A SILENT CAR RIDE

I wish cars were like they used to be because they are all too quiet these days.

— …

— …

— …

But silence is not something that bothers me particularly, the real problem is that this silence makes an already uncomfortable situation much more uncomfortable.

Well, right now, there are three of us in this car: a gay relationship fanatic who got excited about the reunion of two friends and decided to film them creepily; a guy who just got out of prison with what was the help of a corrupt judicial system; and me, the only normal guy here. But somehow, I ended up getting in touch with these two.

But what is uncomfortable is that we are very bad individuals at communicating since one of us could not maintain his relationship, the other communicates through harassment and violence and I just stay quiet waiting for someone to start the conversation.

However, I think that on this occasion perhaps I should be the one to take the initiative in starting a conversation, to break this awkward silence.

—So Three, tell me how the fuck I ended up in prison, because last time I checked, what you were doing wouldn't send you to prison or get you locked up for decades.

I'm curious how this guy ended up in prison, since this guy was what is known as an enforcer, someone who works directly for the boss, getting rid of people who might be a nuisance, taking out traitors, and negotiating on behalf of the boss.

In short, one of the trusted subordinates, who acts on behalf of the boss, without being the right-hand man, since there are usually several enforcers working for a mafia leader.

But even though he is one of many, he is technically part of the organization's leadership, which almost guarantees that if he is arrested he will avoid charges through various methods, but if he is unlucky and is arrested by the wrong people, he will end up in prison for a very long time.

— that was for self-protection.

I wasn't expecting that, but I think I understand.

— self-protection?

I hear someone asking, and Anna is the only person present who is not familiar with the workings of the criminal world.

— …

Three looks at me.

— …

I look at Three.

— You explain to him, after all, you are the criminal here, and you are the only one who knows why you ended up in that situation.

At this point, I prefer to pass the responsibility of explaining these types of situations to Tres, after all, why communicate if someone who understands you can do it for you?

— Well, I guess I'm the right person to explain this situation.

After that exchange, Tres finally resigned himself to explaining the situation, instead of trying to avoid the topic with short sentences.

— How do I put it? It turns out that a year ago we were in the middle of a dispute with another organization that was trying to gain a place in our territory and try to get rid of some of us they took some extreme measures, and somehow I became one of the main targets.

Anna is quite interested in this topic even when she remains behind the wheel, but they are not worried, since this is a semi-autonomous car, which assists in driving and special cases can drive itself.

— in the end, they ended up involving me in many problems, involving murders and law enforcement that worked with them, they almost managed to get rid of me, but the problem became so serious that my presence was more of an obstacle than a benefit, but as subordinates I could not abandon my boss in the middle of that situation, and if I left my original territory, my safety could not be guaranteed or that I would not be found by the competent authorities.

Three continues his story calmly, but from his words, I can sense how complicated the conflict is and how helpless the situation is.

— so after quite a few twists and turns, the boss recommended that I disappear for a while while the problem was being solved, which translated into spending a period in a prison, which had been under our control for quite some time, where our allies could comfortably stay out of the picture, before being released due to lack of evidence or because the "real" culprit was found, while our opponents would end up suffering mysterious accidents.

If I'm still as screwed as ever, to the point where I wonder how such a large nation, which is supposed to be in an endless war against organized crime, ended up having control of multiple parts of the government and public organizations.

— Oh

And although Anna seems surprised, the truth is that her surprise seems more due to finding out what is usually considered a conspiracy theory, than to realizing something new.

They know I give up.

I think there aren't many common issues between the 3 of us, because although I can communicate with both of them individually, it's impossible to stay decent when all 3 of us are involved or I simply don't have enough social skills to achieve something like that.

So it's time for the perfect solution to any problem: pretending it doesn't exist, which means ignoring the awkward silence by using any method of distraction or entertainment, including music, games, social media, or videos.

As we keep our exchanges short and dry, waiting for the ride to end, I start to get tired to the point where I feel the need to sleep right now, and even though I could try to resist, I don't see the need to.

ANNA'S PERSPECTIVE

It's strange to get back someone who disappeared from your life years ago. It's quite a thing to get back someone you thought you lost years ago, but who somehow comes back, almost the same as the person in your memories despite the years and their many physical changes.

Well, that boy who was once happy and calm, with an almost stupid belief that he could do anything, returned with the same inhibited attitude he had when he was a child who was still adapting to a new environment.

But it's even stranger when you realize that the one who came back, actually came back as a completely different person, and in a rather precarious mental state.

Well, from the beginning I noticed that there was something wrong with Kaden, but I didn't want to give it much importance, since I was quite happy to recover a part of my past, a past in which I was really happy without knowing it.

But as the days went by I couldn't continue ignoring it, the Kaden I knew and the one in front of me were two very different people, because although superficially he tried to be that sarcastic and biting guy, proud of thinking he was superior because he never chose to compromise his principles, but still proved to be superior to those who did, somehow now that he was an adult he had returned to being that boy who is locked in himself like when I first met him.

Still, he probably didn't even realize it himself.

And that could be seen in its current state, a state that I can only describe as oscillating or fluctuating.

At times he returns to being that guy who was sure of himself and what he did, always ready to give a sarcastic or contemptuous response to anyone he considered an idiot.

But most of the time, when he's not paying attention or pushing himself, he becomes someone plagued with doubts, unable to communicate normally with other people.

Even though I would like to help him, the truth is that I am not very clear on how to do it, he is simply closed off and doubting himself, and although his actions and thoughts are questionable, the truth is that they do not worry me too much.

My job is usually to help people be at peace with themselves and their situation, allowing them to get on with their lives with the least amount of physical and emotional strain on themselves and the people around them, allowing them to be capable people to function in our society,

But I don't expect Kaden to ever actually be someone capable of functioning properly in society, at this point he's already gone too far to go back to who he once was, and thought I should question my morals, for my selflessness in being so indifferent to what he's done and is planning to do.

But the truth is that I don't care enough about a group of criminals who screwed up the life of one of my best friends, and I know that what Kaden is planning is far from good, but it's the only thing that will truly bring him peace.

It would be much more horrible to try to make him give up his plans, because even though he would try to stop a normal person, he would end up only causing harm to himself, but Kaden is quite far from what it means to be normal, if he dares to try to do this right now, it is because he knows that he is capable of achieving it.

But I think that the only thing that will give him peace is revenge because it would be horrible to make someone with the power to achieve justice give it up when you know that due to our environment, he will never get the justice he wants legitimately.

***

Although it does feel a little bad to see her relationship with Tres because I understand their friendship and their bond forged by having been together at each other's lowest point.

But it feels a little bad that Tres and he are the same as before, communicating in a fairly natural way, but with me, there is still a feeling of discomfort and distance.

END OF ANNA'S PERSPECTIVE.

It's quite strange to sleep during the day, because for some reason it feels easier to sleep, even though the day is a noisier and more chaotic environment, which shouldn't be conducive to sleep, but still sleeping during the day is something that I found quite easy.

However, this will then end up completely ruining your sleep cycle, where you will be awake when you should be sleeping and asleep when you should be awake.

But the worst thing is that heavy feeling you get when you wake up, that feeling that tells you to go back to sleep, and somehow it's worse during the day than in the morning.

Anyway, after that digression to justify my laziness, let's get back to what's important, when they finally woke me up we had already arrived at our destination.

Tres brought us because this has a lot to do with him. After all, according to Tres, it is necessary to announce his return, visit some contacts, recover his position, and above all celebrate his freedom after having been locked up for too long with men, which according to him gave him very little variety in entertainment.

The only curious thing is that for some reason Anna decided that she was going to accompany us at least for this day, and even though we tried to convince her otherwise, she insisted and we couldn't refuse, after all, what we are going to do is not supposed to be something dangerous or that will get us into legal trouble.

Plus, Tres wasn't entirely against the idea and I was too tired to argue over something that wouldn't be so problematic, or try to go against the free will of the only person among us who can be considered a responsible adult.

— You know, I was expecting something less obvious, you know, a more secret and unexpected place, like a mobster's base, but you decided you'd be a cliché by taking us to a bar that's one step away from being a cabaret.

I look at Tres with a bit of disdain for behaving like a stereotype of his profession, because I expected something different, but it is simply what I would expect from organized crime, a simple bar that looks like a cabaret with its typical hidden part where darker exchanges take place.

— you can't blame me for this at first it was just a meeting place but over time I had to change it to justify the amount and type of people that passed through this place.

That's reasonable, but it doesn't remove my contempt for a living stereotype.

— Anyway, that's the first thing we'll do, make contacts, recover, or announce, let's finish this quickly to move on to the celebration part where you pay for all our expenses.

— …

Three looks at me like he doesn't believe what I'm saying, and I can almost see the words on his face: isn't it me who's being celebrated, because I should be the one paying for everything?

But we'll ignore that, as it's not convenient for me.