I don't really have any memory of writing this but it's in the vein of the faux-Elmore Leonard or Richard Stark that I was digging a while back. (Still am.) I wanted to edit this one a little more but I just added some punctuation to improve readability and took out the last line that was there because it was nonsense.

Date of original writing: Unknown

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Suffocating. All of it. His lungs burned, his eyes burned. The sound from all around assaulted his ears. He could feel every nerve scream with pain as he woke up from a dreamless sleep. He tried to move and felt so heavy it took nearly five minutes to turn over onto his back. He wiped his eyes, and did so again, until he was awake enough to take in where he was.

The ground was wet, he was wet and the sky was supplying more every second. It was dark but the faded glow of a streetlight on a worn wooden post let him know that the ditch he’d woken up in, wasn’t so terrible as ditches go. The water wasn’t that deep and it was pretty clear. Its only other swimmer, at the moment, an old tire. A part unknown, from parts unknown.

His suit had seen better days to be sure. There were bigger concerns though. He managed to crawl out of the muck onto the side of the road. Looking up and down; there wasn’t much in the way of civilization in either direction. Just more ignored or forgotten streetlights.

He got to his feet and patted himself down; looking for something that could tell him- Something caught his attention, as he drew his hand away from his abdomen. He held his hand under the light and looked closer. The rain started to wash it away almost immediately but the blood was unmistakable. Enough to cover your entire hand, usually is. He lifted up his shirt to find a ragged gash in his side just under his beltline. It wasn’t incredibly deep but it was bleeding a lot and had been for some time.

He stepped into the middle of the street and closed his eyes. Saying a silent prayer for help or for a car to run him down; so he could be done with this shit all the sooner. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes. Nothing. No divine intervention. No careless motorist. He checked behind him. Yeah. Nothing.

He dusted himself off. Noting the absurdity of such a gesture in the downpour and started walking down the road. He began to hum the theme song from an old western he had seen as a kid.