Gold And Coal (Ryden AU)

1.5 ◇ Somebody To Die For

For the rest of yesterday my thoughts were consumed by the weird encounter I had had.

It had added a tiny speck of color to my dull, gray life.

Only when I set foot back into my home was I confronted with the worries swept from my mind by the cheery man.

But there was nothing I could do. Of course I could prowl through the streets, searching for him the whole night, but the chances of me finding him were close to zero. And truth be told, I was way to tired to walk even a single step further.

You may ask yourself why I even bothered at all. Why I would care if I would find him lying in a ditch. Why I worried so much about a man that had only brought misery to my already dismal life.

The answer is he's all that I have left. I may not be all that fond of him, but without him I would be all alone. And there's nothing I was more afraid of than being alone. Loneliness is the ultimate poverty. I may not have much, but at least I still have someone to talk to, even if he doesn't listen. On nights in which I can't sleep, I sit beside him, spilling all my worries and thoughts to his sleeping form. But he's there. And if he wouldn't be, I'd realize how lonely I was when it's the end of the day and I have a lot to talk about and no one to talk to. Our relationship may not be the most healthiest, but we kept each other alive. In the most fucked up way, I loved him.

So here I was, back in the hot, stuffy factory, but at least I felt slightly more rested than I did the last few days.

After we had our small lunch break, a shrill whistling noise pierced itself into our ears, making me flinch and cover them with my hands. It was one of the most terrifying sounds ever, it felt like my mind would split open if it continued just a second longer. It drung deep into my soul, forcing me to sink onto my knees.

Thankfully, it stopped pretty soon after it had started, but the loud ringing stayed in my ears long enough for me to curse who ever set it off.

We all knew what it meant, even though we had never experienced it first hand. Upon coming here, we were all given a set of rules, things like: Whoever was late will get fired, whoever slacked of will get fired, bla bla bla. One of them had been that we were to immediately come together in the main hall of the factory, if we heard the whistling.

An uneasy murmer ran through the crowds of people scattered across the different halls. We didn't know what to expect, and so we all expected the worst.

The company had gone bankrupt and we would all be unemployed.

A sickening feeling settled in my guts. It would be the end of me. There was no way I would find another job. I had been incredibly lucky to get this one.

I prayed to all the higher powers that may or may not be out there that our summoning had a different reason.

I let myself be swept along with the others, listening to all the desperate pleas they uttered.

"Please, I have a wife and children!"

"This can't be happening, I have a family!"

And so on. Family this, family that. I bet half of you don't even have families. That's just an excuse. You don't want to admit to being selfish. You just don't want to die. And that's a perfectly legitimate reason to not want to get sacked, in my opinion.

On the bridge above us stood my most beloved person on this earth.

I felt the urge to vomit just by looking at his chubby, rat like face.

How he stood, head held high and looking down on us as if we were lesser beings. Like he was a god.

Don't play god, you're no deity.

Don't worry, one day, karma's going to come collect your debt.

He cleared his throat and immediately, every little whisper died out. It was ridiculous what kind of effect he had on us. We were scared shitless of him.

Someday, I swear I am going to hire an assassin to end his life in the most cruel and most painful way ever to get him back on all the wrongs he did.

"I'm going away on business for a while, and my son will be taking over while I am gone. Now, this does not mean you can slack off, any faulty behaviour will be reported and the same consequences will apply."

His booming voice echoed through every part of the hall. How could one person speak this loud?

Sighs of relief followed his statement and I felt the knot in my stomach loosen. Looks like the world wanted me to suffer just a little longer.

A loud bang brought our attention back to the stand. And my eyes widened in disbelief as I saw just who had appeared next to the man I despised the most.

He wore the same lopsided grin as yesterday, his hair ruffled and his clothes messily hanging of his form.

The bang had most likely been caused by him falling down the stairs that led to this platform. He raised his hand in greeting and I could feel the confusion radiating from my fellow workers.

It was Brendon. Brendon was the son of my boss. His name was Brendon Urie.

~ I've got nothing left to live for, got no reason yet to die, but when I'm standing in the gallows I'll be staring at the sky because no matter where they take me, death, I will survive... cause I don't need this life, I just need somebody to die for ~