##Moonlight on the Gun Barrel

I sit next to Brandon on the porch of his farm. The rocking chairs are faulty, and pieces of wood are missing from the floor. There was a roof, but all that remains are pillars. The next owner will have to fully furbish it, but its decayed fashion fits our conversation.

“You don’t have to do this. I’m eighty-two; I could go any day now.” He smiles at me. “Failure isn’t fatal; they just want you to think that.”

“It was for you,” I reply.

“Only after I lived a long life of freedom.” The sun sets over the crops before us. “The hardest part was forgetting. Forgetting is painful when your conscious is heavy.”

“So I’ve heard,” I say.

“May I make a request on the method? Consider a favor to a brother in arms,” he says. I have no fraternal feelings for him, but I nod anyway. “When the moon rises, I want you to shoot me in the head. Get it over.”

“I can do that.” Within a half hour, the moon rises. I pull out my handgun and complete the job. I get in my car and drive off.

r/AstroRideWrites