A cup of cold water fell on his face. Covering the ground of his kitchen and forcing him out of sleep. 


"We've got a job to do." It was Big Joe. 

"Did I really do it?" James sat up sputtering. 

"Do what?"

"Kill Chad?!"

"No you idiot, that was past James, you're...

James oscillated between dreams and being awake confused. He dreamt about his first job. A hot parking lot he attended to the shopping carts.  Finding them strewn here and there. Only some people returning them to the lot, to the small area where people were supposed to return the carts....

James stood there holding a smoking gun. It felt like he was changed, reset, the first thing he noticed when he came too was the weight of the gun. Heavier than he remembered, maybe to past James. Then he had a ringing in his ear. Chads brains and blood were...

James friend called him an  Uber , he was a consultant so that kind of thing didn't matter to him. It was just what people did. In the car the driver asked "Had a good night?" James replied slurred "Once I get home I will." It sounded like a euphemism...

Jared started each morning abruptly. He woke, or tried to wake up silently, getting out of bed not to wake up his wife, or there kids. He had on a good day about 2 hours of alone time. He didn't do anything special during this time, like he read about...

James before all this had been pretty smart, top of his class, or pretty close. And those kids who were top had all the fucking help in world, extra classes, private tutors, and they didn't have to work.  He wanted to do important things, although most of the time after...

He past signs for Gas City so he knew he was close. He rolled down his windows and familiar air and smell surrounded him. This bypassed his cold calculations. Suddenly tears streamed down his face. He had to go back he thought, for Sammy. He didn’t even know I was...

Jared didn’t know if it could continue like this. Every date they went on every dinner they ate together ended with one of them saying “their” joke. Quadruple, triple, quintuple, or any derivative. It was driving him crazy. 
When his now wife heard it mentioned at the store she would...

The girl was confused, who talked like that. It was like he was from another planet. Or  space she looked up was she was counting roses. Carefully studying him trying to decide if he was just a little off, or from another planet. 

"You mean you want 5?"

"Yeah.." He adverted...

Jared was by nature a nervous guy. He triple checked that the door was locked at night, and when he left during the day he made sure the oven was off. Even though he barely used the oven, the microwave he used frequently nuking  pizza and other derivatives daily. After...