If you could… nothing truly worthwhile or good starts with this but it seemed at the time like the only way to direct the conversation that way. It was originally meant to be a homecoming but this Return-From-War party gone wrong had all the trappings of early remorse. If you could see past the curtain of this world, no, the curtain in this world and truly see the world in all its depravity. Would you want to?

It was a considerably foolish question to ask a guy just back from what most people considered the unbridled depravity of man but this wasn’t just anyone. I had known him since before my mind had stored images. He was a friend beyond most and if I was going to share this with anyone it was going to be him.

Is your mind in a right place? Do you want to go and mess it all up? His face had sterned to mirror the emotion in my voice. His answer wasn’t a joyous yes but a thoughtful nod. He would hate me within the hour but I would finally be able to share this with someone and there wasn’t anyone I trusted more.

We started walking, each step lost in the drum of the previous 50. We passed a man standing completely still, frozen in the glow of the street light. Then we passed a woman pushing a stroller but she was standing motionless like a mockery of the moment. We walked and walked but it never seemed like any time had passed. Finally we found ourselves atop a building overlooking the lights of the city. The stillness in the air was chilling.

He wanted to know what was going on. Why there wasn’t any noise and how it was that the whole world had seemingly stopped to let us pass. It’s easy to say but hard to understand. We are outside of time right now. We exist but we are not inside the existence of time so time is completely void. His army stuff kicked in and he shared about how much the army would love this type of thing. He was more serious than I was now.

Army can’t have it, shouldn’t have it and won’t have it. They wouldn’t be disciplined enough. Coming from me it sounded like a sour joke, but I had less and less faith in the military over the past 6 months or so. As we sat down on the edge of the building time engulfed us and the noise of a music box coming to life flooded back with the flickering of lights.

It seemed and felt like time was rushing to catch up. It always felt like that and even if I didn’t feel like it I knew enough to sit down and make him sit with me. He wanted to know what was happening, what I could see. Time… and life I guess. There is good and bad happening, foolishness and pride, evil and righteousness. You can’t see it by looking at it with your eyes but you learn to see it some other ways.

He knew that was why we were here. Why did he have to ask me? Each and every nobody and anybody is here for those same reasons and no one is here for any of it. It’s really hard to explain but like I said you will learn to see it.

So, what’s next he says to me. I am looking for the right one, the one to show you just what I mean. It’s gonna happen and you’re not going to be happy but you got to remember a few things. We, neither you or I, started this. We aren’t going to let anything bad happen, that is why we are here. But most important is you have to follow my lead. You don’t know completely what you are dealing with and its going to be hard to swallow at first. You just have to wait.

He didn’t respond. That meant yes but also no. Yes he would wait for me but no he wouldn’t wait for me if he felt things had gotten out of hand. He could sense that something was going to happen and it wasn’t going to be good. Would have been easier if he wasn’t in the Army, easier and harder. Hard to explain.

It was going to start so I told him to get and we set off across town. It went back to the quite stillness. Hasn’t been quite or still since.