Disclaimer: Ahem. All the characters unfortunately belong to John Steinbeck, not me. Voldemort out bitches. Cough. I mean uh... IvoryTroll out bitches. ^_^

A/N: I found this in one of my old English books and I figured I might as well put it on here! I think it was written as a sort of "Imagine you're George at the end of the novel" thing. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it! And no, I haven't put in loads of major spelling mistakes thank you, that's just how George talks. Sort of. ^_^

He's gone. I jes' can't believe it. Then again, I hadda sorta feeling that something like this would happen. Lennie always attracted trouble. I jes' didn't think I'd kill him. What am I gonna do now? Sure he was trouble, jes' like a big baby, but he was my purpose. 'Look after Lennie, keep him safe.' Now what?
As soon as we was run out of Weed I knew the crazy bastard would do something like this again. Still, I kept thinking, maybe we might make our dream come true. Own a ranch, look after pigs. And rabbits.
That night in the clearing I jes' wanted to stay there. Even Lennie couldn't find trouble there. But o'course, we hadda go on. Go on to that goddamn ranch and get the money.
An' still I dared to hope.
That hope nearly died though, the first time we met Curley. As soon as he come in I knew there'd be trouble. He was short, with a temper to match and when he started picking on Lennie, defenceless and innocent Lennie, I knew that he threatened our whole dream. So I tole Lennie to keep away from him, made him remember 'bout the clearing. Shoulda known that even if Lennie kept away, Curley wouldn't. Should left then, made some excuse and found another ranch. But I kept on there, desperate for our dream so's that Lennie would be happy.
An' then, no sooner had Curley left the ranch house, his goddamn wife appeared, covered in make-up and flirting. All I could think was, not again! I thought that whole Weed trouble had been left behind and now we hadda whole lot more troublw. Shoulda left then. Should known that these two people could bring our whole world crashing down. Shoulda known, but I din't.
Lennie wth that pup made me stay. He was so happy. Happier than I think I've ever seen him. Maybe we could make this work. Then Candy, joining us, making the dream come alive again. I was more cautious this time though. When Candy said how he shoulda killed his dog I stored that in my mind 'cause even though I felt that nothin' could go wrong, I somehow knew it would. I was right too.
That Sunday was fine at first. Playing horseshoes with the guys while Lennie was in the barn. Alone. I had a bit of fear 'bout that but since nothin' bad had gone wrong for a bit I din't bother about it.
It was all goin' fine until I saw Candy. His face said it all. I rushed up an' into the barn. As soon as I saw her I knew Lennie had done it. So I went to Carlson's bed an' picked up the gun. I knew where he'd be but I din't go straight off. I hadda do it right, pretend I was searchin'. They all guessed right off it was Lennie, he was the only one strong enough.
The groups set off an' I went to the little clearing, to Lennie. I din't want him to be scared so I tole him the story again and raised the gun. I nearl din't do it but then Candy's words came back to me and I knew that if I didn't do it I would never let him go. I hadda do it or he'd get hurt. So I raised my hand and... did it.
I shoulda known it'd lead to this. I shoulda known but I din't. And now he's gone.