“Grandaddy, hurry up! Get out of that bed!”
My grandchild was yelling at me while running into the bedroom. Today was the day I was finally going to tell him about my past. I sat up on the bed resting my body against the wall.
“Hurry up! You promised that you’ll tell me the story!”
“Okay, okay, I will. But first I need to change and take a shower.” I was about to stand up, but he stopped me in my tracks. I was trying to procrastinate as much as possible, since the story was something I wasn’t very proud of.
“No! Tell me now!” He said stubbornly.
I sighed. “Fine, I will.”

Back when I was a young lad I was part of a gang group called the As.

“Aren’t gangs a bad thing? And isn’t A a really lame name?” He interrupted me.
“Yes, gangs are a bad thing but I was ignorant back then. And yes again, I also thought that “A” was bad name back then. But our leader didn’t care that our group name was uncreative. He was actually proud of that name.”

Anyways, when I was part of that group, one of our biggest enemies were the Zs. Now I know that you’re going to say that that’s a “lame name” as well, but their leader didn’t care either.
We would always get into fights, especially because our “territories” were right next to each other. So whenever another group’s territory was about to get taken over by the Zs, we would come over and try to steal it from them. That often ended up with more bruises and injuries. We were lucky we didn’t have any casualties until one event.
One day (more like night). the Zs were fighting the Bs. The Bs and As had an alliance, so whenever they were in trouble we needed to help them.
Obviously we arrived at the scene to help them out. It was inside an abandoned building in a metropolis, the Bs area. When we got there, the Bs were struggling to defend their territory. The Zs were using their hands, feet, and anything else they could to attack them. When we got there, however, they did something that we had never seen before.
Their leader pulled out a handgun.
We were all startled. Though we were a gang, no one had ever held a gun. And no one had ever pointed it at someone.
“Hey, don’t move! You all don’t want to have a bullet in your head, do you? “ The leader smirked. We slowly put up our hands, including the Bs. I saw our leader clench his fists, out of the corner of my eye. “Helpless, aren’t you? You can’t do anything against this beauty.” He said.
My leader looked ready to dive onto him. The Z’s leader saw this, and said, “I wouldn’t move if I were you.”
“I… don’t… care!” He ran toward their leader.
One shot. That’s all it took for him to go flying backward and sprawling onto the floor.
I felt like crying inside. The other group members were confused, not knowing what to do without our leader.They all started to run in all different directions, only to be taken down by the leader and his group members, who continued to use their fists and feet.
By the time they finished, everyone except the Zs and me were on the floor. I had not moved a single step for the entire time. The Zs looked around at the bodies, then at me. “You’re a smart lad, aren’t you? But too bad for you, you’re going down like all of your friends.” The leader said, then pointed his gun at me.
I panicked. I didn’t know what to do. I was helpless, like he said. I was never a bright kid before I joined my gang. I never stood out from all the others.  I thought that I would be cooler, better than everyone else once I was a member. I had never expected to have someone control my life with the pull of a trigger once I joined.
I wanted to live, more than anything else. I didn’t care about being part of a gang, or being cool, or standing out of the crowd, or anything like that. This, was a matter of life and death.
I tried to think of a plan. What could I do to live? Running away wouldn’t work, fighting back wouldn’t work, … I couldn’t call 911 either, since I would get in trouble along with them.
Then I realized, there was only one option.
“Wait, wait, man. I think there’s a better option than just killing me.” I said, trying to sound calm.
“Hey, I ain’t gonna listen to you. You’re my enemy, and you deserve to die.” Their leader said.
“Just listen, okay?”
“You ain’t gonna boss me around. I’m a leader.”
“Don’t you think it’s better to get another member?” I blurted out.
“What? Whatcha say?”
“I said, don’t you think it’s better for me to become a member?”
“You? A member of us? Are you joking?”
“No, I’m serious. I swear, it’s better than just killing me.”
The leader stood there, thinking about it. His “friends” were glaring at me, waiting for their leader’s call.
“How are you gonna prove you’re not lying?”
“You can watch me for a week or two. And if I do anything stupid, you can do whatever you want.”
He thought about it once more. “...Fine. We’ll go with that deal. And if you do anything stupid,”
“You can do whatever you want with me. That’s right.” I said. It worked! It was a surprise I was able to convince him. But more than anything, I was able to spare my life.

“So, that’s it? Was that your story?” My grandchild asked quietly. His mood had obviously changed from the beginning of the story.
“Yes. Without that event, you wouldn’t be here and I wouldn’t be here either.”
“What- what happened to those other people?”
“The other gang members?  I was able to create a grave for them. I hope they understand what I did while they were looking up from the sky.”
“Oh! Well that’s good!” He seemed relieved that I didn’t leave them there. There was a moment of silence between us.
“Well, do you want to go eat breakfast?”
“Yeah! Let’s go grandaddy!”
I got out of the bed and headed out.