'Curley and Carlson looked after them. And said, "Now what the hell do ya suppose is eatin' them two guys"'

It kept replaying in his mind, the crime he had committed, so George didn't see the wind ruffling the leaves and grass. He didn't hear the dogs barking as Slim lead him up to the ranch.

It was like a song on repeat, he could still see the back of Lennie's head as he held the gun against him. Could still hear Lennie talking of the rabbits, how he would take care of them, how they would be different colors. Could still see Lennie's blood flying everywhere, blood drops landing, unnoticed, on his shirt. George could still see Lennie falling face down onto the sand, he still see the rivulets of blood flowing and mixing in the lake.

Slim noticed George's inattentiveness but made no mention of it as he forced George to sit on his bunk.

"I'll be right back." He said, leaving George in the dimly lit bunk house.

George stood and left soon after Slim. He followed a different path to the place he killed his best friend, his traveling companion.

George sat on the edge of the trees, looking at the once serene clearing.

Only the rivulets and the gun remained of his crime. Lennie's body was gone, as if it disappeared, as if it never were.

George's eyes scanned over the clearing, past the clear blue water of the lake, glancing over the changing colors of the reeds and leaves of plants, over the golden, bloodstained sand and landed on the bright, shining and setting sun.

Gold, orange, pink, and blood red. Clouds were glowing a combined color of pink and orange. George watched until the sun's light vanished the only light remaining was the moon's, helped by the many tiny stars around it.

George crawled over to the spot where Lennie had fallen; he picked up the Luger and stood slowly, as though time was standing still, just for him.

A twig snapped, George jumped and splashed into the lake, disturbing the smooth surface. Ripples were all that was left when Slim, Carlson, Curley, and Candy stepped into the clearing.

Their lanterns cast a soft, golden glow in the clearing. Curley grimaced as his eyes fell on the rivulets of blood. Only Slim noticed that a certain gun was missing, and only Candy saw the ripples in the water.

George swam away from the four he was sure were looking for him.

George climbed out of the lake and walked deeper into the forest. Night turned into day and still he walked, he walked the soles off his boots, not noticing. He walked over round rocks, sharp rocks, went around huge rocks. George walked until when he looked back he could see a path of bloody foot prints.

George disappeared. Slim and the other rancher looked for days, nothing was found, it was as if he had vanished, the Boss didn't care aside from the fact he had lost two ranch hands.

Two years later a child was wondering deep in the forest. He found a trail of bloody foot prints, he followed them, thinking of what he might find.

The child was more careful then the other had been, yet he still left a new set of bloody footprints behind him.

Then the child came across a clearing, a small house stood on one side, three pens situated around the clearing with a garden near the house. One pen was empty, one had pigs in it, the other had different colored bunnies in it.

The boy shivered and blinked, every pen was empty now, the garden long untouched, weeds almost covered the lower half of the once white and pristine house. Dirt was smudged on the walls, the glass long since broken, the door hung crooked on its hinges.

The boy stepped forwards only to step back. He looked down at the gun; weeds had grown over it and broke away as he picked it up.

He checked to see how many rounds it had. 7. One shot, that's all that had been used. He set the gun on the ground again. He looked back only once and he saw a very tall, large man next to a shorter man. The tall man spoke and tended the rabbits as the other lead a cow into the empty pen.