The Story of Satisfaction

The Story of Satisfaction

The coffee tasted worse than most mornings. The sky cloudier. The air colder. I suddenly realized I didn't know where I was. But yet I feel like I've been here for hours. I look around all see is an empty town square. The first thing I took notice to is the courthouse placed in the epicenter of the square. The curiosity of where I was drifted from my mind as I get up from my seat and slowly walk toward the courthouse. Something inside was beckoning to me. The town square remained quiet and desolate. The only thing keeping me company was the autumn leaves circling my feet. It wasn't until I got to the door of the courthouse did I notice by my reflection that I was wearing a three piece suit. I never wore a suit like this in my life. So why now? I stepped inside the courthouse. I was hit with the sweet scent of rotting flesh. Something I haven't smelled since the mountains of Afghanistan. I stepped through the threshold of the main courtroom and there was a figure standing behind the judge's bench. It was more shadow than man. A voice echoed through the room. "Are you happy with how things have gone?" I was confused. Confused by everything. Where I was...why I was there. The shadow seemed to grow impatient as he repeated the question. My mind raced. If there was a correct answer I didn't know it.

I stammered "I-I-I-I don't know what you mean."

"Your life. Are you satisfied?"

My mind took off. Flashing back to everything. My seventh birthday where my stepfather bought me an RC car and me flipping it off the washing machine.

My first kiss on the hood of my truck, junior year of high school

My first deployment to Afghanistan.

My first firefight. My first kill.

My second deployment. Talking to my best friend Lance Corporal Bryant about home as I felt the shockwave of an exploding IED rock our Humvee...my God...I was dead. It finally happened. My men and I always tackled death as a taboo subject. Never really addressing it and when we did we never approached it seriously. We always cracked jokes about death. As if we were staring Death in the face and laughing. Us Marines prided ourselves in doing that. But here I was. Staring Death in the face and stuttering like a fool.

For the first time I ever I was happy with what I had done. I wanted to do more, sure...but for the first time ever I was satisfied. I looked back to the shadow and answered.

"Yes...I'm satisfied."

"Very well. I'll see that you meet your proper end."

"Wait! What does that mean!? Where am I going!?"

"You'll see in due course." The shadow's last words rang through my head as I felt a sharp pain in my chest. I fell to my knees as I looked back to the shadow and saw nothing. I felt my consciousness slipping. I fell back and looked to the ceiling. The courthouse was starting to crumble around me as I passed out.

I awoke in a dark cave. The air was cold and unforgiving. I heard a menacing voice from deep within the cave.

"Welcome to your final resting place, Steven. I've been waiting a long time for this."

"Why...who are you?" It seemed like hours before I got my response

"Some see my as their savior. Some see me as their temptation. Some even see me as their enemy...But all call me Lucifer."