The Journey of the Assassins

Journey Assassins; chapter 1

The Journey of the Assassins:

Chapter 1:

"From Past Adventures to Present Ones."

The raindrops from a passing storm splattered against the rooftop of a small house, but not violently or loudly. Rather, the noise of their impact was pleasant, helping to break up the silence of a long February night. The water drizzled down the side of the windows, each drop taking its own path to the bottom of the glass. Inside this house, the rain could hardly be heard, as its sound was drowned out by the punching of keys on a keyboard. Sometimes fast and sometimes slow these keys were punched, far from the perfect pattern of the falling rain outside.

"Alright Matt, just one more line and we're done," mumbled Matt to himself, as he typed away on his computer. "...and period. That's it! Better make sure I save this," he continued to talk out loud, as if someone else was in the room. "That's the last time I'm waiting until the night before my report is due to start on it. I would have been in big trouble if I didn't get this in tomorrow." Matt glanced at the monitor for a few seconds, rubbing his chin. "Anyway, time for a break. After that, I'll edited this article and make sure it's nice and shiny." He took a deep sigh as he pushed his chair back a few feet. He rested his head on its black surface and closed his eyes.

A night such as this wasn't out of the ordinary for Matt, who worked as a writer for a kid's science magazine. His passion for writing, as well as science, brought him to that position. He didn't mind the job, by any means. Nonetheless, a typical night for Matt was him sitting at his desk typing away at a report or two. He lived by himself and had no kids; he never married. However, he had family and friends scattered across the country that he would go visit every so

often. In other words, he wasn't always by himself.

Speaking of friends, however, Matt had two very special ones that he shared with some of his greatest times. Their names were Jake and Sonny. Just as normal as it was for Matt to be at the computer working, was him sitting there in silence and thinking of the adventures he used to go on with these two close friends of his. This night appeared to be no different. As Matt sat back in his chair and rested, the raindrops seemed to suddenly get louder, no longer having to battle with the sound of keys being punched.

"Another rainy night," Matt sighed. A few moments passed. "I remember that one night Sonny and I were walking home from dinner, and it was pouring cows. Not cats or dogs, but cows. I had never seen it rain so hard." Matt chuckled to himself a little as he took a yawn. "I also remember the time that Jake, Sonny and I crowded into that little building at high school when it started to snow. There was a nasty wind chill that day and it stills makes me cold when I think about it." Matt stretched as a smile emerged on his face. "Wow that was a long time ago; some twenty one or so years to be specific." He opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling. "Boy, we sure used to have some fun times," he continued to talk out loud to himself. "How long has been since I've spoken to either of those two guys?" A few seconds of silence passed, except for the beating of the rain on the roof. "I think maybe Christmas, and that was just for a few minutes. And I can't even begin to recall the last time we actually hung out together." Matt continued to stare at the ceiling with a blank expression, rarely blinking.

Both Jake and Sonny had long since married, and each were raising a pair of kids. It seemed like every time Matt called his two close friends, they were busy either helping one of their kids with homework, out for dinner with their wives, at work, or whatever. Matt understood, though. He too was busy, occasionally coming home to see a message on his phone from one of them. But it had been months since such a message was left. Nevertheless, it didn't stop Matt from daydreaming about past adventures. More importantly, it didn't stop him from believing that one day he and his two best friends would go on a new one.