Storytime at the Pub

It was night, around ten o'clock in the quiet outskirts of this small city. A motor could be heard as a motorcycle was being driven down a road, with the driver being clad in an unzipped, long black leather jacket with pants of the same color. A few seconds later, the sound of tires screeched to a halt within a small parking lot, as he was getting off of his motorcycle, going right inside a familiar bar. He seemed to be the only person in the bar at the time, and took a seat on a stool, getting the bartender's attention.

"Hm, looks like that one hedgehog guy again." The bartender happened to be a green colored, female chipmunk, organizing some bottles on the rack behind her, before turning around to see the hedgehog leaning against the counter. She instantly recognized who it was, as he was one of the regulars at this place, and had a friendly smile on her face.

"Hey, my regular! How's that motorcycle coming along?"

"Eh, nothin' new. Still leaking a lil' bit, but at least I made it here."

The grey hedgehog sat up a bit as he looked back at her with his blue eyes underneath his black shades.

"Yeah, true. The usual drink, I'm guessing?"

"You know it."

The chipmunk nodded before turning around, getting the alcoholic beverages onto the counter as she started mixing some into a certain drink that the hedgehog loved to consume.

"So, how's it going for you, Slash? You seemed kind of down recently..."

"Fine."

"Hmm.. very informative." The chipmunk sarcastically replied as she finished making his drink, and poured him some in a mug before placing it in front of him on the counter.

"Here's the usual for ya. Drink up!"

"Hooray." The hedgehog flatly said as he picked up his mug and took a sip of it, liking how it tasted and letting the bitterness settle with his taste buds.

"Know what, I'm feelin' bored tonight, so if you really wanna know, then I'll tell ya."

The hedgehog rested his elbows on the counter as he continued, with the chipmunk sitting down in front of him to listen.

"So, I was this lil' kid in a pretty shitty neighborhood, never saw my dad since he was in prison, and was livin' with my mom for pretty much my childhood. Seems pretty normal, right? Every day when I was walkin' over to school, down the sidewalk I had to put my hood over my head, or just somehow hide my face from certain kids over there so they wouldn't beat my ass up in that first alley I have to pass to get to school. Then after that, I was at school, where I was kinda safe from gettin' hurt, except Fridays… Then, seven hours later, when school was all done that day, I had to go down the same goddamned path home, except I had to speedwalk down there, and try not lookin' in one of those alleys, since my mom was workin' there pretty much every night. I get home, then I just stay in my room for the rest of the night, doin' homework, or beatin' up my punchin' bag just cause, then go to beat pretty late, or not at all if I got beat up at school that day."

Slash then took another sip of his beer before continuing.

"So, that was pretty much me from 1st grade up to the end of high school, where I moved out of my mom's, and went to college for a bit, with a little job to help out my mom a bit with money when I was away doin' my shit as a mechanic for motorcycles. I then heard about this big tournament thing that was happening not to far from where I was, and decided to try it out, since I did take up some kickboxing for a while. Eventually, I showed up there, fought all the way to the semi-finals, then lost to this orange tiger guy, but did get paid quite a lot since I made it to third place. I was happy as hell, and sent like half of the winnings to my mom, which only got me to train some more so I could be in the next tourney thing. So I tried again, got a little flashy with some special gear with my name on it, and lost again, same place, but I wasn't complainin' since I got that reward still."

"Fast forward a couple months from that, and it was December. Two days after I spent a Christmas with my mom since she was retired, I was at my little place I managed to get. I get a phone call from one of her neighbors that knew us for the longest, and they said that she just passed away suddenly, didn't even say why, now that I remember. Now that really struck me hard, and got me into a pretty big depression for a while. Didn't talk to anyone, and stayed inside for months, drinking heavy, smoking a ton of shit, drugs, you name it."

"Eventually, I actually went outside once, which was a pretty big fuckin' mistake on my part, since I couldn't even see straight, blurred vision like I was wearing wrong prescription glasses, couldn't walk straight, and I got on my bike to drive down a street for somethin' I don't even remember now, since I was pretty fucked up then. Cause of all that stuff I did before driving, I ended up driving all weird, swervin' left, right, up, down, which I think got a cop's attention, and he tried to pull me over. I got spooked by the sudden siren blarin' behind me, and just sped up to max speed so they wouldn't get me. I made the dumbest mistake by just looking behind me, then bam. Head on collision with a bus after I hit a turn. I went face-first through the windshield, and the cops stopped the bus to get me up and into custody. I think I looked like a live pincushion with all that glass on my arms and face, with blood trailin' down and stuff as they cuffed me and put me in the backseat of that cop car."

"I was loopy as shit in that car, and just closed my eyes when we headed to the jail. Next thing ya know, I was at this place where they were checking me, and had some people take all that glass off of me, cleanin' up the blood, and made me change into some jumpsuit that all those criminals wore, not the stupid striped one they wear in those cartoons or whatever. They took my mugshot, then sent me to this cell where I was alone. When all the stuff started wearing off of my mind, I started understanding where I was, and just lied down on the stiff mattress that they give you in those cells. I was sentenced there for two years, and since there was no one to bail me out, I had to get ready to stay there for a long time. I felt like I could just die then since I didn't think it was worth living in that craphole for two years, but I did manage to find some way to stay there, by reading some books, working out everyday, and hardest of them all, eat that shit they call food for all that time. After my sentence was up, I was finally let go from that jail, and then after I went to my mom's funeral, I just went back to do my thing, which was fixing up motorcycles and hitting a punching bag."

He let out a yawn as he cracked his knuckles a little, looking back to the chipmunk that was listening to his every word.

"Wow. I know I've heard that you've been in jail once, but didn't know it was like that…"

The green bartender said as he washed some of the dirty mugs.

"Yup, if you wanna learn anything from that, don't go to jail, lil' lady."

"So, how about now? Like, do you have any other plans after that whole thing?"

Slash let out a sigh as he moved his glasses up from his face and finished his mug of beer.

"Well, pretty much I'm just tryin' to meet some new people, and I heard that there was gonna be another one of those tournament things, but I'm probably just gonna watch, not gonna fight in it… Just stayin' away from doin' anything illegal is all."

"Hm, not doing anything illegal. Guess that means no more alcohol for you then, driver. It's almost closing time here as well."

"Ugh." He hung his head down as the chipmunk chuckled a little. "Well, fuck. I guess so."

He got up from his stool as he took out a couple rolls of rings to give her to pay for his drink. "Next time, I wanna hear about you. Kay? Seeya soon."

"Oh, you most definitely will, and drive safe!"

The chipmunk waved goodbye at him, as the hedgehog smiled back at her before leaving the bar and getting back on his motorcycle, driving off into the night.