Lifespan Deathwatch

[Damien McEwan]

He didn't plan on it, but when the transport Nivek booked passage on landed on Los Angeles, he decided to disembark. He's never been on surface before, but Jaina talked about it alot in the past few weeks. They made plans to road trip here together soon, but as they say, 'sh*t happens'

Maybe it was masochism, but for whatever reason, he booked a flight across the globe to her hometown.

When he landed, he grabbed public transport to her neighborhood. When he arrived there, he took a seat at the bus stop and took a few minutes to wonder if coming was a bad idea.

While he debated his options, an old man with long, bright grey hair approached him and asked, "Hey man, you got a cigarette?"

Nivek didn't answer. He was staring at the picture of a bunny rabbit printed on the mans shirt, and was feeling some intense De'ja Vu.

"Hey guy, my eyes are up here." The old man interrupted. "You got a cigarette or not?"

"Nah. I don't smoke." he said, and the old man muttered his disappointment and walked away.

Nivek shot up, went after him and yelled, "Wait! I wanna ask you something!"

"When I said I didn't smoke, what did you say?"

"What does it matter?" the old man replied.

"C'mon man, just tell me. Please."

The old man gave him a skeptical look, and finally quoted himself:

"I said, Oh well. It was worth a roll of the dice."

Nivek had an epiphany. He shook the old man's hand, and jogged the short way back to the bus stop.

The old man continued back on his way and grumbled, "Moron!" over his shoulder as it started to rain.

------

He pulled the pair of dice that he bought at random back at a gift shop on Manhattan, and shook them in his hand as he came up with the rules he would follow:

'Everytime I come to a turn, if I roll one through six, I go left. If I roll seven through twelve, I go right.
'If I roll a double six, I follow the white rabbit.'

------

Twenty minutes, five rights, four lefts, and two white rabbits later, Nivek finds himself in a pub.

An hour later, he's drunk at the bar, feeling sorry...not for himself...just sorry.

A guy orders a beer and takes a seat next to him.

A minute after that, the guy says into his beer, " In spite all of it's flaws, the Universe is a perfect machine."

Nivek turns his head to the guy with an inebriated, squnity-eyed 'don't bug me' look.

The guy raises his hands with an innocent surrender gesture and says, "This is a locals bar and we don't normally get outsiders in here...I'm just trying to be friendly to the tourist, that's all."

"Fair 'nuff." Nivek says before upending his 6th lager.

"So, what's her name?"

"Excuse Me?" Nivek responds combatively.

"Her name. In my experience, when I see people drink like you do, it's usually over a girl." the guy responds in his defense.

"F**k off"

"Fair enough...So, what's your name, friend?"

"If I tell you, will you f**k off?"

"Sure."

"I'm Nivek."

"Hi Nivek, my name is Joaquin."

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