I poured the whiskey, kicked back with my heels on the desk, and tipped my Bogart over my eyes. The gasper hung from the edge of my lips, the wispy smoke trails lazily drifting up toward the ceiling fan. I thought a lot about Pan and his fixation on living forever. It was a shame, really. Sometimes you spend so much time worrying about the destination that you forget to enjoy the trip.
The console on the desk lit up, disturbing my thoughts. It was a message from Mrs. Mannering. Like the dame herself, the message was simple and to the point. It was a picture of her and Maimie, taken since the ordeal at the Gardens. The girl was cleaned up, her hair brushed and shimmering. A dimpled smile lit her face as she leaned in the comforting arms of her mother.
The accompanying message was simply two words:
Thank You.
I smiled as I clicked the console off. Pan had it wrong in the end. Death wasn’t a big adventure. Death is simply what happens to everyone when their story finally ends. It’s what we do between the pages that make a difference.
Because living is an awfully big adventure.
About the Author
Bard Constantine decided to write seriously when approaching his 30th birthday, and has been doing so ever since. He often spends his time taking himself too seriously and expounding on frivolous subjects like movies and his favorite novels. When not procrastinating about writing, he’s usually pounding on a keyboard in a dank basement with a single flickering light bulb. Rumors of his sanity have been furiously denied.