This is a little somethin' somethin' I wrote up a while ago while I was pondering life as per usual. Took all of 15 minutes. I decided that since I have no real topics of discussion for today, I may as well share with those that haven't read it the opportunity to do so. So if you actually want to read all of this shit, go right ahead, and if you don't, then I guess you don't.

Story begins now!!!

“Naw, man. That ain’t it,” Gabriel sighed dejectedly before continuing. “I mean, I just… It feels like I don’t belong; I feel even less connected to the world around me than I was before,” he managed to stammer out. He then looked at me. Well, more like he looked past me. I’m not quite sure, but something seemed to interest him that settled miles behind my head with the faraway gaze he had etched into his eyes.

The next words that came out of his mouth interrupted my curious reverie, however: “How do you express yourself, John? I mean, I try to convey what I’m feeling to the world through my words and actions, but nobody seems to care about what I have to say. Either no one cares – I can tell because they seem to be more interested in their damn pieces of technology than they do with what I’m telling them – or at best, I get strange looks, as though I were some Cookoolander!” He paused to take a quick breath, looking down; I’m certain if it weren’t for Gabe’s wide-brimmed hat I’d’ve seen tears gathering at the edge of his eyes to accompany his shuddering form.

“John, I’m not sure if I can take it for much longer,” his voice came out strangled, warped from the calm and callous disinclination he usually commanded. “I keep on trying, man, and- and everyone keeps pushing me away!” Now I was certain that I had seen tears; the dam beginning to crack, they hesitantly spilled from his eyelids, as though afraid to leave the comfort of the places they for years upon broken years had stalwartly resided in, unmoving as a stoic mountain. For the first time ever were they released, if at small, slow amounts.

“I even started taking to measures I thought were unlike myself so long ago. I’ve been trying to open up to the world, with- whether it was with text or stainless steel,” I completely understood the implications of that, sad as they were. “Guess the steel’s not so stainless anymore, huh? Just like I’m not so stainless anymore. Heh,” there was no humor in his laugh. It was sick, twisted, gnarled as a rigor mortis-ridden hand, and almost hollow enough to make it seem as though his voice would reverberate off his ribs and bounce around in his body endlessly. It was the laugh of a dying man.

“None of us are stainless nomore. Uh-uh. You don’t go through what we did and come out spic n’ span! No sir! Out there, every second is hell. The heat, the heaviness, everything! Hell! Guess- hah!- I guess that the definition of hell was wrong all along! Burn? I burned out there! Eternity! We- I spent an eternity out there!” barked Gabe hysterically. The dam was completely busted by now, tears freely streaming down his gaunt face, pure and beautiful as a freshwater pond, and just as cleansing as they washed away his worries and rinsed his rough skin.

Gabriel sighed once again, his brief bout of mania now passed, instead giving way back to his previous dejectedness. “John… what do I do?” he muttered softly, so softly that I had to strain to listen to what he had asked, lest the question drift off into oblivion like so much else in our lives had. “How do I keep moving forward when the world’s against me?”

There was no easy answer to that question. What more can you do when you’ve exhausted every avenue of escape? When therapy didn’t work? When talking didn’t work? When retreating into your own mind didn’t work? Well, you just ask a friend what he thinks about it, is what you do.

I had only just noticed at that moment after briefly musing to myself that Gabe was now looking up at me again, a twinkle of hope in his eyes. It was also worth mentioning that he was actually looking at me this time, not through me. The realization nearly brought a smile to my face.

“Well, Gabe, I dunno what to say, really,” I told him honestly. The crestfallen expression adorning his visage almost reminded me of a hurt puppy dog, but there was just a sliver of hope remaining in those brown, beautiful eyes of his. “All’s I can say is this: So long as you’ve got a friend by your side, a brother in arms, you can take on the whole damn world. And Gabe?” the hopefulness had returned in full, that twinkle in those eyes of his brightening ever more. “You’ve got a friend in me, brother. Don’t you never forget that.”

4403562
Well written story, have you tried writing before?

4403562
CRUSH. KILL. DESTROY. SWAG.

4403562

4403562
The knell of the bells at the Gion temple
Echoes with the impermanence of all things.
The color of the flowers on its double-trunked tree
Reveals the truth that to flourish is to fall.

He who is proud is not to so for long,
Like a passing dream on a night in spring.
He who is brave is finally destroyed,
To be no more than dust before the wind.

4403575 Nope. Not seriously, at least. I only write when I'm overwhelmed with emotion. And I'm glad to see you enjoyed this little story.

4403577 Stay outta my shed.

4403598 You're cheating, you've already read this.

4403603 *Golf clap*

4403613
Ridiculously famous 12th century historical poetry from Heian-era Japan. It's the introductory poem to a contemporary account of the fall and destruction of the Heike clan - having one before the text proper was kind of the style at the time. I absolutely love it, and now someone finally gave me an opportunity to quote it at them!

It's really kind of silly how happy that made me.

4403649 Wow. That's quite a bit of information. And it's free! So thanks for that.

It's really kind of silly how happy [quoting that poem] made me.

Heh. Glad I played some part in your small bit of happiness, then.

4403722
If you ever wondered why I never seem to take anything seriously, this would be why right there - it's really the essence of my worldview. Feast and love today, for tomorrow you will be dead! Dourness is for people stupid enough to believe they're immortal or will be remembered.

4403732 Your words pierce my soul. I am always playful and energetic when around friends and family because I genuinely enjoy being around them, but when I'm afforded a moment to ponder where I'm going in life I always end up downtrodden and cynical. The thing that gets me up out of bed every morning is the thought that I can do something that I will be remembered for.

4403760
I used to think that way, until I realized that we all end up the same in the end and it doesn't actually matter. I think I'm better off for it - it's so liberating it's scary sometimes. You are free. Nothing and noone is holding you back. There are no laws and no victory conditions. You can do and be anything you want at any moment and nobody's opinion really matters. Life is glorious and we get to take every single day of it on our own terms!

4403771 Food for thought, that is.

4403562

Praise Lord Gaben.