The Corrupt And Vain

Chapter 2: Berry Blue Nova

13/5/16
Austin, Texas

The time is 6:34AM, Aiden's sleeping body was soaked in sweat. The Texas heat shined it's heat-waves through the blinds of his bedroom, all light from the sun rested upon his side of the bed whereas his wife Eleanor, was cold to the bone, resting peacefully in the dark shade.

The time then turns to 6:35AM. The overly loud alarm clock placed on the nightstand starts blasting it's wake up theme. Aiden jumps up out of bed, he gasps deeply as his body sweat runs down his throbbing, buff chest, he wipes the sweat off his forehead and then begins to stretch his arms and crack his neck. He looked back at the other side of the bed, his angelic wife still slept quietly and calmly. Aiden smiled, move over to her side of the bed and kissed her on the cheek, just gentle enough for her to not wake up.

Aiden takes a shower, brushes his teeth and pours himself a fresh batch of cereal. Whilst he does all this, he plays back the suicide-shooting that happened the day before in his head.
Heavy silence began to fill the family room as he slowly ate the breakfast cereal in deep thought.

After a few intense moments of deep thought, A sudden burst of music came out of from the bedroom. The song that started to play was "Bang Bang" by Nancy Sinatra.
Aiden puts the dish in the sink and rushes to the bedroom to answer the phone, the ringtone had reached it's chorus just before Aiden arrived at the phones location in the bedroom.

Aiden opens the nightstand drawer, takes his vibrating phone and checks to see who is calling him.

"Unknown Caller ID"

Curiously, Aiden answers the phone and greets the caller on the other side.

"This is Ranger Mars, may I ask who's calling?"
On the other end, "It's me rookie,
ya just wake up?"
In slight shock, Aiden replies, "Uhh....yeah, about thirty minutes ago.
How did you get my number?"
"Don't worry about that. I'm on the way to your house to pick you up, you still live at 400 Pecan Acres Rd Bastrop?"
"Uhh...yeah, well it's my brothers house but he let's me and my wife stay here, no way we could afford a place like this."
"Makes sense. I'm almost there now, look out for my Nova arriving at your front gate."
"Okay, I'll se-.."
Ranger Collins hangs up before Aiden can finish his farewell. Aiden takes a sigh of disgust and walks toward the closet at the right-side of the bedroom.

He opens the closet door and takes out a beige coloured button-shirt, grey suit pants with suspenders, black Oxford smart shoes and a grey blazer.
He takes his Texas Ranger Star off his nightstand and clips it onto his blazer, he then puts on his gunbelt and places his Glock 17 into the holster. Finally, he takes his Brown Texas Ranger cowboy hat and places it delicately on his head.

He proudly walks toward the mirror to the left of the closet, cracks a smile and says, "The new and improved wild west Ranger." With that, he hears the sound of a 454 V8 engine growl outside the ranch. He places his dark coloured aviator glasses over his eyes and walks toward the front door.

Aiden prepares to exit. He opens the door hoping that today, he would be able to impress his new partner by looking the part and acting more serious, just in case him and Ranger Collins intercept another call, he won't seem as much of a pussy.

The morning sunlight bleams over Aiden, blinding him for a few short moments. As soon as he regains his vision, he looks beyond the ranches gates to see Ranger Collins leaning on his berry blue, 1968 Chevrolet Nova.
Ranger Collins looks sternly at Aiden, he takes out a Cherrytop cigarette and lights it. Aiden stops randomly, looking back at Ranger Collins with no expression. Ranger Collins tilts his neck towards his car as gesture to Aiden, telling him to get in the car, he then moves off the fender of the Nova and walks around to the driver-side door.