I woke up to the rustling of my tent and to my friend Tom practically yelling my name to get up.
"Come on Jerry, get up, we didn't come out here to the middle of nowhere to sleep all day"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm up, I'm up. Give me a minute."
I got out of my sleeping bag, got dressed and crawled out of my tent to find Tom setting up a small propane powered stove top to make coffee. Tom and I had met each other in middle school and had become inseparable ever since. We both got into the same college and shared many different escapades through out the years. Now we were currently on a camping trip out in the middle of nowhere as a small vacation from our jobs, wives, and kids.
The coffee was made and I took out the granola from the car so we could have something to eat. We discussed the usual, politics, what our wives did that pissed us off, work, our wives some more, the usual. Eventually we finished our coffee and filled up on granola and packed up breakfast. As I was putting the leftover granola back into the car Tom asked me to take out the fishing supplies from the trunk of my car.
"Sure, but I thought you left your fishing rod in your tent?"
"Oh, yeah." Tom looked at the lake then at his tent, "You go down to the water, I'll be there in a second"
"Ok, see you there."
I walked down to the water and got myself set up. I put the bait on my hook and cast my line. Almost immediately I felt a tug on my fishing rod and reeled in the fish. I was pretty surprised, I never got a fish this quickly. Once I got it out of the water I put it into the styrofoam cooler and cast out my line again. I heard Tom walking toward the water behind me.
"Hurry up Tom, the fish are really biting!" I called behind me, but he didn't respond.
Click.
"Tom?"
Click.
"Shit!" Tom said under his breath.
"Tom?" I said as I turned around. I was staring down the barrel of a gun and froze.
Click. "God fucking damn it!" Tom Said again.
I don't know what came over me but I grabbed the gun in one hand and punched Tom in the face with the other, little did I know, punching people hurts.
"What the fuck are you doing Tom?"
We were both still holding the gun and were fighting to get the gun away from the other. We continued struggling and fell to the ground. Eventually I got the upper hand and was able to pin Tom down and pull the gun away from him.
"Tom, what the Fuck is going on?"
"Geoff put me up this" he said with a look in his eyes that showed pure hatred.
"You mean the guy that want's my job and my wife? What do you get out of this?"
"Yeah, he told me how much you really make and he said he would give me a quarter of his salary for the next ten years if I did this. My wife has terminal cancer and she's dying, I'm in a shit ton of debt, the bank wants to take my house. I need the money, Jerry, I need it so fucking bad."
I looked into Tom's eyes and saw, not hatred, but fear and pain, with tears starting to well up in his eyes.
"Why didn't you tell me Tom? I would have helped you, all you hand to do was ask."
I stood up and helped Tom up as well. I took the magazine out of the gun and put it in my pocket.
"Don't worry Tom, I have no hard feelings towards you, I understand you were acting out in desperation."
"Thanks Jerry, I'm so sorry about this, how can I ever make it up to you? And what are you going to do about Geoff?"
"There is nothing you need to do, and I already have a plan for Geoff."
We packed everything up and drove back home. It was a Sunday and I knew that Geoff went running in the afternoon and I had a general idea of his route. I waited on a corner for Geoff to run by, and as I had guessed he came by. I called to him.
"Hey Geoff, your attempt failed."
He looked terrified, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Yes you do." I grabbed him and punched him square in the face. It hurt, but not as much as last time, because this time my blood was pumping with adrenaline. I punched him again, and again. I beat him to within an inch of his life.
"Try anything like this again, and it will hurt a whole lot more, and if you try to report me, you will be going to jail a lot longer than me, so I have nothing to lose."
I stood up, gave him one more kick to the body, spit in his face, and walked away.
