It had been years since Jackie had been in Pittsburgh. 8 years to be exact. The last time he was here he had just barely turned 15. He felt like a lifetime had gone by since he had been to his hometown. Jackie looked at his watch. 2:58 A.M. it read. Billy was not anywhere in sight. He still had two minutes though until he needed to be there. Billy was an old friend of Jackie’s who, like the city itself, he had not seen in eight years. They were able to keep in contact, though in secret. Billy never knew where Jackie had been for the last 8 years, but he knew it was for the best. He knew that it was probably the safest thing to do.

Jackie stood there at the bottom of the blue slide in the park that he was waiting at. Jackie chuckled to himself. He had not seen this park in the flesh in quite some time now. The only time he had thought about it in his time away was when he listened to some rapper’s album that was named after this park. Outside of that, he had not thought about the baby powder blue slide in years. Like that, all of the memories of this place came rushing back. It was like a tsunami taking a large city by storm, forceful and destructive, yet somewhat beautiful in its own way. Every weekend he spent there, every hooky day he hid there, and every birthday they celebrated there now seemed like they just happened yesterday. Jackie’s return had felt so surreal. He was in a town he no longer recognized. But somehow coming back here felt like a homecoming. He was sad that after he finished his business here he would have to leave again for some time. In his heart of hearts though he knew he had to right the wrong that had been done here.

3:00 A.M. and like clockwork a crappy old red Chevy pulled up, and Billy stepped out. Billy had changed as most things had here. He thinned out and he had a stringy beard. Jackie did not know if it looked good or not. He could not really decide. He was just thrilled to see an old friend. Billy sprinted to Jackie and bear hugged him. It was like nothing had changed. The moment the hug ended Billy took a look at Jackie and said, “You crazy b*stard, I can’t believe you actually came back here. I just abawt thought you were a ghost or something.” Pittsburghese was something Jackie all but forgot about until that moment.

“I’m no ghost, my friend. It’s good to see you, Billy.”

“It’s good to see you too. My God you look the zacksame. You haven’t changed at all, have you?”

“I guess not. You sound the exact same.” Billy chuckled hearing that.

“Yeah, I kept the accent.” A silence fell upon the two of them. They both had so much to say but no idea where to start. Billy wanted to start at the very beginning of the whole thing where Jackie had his sights set on the future. Billy, always the more lighthearted of the two, naturally took a hammer to the stained glass silence first. 

“Why did you come back? Don’t tell me it’s because of that lahsy Jenna Manaham cause I’m telling you she did not have a glow up.” Billy’s lighthearted joke failed to strike a chord with his audience. 

“You know why I’m here.” Stone cold serious was the only way to describe Jackie’s demeanor at this point. 

“Are you sure doing this is the best possible solution?”

“You got a better one?” Jackie was genuinely curious.

“No, but, if you think getting to him is going to be easier now then you’re in for a rude awakening. I mean… Why now? Why after all this time did you come back here? You could have completely forgotten about here and just vanished. What gives?” Jackie took a minute to let the question sink in.

“Billy, I want to be able to live my life without needing to look over my shoulder for good. No fear of anything. I can’t do that til he’s taken care of.” 

“I told you a million times before-- he thinks you’re dead. He does not know you are alive or here for that matter. You don’t need to do this. You don’t need to do this to yourself. You can get ahtta here, and he’ll never know.”

“It's more than that. I can’t live knowing he’s still kicking around. It’s either him or me.”

“That’s xactly my point. It does not have to be. Look, I know he’s done some pretty messed up things. Hell, irredeemable, but getting the guy who killed your brother isn’t gonna do you any good. It’ll prolly just get you killed.” Jackie did not know how to explain his sense of duty he felt at that moment. All he could do is try to reason with Billy and help him understand.

“Billy, I love you like a brother, but I am doing this with or without your help. Now it’s ok if you don’t want to help. I won’t think of you any different, but just know you not helping is not going to stop me. This is happening one way or another.” Billy thought. He knew Jackie’s mind was made up. He knew Jackie was also probably right. The only way things could be as normal as possible for him as if they got rid of the guy. “Okay… Okay Jackie. What’s the plan?” Jackie smirked. 

“Thank you, Billy.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“Ok.”

“No seriously don’t. I don’t want any of his cronies coming for me if we get away with this.”

“I know.”

“Alright. So what’s the plan?”

“For starters, did you bring them?”

“Course I did. Follow me.” Billy walked Jackie over to the trunk of the old red Chevy and popped open the trunk. “Voila.” In Billy’s trunk lay two shotguns and a few revolvers with enough ammunition to equip the Cuban army. Jackie picked up one of the shotguns and stared at it almost as if he were starting to get cold feet. Billy pointed to the shotgun. “Use that one. It’s really loud. It’ll scare off any nebby do-gooders that could be hanging around.”

“Gotcha.” Jackie’s heart sank. He thought about what they were about to go and do. It scared him straighter than an arrow. But Jackie knew in his heart of hearts that he had to do this. “You know where he lives?”

“Yeah. His haus is in Roslyn Place. Bit north of dahntahn.” 

“Alright then. Let’s go.” Jackie and Billy hopped into the old red Chevy. Both terrified of what was to come. Billy started the car and right as he started to drive to Roslyn Place he asked Jackie.

“You sure about this?” Jackie gave him a look of falsified confidence.

“Yeah. Let’s roll.”