The Life of Dexter K. King

As my dense eyelids frantically struggled to pry themselves open, so too did my burdened mind. Thoughts dove into my psyche like water rushing into a balloon, making it expand and eventually burst, destroying the boundaries that were initially set on my brain, and thus making my potential undefined, unable to be fathomed. Although my two, earthly eyes continued to stay shut, my spiritual third eye commenced its long awaited unlocking process. Soon, I began to question the vast universe along with its immense plethora of mysteries. Right and wrong, good and bad, easy and difficult, even the wonders of life and death soon began to invade the deep abyss that was my mind. Everything in life needs a balance, I began to conclude. Would the world really be better if life was always simple and painless instead of consistently arduous, if we could achieve any task, any dream or any skill with the utmost ease? We learn as we embrace the many tribulations in any of our journeys in life. Would a world without any complications really be superior to the reality we dwell in now? But on the other hand, no one would be able to do anything if life was always difficult, right? If everyone lived and didn’t experience death, would that fix anything like war, poverty, would it triumphantly bring about true world peace, only heard from fables or books? We need all of these opposites in our lives to grow and prosper. Is there a genuine right and wrong, or a good and a bad? I wonder about the people who live their lives neither doing good or bad for anyone else other than their loved ones, does that make us, I mean, them, any good as much as it makes them bad? One of my history teachers whose name my mind contently chooses to forget once said, “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who idly watch them without doing anything to prevent it,” or something along those lines. If anything, someone who hasn't done any good or bad would be called neutral, to say the least.

Even more, if there wasn't a “bad” person ever in life, we wouldn't know what is good. It’s kind of like when you can’t prevent yourself from being able to describe some words only by its opposite, you know? If we didn't even know what good and bad was, we would probably just be living life the way we all want to. But is that really a bad thing? Where would life be if... My pondering was rudely interrupted by a wet, sticky feeling that surrounded my body. As my eyes finally decided to unlatch, I realized that the viscous liquid that gradually began to envelop my entire body was from my precious blood, still gently spilling out of my abdomen area from the recent bullet splitting through my side, turning my suit jacket from a rich textured grey to a depressing, crimson red. I guess I didn't do a really good job tying the wound with my scarf that was usually tied securely around my left bicep.

Man, what a waste of money to buy this sort of lavish, exclusive attire if this suit was going to get ruined anyway. I forced a chuckle through my aching lungs with the intense pain I felt as I slowly turned my head to the right with my polymer framed handgun still in my left hand, and still clutched tightly to assure myself that my battle was not yet over. To my right, there appeared nothing but the charred remains of two bodies in similar apparel (except mine wasn't roasted in an open flame until perfection) and an unrecognizable, gargantuan sized sports car, flipped on its back after the explosion. “Hey, you guys get up and give me some help.” I mustered enough strength to speak with obviously no response from the lifeless silhouettes of men lying near the wreckage. I managed to laugh again right before the tender warmth that resonated within my body began to fade, and a savage chill ransacked the narrow corridors that structured my blood stream the next instant. The smooth sand the men lost of their life on seemed an unfitting end for the valiant wolves they in truth were.

I guess my blood bank was beginning to empty at last, for my eyes once again desired to be concealed with such fervor, consciously casting them into an endless, slumber-induced oblivion, never to be opened for all eternity. These fragile eyes of mine were much too zealous to perish, giving up its life with no signs of hesitation. Or maybe my death was so obviously imminent, it was my pupils that were the first to realize my deceased future and welcomed the outcome with a tender embrace of acceptance. True, witnessing my decadent health at this moment would easily instill doubt into any man that, and yet, there was no doubt or terror that existed within the confines of me, and my consciousness. I refused to even acknowledge my seemingly fated demise that gloomed over me like the peaceful, but ominous clouds right before a storm. Was I much too optimistic to let doubt invade my mind, too courageous to give in to the trepidation that waited just around the corner, too naïve to believe that I could beat the eerie Grim Reaper himself? In reality, I did not perceive myself to be so unfazed by death that I would remain confident enough to think I could survive from this kind of crisis. It was merely just, in these brief moments of time; I was still alive. Although I soon felt like I could be able to swim in my own blood that continuously poured out of my side, I could sense the blood that still dwelled within my body. I could still feel it flowing, surging throughout my scattered veins, and that was it. It didn't matter to me if death appeared in my presence five seconds later or five years, as long as I was alive, death did not exist. Life still reigned over my being at that instant in time, and that was all I cared about.

“Life is life and death is death. That’s all there is to it. It’s so simple it’s so hard to get, you know?” I don’t usually talk to myself, but seeing as how I was closing in on the “death” part of life, I might as well try it. The silver polished wolf insignia on the scarf still glimmered like the sun’s luminous rays reflecting off a mirror. My vision began to recede while my consciousness dwelled on how I even got myself into this mess. It’s true that when you’re just about to die, your mind replays your whole life in front of you so you can be proud... or disappointed of your actions. My eyelids slammed shut and as they unfastened the split second after, I was propelled to a place where my life was so easy yet so hard. To the beginning of it all, the cataclysmic catalyst that jumpstarted my fate, I was brought to none other than the inevitable rise, which forced me to commence my destiny… Man, why didn't I just do my homework?