The world's a roller coaster and I'm not strapped in. (Incubus)

Sometimes after something traumatic happens everything moves in silent slow motion. That wasn’t the case that day. Everything moved really fast. Everything was really loud.

Tony tackled Vincent to the ground. Even though Rider was Tony's least favorite of his brothers, while he idealized Vincent; blood is thicker than water and Vincent’s blood was all over Tony’s fists. Vincent's gun was discarded on the ground. What are you doing? What the hell? What’s wrong with you?

Tommy was at Rider’s side as he lay on the ground clutching his bleeding leg.

Tommy pulled his younger brother off Vincent.

“Thanks,” Vincent said as Tommy pulled Tony to his feet.

Before Vincent had brushed the dirt off his uniform Tommy had punched him to the ground again. Tommy straddled Vincent’s body pinning him to the ground. Tommy clenched Vincent’s neck in his hands and tightened his grip. Squeaky grunts were met with a reddening face. Tommy was scared by how exhilarated he was to be killing a man, a man who had been a brother to him. He knew people died, not in that way that everyone knows people die, he had been hearing gunshots long before he went to war.

Tommy knew his father had killed before. He entered into this business with naivety but as the years rolled on he got closer to the action and began to realize his father had done a lot in his lifetime. The more Tommy knew the more afraid he became that he would become his father. In his heart he always assumed that of all the bad things he would do he would never kill a man, but there he was strangling the life out of one of his closest friends. Tommy would have gone through with killing Vincent had Rick not stopped him.

“Get off him,” Rick said firmly and pulled his brother off his best friend.

Tommy fell to the ground beside Rider.

“What the hell, Ricky?” exclaimed Tony.

“He had to shoot Rider,” defended Ricky as he picked Vincent up.

Tommy and Tony lost their cool. They yelled defensive derivatives of the same thing at Ricky.

“Shut up!” Ricky said and they did. Rick Junior like Rick Senior had stood on the right end of a loaded gun. Rick wasn’t well-liked but he was well-respected.

“Rider is going home.”

They looked from one to the other. Panic and perspiration consumed them. The hullabaloo had faded but nothing was resolved.