It was late in the evening when i got there
The Fort was practically empty, except for the usual fray of lovebirds
enjoying the sunset, from the many places in the fort, where cannons once
held sway.
Using the opportunity, and the fact that my friend was still a few minutes
away from reaching here, I opened the cigarettee carton searching for
my favourite brand. Unlike most other smokers, i organise my cigarettes.
That too in the same carton, the one i first bought. A Gold Flake Kings pack
that could hold virtually any size cigarette. I keep a variety of them
in that pack, two for each sort of setting. Two for the happy times, Two for
the sad, Two for the times when i want to escape from it all, and two for the
usual kind of situations.

I picked a Dunhill, not waiting to think about what category it fell under.
Two or three puffs later, i could tell that i was the only one left
in the fort. There was absolutely no noise, not even the distant rumbling
of cars and scooters from the city. It was peaceful, not having to think
about anything, and having nothing to distract me from not thinking
about anything.

"Still haven't given up smoking I see"
I woke from my reverie with a start, which was to be expected and
looked at my friend as if i was seeing a dead man talking
"No, i guess not"
He Sighed
"You Do know this will kill you, don't you?"
It was my turn to sigh
"I have been told that before."
His answering face, was one of pity. An year or so back, it would have been
one of anger
He was my best friend. he knew me well, well enough to know
that i was dissatisfied with my life. Well enough to know i wanted the
easiest way out of this misery
"Smoking isn't the answer bub"
"It isn't, is it?? Then tell me, what is?"
"Sadly enough, that's for you to find out"
He took a step towards me, or it may have been a step away
I couldn't judge. There was little light to be found, save for the light
from the embers of my cigarette. I couldn't tell he had gotten close enough
to smack the cigarette right out of my lips, which is what he did
"What? Why did you do that for?"
"I am surprised you even have to ask"
I looked at his half illumined face in astonishment, this wasn't what i had
expected
"But bub, that was a a bit uncalled for."
"The hell it was! I am not going to see my best friend kill himselves inch
by goddamned inch."
He was furoius. Even if i couldn't read his features, i could tell that
he was experiencing some of the pain i felt myself.

"You have been going at it for years, It should have claimed a significant
part of your body by now"
He was right, of course it had claimed a significant part of me.
Which was why i was here, to tell him goodbye.
I wasn't fighting the cancer that had spread all inside me, actually i wanted
it to win. But not before i could finish what i had not started.
"You are right bub, it is killing me, faster than you can imagine.
Which is why I called you out here today"
For a moment, he looked at me incredulously.
The expression swiftly changed to shock
"You mean, you are seriously dying! That you don't have much time left?"
"Bingo. They give me an year, maybe less, maybe more.
It has spread everywhere."
"I guess you prefer to go down with a smoke"
I couldn't answer that one, not because i didn't know the obvious answer,
but because to say it out loud, would mean to acknowledge that i have been
a brainless bum all these years. A person who didn't care what happened to
himself or to the ones around him.
"I don't know, all i know is that i am happy it's ending like this. That means I don't
have to spend the rest of my days contemplating suicide, now that the end
is so near."
"Are you telling me you are happy things are really ending like this.
Without having the opportunity to end the things you have started"
"I didnt really start anything, and even if i did, they all end with me"
He looked at me, disgust brimming from his eyes.
I knew he had nothing more to say.
"Well i guess you brought me up here to say goodbye."
He was good at guessing. He could guess my every move, ever since the first
day we had met.
"Goodbyes are hard to say isn't it bub?"
"They are, so i, nor you will be saying goodbye tonight. But if you
can, do me a favor. Consider it the last one i will be asking you"
He was getting ready to leave, cool and unemotional, even though i knew his
insides where boiling over.
"What's that?"I asked
He looked at me one last time, probably contemplating whether
i would acknowledge his request, and then he turned
getting ready to walk away
"Throw away that cigarette pack, and never pick it up again"
He left the way he came. Disappearing fast into the night.
I sat down on the steps of the fort, thinking about what he had said
"Guess it really is over for the both of us". I looked at the Gold Flake
Kings pack that had been with me all these years.
Without another thought i threw it into the moat surrounding the fort, and
walked away, into the night, just like my friend.

All i saw was the mist, and the stars.