoping to lay low, and to see how I was faring. No one knew where I’d disappeared to, but somehow, he found me. We had some great talks, in those days he was in town. Talked about old friends, those we’d lost…” he sighed. “It was all nice, very nice; that is, up until…” he trailed off, and paused, staring at the maze walls for a time. “…Until he went and said something he shouldn’t’ve.” Despite his intangibility, he seemed to tense. “Or maybe… maybe
I was the one who shouldn’t’ve said somethin’. Just one little thing – one little detail – that didn’t add up, and I just
couldn’t leave it alone. I had to keep pressin’ him, and the more I did, the more evasive he got, until I realized. I realized just who had been responsible for all the leaks – who’d been droppin’ all those dimes to the coppers, who’d been
tipping off our rivals…” He broke off, rubbing a hand across his face.
“My
best friend – the guy who was like a brother to me – and he just…” His voice cracked, and he swallowed hard, unable to continue.
“…I’m so sorry,” Audo said softly. “That’s… that’s
terrible, I-” he faltered, finding himself needing to swallow the lump that had begun to rise in this throat. “…I’m sorry,” he said again, not knowing what else to say.
Clarence gave a shaky sigh. “Not your fault, kid,” he said wearily. “We all make choices in life, whether they’re good or bad. And sometimes, the consequences are just more severe than others…”
A solemn silence stretched out between the two, until Clarence spoke again.
“I appreciate the sentiment, though,” he said. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” Audo replied.
Clarence stretched and look at the path ahead of them.
“You know,” he said, “I have a feeling we’re almost out of this place; what say we see what’s around this last corner?”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Audo agreed. “And… Clarence?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank-you. For… for telling me your story. If there’s one thing I’ve finally started learning, it’s that… that talking does help. Keeping it all inside and not bothering anyone with it may seem like a good idea, but… it only hurts you in the end. Talking… it gets it out in the open, if nothing else. Gets it off your chest. Things like that… it’s a heavy burden to carry.”
Clarence managed a small smile. “You know, you’re pretty wise for someone so young,” he said. “Something tells me you didn’t learn that lesson easily, either.”
“…No,” Audo admitted, shaking his head. “I didn’t. It took me years, and sometimes I still need to be reminded.”
“Well, you’re welcome to tell me about it, if you want,” he offered. “Only fair, after you listened to my tale of woe.”
Audo hesitated, almost refusing, to say he didn’t want to bore him with anything, before realizing how hypocritical it would sound.
“I…” he started. “…I guess it really all started after… after my grandfather died,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking at the ground. He glanced at Clarence briefly before continuing. “I… I almost thought for a moment that maybe you
were him, before you… materialized and stuff.”
“I admit I wondered what was with that look…”
“…Yeah… …A-anyway,” Audo continued, “I… I didn’t know how to deal with it all, so eventually I just… didn’t. I didn’t talk about it – tried not to even
think about it – until it… got to be too much and I just… left town. I ran away, because I couldn’t stand to be around all the reminders.” He shut his eyes, something like a grimace passing across his face.
“I’m sorry,” Clarence said. “That sounds rough.”
“It was,” Audo admitted. “I… I know I shouldn’t have, but I just couldn’t stay. …It took me twelve years before I went back, and even then I wonder if I was really ready. There was just so much going on then…” he trailed off, shaking his head.
“Sounds like another story,” Clarence said, giving a small, encouraging smile. “Why don’t you tell me about it on this last leg? I think all this is almost over.”
“Yeah,” Audo agreed, matching the smile with one of his own. “Yeah, I think so too.”
And so, the two finally began walking again, towards what they hoped to be the end of the maze…
Original ending line: And so the two finally shut up and continued down the path, good WOO did they talk…
THIS IS SO SO LONG AND TOOK ME TOO LONG I'M SORRY. ;______; They just would not. Shut. Up. 8'D *cries*
...so uh, TL;DR in case it's needed: Clarence basically dumps his backstory. \ o / It is totally fun and not at all sad or tragic 8D