Tattersail

he was a proud man. honest, hardworking, never missed a day at the factory. they hadn't discarded him like so many others he had seen go throughout the years. that fateful lightning bolt, from magical gods who had no interest in a man struggling to support his family, narrowly missed him every time.
it was a beautiful spring day when fate found him. the doctor's clinical sympathy was understandable. it is exactly how he would have handled breaking the news. all around the world burst into life with the changing season and he just took his time on the drive home.
the cost of burial and memorials would send his wife to the grave not long after him. he knew this deep in his bones, like rogue cells attacking his tissues. it was apparent to him that a man could live and work his whole life and never pay off his debt, when the dead are taxed and the bill is left to the living. he felt his hands shake as he cried for the first time since his son was born and decided he wouldn't let that happen to them.
with gasoline, a matchbook and an old barn he should have torn down years ago, the man exited the stage of life and the vultures and demons could not touch him because he wasn't going to play along.