The scenery is astounding. The shaded hues of the low moon across the bay, coupled with the warm glow coming from the city behind. The slight breeze carried a scent of the water; providing enough chill to set the ambience just right. The sound of the waves lapping at the shore mixed with the hustle of the nightlife, the faint bass of the club music beating in the background, giving the area its own heartbeat. The leaves of the trees rustled as the wind drifted by, breathing life into the view. The balcony of the fourth floor lifted him above the streetlights, while the faint smell of alcohol flowed out of the sliding glass door. Liam stood there, staring across the water, admiring what lay in front of him. It had taken him so long to get here, or so it seemed. Five years since he decided to change his entire life and to become the man he always wanted to be. It hurt him to think back on his life, looking at the choices made in the past. The mistakes, the decision to leave, the memories he left behind. The thing that scarred him the deepest however, was the people he left without an explanation. He wondered what his family thought, his friends from grade school, even his ex-girlfriends. "Heh, they probably threw a little get together with enough booze to make an Irishman blush," he mumbled through the cloud of a Black and Mild. Any thought of his mother would only darken his mood; as his father was an abusive man, often taking his anger out of his wife and children. He used to work a dead end blue collar job muddled with a cheap whiskey and raised his family in a trailer out side of a small town in the backwoods of Montana. Now, his mother thought he was dead, burned to a crisp and then some in a robbery gone wrong. Of course, when he set the old place ablaze he made sure there was just enough evidence to say that there was a victim inside but, not enough to say who. Unfortunately, his father had run off with a local waitress several years before and was never seen again. That was when he decided to find a ride out of that hellhole. As long as he could make it out on the main road he could hitchhike his way to anywhere in the country. He lost the old, beat up, pickup he had, the cellphone, anything that could be traced and took off with nothing but the clothes he was wearing, a dusty leather jacket, a trusty 45 which had mysteriously come into his possession, and a couple grand in cash. He had cut his hair down and shaved his beard, turning back the clock on his looks by a few years. Slightly larger than average height at six-one he had a slender but muscly build. He worked enough back breaking construction to make him fit and a few years of high school football was enough to keep him in shape. His dark green eyes and stout features with his dirty blonde hair gave him a good appearance. A trusting appearance. He had a younger brother by the name of Elijah, who had enlisted with the Marines as soon as he could. Good enough kid, same dirty blonde hair but brown eyes as dark as mocha, only five-eleven but filled out his frame. His younger sister, Courtney, moved to a University in the big city. Her grades were good enough to get her a full ride and she worked a part time job in a restaurant until her schooling came through. Liam was working the same dead-end job his father was, trying to help out his mother while she worked as a seamstress from home. He made sure his mom would see a large sum of money of the course of a few years, leaving her comfortable to never have to worry about the house again.
