"Wait up dad!"
I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, the uneven ground beneath my feet making it hard to walk, let alone run on my tiny legs. The task was made even harder carrying the fishing pole in my hand, constantly worrying about the consequences of falling, and a stray hook finding its way into my flesh.
By the time I got to the crest of the hill, my dad was already at the bottom, standing next to the calm lake. The sun was just coming up over the tree line, the rays creating a beautiful reflection as they shone across the pristine water.
"Hurry up Michael, I'm going to catch all the fish before you even get here."
I took my dad seriously. I sprinted as fast as my chubby little legs could carry me. I felt myself losing my balance about half way down the hill, and before I could correct myself I started to take a tumble. My dad rushed to my side, and dusted me off. He checked for any cuts and scrapes, the only one he found was right on my chin. I wanted to cry, but I held back tears.
"Are you okay buddy? We can go home if you want."
He took his shirt and wiped away the blood.
"No dad, I'm tough like you. I'll be fine."
I'm not sure if that was the first time I had ever used that lie, but it wouldn't be the last by far.
My dad picked some grass from my hair. He gave it a rustle and smiled at me before he walked alongside me to the edge of the lake, this time he carried my fishing pole.
"I'm gonna catch a huge fish dad! Probably a giant shark!"
My six year old mind was convinced that my catch would be colossal. My dad baited my hook and helped me cast my line. The splash of my bait hitting the water created a ripple effect, the only disturbance upon the surface the entire time we had been there.
"Just make sure to leave some for our next trip, okay buddy."
My dad smiled and I laughed.
"Don't worry dad, I won't."
I took a seat on the soft grass below me, and watched my dad as he baited his hook and cast his line much farther than I had. He found a nearby stick on which to rest his pole and then unfolded his lawn chair and sat down.
"Dad why aren't the fish biting?"
"We've only been here five minutes, you have to give it a little time."
Time did indeed pass. At first it wasn't bad. We would watch birds fly overhead and land in the nearby trees. Across the lake we saw a mother deer and her fawn stop for a drink. As time passed, I became more and more restless. I tried walking around and finding rocks at first, but eventually the temptation to throw them into the lake became too much. It didn't take my dad long to shut down that idea though.
"Michael, quit throwing rocks, you are gonna scare all the fish."
"I'm not even convinced there are any fish in this lake. I'm ready to go home."
My dad pretended to ignore me, content to enjoy a rare day off work. He was always an avid fan of the outdoors, spending as much time fishing in the spring and summer and hunting in the fall and winter as he could. He tried to bestow these values on me, though I was never as interested as he. The last I had actually heard of my dad, he owned a small cabin in Montana where he spent most of his time doing just those activities.
"Dad I wanna go home!"
By this point I was jumping up and down, throwing an absolute fit. Whatever chance my dad had at a peaceful day at this point was long gone. He took a deep sigh and sat up in his chair. Just as he stood up, he yelled to me.
"Michael, you're getting a bite!"
I stopped throwing my tantrum and ran to my pole. All I could feel was tugging on the other end, I was worried I was going to be pulled into the water.
"Reel buddy, reel it in!"
With some encouragement from my dad, I was able to feel in my first fish. It was only a small little pan fish, no bigger than my hand, but I might as well have been Santiago with his mighty blue marlin. My dad had brought our camera, at my mom's request, so he laid the fish on the ground to grab it. As he was searching for it, I saw something slowly make its way up from the edge of the water onto the shore. It was a snake, and I instantly ran to my dad and clung to his side for safety.
"Dad! Dad! Snake! Its a snake!"
My dad turned just in time to see the snake strike out and latch its jaws into my catch. I began to cry as the snake pulled my fish back into the water.
"Daddy do something!"
I was hysterical, begging and pleading my father to do something. The snake struggled, as my dad had yet to remove the hook from the fish's mouth. Finally my dad walked over to the snake, his pocket knife in hand.
"Yeah dad! Kill it!"
Instead of killing the snake and saving my fish, my dad simply cut the line, allowing the snake the freedom to swim off with my catch still clinched tightly in its jaws.
"Daaaaad!"
I was crying again. Why had my dad let my first catch be taking off by some snake?
"I'm sorry Michael, but that is just the order of things. Who am I to stop that snake from getting an easy meal?"
My dad packed up our stuff and told me to head to the truck. I never understood why he allowed that snake to take my fish away.
"That's pretty heavy man."
The voice of Matt Tastic snapped me out of my recollection.
"I get what my dad meant by the order of things now."
"What do you mean?"
"The strong are always going to pick off the weak. Ty Burna was the goddamned snake, and I was that helpless little fish. And Serafina was the ****e fisherman who baited me in."
I stopped speaking, and started just staring at the wall.
"And just like that snake, Ty saw easy prey."
Matt remained silent, though he did occasionally adjust his arm, which was still in a sling following the vicious attack by The Beard last week.
"Ty has taken everything from me. I should have known he and Serafina were in on it together. I guess I was just tired of hood rats. I thought she was going to be different."
"You've got to snap out of it man. You have a huge match this week. The entirety of The Elite is going to be gunning for you. Besides, try to remember the good times. Remember when you told me to 'call you Super Mario because you were laying the pipe'?"
Matt stood up, but I just stared ahead.
"C'mon man, you and me, living más."
Mat slapped me on the back, trying to cheer me up, but all he did was anger me.
"I don't want to fucking live más! I'm torn up inside, I'm fucking heartbroken!"
Matt took a few steps back.
"I'm sorry man, I..."
"You aren't sorry. You didn't try to help me, just like my dad didn't try to help that fish. You don't get it Matt, Ty has taken everything from me. I have nothing left to do but die, and Ty better hope Steven Holmes does his job this week, because at Kingdom Come, that is exactly what I intend to do in that ring!"
