Things had been really happening in his life! He couldn’t believe how it had all fallen into place. He graduated, moved to New York City a little over a year ago and had been working for one of the major political parties for the last four months. He had finally gotten off his friend, Derek's, couch after six months of crashing there and six months of sofa surfing before that.
How had it all gotten so screwed up? He didn’t want to be in this place. He wanted his moments of wonder and excitement from when he first started the job.
He had a long walk home through mostly well lit but some dark streets. He’d been drinking with Derek and another friend, discussing the general situation and what he would do.
A 45 minute walk home should help clear his mind and put their opinions into the mix. He walked purposefully, right hand in his pocket, left hand fingering this phone mindlessly as he walked.
He was unaware of the footsteps till they came rushing up behind him. The man was taller than him—6’6” or so. He didn’t have much of a minute to really see the guy. He flung out his left arm at the guy’s face and it connected. He felt the watch face on his wrist break against the man’s cheekbone.
At that second, he saw the quick flash. His body jerked violently as he, simultaneously, felt the burn in his chest. Holy fucking shit! This asshole just shot him. His face nakedly showed his disbelief as he crumpled to the ground. He was dying and no one knew. The street was a dark one. No one would know for a while.
No one would also know what he knew. He hadn’t thought it would be a murdering offense but too late to know that now. He had decided he was going to blow it. He had decided he was going to let the attorney generals of New York and the United States know that voters had been systematically wiped off the rolls on a regular basis over the previous two years in order to skew the results of the primaries and the election coming up in a few months. He had held that information for three months and had finally decided to come forward.
How had they known? He would never know.