Vito Kenneth was staring at the ceiling. The great lethargy that had been threatening to engulf him for almost two months held him captive to the spider web cracks in the white plaster ceiling. He could hear the scuttling legs of a rat and sat up slowly to face the rodent who was eating the cereal he had poured a few hours ago. Vito had given up on the rats. If they wanted to eat his food he was not going to stop them. In a few hours he would have no need for food. Or the cracked plaster ceiling. After pulling himself into the sitting position the weight that had held him down seemed to drain from his body, replaced by the anger and nervous energy that had fought with the lethargy for the past few months. Vito cricked his neck loudly and ran his right hand through is grease spiked hair. His forehead puckered as he felt the widow's peak forming. He checked his watch. 02:00 hours. Still another eight agonizing hours before... Reaching under the sweat stained bed Vito pulled two boxes. One was candy apple red decorated with a large gold ribbon and a fine layer of dust. The other was the box for the size ten Doc Martens which decorated his feet. Carefully he lifted the lid off the Doc Marten box and withdrew a zip lock bag of gun powder, a length of wire and a wrench. Cautiously, Vito began to loosen the pipe below his kitchen sink careful not to disturb the red and yellow gasoline containers he had stored there earlier that night.

~Three Hours Later~

The corners were pulled tight on the blankets of Lucas Richard's single bed and the pillow was strapped in under the clingwrap tight covers. He was pushing ninety but there was no way he was going to waste what remained of his life in the confines of a bed. Young people had no idea what they missed by sleeping in until noon; however, as he looked out his window through the early fall mist; he could not wholly blame them for staying in the confines of their beds. The streets were littered with the light fearing vampires of the nocturnal carnival of vices and games that humanity should have abandoned at the first light of Creation. Directly across from him a man was slumped over: drunk, overdosed or dead or any combination of the three. What did it matter to Lucas, either way he was beyond his help and, he decided, probably beyond God's help too. Slowly Lucas made his way to the chair where he had laid out his clothes from the night before. The black slacks went on easily enough but the arthritis in his shoulders made adorning the black shirt hard. The grey cardigan was easy enough to shrug into. Stiffly he made his way to his mirror and combed his near transparent, thinning hair and slid in his dentures. Finally before leaving his room he placed the white tab in his collar and stepped out towards the church. Father Richard was on the clock.

~Five Hours Later~

Madison Greene could think of over a hundred better ways to spend a Saturday afternoon than in "training" for her confirmation. Her friends were all going to the mall and then to the food court and she was stuck listening to an old geezer talk for four hours. Dressed head to foot in what her mother called "sensible clothes" Madison walked down the street to the local church, texting her best friend Liz.

Where r u?

'Rents r making me go to church :(

Sux 2 b u

Yea h8 goin. creepy guy always hangs out there

Is he cute :P

Kinda but looks sad. G2G h8er coming

Madison slid her cell phone into her plaid fall coat and slid on a smile to her face as Father Richard greeted her at the door, "Good morning Father." She beamed as she blessed herself and genuflected. She could see a few of the class of twenty hanging out in the pews near the front, all of them looked just as excited as her to be there. She slid in next to Darren Martin who blushed scarlet and mumbled a quiet hello. Madison smirked to herself, she loved tormenting Darren. She knew he had a huge crush on her. Everyone did. She looked into the right wing and saw the sad man, kneeling in a back pew holding a rosary. His hair was dark and spiky and he had one of those stubbly beards that some people thought were so hot. He looked up and Madison smiled at him before turning to talk to the person on the other side of Darren.

~.~

Vito had just finished his twelfth Hail Mary when his watch beeped 10:00. He glanced up. A pretty girl with wavy shoulder length hair and an orange and brown checked jacket was checking him out. She smiled at him and turned back to her peers. Her eyes were a cold grey. She looked like a young Jill. His heart ached for a second before turning back to stone. Sentiments would do nothing in a situation like this. They all had to die, they were poison, a poison that slowly permeated through society. The new Stasi, and there was their Führerdown the aisle thinking he was doing good. Vito cocked the pistol in his jacket and stood up.