Matthew Lawson

1986 - 2013
"It's not about what others can give to you. It's about what you can give to others."
Matthew's mother always taught him to be selfless. And her teachings bore fruit.
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BACKGROUND
Matthew Lawson, your average every day American. Short hair, about 5'9 ft, fit, laughs a lot. Was raised by his single parent mother. His mother and father never really got along, even before his birth. Why he came to be, is still a mystery, even to him. As a younger child, he spent most of his time at his aunts place, since his grandma was an alcoholic. He already knew that at a very young age, so he adapted without any issues. He always had a weird connection with animals. Almost any animal he came in contact with, he immediately formed a trusting friendship. It is said that animals see who is a good person and who is not, but maybe it's something bigger than that. Surrounded by friends, he felt happy. Although, his happiness didn't bring food on the table. His family was going through a rough period of money crisis and his mom had to call in all kinds of loans to make it past the struggle. They made it, being the hard-working woman she is and life went on.
Years passed and he entered the age of a teenager. That's where the true challenge appeared. As he grew older, he began to discover himself. No, not what you're thinking about you sick pervert. He found out that what used to be fun and games as a kid for him, is now actually his greatest desire. With the discovery of his sexual preference, his attitude changed immensely. He started fighting with his mom, his grades dropped at school and his overall school state was heading downhill fast. He knew that gay people were not the most likeable creatures in the world and he didn't know how to contain himself. He just let loose. During the end of his primary school time(things had settled down about a year ago), something happened. Whether it was for the better of for the worse, is not yet decided.
A guy came into his life that would change it for what it is today. In the 9th grade, he saw the cutest guy he ever knew. The guy himself was being bullied all the time and made fun of and Matthew didn't know what to do. If he would talk to him, he'd become unpopular himself. Then again, he was one of the bullies himself, so even getting to talk to him might be problematic so he just let things fall into shape. He kept an eye on him, always trying to take a peek at the showers, the usual. Just kept to himself. Progressing near the end of the 9th grade, the cute guy and Matthew had become great friends. They don't even know how it happened, but it did, and Matthew was happy for it. During the school holidays, Matthew confessed that he was gay and really liked him, but for his misfortune, the guy was straight. He didn't mind that Matthew was gay, because he still thought highly of him as a friend. Matthew has left heart-broken, but time stops for noone.
Matthew spent weeks and months trying to get over him, but he couldn't. There was something in his heart that wanted the cute guy. Even after all he knew, he still couldn't get over it and it was killing him inside. It got so deep into him, he even tried to commit suicide. He almost pulled the trigger, but something stopped him. Something intervened and just didn't let him pull that trigger. The two friends were still very close and got even closer. They always had a good laugh, enjoyed the company of each other, but whenever the guy left, Matthew just felt empty, lonely and sad.
After finishing high school, Matthews life got even a larger twist. The guy had wanted to become a lawyer for years, so he went to a college in another state. Matthew was just stunned. He just went home and stared at the wall for hours, not knowing what to do. He never even though about the future, so he figured he had to find something to do. To have a purpose. He joined the LSPD. LSPD gave him a purpose. Gave him something to be, something that mattered and was bigger than him. In time he forgot about the case of the college. They still talked every now and then, but time had healed Matthews broken heart. He was always working. Day in and day out. That's when one of the best things of his life happened.
He got a puppy. Not just any puppy: a german shepherd puppy. A black nosed, brown and black coated male german shepherd with brown eyes and big fluffy ears. Him and two others from the LSPD got a puppy. They weren't just given out of their fine service, but for something great. A K-9 unit. Matthew would have to learn how to train his puppy to an efficient K-9 police officer.
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== TO THE DEPTHS OF THE BEAST ==
A schoolhouse appears in the distance. A dark, grayish shadowy sky blooms the surrounding area. The trees lose black leaves on top of someones face. The face is as clear as day. It's smiling. Brown short hair, a straight nose and small lips. White teeth shine across a smile. His gray eyes stare into the depths of your soul. He knows. He knows exactly who you are. The schoolhouse draws nearer and the face turns from you. It turns towards the schoolhouse. The smell of his fresh clothing sweeps over you. He disappears as if taken by a supernatural aura. The schoolhouse collapses. Your heart pummels. He calls out your name: "Matthew."
Matthew opens his eyes and sits up in his bed. He looks out the window across his dimly lit room from the moon. His hands touch his face and he wipes tears away from his eyes. A friendly tongue slides over his left cheek. Matthew raises his head, only to be met by a titled look from Jackie, a brown and black coated german shepherd with half Matthew's size. His fluffy ears are pointed upwards and his bushy tail slides over the blue blanket. "I saw him again." is said with a sorrowful voice. The brown-coated animal only licks Matthew's face again and waves his bushy tail. Matthew raises his view from Jackie and looks out the window, exhaling. He lifts the blanket off himself and stands up from the bed to take a shower.
After a shower, his hair still somewhat wet, he makes his way to the kitchen to grab himself ingredients for a sandwich. After two minutes of crafting, he makes himself two. Jackie follows Matthew around to the table, where he seats himself next to, looking up at Matthew as he takes position on a brown kitchen chair at a rectangle table. The brightly tanned man takes a bite out of his sandwich and looks down at the table. The voice from the dream plays through his head over and over again. His chin twitches. The sandwiches are gone and Matthew rises from the table, placing the white plate they were on on a gray cupboard. He looks down at Jackie, then over to his red bowl next to a black fridge. The bowl is filled with brown crunchy food. Noticing that Jackie still has food, Matthew pets Jackie and makes his way towards his wardrobe. He slides on his everyday clothing. A blue checkered shirt and blue jeans. His legs carry him to the counter next to his bed which he looks down at. A golden object meets his view. "San Fierro Police Department" is written above a golden eagle's wings. "Oro en Paz—Fierro en Guerra" is written under the eagle and the line "Sergeant M. Lawson" catches his eyes. He sniffs out of his nostrils and grabs onto the badge with his right hand and slides it into his left pocket. Right next to the bed, there's a small brown weapon cabinet, only fit to hold a sidearm. Matthew opens the cabinets door and reaches inside, taking out his standard issue glock 17 sidearm. The weapon is carried in his right hand until he picks up his brown weapon holster from a coat hanger next to his door. He wraps the holster around his waist and tucks the firearm into the socket. The socket is covered with a button to keep the weapon firmly in place. Four legs dance around the kitchen room when Matthew pulls on his yellow camo boots. Even a bark echoes through the kitchen. Matthew wraps his right hand around a red leash and slides the cuff onto Jackie's collar. They make their way out of the building, into the gray morning.
No wind. No sound. Just Jackie's paws stepping through the lawn grass. They start their tour by walking towards the donut shop to the east of this house. After the donut shop, a long walk by the ocean leads them to the golf course. After the golf course, the road leads them throughout San Fierro's quiet streets where only a few individuals head to work at this early hour. The walk takes them two hours until they're back home, where Jackie is left to guard the house. Above the door of the house, there's a CCTV camera monitoring. After Jackie is home, Matthew makes his way to his intruder. A black hood and a white body resemble him of a cruiser from Los Santos. Only he was in San Fierro now. The noise of the vehicle starting wakes Matthew up. Everything he does in the morning is built in his system. It's the engine of his car that finally sets him in manual mode. With his seatbelt buckled in, he shifts the gear and drives downtown.
After a 10 minute drive the brown building with a large staircase has been reached. The San Fierro Police Department. He parks his car around the back, through an orange gate which is guarded by an officer in a brown booth. After exiting, he fills his lungs with city air and makes his way inside the station from the garage. The garage has a wide number of vehicles. Mostly regular blue-colored cruisers, but also a DFT, a tow truck, three bicycles and a ranger. Upon entering, the building seems as usual as ever. Most of the arrested suspects were snoring quite profoundly. Matthew throws a glance of disgust while walking past the holding cells and walks his way up the stairs. A few officers greet him, but Matthew only returns a nod and a forced smile. His eyes keep looking down at the ground where his right foot gets ahead of his left foot, then his left foot ahead of his right foot and so on. He walks through the empty lobby and through the door to the right of the entrance. He walks up and past the evidence and questioning area with quiet steps until he finally enters the locker room.
The locker room is empty and only a few muffled voices can be heard from upstairs or somewhere around the department. A bench is to his left in the locker room, which he seats himself on. He leans back on the bench and looks across the room at the three showers. Multiple lockers are on the corner of his eye. He breathes in and exhales, closing his eyes for a moment. "Matthew," the voice calls yet again inside his head. His chin twitches. He suddenly bursts into action by standing up from the bench and makes his way to his locker with firm steps. Within two minutes he's already fully uniformed and geared up. He grabs a black dufflebag from the bottom of his locker with police written on either side in yellow. Shortly after turning his radio on, an interview report calls out to him from the non-emergency report channel. He freezes for a moment, staring at the back of the locker and sighs. The drops the dufflebag back in the locker room and closes the door. A usual start to his work day.
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== Chapter 2 ==
A puppy yelps and cries, scratching on the wooden door next to the bed. Matthew opens his eyes and sits up, looking towards the door that's being scratched. Scratch, scratch, scratch and the puppy still cries to get inside. Matthew lifts the blue blanket off himself and heads for the door with nothing but his white shirt and underwear on. He grabs the handle of the door and pulls the door inward, but as he looks down, he sees nothing but the hallway of his apartment. Matthew looks left and right a few times before sitting down next to the bed with his knees covering his face. He wraps his arms around his legs and lets the tears drop down his cheeks.
Jackie had died in the beginning of the month. Some local mafioso who had broken into his house some time ago saw Matthew walking his dog and decided to have a chat with him. Matthew does not take kindly to any threats against his dog so in a burst of anger he shouted at him to leave. The man started backing off towards his vehicle, but still threw smartass comments which caused Matthew, again in a rush of anger, to withdraw his sidearm that was tucked between his waistline behind his back and covered by a shirt. He pointed the gun at him, his body and face emitting obvious anger. He kept shouting at him until he left. Matthew calmed down and placed the handgun back where he took it from and crouched down to calm his dog down, who was made restless by the scene. The black vehicle he left with, came by with a lust for vengeance. He leaned pointed a gun towards Matthew who was just in time to push his dog away from harm and roll next to the car. He fired a few shots, but missed thanks to Matthew's previous years of experience in the force and with SWAT. He continued firing and Matthew crawled around the car just enough time to get his gun out to return fire. Matthew was on his back next to the front part of the car when he came around the back end of the car, only to be attacked by Jackie, Matthew's fierce and loyal companion, a trained K-9 dog. He bit his arm ferociously to make him stagger and release the gun, but to his misfortune, the criminal shot Jackie in the head. Now other police officers arrived on scene, as well as a few vigilantes who wanted to help out Matthew. Matthew was overtaken by fury. He didn't even care if he hit anyone else. He just wanted the animal killer dead. He stood up, firing a whole of 14 rounds(3 had gone into the previous return fire scene) towards the now fleeing killer and his vehicle as he took off, screaming Jackie's name as he did so. His bullets went to waste as they did not slow the vehicle down or shoot a tire out, but two police cruisers were right on the vehicles tail.
After emptying an entire clip into the vehicle, he dropped the gun and ran for his dog's corpse. He wrapped it around his arms and crawled up against a nearby wall. Matthew kept crying like a never ending fountain. Tears kept pouring down his cheeks and after a vigilante declared the animal dead, Matthew stayed that way for what seemed an eternity for him. An officer and the vigilante later on helped Matthew bury Jackie to the place where they went almost every weekend. "Jackie always loved the view. He'd stare at the chicken going up and down, up and down.." was said said as he wiped a few tears off his cheeks with the back of his hand which was also holding the shovel. The hole was dug and Jackie was placed inside a white long blanket that Jackie and Matthew used to sleep under and the dogs two bowls, red and white, were also placed in the grave with him. Matthew spent a few minutes in the hole with his lost companion before climbing out and burying him with the dirt dug out earlier.
After revisiting the scene like so many nights and days before, he stood up and went to the kitchen to do his morning routine. Take a shower, eat, brush his teeth and go out to work. Food had no taste and life had no meaning to him. He was doing the only thing he knew how - work. Usually he had casual chit-chat with the people he pulled over, sometimes left a few with warnings and such, but now none of that existed to him. Now he didn't care what their excuse was. He was just enforcing the law like a machine. Whoever mentioned a dog, he flinched. He did his best to keep his mind off Jackie, his best friend and the most loyal creature he had ever known.
But time heals all wounds..
Category:Character
Category:Deceased Characters