DAISY

The first few months without Mandy went on like normal and the world continued to turn like she wasn't even apart of it anymore, like she was nothing but a ghost in the breeze of blood and gun smoke. She existed though and was a major part of his life until he met his wife, Helen.

Then Mandy became nothing more but a thought that occurred a couple of times every year. He would go at least six months without even a single thought of her and enjoyed his retirement with Helen from the bottom of his heart.

But in the end that was lost too.

Helen passed away and then there was nothing but the memories of his beloved wife and the rusty thoughts of his once best friend Mandy.

He recalls in the past Mandy having her 'talks' with him. Nothing special but nothing insignificant either. To her, they probably meant a lot since they had nothing to do with the 'job'. They were nothing but normal. It baffled him a little to think that 10 years later he was able to remember these very small details about Mandy and yet, go years hardly ever thinking about her, but lately, he found himself doing that more and more often now, days after Helen passed away.

Perhaps...it was just loneliness that suddenly reignited those memories.

The smallest thing though began to save him when it was presented at his doorstep. A small little fraction of hope and last present from his wife.

A small Beagle puppy named Daisy, and it was here that he began to slowly fill the void.

The long and drawn out morning began in a king-sized bed where only one laid now. No lights pierced through his eyes...only because Daisy managed to crawl over him and dominate his face and suffocate him in licks.

"I'm up... I'm up. I'm up." He lifted his hands in defeat.

Finally noticing the buzzing off his alarm clock, he turned it off and sat up in bed with Daisy whining and jumping on his back. John dragged himself out of bed and went to the front door to open it, Daisy running out first chance she got.

"Hey," John called out but noticed that she only had to do her business. "Oh...right." He scooped up the newspaper at his feet and waited for Daisy to come running back in.

Since it was only last night that he got her he had no dog food yet.

John poured a bowl of cereal for him and her. "We'll grab you some kibble later." He said and sat down for a silent breakfast in a house that he never noticed until now...was quite big.

There was no agenda, no plan, no To-do list or anything. John found a small spark of joy in just spending days riding around in is mustang to pass the time until it got dark, and that's what he'll do today.

He pulled his jacket over his body and grabbed his keys as Daisy sprinted around the corner to join him in his riding trip, calling shotgun right off the bat and jumped in before even he could sit down. John opened the garage door and pulled out, having to take a small trip to the gas station before anything.

It was a gas station out in the middle nowhere of the country-side backroads where a car would casually pass every five minutes or so, and it looked like no one was in at the moment.

John pulled into the station and parked his car beside a pump. He got out but accidentally left the car door opened for too long and Daisy suddenly sprung to life and leaped out of the vehicle and into the open world where there were tons of things to explore that her child eyes never saw before.

John looked up when he heard the tapping of her claws against the cement and saw her making a break for the road. "Daisy?" He called out and began to walk after her when he heard the roaring sound of a motorcycle off in the distance, heading for a collision with his dog he only got last night. "Daisy!" He shouted more frantically and began to run after her.

Daisy paid no mind to his shouting and continued to wander around the road in a daze of some sort to look around at the big world, but the sound of the bike finally got to close and she looked up with her big, innocent brown eyes as the bike was almost upon her.

Almost though.

The biker didn't break speed but moved off to the side, leaning down and scooping up Daisy in one swift motion and slowed down just as John reached the road. The biker slowed down and drove up slowly beside him.

John sighed when he was handed back his puppy. "Thanks...she just ran out and..." He didn't even know how to explain himself to the silent dog savior who stared back with a reflective visor. His heart though began to speed up when this all to familiar voice caused him to freeze.

"John?" The silent rider spoke, a female with a smooth yet cheerful voice that echoed out with a laugh. "John freakin' Wick!"

John stared into the reflective visor but only saw his own face looking back at him, but there was no mistaking that voice just now. He had heard it, worked with it, had a shouting match with it.

"Mandy?"

She reached for her helmet and pulled it off, shaking out her wild and wavy hair out that stuck to her bottom lip while she smiled widely at him. "10 years! 10 long years and you..." She squinted her eyes to get a better look. "Changed only a little." She said flatly as a joke.

"I guess the same goes for both of us."

Mandy opened her arms out. "What? No hug for your long lost friend?"

Looks like that aspect of her hasn't changed. Always trying to get some sort of physical contact in just to see someone squirm. That person usually being him.

John cracked a smile and started to walked back to his car with Daisy in tow. "No. I don't think I will."

Mandy frowned and rolled her eyes. "You hugged me that one time but whatever." She drove up slowly out of the road. "You probably thought I was dead, huh?"

"To be honest with you. I wasn't sure." John said and put Daisy back in the car. "I didn't know what to think when you suddenly said you were going to leave. I was hoping that you...were going to live."

Mandy shrugged and shut off her bike, a Yamaha Bolt Cruiser. "That's the thing. Neither did I." Her voice lost that cheerful edge. "At first it was...hard to get away but after three years, they just stopped chasing me and I was able to move on."

John paused when she said that. "Did you? Did you move on?" He saw that same shift in her eyes from that night.

Whatever it was that happened that night 10 years ago...she still hasn't gotten over it.

"No," Mandy said flatly. Her eyes then fell on the ring on his finger. "You sure did though. Shit man...You got married?" She finally broke a grin but felt a small sting in her chest that lingered for merely a fraction of a second. "How did you manage to pull that off?" The moment she said that she noticed the air around them change and John looked away, falling silent. Mandy took a breath and a second to understand what it was. "How long has it been since she passed?"

John took in a deep breath but answered her. "Days."

Mandy cursed under her breath since she didn't mean to bring up bad memories. Hell, she was surprised enough that John Wick of all people fell in love enough to want out.

"What was her name?" She asked.

"Helen," John said and gestured to Daisy jumping around in the car happily. "The dog was the last gift from her. Before she passed...she made sure this was left behind."

"Nothing says healing like a puppy." Mandy hopped off her bike to play with the dear little dog in the car. She laughed a bit when it immediately jumped at her face and started to lick her. "How are you holding up? Is she helping?"

John leaned against the car and stuck his hands into his pockets to think of his next words. "I haven't really thought about it much." He looked down and saw Mandy offering her hand. He grabbed it out of reflex and she squeezed it tightly.

"Is one thing I hate more than anything...and that's being alone. You got this babe here...you'll be fine." Mandy hardly ever spoke seriously and usually talks in a casual manner with sarcasm dripping from her voice. But this was different. She held his gaze firmly with her own and made SURE he heard her words. "You hear me?"

John patted her on the shoulder. "Yeah." He didn't lift his hand though and continued to stare into her eyes that were timeless. "I'm glad you're okay, Mandy. You were completely silent these past 10 years so I never knew."

Mandy scoffed a bit and her lips turned up into a smirk. "Well...the world ain't gonna cry for me but at least you will."

"You really think I would cry?"

"I think you would grieve heavily if you ain't gonna cry." She clicked her tongue and winked at him.

John rolled his eyes when both he and Mandy looked up as a black car pulled into the station across from them, blaring this loud and obnoxious music all the way up these roads where silence once held them.

Mandy narrowed her eyes when she saw three gang-looking guys come out. "The hell?"