The Laundromat

Simon knew that he should never wait until the last minute when he had nothing to wear to go to the laundromat. He had no cart to put the clothes in, so he had to carry the heavy bag five blocks there. This time would no different. He decided to go after midnight to wash clothes. That way he could do everything in peace. On his way to the laundromat, he noticed a kid walking across the street staring at him. It made him nervous, but he kept going. He entered the laundromat, the entire time looking over his shoulder for the guy. It was obvious that he was completely rattled by him.

As the clothes spun back and forth in the washer, he decided this would be a good time to catch up on his shows. As he lost himself in his shows, his peace was interrupted by the sound of two gunshots. It was the guy that was following him. “Where is he? Where is that piece of shit?!?” Simon started shaking when he suddenly realized who it was. It was his ex-girlfriend’s brother. Her brother went from the aisle by aisle looking for him, but there was no sign of him. Simon had run in the bathroom and cowardly hid in the corner. “When I find you, you are a dead man!” Simon started praying. He was scared like he never been scared before. His fear suffocated his thinking.

“Pop! Pop!”; then silence. Simon felt warm and dizzy. He looked and saw his shirt quickly turn crimson red. He had been shot. He started crying as he stumbled out of the bathroom. “Why? What did I ever do to you?” Her brother yelled, “I warned you that if I ever saw my sister cry because of you, your ass was mine; and guess what? So, I plan on keeping my promise!” “But I didn’t do anything! I am innocent!” By now Simon could barely stand. The trail of his blood painted the laundromat’s floor from beige to crimson red. Simon begged, “Please don’t kill me! You don’t know the whole story!” Her brother pointed the gun at his head and said, “I don’t need to know the whole story. Her tears are the story!” The last thing Simon thought of was his mother. As her brother pulled the trigger, half his brain made it to the back of the laundromat. Simon fell dead on the floor in his own pool of blood.

Maddie ran in the laundromat and screamed, “Todd, what did you do? WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!?” Todd turned to her and said, “Making good on my promise. He made you cry, and I can’t have that. No one makes my sister cry.” “YOU FUCKING IDIOT! He was deployed and was leaving tomorrow. That’s why I was a crying. You killed him for nothing. I HATE YOU!” Todd stood over Simon dumbfounded. He had no words as the police handcuffed him. He knew his life was changed forever.