This was the first time I had felt like this. The hurt was throbbing and the memories flooding back of my youth. I had wondered during those times if something was wrong with me. When I met Krissy and she had her implants put in me, I was ecstatic. I felt invigorated and rise well beyond myself. I was happy.
I had married Krissy and was now raising our two children. I felt like I was one of the luckiest men on earth. I felt as if I had found the greatest girl of my teenage dreams. We were happy and we were finally able to establish a normal family.
We left our mark on the small town in Iowa where we lived. I had long wanted to follow in my dad's footsteps by practicing law. So I had founded a successful law firm. My partner was a friend of a friend. I did not take the idea to quickly. In fact, I had to talk myself into it because the idea of taxation on the wealthy was so popular of late.
Within five years the firm was averaging about 90% of the cases for the rich and well-connected. This was mostly a very small town. So long as our firm kept to ourselves, we would be able to do well in this town.
I always knew that I would never quit even though this was a very small town. There was no reason why the firm could not become very successful. However, I never really set a goal for the firm. I always just wanted to do what would make the others happy. But now, it seems, I had reached a goal.
The cases were many, expensive, and highly valuable. The other partners were happy. And yet I was working like a mad man. I was certain that this was the best thing that could happen for the firm. I was now being called the greatest lawyer in town, and people were actually thinking about going to the firms of other attorneys who were more prestigious.
I had carved myself into my niche. I was the go-to man. I had become the golden boy. I was being called on television by the talking heads to defend a truly despicable individual. The rest of the partners were exceedingly jealous. I, the golden boy, was now being censured by the talking heads who, only minutes ago, praised me. The rest of the partners saw me as the cruel, cold, heartless man that I was.
The environment had changed drastically. It was only fitting to change the firm's name to Dahlman and Perkins. I changed the name of the firm to match the initials of my last name. Dahlman and Perkins.
Although I was happy, I felt sadness because of the change in the firm. So many great friendships were gone. I had to make my own rules to keep the firm as it was. I did not want to loose the ability to control the firm. However, negotiations will always reign over force. The partners were so tired of the firm not making money that they agreed to most of my terms. They were willing to give up many things in order to do what was best for the firm.
The firm had settled down after losing the last of the partners. These were the changes that had happened recently. The reason that I am so upset is that I had just found out a few days ago that my wife, Krissy, had caught my bug. A few days ago, we were no longer happy. I thought that I had gotten over it. But then, I saw the launch of the war. She had quickened her work. I knew then that I could not be happy.
One by one, I found out that the other partners had it. Not that they could not get sick. But that they had caught the bug. They had become lazy. After the partners were infected, I had to take over the firm. It was no longer a law firm. It was a business. The first thing that I did was sign legal documents with my wife, signing over half of my share to her. I did this so that I would be forced to deal with it. This was when I stopped the money laundering. I had taken out all of the cash. That was when I found out how much was really there and how much money I really had.
It was also then that I started taking care of the issues that I had on the side. I had a cold that I had picked up. I had a terrible cough that I had kept secret to everyone. I could feel the soreness in my body that had seemed to plague me for all of my life. I had thought that it was from all of the work that I had done over the years. However, at this moment, I knew that it was not. It was something different.
As I felt my sorrow, I felt my head begin to itch. I felt no relief as I scratched. In fact, it was the opposite. I began to scratch my back only to have my fingernails break through the skin. I did not even notice that there was a device on my body. I was distracted by my wallowing in self-pity. I had forgotten about the world and all of the people that were depending on me. I neither knew nor cared about the title that I shared. I felt self-pity for the loss of my wife.
I missed her. I missed her so much that I cared about nothing else.
