The Last Sunset
This is the last sunset I will ever see, I thought to myself as I leaned onto my motorcycle by the junkyard beach. The air was cool and clammy, and smelled of dead fish and burning metal. I could feel a bead of sweat drip down the back of my neck. I pulled my studded leather vest tight against my back to stop the sweat’s descent. In the distance, sparkles of machines danced around the horizon’s sun, tiny robots on their programmed cycle. I was envious of their simplicity, their ability to live normal lives on a routine. I could never have that life. A long time ago, maybe, when it was just Raven and I, here on this very beach, before it had become nothing but a trash heap.
“Do you ever think of what it’ll be like?” I could hear her ask from the past.
“The takeover of the robots?” I joked, my attempt to see her smile.
“No, you idiot,” she laughed, rewarding me with a smile. “I mean what it’ll be like when we’re raising our own. We’ll be right back here. I’m thinking two kids, a boy, and a girl. I’ll be teaching them to swim, while you splash them and throw them into the waves.”
“Sounds like you’ve got it all worked out, huh?”
She looked at me with a brightness in her eyes, an understanding or knowledge of our true existence. As if she had been granted a divine prophecy of our future written in stone. I stared deep into her obsidian eyes, and they charmed me all over again. Raven reached out and gently touched the side of my face.
“Yeah,” she said finally. “I think I do.”
I finished my cigarette and tossed it into the sand at my feet, watching the fire snuff out as easily as a life would. As I stared at the dead cigarette, drips of water painting the sand around it. I touched my face, realizing the origin of the water drops. I wiped my eyes and turned my attention back to the robots and glittering water and paint strokes of red and orange across the sky. Pressure built into my chest and throat. I didn’t want it to end; I needed it not to, but that’s not how things go. Not in this world. Not with this life. I carved it out for myself, no one else did. Only I was to blame for the mistakes of my past.
A motorcycle pulled up next to me and Eddival stepped off with his cool guy fire red hair and tight plastic jacket. I quickly felt on my face to make sure there was no evidence before he came up and wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
“There he is, my king,” Eddival said with a wicked grin. “I always seem to find you right here, staring off into that sunset.”
“It puts me at ease,” I replied. “Everything all set?”
“You got it, boyo,” he said, pulling off me. “This time tomorrow we’ll return to this very spot as very rich men.”
“Yeah,” I lied, checking the sides of my motorcycle.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Edd spoke up after a moment of silence. “You remember that Raven girl?”
I didn’t respond, instead checking the sights on my shotgun and the ammo stored away.
“Anyway, she was a girl that ran with a crew like ours, beautiful girl. Something about her made you feel like you could settle down and live a normal life, you know?”
“Is there a point to this, or can we get going?”
“Nah, I mean I guess not. It’s just these guys are some bad dudes. They did some terrible shit to her, and she was a sweetie. I saw the pictures. I don’t know if she tried to rob them or what, but they made sure she’d never do that again. So, I guess I’m just saying watch your back, my man.”
“That’s what I have you for, right?” I replied turning to smile weakly at him.
“You’re right, brother,” Edd said with a chuckle and a grin. “We hit these mother fuckers hard and fast and we’ll be out before they even know what happened.”
We hugged tightly, Edd and I, then hopped on our bikes and rode back into Starlight City. While we rode, I could still hear Raven in my head.
“It’ll be a nice life,” she said, her eyes still locked with mine.
“It already is; I’m not going anywhere. Life is only going to get better.”
“I like that,” she said turning back to the ruby sunset. “Life is only going to get better.”