Fire and Forge

I loved this song. It didn't have good lyrics, or any message behind it, but the beat was the whole reason I tolerated the lyrics. I turned a dial on my car's radio and enhanced the bass a bit while dropping the treble down, drowning out the 'artist' on the radio. Then I turned another dial located a couple inches to the left of the first one. the volume was cranked up to follow the bass.

Cruising down a two lane road between a pair of wheat fields a couple hours north of Dallas, Texas. I was heading home from work. After a long twelve hour shift at the local fast food restaurant, it was time to relax. Maybe break out my laptop and play a couple games, or watch a few videos.

The red low-fuel indicator light flicked on with a soft 'click' sound. I assumed that i needed fuel. probably a pretty simple assumption to make. If your car wasn't a piece of crap like mine. The fuel gauge stopped working a long time ago. I mostly went off instinct in guessing when I needed to fill up my car, or i would top it off when I could.Mainly because I was worried about running out of fuel in the middle of nowhere. Even if i could go another twenty miles after the light switched on. But, being my first time with it turning on (I was pretty good at keeping my car full of gas) I didn't know if the tiny red LED was telling the truth. For all I know, the light could be broken as well, and the broken fuel gauge and light combo had teamed up against me.

Giving in, i pulled into the next gas station i saw. It wasn't very busy, there was an older white man standing behind the counter scanning the items from some other customer i couldn't see on the other side of some advertisement posters taped to the inside of the window. I pulled up to the nearest pump and unlatched the hatch to the fuel tank. as i selected the fuel type i wanted i saw a red pickup truck pull up on the other side of the pump and a short, white man stepped out wearing a faded green sleeveless shirt. He had a shaved head and a small gold chain necklace on. all in all he looked like a bad ass that you would hate to run into in a bar, or an alleyway, or anywhere the police weren't present. that is, if he wasn't about five feet tall. although he still looked like he could hit hard if he wanted to.

He was covered in tattoos, his arms had all types of mythical creatures on them; from what i thought looked like a griffin and a dragon fighting, to a unicorn with wings. he turned around to undo the gas cap on his truck, on the edges of his shirt on the back of his arms i thought i saw a design of an explosion in all the colors of the rainbow. But i second guessed my self when he turned around and looked right at me. We made eye contact for a quarter of a second

"What are you looking at?" he said, it was asked rhetorically. With a lot of hostility. Like he wanted to start something.

or maybe he just had a tough day so far? i thought, giving him the benefit of the doubt.

"Just your beautiful face" I replied, very sarcastically. I'm sorry, I couldn't help it, I'm a smart ass at heart, and it was the perfect opportunity. Now he had a good reason to start something if he wanted too.

He raised his eyebrows in a look that showed he was surprised i had the nerve to say such a thing to his face. surprisingly, he just turned around and put the end of the gas hose where the gas cap used to be and started the fueling process.

I was completely shocked, I honestly wasn't expecting such a passive reaction to my comment. the gas pump clicked, indicating my car was full of gas. so i replaced the handle where it belonged and went into the store. I was on a search. for my next sugar fix. I hadn't had one in a couple of hours, since i left work. At work i could get as much soda as i wanted. but after clocking out for the day i relinquished those rights until back on the clock and in the rat race. so i picked out the soda with the highest concentration of sugar per serving that i could find. and walked up to the counter. i looked back outside to where the bald guy was fueling up, and saw him smoking.

'I swear to whatever deities own this planet, if im in the next news report for an exploding gas station, i am going to be very pissed when we meet at the pearly gates of heaven.' i thought to myself.

i finished purchasing and started walking to my car with my keys in my left hand and a bottle of liquid sugar in the other.

BOOOOOOM

I was thrown off of my feet, back towards the entrance of the gas station. I instantly felt sharp pains all throughout my body, i was on my back a couple of feet from the entrance to the gas station and i let my head roll to the right at my right arm, stretch out to my side as if i were trying to make a snow angel into the concrete. it was almost completely covered in blood and i had lost feeling to it. i tried to turn my head the other way to check the status of my other arm, but my neck was too weak because of the amount of blood i had lost.

But of course, being in shock i only thought: 'I guess that means i should start a strict routine of neck workouts now so i can look to my right again,' it didn't make any sense but i was not in the right mind. who would be after an explosion like that a couple feet away from where you were?

As my vision started to fade, i accepted this death and suddenly felt calm and relaxed despite the injuries i took, and could have sworn i saw myself get engulfed in green fire as my eyes drifted closed and i lost consciousness.