Mike Williams

–From The How Did We Get Here Series–

Now: Brian Kirby did not expect this! He pressed the detonator and should have heard a very loud boom. Instead, he was surrounded by a bunch of flashing red and blue lights and a big (some might say) oversized police officer yelling at him to raise his hands. This was certainly not the way he thought this day would go.

Before: Rachel Phillips loved her boyfriend. She loved him in spite of the fact that he never really talked about his “job.” He would always come home talking with such vagueness, that some of his tales could be applied equally across donut shop owner, car mechanic, and opera singer. Tonight, he had finally opened up to her about what he did for a living. Not only was she horrified to find out that Brian was a well known and well paid hitman but that his next target was a friend of Rachel’s from college. She worked really hard to hide to horror she was feeling.

She had to do something. Under the guise of walking her dog, she left her tiny Brooklyn apartment and headed down India Street. This explained everything to her. The apartment over looking the East River waterfront in a new development seemed way too much for someone Brian’s age to afford. She called the police and told them everything she knew including how he had planned to kill Rachel’s friend.

Rachel kissed Brian goodbye that evening and sat on her bed. She would just sit here until the call came in from the police.

Then, she would pack up her belongings and leave. Well, she continued thinking about her situation, it was the beginning of the month and this apartment cost over $5000 a month. Perhaps, she would leave at the end of the month. Fuck Brian. Fuck Brian in his hitman who wants to kill my college friend’s face.

–From The How Did We Get Here Series–

Now: The Perkins family stood outside of their house as water flowed out of the front door and into the street in front of their house. The house sat in the middle of a cul de sac so, all of the neighbors had a front row seat to the birth of the “Perkins River” as it would come to be known in the late edition of the local newspaper.

Before: Todd Perkins and his little brother Tony knew better than to throw the football in the house. Over the years, they had broken their fair share of living room furniture including a vase that their grandmother had passed down through the generations. They had just finished watching their famous team play and felt like tossing the football around. It was raining outside so tossing the ball around in the house had been the only option for them as they saw it. There was another stupid option to “not” through the ball in the house but the boys didn’t much care for that option.

Tony threw Todd a pass that quite frankly was a little too wobbly. Todd still made the attempt to catch it but it got by him and sailed into there kitchen. He heard it bounce of something and land in the middle of the floor. At this point, the boys felt like they had pushed their luck and decided to stop throwing the ball inside the house.

It was about 2:00 am when the kitchen sink facet had decided to come loose after being jarred earlier by the football. There was a sound of metal hitting the tile floor and then the water began gushing out onto the floor. No one heard the water. It wasn’t until momma Perkins made her way downstairs in the morning that the full effect could be appreciated. There was screaming, some yelling, and momma Perkins may have peed herself a little.