charlie, charlie; j.g

one

jack finnegan gilinsky was only a crisp eighteen years old when he died in the shooting.

freshly turning over to a legal adult, he died before he could get married or have kids or even find the girl of his dreams. he had recently caught up in some bad habits, including drinking, smoking - and mary jane.

mary jane iskra was also eighteen. she died with jack, jealous and overbearing, just like every other day of her life. her last few seconds of life were filled with regret.

jack and mary's deaths were simple: they were both involved with drugs and money, except both were the things they needed. they both owed money to several people, and, of course, slipped away from the world because of that.

jack, who was always a huge batman fan, in his last few moments of living, thought of one of heath ledger's best quotes.

"do you want to know why i use a knife? guns are too quick. you can't savor all the... little emotions. in... you see, in their last moments, people show you who they really are. so in a way, i know your friends better than you ever did. would you like to know which of them were cowards?"

"would you like to know which of them were cowards?"

jack already knew that a lot of them were cowards. mary jane was - she never loved him, so why did he? did he even love her?

he died by a gun, though, not a knife. he wondered if his emotions were still visible and if he held it strong until the very end.

was he a coward?

jack remembered lifting his limp hand up and reaching to his chest, feeling around for the three bullet holes. he shied from his own touch when he felt his hand get too close.

in a way, jack did feel like a coward, though. he left johnson behind, and that was a major sin that he would literally take to his grave.

johnson had been so pissed at jack for screwing up his life. he tried to stop him many times, but jack never listened. he was obsessed with the money; it was like a drug.

at one time, jack and johnson had tried out for the varsity football team. they both made it, and jack could've had colleges lined up trying to get him, offering scholarships, things like that. but he fucked up his life and let everything get to his head.

jack had once read that when someone dies, their brain still had seven minutes of activity left, and it just replayed your entire life up to your death.

jack didn't need to try and test this theory before his life literally started to flash before his eyes. he saw visions of himself playing football with johnson and everyone else on the team.

jack wished that he would've spent less time watching the sunday night football on nbc and more time being the sunday night football on nbc.

jack wished he wouldn't have wasted all that time on mary jane, too. in his last few moments, he thought to himself, hey, cupid, next time do you think you could shoot your arrow at both of us? thanks.

mary jane, in her last few moments, was jealous that they shot jack and she didn't.

mary swore that this wouldn't be the last of her, and she was right.

this is when our story comes into play.

+

THE SAGA BEGINS