It was a cold lonely night, about 11PM to be exact, clouds covered part of the moon, and cars could be heard rushing along the city streets. Not many were outside that day, except a few, most had there heads down and knew where they were going, but one stood out from the rest. This man wore a smooth green down-coat with odd boots that seemed to be straight out of something from space. The man had an odd walk to him too, like he wasn't quite used to his feet, or height for that matter. He wasn't the tallest fellow, but his whole perception struck intimidation into any pedestrians soul when he walked by.

I was walking the streets this day, and I happened to stumble upon this man, I remember I was coming home from a late day at work. I had to file a little more than I anticipated, but that's beyond the point here. I had stride to my walk that matched many others around me, but then I saw a lone man walking with no one around him for several feet. It was the man with the green down-coat. I walked by as if he was another average joe beside me, but I noticed the other men around me started to pick up the pace of their stride when they passed by the man. I pondered about the reason and then kept going along with my usual stride pace. Boy, was that a mistake. The man in the green down-coat stopped for a moment as I passed him and turned around towards my direction. I pondered to myself why, but after all he could just be a drunk, wandering the streets with no home of his own. The further I walked down my street, the more I could tell that this was no drunk with no direction. He was following me! I picked up my pace by the slightest, and when I turned around I saw the man did too. "What could I do?" I was thinking, but my thoughts were vanquished when I saw an alley way right around the bend. I started to run past the corner and into the alley in an attempt to get away from this weird space man. I was pretty proud of myself for thinking of this plan, but it didn't last for long.

As soon as I saw the space man walk past the alley I darted out of it and to the opposite direction the space man was following. I felt pretty relieved I got away, but suddenly a thud thrusted upon my head! It felt as hard as a rock and I fell unconscious to the floor! At this point in the story I'm not really too sure what happened, but I can say that the next thing I remember was me waking up in a lone apartment. I was tied up by what seemed to be a vine. There were rocks with leaves on top of them all around me, and I swear some of them moved around every now and then. I screamed for help, but no one could here me. For what seemed to be hours I sat there, tied up, but out of the dark room a figure in a down-coat appeared. It was the space man. As soon as he appeared all the rocks vanished into the shadows like they were alive, and the space man removed his down-coat revealing his true identity.

It was a friend I once knew in college, his name was Charlie, he had dreams of being the captain of a fleet that would go to space one day. I thought this was a joke as we were friends and I haven't seen him in years, but instead of a chuckle and friendly reunion, all I got was pain. Charlie pulled out a gun from his pocket of what seemed to be a weird space costume (maybe he was trying to fulfill a dream he always wanted, I have no idea). He tells me "I didn't want this to happen to you old friend, but I need to reach my goal. Whenever I look up from the city sky I see hope, mystery, adventure, and a life away from this madness of society. I've told you before I want to be an astronaut, and I plan to do so, but all things in this hell of a planet require money. When I got out of college I didn't really have a lot of cash, and neither did my parents from college payments, I was broke. No jobs accepted me for my height, they'd all kick me out back to the streets, so there was only one choice left. To become a bounty hunter." I told him there were other choices he could make, and could even live with me, but it was no use. Nothing got through his thick dome of a space-costume-helmet. He told me he needed to pay his rent and that it was too late to make nice with him, plus I've heard too much for the public eyes. I begged for him to not hurt me, but it was pointless. Whenever I spoke a word, or screamed for help he'd punch and scratch me until he saw some blood. I became so weak to even speak, but I could utter a few last words.

"Charlie why you do this to me?" I asked him as the blood slowly dripped from my scars slowly. I could see a small tear in his eyes and he tried to turn away so I wouldn't notice. "This was the end for me" I thought, and so I did all I could do left, cry. I wept tears of remorse because I have lost a friend. It may not have mattered as much if I died right here and now, but because I'd die right here and now to a friend made all the difference. As Charlie looked back at me from his tears of sorrow he replied "Because I need to pay my rent, sorry." Every word he choked out seemed to have a slight bit of horror hinted in when said out loud. He gripped his gun tightly with his sweaty palms and pulled the trigger. In that moment I saw my life flash before my eyes, all the joyous memories me and Charlie had together in college, and my wife back home who'll I'll never see again. It's strange, because, I guess you really never appreciate what the live you've been given is worth until it's gone. My eyes shut slowly as the bullet penetrated my forehead. Charlie looked down at my dead body and pocketed the money I had from my wallet. He looked at himself in his mirror later that day and said "In the daily life of a man, who is to blame for what wrong has happened? Is it me, or is it a greater man above me? Will that blame spread further and further to such a high cause that it is unsolvable? Sometimes we just have to take the bullet for our sins, and fix what is wrong for the people who are too afraid to do so themselves."

Now you may be thinking how did you know what happened after your death from the bullet, well, It's because I'm not dead. Luckily I had such a strong forehead, and a dud like bullet came out of the gun allowing me to still be alive to tell this story. I got out of the apartment when Charlie went to bed, and rushed to the hospital. I thought Charlie would have heard me leave, and maybe he did, but for whatever reason he let me go free. I don't know who's out there, caring about this story, but in conclusion, several years later Charlie did become an astronaut as I saw in one of the local papers, and good for him. Am I mad at Charlie for mugging me and almost killing me? Surprisingly, no. A friend is a friend till' the end, no matter what, and I think that's why Charlie possibly ignored me leaving his house, I did make noises he must have heard. Maybe we still care about each other on the inside, but this cruel society ties us apart forcing one man to do a terrible deed just to make it another day; Even to a friend. My name is Gaepora, and I believe that Charlie is my best friend. We both are stars far in the cosmos; although we are different in how bright we glow, and what galaxy we are in, we still have a constellation that forms us as one, bonded together.

-Gaepora