Prologue: Dumplings

Lazy Sunday lying on the couch

watching TV
waiting for my laundry to finish
while he cooks me dumplings.
They're 50 for $10. What a deal. He knows what I love.
I will never get my own laundry machine

and I should do my laundry more often.

When mom filed for a divorce,
it was a divorce from us.
All of us.
When grandma died,
a piece of us died,
all of us,
along with her.
And all we have is each other.
Him, to remind me that life is hard;
Me, to remind him life is hard. 

He never learned to hug
or say the words "I love..."
until I was 26.
He learned it from his father.

Thank God I wasn't born to the oldest brother.
Who passed. 2 out of 4 passed.
My, how the times flies.
Now,
he's making me dumplings.

Still. 30 years later.
To a 30 year old boy.

Prologue: Co-op Adventures

He stares at her in disbelief. He was shocked. She shot him. This bitch actually shot him! And he gambled his life thinking she wouldn't. He covers the wound the best he could but it's no use. The blood poured over his fingers and drenches his shirt. The pool of blood seemingly appeared out of nowhere, but he knows it means his life is slowly draining out of him.

I can feel my heartbeat with my hand, he thought. He felt an urge to laugh but the laugh is choked off in his throat, and he suddenly wants to scream. Scream at her for an explanation. Scream for her to save him. Scream at the heavens for letting this happen. But he says nothing. No words can convey this betrayal. He will die an angry death and no one will ever know the truth. Regret replaces pain as his vision fades.