"You don't have the guts, kid. Can you even aim? An even better question, can you even shoot it?"
The man said, holding his hands up as he was on his knees before Joseph. Klaira trembled behind him in fear due to the events that occured before Joseph came to the rescue.
"I find it funny, sir,"
Joseph said. He had a smile devoid of any emotion.
"how all it takes is me pulling a trigger and, boom! Suddenly your life is over. Isn't it funny, sir? Don't you find it interesting?"
He glared at Joseph.
"You're sick, and I mean mentally."
"I've always imagined myself a murderer. The kind that shows no mercy. I just thought it'd never come true, but here we are."
Two loud bangs went off.
And the man was dead.
"Let's go home to my house, Joseph."
Klaira started climbing her way to the roof and Joseph followed. Still holding the gun. They walked, jumped, and climbed building to make their way home.
"What do I do with the gun?"
"Keep it or leave it."
"I'll keep it and find a place to throw it away on the way."
"Actually, bring it to my home. I have a horrible idea."
Klaira smiled devilishly.
"Are you planning some sort of revenge on your brothers?"
"Well, brother. Which room should we hide the gun in? Merci's or Perci's?"
"Aren't they the twins? Don't they share a room?"
"Exactly. I have a blackmail footage of them hav-"
"That's disgusting."
Klaira laughed.
"You knew what I was about to say?"
"You're family's horrible. They paint a picture of perfection, but it's the complete opposite. It's full of disgusting- hey, how'd you get the footage anyway?"
The two heard sirens behind them.
"At first, I had my suspicions. Surprisingly, sex has a smell." Joseph hummed. "Anyway, I may or may not have bribed one of their ex-girlfriends to give me the video for blackmail."
"How'd they get footage?"
"Why do you think the girl broke up with them?"
"I don't- oh."
Joseph smiled and let out a chuckle.
"That's a funny thought. Catching your blood-related boyfriends in the act. So she got revenge by recording them?"
"You catch on quickly, Seph."
"By the way, doesn't your parents do a monthly search? When are planning to plant the gun? Immediately?"
"Well, the news are definitely gonna say something about the guy you killed. And my mom always watches the news. So if she finds the gun, which is the missing murder weapon, in one of her children's room, it'll put a lot of suspicion them."
"Would your mother sell her own children out to the police?"
"Yes, she will. Unless you negotiate something with her. Like make a deal or something. And the twins are demons. They're good at making deals."
"We're just hiding the gun, right? Can't we throw it away?"
"We're in the city, Joseph. Someone's going to find it eventually."
"Could we sell it at a pawnshop or something?"
"Do you know a place?"
"Nope."
"God, how do people get away with murder?"
"Is this my fault, Klair?"
Klaira froze and looked at Joseph in bewilderment. He stared back in curiosity and a tinge of guilt.
"If I wasn't an orphan, then we could've just stayed and said it was self-defense."
"I'll be honest," Klaira started, "It would've made our lives easier, but that doesn't mean it was your fault. It's my fault. Why's a fifteen year old girl wandering the streets so late at night anyway? What am I gonna tell them? That my dad kicked me out for calling my little sister a sleeping whore?"
"How old is she?"
"Thirteen. She's been trying to seduce all the eight graders. Actually, she's be trying to seduce anyone who's older than her. Says everyone in her grade is ugly."
"Haven't you said she joked about fucking the girls in her grade instead?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"I saw her fuck a girl."
"The fuck? You watched? You're supposed to be my boyfriend, Seph!"
"I didn't watch. I just-so-happened to be sneaking around in your school looking for you, but ending up passing the girls bathroom and heard the moans of a girl calling out your sister's name."
"So you heard, but didn't see?"
"Correct. They weren't very quiet by the way."
Klaira smiled, almost laughing.
"Good. Should've said that in the first place. Wait, what was the point of this conversation?"
"You're parents are homophobic."
"Oh, shit, you're right."
"I'm a good boyfriend, right? I gave you blackmail."
"Yes, you're a good boyfriend. I-"
"Don't say the L Word."
"-Love You."
"I don't understand you. How can you be so confident to say that?"
"You're loyal."
"How do you know?"
"I have a suicidal boyfriend who's only alive because he learned of my existence. When I die, he swore to me that he'd be coming to because he had nothing else to live for. I can go on and on."
"But it's true. Without you, I have no other purpose to live other than to survive. But I have no idea why I should survive or what I'm surviving for?"
"No one really knows what they're surviving for, do they? All they know is that they need to in order to live. And everyone, or mostly everyone, is born with a will to live. But for what? No one knows either, but we keep living to find that reason. I guess that's why we have dreams we want to make reality. Or a goal to achieve. Or a milestone to reach."
"Isn't it kinda sad, though? We set ourselves up for a goal to reach just to have something to live for. The grim and depressing adults you see on the streets these days did the same thing, but ended up setting themselves up for failure. They couldn't manage to make their dream reality, so now their only goal is to make money by any means necessary. In other words, survive. But now we're back at square one. What are we surviving for?"
Klaira sighed and stopped.
"No one really knows, do they? We're just insignificant little beings in one large universe."
"I guess my question has no answer. I guess my question isn't supposed to have an answer. I guess there is no real reason to survive. We just do it because we can."
"Answering your own questions, Seph?"
"My brain got tired of thinking and decided to come up with a conclusion."
"Seph, I love your rants."
"I Love You."
It was at this moment, that they both had forgotten about the murder that had been committed not too long ago.
It was also at this moment, that the gun Joseph held had been long gone.
