Fire Glitch

Life always has an ending, a moment in time where everything slows down, whether to mourn, to remember a forgotten object, waiting for the bus or in a line. For some people, their lives are decided in that single moment, whether it changes their path to achieve their destiny, or if life decides to go towards a dead end. Miles’ life took the path of the dead end. He never had a future ahead of him, he would never be able to take over as the boss of his father’s gang, he would never be able to find his childhood friend that was taken from him. It was his moment of life standing still.

Wanting to impress his parents, he took on a dangerous task, not wanting to tell his parents until he came home with the digital documents. However, the moment he stood outside of his home, life had chosen then that he would never return, at least not alive. He took some of his so-called friends with him on this dangerous mission, they were his muscle, Miles was more of the tech guy, hacking in to make sure it was safe, or to download hidden documents that could be used against them.

This gave Miles the nickname Glitch, as whenever he made it through the firewall, a screen would pop-up for a few seconds, showing his logo before the screen would change to whatever he wanted to viewer to see. When its cameras he’d make the guards see a loop, if it were a computer screen, whether a businessman or even his schoolteachers, he would play a random video as a distraction, so they didn’t see him snooping. He always made sure to bring his tablet with him everywhere, he used it for a party trick, a mission or just when he was bored in class, he made sure no one knew it was him, but his classmates couldn’t wait for the next hack by him, it was the highlights of their weeks.

With that being said, even if he could provide the necessary distractions, without being seen by the countless guards. Especially as he wasn’t dressed for the occasion, in his skinny jeans and sleeveless denim jacket over a plain t-shirt. The boys he had brought with him, got too obnoxious and wanted to sneak straight into the office room, causing them to be seen. Miles had hidden himself in a nearby storage room, as the other boys fled from the scene, forgetting about Miles in the progress.

As they were searching the area, Miles remained inside the storage room, continuing his mission, he hoped that they would give up after seeing the other leave. Giving him enough time to finish downloading all the files before sending them on their way to his father, hoping his father would see it before he got back, and appraisal would be waiting for him.

Just as the other boys had made their way out of the warehouse and passed the now unguarded gates, they heard the guards screaming, before they heard another, a much higher pitched male scream, Miles’ scream that then followed a single gunshot. The next few moments tested their loyalty to Miles, as they decided whether to save him or leave for backup. The next few moments also showed the reason why Miles never had any true friends, they only wanted to be with him for his status, after all he was the boss’ son, this would make them look good, especially to their own parents. In those few moments, they decided to run, to run back for backup, for the help of the Bronze Beasts, their gang.

With speed, they made it back to the base, never stopping until they found the boss, Miles’ father Christopher, who was in a meeting. With the doors slammed open, they grabbed Christopher’s attention immediately and before he could question them, the boys said the words he never wished to hear “It’s Glitch, he’s in danger!”.

There have been moments in time in Christopher’s life where he has lost members, none has made him feel like this, so lost, lost for words, lost in thought. His second in command, had ordered everyone to prepare, before he turned to his boss, snapping him out of his trance. Things sped back up for Christopher as he was shaken back to reality, the reality that he needed to go search for his son.

They made it to the location that Miles was left stranded on his own at, an warehouse stacked with digital files against the Bronze Beasts that were rumoured to be released, the men and women pushed their way inside, searching each room for him. Christopher was towards the back, weapon in hand, he hadn’t planned to hit this place for a long time, with there being too many guards to focus on and he didn’t want to lose any of his members being so unprepared. Even one funeral is enough to prepare for after a mission. The dreaded words were shouted at the boss, “He’s here” made him shoot down the hallways, where the rest of the members were stood. Turning to see him enter, they made a path for him to walk through, he could see more of the opening as people parted ways. He didn’t know what to expect, each face he passed had looked sincere for him, he knew he should prepare for the worst. He was right.

Lying there in the opening was his son, his Miles, he was too late. Miles had already passed before any of them had got there. Christopher wanted to break down, to mourn as yet again it was his moment for time to slow down, he didn’t want it to, but as he fell to his knees and cradled his son in his arms he allowed himself to shed a few tears. No one had said anything, if they did, he wouldn’t be able to hear them, it would only appear as mumbled speech.

Slowly, time had picked up its pace as Christopher calmed himself down, they still needed to get out of the place. Christopher picked up his son, still cradled in his arms and walked back through the path his members had made, and continued walking until he made it to his truck. His men followed, none saying a word, everything was silent, it seemed even the world around them wanted to mourn too. There was no wind, birds, or cars to be heard, just faint sobs and the engines of cars and bikes starting up, as one by one they all left to retreat from the location.

All the while, Miles was stood remaining outside the warehouse, watching his father’s headlights fade in the distance. His body left with him, while Miles’ spirit remained next to a tall dark figure, who has their left hand outstretched towards him. While the right is holding a tall scythe that reflects off the moonlight. Miles couldn’t see much of the figure, he didn’t even really have a hand, just what looked like an arm stretched out towards him that is covered by a long dark cloak. The cloaked figure didn’t even have a face, it was just darkness under the hood. Miles returned the gesture, taking the figures hand and though he never got to hear his father’s goodbyes, he was finally at peace and joined the figure to the other side.