The Last Star Jake saw Tonight

Jake stared up at the night sky. "You ever wonder where it all leads too?"

"What?"

"The stars. The cosmos, man. I mean, think about it. The infinite expanse. Put in perspective humans live a nano second of existence if that."

"Interesting theory. If you like that kind of shit."

"Always have ever since I was a kid. You didn't know this, but my father was an engineer for NASA. He helped design the Apollo space craft."

"No shit."

"Yeah, no shit. The stories he used to tell me of how the astronauts would see strange stuff while in orbit."

"Really."

"Small orbs of bright light would zoom by them at incredible speed. Too fast for them to take a picture. But they were out there. Probably still are. Probably watching us right now."

Jake moves his head about searching the twilight in hopes of seeing one of the orbs.

"You ready to go?"

"Can't you give me a minute. It's not like we're going somewhere."

"I have things to do after this. Unlike you Jake, I have a life."

"A life. Really George. How so?"

"I got kids. A wife. A mortgage. And then there' s the incidentals. In fact tonight is stew night. Every Wednesday is stew night."

"It's Wednesday?"

"Yep. All day."

"That's the problem then. I thought today was Monday."

"Well it's not. You are two days late if you're thinking today's Monday. Where's your head at man?"

"I don't know. I remember thinking I had to do something Sunday night, you know, because Wednesday was coming up but then, she called and well, one thing led to another."

"Man, you should have done what you had to do Sunday. Now look at you."

"Yeah. Now look at me. Shit. It was like I was saying. Can you spare a minute."

George looks at his watch. "I've got some time. Dinner won't be until 7. I can't be late though. Alice will have a shit fit."

"I won't keep you. When do you have to go?"

"You got about five minutes give or take."

"Good. I've been thinking. With all those stars up there. Do you think we go on after death? Do we travel through the vast cosmos as some type of ethereal being? Or do we cease to exist."

"Too deep for me. You live, you die if you ask me."

"Maybe, but I'm a romantic. I believe there is more to life than this life. That your spirit moves on. I would hope so. You live your whole life thinking something has to come out of it. Well, at least I do. If not, what a waste of human flesh huh?"

"You are meant to do what you do. Personally, I wanted to be a lawyer. Now look at me."

"So you have regrets."

"Some, but none I lose sleep over. You're the one who should have regrets if anyone."

"Naw. I thought about it a lot since you picked me up tonight. Yeah, I could have done a lot of things differently, but I didn't. They are more like mistakes than regrets. Like Sunday night. I made the mistake of overindulging when she came over. We had a good time and all before everything went black."

"And here you are. What kills me is, you're not a stupid guy. A bit wild but shit, you're only twenty five. You have your whole life ahead of you"

"I went nuts. I drank too much tequila, took a hit a LSD, I think, and WHAM! The next thing I know is you're breaking down my door which, by the way, wasn't locked."

"What can I say. I was in a hurry. Speaking of which. It's time to go."

"So soon? The night is still young.”

“As I said, I’ve got dinner, a wife and two kids waiting for me. You don’t know my wife Alice.  Punctual to the second. I remember one time I was a minute late and …I said too much as it is.”

“You’re truly a lucky guy. You love her?”

“Dumb question.”

“Odd. I never loved anyone in my life, especially women and I’ve had a lot of them.”

“So I’ve heard.””

“How so?”

George takes a cigarette from his pack and lights it.  “You don’t know?”

“No. Like I said. I went black until you came storming in. What happened?”

“I can’t say. They don’t want me to tell you.”

“That’s fucked up. Here we are and you can’t even tell me what this is about. C’mon man. You have to have a conscience.”

George exhales a stream of smoke. “I thought about that. Then I revert back to the part where I have no regrets. In a way I like what I do. I get paid well. But you. You’re a different story. All that money. Now look at you.”

“Let me tell you. I ran through all those women and my millions to get me to this point.  Not once did I find happiness in the women I dated nor was I able buy happiness with all my money. ”

“And so here we are.”

“Before we go I want you to know there’s over a half million beneath the floorboards of my kitchen by the stove.  It’s yours. I find I don’t need money anymore.”

Jake looks up at the sky. “When I see all those stars and their beauty I fall into a type of tranquility and peace that carries me through the universe. It’s like I’m floating through time, through infinity. It is pure happiness.  Someday you must join me."

George pulls the trigger of his Glock. Jake falls forward face down onto the grass. George bends down, removes the handcuffs around Jake's wrists then rolls Jake's body over onto his back.  

Jake is breathing heavily. His eyes are wide open gazing upon the stars. “Thank you. I see my journey up there is just beginning.”

George runs his fingers over Jakes eyelids and closes them just as Jake takes his last breath. "You should never had strangled the boss's daughter.”

George looks at his watch.  “Shit. Alice is going to kill me.”