Dan was a sharp man with sharp features, being relatively intelligent and somewhat handsome. He had a straight jawline with blue eyes and brown hair. Dan doesn’t usually go out and get drunk, but tonight was an exception. He was celebrating, or so his coworkers had told him, as tonight was his birthday, and they all decided to take him drinking. He knew it was more for them than him, but agreed to go anyway. That night Dan had decided to wear a dark blue suit with white fedora. It was the first time that Dan had been in Downtown Chicago in a few months and the bright city lights and big fancy cars overwhelmed him a little, but his coworkers seemed to bask in the glory of the city night.

When they entered the bar Dan immediately fell head over heels. The bar had been filled to the brim with people and as a result, Dan had lost track of any of his coworkers after they entered, yet Dan had managed to find the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen. She was a little taller than the other girls, had green eyes, and was wearing a dress, lipstick, and high heels that were just a few shades of red brighter than her hair was. She was dancing with a few friends, and yet she seemed apart from everyone and everything. While Dan was walking towards her, he started to block everything out on only focused on her.

Dan tapped her on her shoulder. “Hi… um … I was wondering if you’d like to dance with me.” He practically had to shout for her to hear him over the music.

“Oh I’d love to! I’m Scarlett Kane, it’s wonderful to meet you!” She said with the most engaging of smiles.

“Okay, I’m Dan. Dan Ferguson,” he hesitated, “So, where you from, Scarlett?”

“New York,” she replied, “It’s a beautiful city! You should see it some time! Where are you from?”

“Oh, I’m a Chicago native. I grew up just outside the city. Is this something you do a lot?”

“Huh, whatcha say? I can’t hear you over the music! Let’s just drink and dance for a little while, okay?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.” Dan lied.

After a few songs and a few more drinks Scarlett broke the ice this time. “Hey, do you want to get out of here? You seemed like you wanted to talk, and besides it’s getting a little boring, don’t you think?”

“Yeah I know this place that’ll be a lot less crowded and a lot more quiet.” They slipped out without their friends noticing.

They went to a small diner on a corner called Phillies several blocks from the bar. The roads around it had a lot less traffic because every other store was closed. When they walked in and sat down they each ordered drinks. This time, however, they settled for coffee instead of liquor. There were only two other people in the diner, the waiter and a suspicious looking man slowly lapping up his coffee. The waiter behind the counter seemed nice, he was bald and wearing the diner’s uniform, an apron, paper hat, and black bowtie. The other man was dressed in a dark blue suit similar to Dan’s own, but it was a shade darker, and he was wearing a gray fedora instead of white one. The man did kind of look like Dan, but his hair and eyes were darker, and he had a five o’clock shadow while Dan was clean shaven. The man seemed anxious, like he was waiting for bad news.

Dan was a little wary of the man and wasn’t sure if they should stay long, but when they got their drinks he just said thank you, and focused on Scarlett.

“I hope you know this isn’t something that I normal do.”

“What isn’t?” Scarlett asked. “Do you normally not go out drinking? Or do you mean talking to pretty girls? Or is it talking the pretty girl out that’s different?”

“Well, all of it. I suppose pretty much everything about tonight is a bit unusually for me.”

“Well why not, what do you normally do?” She asked genuinely curious, or at least more so than anyone from work.

“I normally go home and enjoy dinner by myself, sometimes I’ll go out to eat with some people from work. I’m not really close with any of them. It’s just that sometimes I like to be with other people, you know? I guess I just live a boring life.”

“I don’t know about all that. Sometimes when I go out with my friends I’m not really in the mood I only go because I feel like I’d be letting them down if I didn’t. And I don’t think anyone can really live a boring life, you just haven’t been paying enough attention to the exciting moments is all. You have to cherish those moments, that’s what life’s about.”

“Well I think I’ll cherish this for a while.” Dan said, as he noticed the man down the counter fidget, but he again ignored it, taking a sip of coffee. Dan continued, “You know, I think this is the best-” BANG!

They looked to the strange man, as he held a smoking gun pointed at the ceiling. “GIVE ME EVERYTHING IN THE CASH REGISTER!” he shouted at the waiter. He handed the waiter a bag. “Put it in here!”

Dan felt Scarlett grab his arm and put himself in front of her. Despite being just as scared as she was he talked to the man, “Hey, it’s okay we all just to calm down and take step back.”

“SHUT UP!” was the man’s reply.

“I will,” Dan tried to say calmly “I just need you to relax a litt-” BANG!

“I SAID SHUT UP!” This time the smoking gun was pointed towards Dan.

Everything flashed before Dan’s eyes in a few seconds, but it felt like years. He saw a lot wedding between a gorgeous red haired girl and an average Joe. He saw that same average Joe weep as he held a child next the red haired girl in a hospital bed. He was the average Joe walking into church in his Sunday clothes with a little boy walking next to him and the redhead around his arm. He saw them eating dinner around the table, laughing, only there were two more kids, a girl and another boy. He watched as they all aged, the kids turning into teenagers and young adults, and the parents as they grew old and died together. Dan knew exactly what he saw, and felt a warm tear roll down his cheek as he lay on the ground with blood flowing out of him like river.