Post by Henry Spearman on May 29, 2016 7:53:44 GMT -5
Henrys palms were sweaty as he sat through fourth period math. His nerves stemmed not from the fact that he almost certainly just failed his Math midterm but from the fact that in a few moments the lunch bell would ring and he would put everything he had on the line for one chance that he had been waiting for for almost four years.
The bell rang and the students quickly rose to their feet and shuffled out of the classroom. Henry stood and followed, last out the door as always. When he walked out into the hallway he looked left and right before finally spotting what he was looking for.
Henrys heartbeat grew faster and he was certain you could see the pounding through his shirt. He gathered his courage and walked forward.
“One foot in front of the next Henry. Just do it, you got this. Stay calm, control your breathing. God why am I sweating so much? Shes going to see how sweaty I am. What if she grabs my hand?”
Henrys confidence rose and dwindled almost simultaneously. After what seemed like an eternity he was standing behind April Hightower. The prettiest girl in the sixth grade. April had brown hair that accented her round face perfectly. Her perfectly white teeth smiled an amazing smile that lit up the room (and henrys heart).
Um.....April?
Did Henrys voice crack only in his head?
Oh, Hi Henry...
April looked like she may have never met him before. Henry immediately picked up on the awkwardness. He wanted to run but knew that would only make things even worse. He had resolved to push through with this and he was not going to back down now. It was time. This was his moment.
“April I was wondering if maybe…ummmm…you know if you weren’t doing something or like if you weren’t already like going if maybe you ummm…like…”
Henry stammered through his thoughts as he tried to gain his composure and speak to this girl. Finally she saved him the trouble and cut him off
“If I wanted to go to the 6th grade dance with you?
April flashed Henry that beautiful smile that he loved so much and an incredible warmth flooded his body.
Henrys thoughts ran wild.
“She finished my sentence for me. She is smiling at me. Its ok, everything is ok. Shes saying yes. She knows what I wanted and she is saying yes. This is happening. I threw myself out there and its paying off.” Henry Thought to himself
“Ummm, yea if you aren’t already going with someone” Henry said
Aprils smile grew even wider and Henrys heart fluttered in his chest. Suddenly, the smile turned to laughter. April looked at henry and laughed as if he had just told her the funnies thing he had ever heard.
“Shes laughing at me” Henry thought as he suddenly realized that Aprils smile was not what he had initially thought it was
“She thinks this is funny. She thinks I am a joke”
Aprils Friend Tim approached when he saw her laughing
“Whats up April? Whats the joke?” He asked
“Its Henry! He just asked me to the dance!”
The two of them burst into laughter and soon there was a small group of children standing around Henry laughing at him.
Tim looked at Henry
“Henry, look. April and I are going to be going to that dance together. I know you like her and all but lets be realistic. You are easily the weirdest kid in the school. I mean, look at you and then look at April. Did you really think you stood a chance? Did you realistically think that she would lower herself to a standard so low?”
Henry soaked all of this in with a blank look on his face. He thought for sure if he was confident and asked her that she would say yes. The good guy always gets the girl. Now standing in front of his peers, he was being laughed at and publicly ridiculed. Henry suddenly felt a lump rise up in his throat and he fought back against it
"Dont do it Henry. Not here. Not now." Henry thought as he fought back against the tears
But it was too late. A single tear leaked from his left eye and ran down his cheek. Henry was humiliated. Reduced to tears in front of the only girl he had ever had feelings for. Henry felt his day could not have gotten any worse.
Then henry felt as if he had been hit in the head with a sledge hammer. He fell to the ground dizzy and seeing stars. It took him a moment to realize that he had been hit.
Tim looked down at him and stuck his finger in his face
Stay there Henry. No one here wants to be your friend and they CERTAINLY don’t want to dance with you. Why don’t you just stay home from now on or even better BRING YOUR MOM!!!
Everyone laughed as the group walked away. April looked back at him over her shoulder and shook her head in disbelief. Henry sat on the floor holding his cheek as the tears now flowed freely.
______________________________________________________
The scene opens up into a familiar place. Neforian sits in a lone chair in the center of a dark basement. The single familiar light bulb just barely illuminating the surroundings. The drop dropping of a leaky water faucet and the creaking of old pipes can be heard in the vicinity. The basement is damp and cold.
“Another week gone by. Another victim fallen.”
The camera slowly moves forward inching closer to the back of Neforian
“How many more will fall before the darkness? How many more will need to drop before my message is heard? How many more will meet their demise before the words become the reality?”
A long pause
“All of them…………”
“All of us……………”
“We are born to fall. We are born to believe that we cannot fall into that place. We are raised to fight it, to resist it but in the end we are born to give in and fall to our knees in front of it.”
Neforians hands sit clasped in his lap. His head down towards the ground. His back slightly hunched
“Last week I kept my word. I sent two more competitors into the loss column. I vowed to push forth with the message and I accomplished just that. I walked into that arena last night as an unknown and I walked out as the only thing that mattered. When I left Starr and Phoenix lying in the center of the ring battered and bruised the message was clear and the point was made.”
“Accept the inevitable or face the repercussions….”
“There is no longer any denying that the shift is here. I am sent to usher in that shift. I am here to ensure that the shift happens as it was always supposed to. I am here to weed out those who live in a fantasy that society has convinced itself is reality. I am here to show everyone what reality TRULY is. Slane, Starr, and Phoenix were the first. I promised they will not be the last. I do not break promises.”
The camera finally shifts around and we now face Neforian. He raises his head up and faces the camera.
“Benson and Night Rider are next.”
A smile curls across the face of Neforian
“You see, this week I have a chance to further my message. To win the WCF Television Title and walk out of the arena with an even stronger voice. That opportunity will not go by the wayside. It must not go by the wayside. A title around the waist of Neforian would only serve to prove just how serious this situation is. Just how real this message is…..just how right I am.”
“In the end, inevitability is inevitability. All things eventually come to light and the truth that hides behind all of the lies WILL come to reveal itself to everyone as it has revealed itself to me. The world will eventually be forced to take note of just what reality really is….
But I don’t want to wait. I want it now. I want to be the man who uproots society from its very core and drags it down into the darkness with me. I want to be the man that history books write about. I want to be the man who exposes all the foolishness, all the bullshit, all the lies. I want to be the man who makes the world right. Who sets society straight. I want to be the man responsible for showing the world just who we truly are.”
Neforian stands up from his chair. He walks out from under the light and disappears into the darkness around it. His footsteps can be heard along the concrete floor. Finally a beam of light shines into the basement. Neforian has opened the curtains to a tiny basement window, allowing a single beam of light to streak across his face. Cutting the room in half. He stares out the window with the camera to his back and speaks again.
“But who are we? Who are we now? Who are we truly?
“To answer that question one must look no further than Benson and Night Rider.”
“Bad News Benson. The beer guzzling, Nearly Illiterate man of few words and even fewer brain cells. A man who holds anger and hate in his heart. A man unable to control his anger and emotions. A man who is victim to all the things that make you weak.”
“I know that many of those who hear this will look at me and say that I harbor all those things in my heart. The truth is I have none of them. I hate no one, I am always in complete control of my emotions and I am never angry. I am at peace with who and what I am. The message I carry is for the benefit of mankind as a whole. My purpose is to weed out those people who are incapable of hearing it.”
Neforians hand moves to his mouth and strokes his clean shaven chin
Night Rider....
A gentle nod of the head
“I look at night rider and I see someone so similar to myself and yet different in so many ways. Rider when I look at you I see a man capable of being every bit the animal that he was meant to be. I see a man capable of being a monster, of releasing that caged beast that sleeps within but you have flaws. Those flaws expose you as someone who can be beaten. Those flaws are in your own mind……”
“A mind is a terrible thing to waste, Rider. You could be a force, you HAVE been a force but you will fall before me just like everyone else because you are not the one in control of your mind. There are outside influences that you allow to play games inside your head. Urges that you cannot fight back against.”
“Your biggest problem is a lack of recognizance of yourself. Look inside yourself and see that you are not the man you pretend to be. Is the tough guy persona real? Is that little bit of evil really there or is it a fleeting thought inside your head? Is it a fantasy? Is it just a dream? Is the whole thing even real?”
Neforian smiles broadly
“It can be………”
“It can be whatever you want it to be. It WANTS to be real. It WANTS to exist both inside and outside of you. Those fleeting aberrations are merely a glimpse inside of you. They lie in waiting for the day you decide to truly unleash them on the world. They long for the day that the artificial exterior that you have matches the fantasy inside your own head.”
“NightRider, I think you and I aren’t so different you know? But I want to fill you in on the one reason you and I will never be the same. You have a touch of evil that exists inside you. I AM the very existence of evil. My existence is fueled by that evil but it is not evil in and of itself. The evil that you portray is what brought me here in the first place. The evil in the world is what birthed me into existence. Without it, my message need not be told. Without it, I would cease to exist. I would be unnecessary. I would be irrelevant.”
“I would be Happy…….”
“The misconception here is that I am the bad guy. I’m not the bad guy. If anything, I am the hero here. I am the mirror for society to look at and see what they truly are, what you truly are.
“I am the change that needs to come. I am the hero to the broken and the beaten. I am the personification of all those things that need to change.”
“I am…….the messenger……….”
The bell rang and the students quickly rose to their feet and shuffled out of the classroom. Henry stood and followed, last out the door as always. When he walked out into the hallway he looked left and right before finally spotting what he was looking for.
Henrys heartbeat grew faster and he was certain you could see the pounding through his shirt. He gathered his courage and walked forward.
“One foot in front of the next Henry. Just do it, you got this. Stay calm, control your breathing. God why am I sweating so much? Shes going to see how sweaty I am. What if she grabs my hand?”
Henrys confidence rose and dwindled almost simultaneously. After what seemed like an eternity he was standing behind April Hightower. The prettiest girl in the sixth grade. April had brown hair that accented her round face perfectly. Her perfectly white teeth smiled an amazing smile that lit up the room (and henrys heart).
Um.....April?
Did Henrys voice crack only in his head?
Oh, Hi Henry...
April looked like she may have never met him before. Henry immediately picked up on the awkwardness. He wanted to run but knew that would only make things even worse. He had resolved to push through with this and he was not going to back down now. It was time. This was his moment.
“April I was wondering if maybe…ummmm…you know if you weren’t doing something or like if you weren’t already like going if maybe you ummm…like…”
Henry stammered through his thoughts as he tried to gain his composure and speak to this girl. Finally she saved him the trouble and cut him off
“If I wanted to go to the 6th grade dance with you?
April flashed Henry that beautiful smile that he loved so much and an incredible warmth flooded his body.
Henrys thoughts ran wild.
“She finished my sentence for me. She is smiling at me. Its ok, everything is ok. Shes saying yes. She knows what I wanted and she is saying yes. This is happening. I threw myself out there and its paying off.” Henry Thought to himself
“Ummm, yea if you aren’t already going with someone” Henry said
Aprils smile grew even wider and Henrys heart fluttered in his chest. Suddenly, the smile turned to laughter. April looked at henry and laughed as if he had just told her the funnies thing he had ever heard.
“Shes laughing at me” Henry thought as he suddenly realized that Aprils smile was not what he had initially thought it was
“She thinks this is funny. She thinks I am a joke”
Aprils Friend Tim approached when he saw her laughing
“Whats up April? Whats the joke?” He asked
“Its Henry! He just asked me to the dance!”
The two of them burst into laughter and soon there was a small group of children standing around Henry laughing at him.
Tim looked at Henry
“Henry, look. April and I are going to be going to that dance together. I know you like her and all but lets be realistic. You are easily the weirdest kid in the school. I mean, look at you and then look at April. Did you really think you stood a chance? Did you realistically think that she would lower herself to a standard so low?”
Henry soaked all of this in with a blank look on his face. He thought for sure if he was confident and asked her that she would say yes. The good guy always gets the girl. Now standing in front of his peers, he was being laughed at and publicly ridiculed. Henry suddenly felt a lump rise up in his throat and he fought back against it
"Dont do it Henry. Not here. Not now." Henry thought as he fought back against the tears
But it was too late. A single tear leaked from his left eye and ran down his cheek. Henry was humiliated. Reduced to tears in front of the only girl he had ever had feelings for. Henry felt his day could not have gotten any worse.
Then henry felt as if he had been hit in the head with a sledge hammer. He fell to the ground dizzy and seeing stars. It took him a moment to realize that he had been hit.
Tim looked down at him and stuck his finger in his face
Stay there Henry. No one here wants to be your friend and they CERTAINLY don’t want to dance with you. Why don’t you just stay home from now on or even better BRING YOUR MOM!!!
Everyone laughed as the group walked away. April looked back at him over her shoulder and shook her head in disbelief. Henry sat on the floor holding his cheek as the tears now flowed freely.
______________________________________________________
The scene opens up into a familiar place. Neforian sits in a lone chair in the center of a dark basement. The single familiar light bulb just barely illuminating the surroundings. The drop dropping of a leaky water faucet and the creaking of old pipes can be heard in the vicinity. The basement is damp and cold.
“Another week gone by. Another victim fallen.”
The camera slowly moves forward inching closer to the back of Neforian
“How many more will fall before the darkness? How many more will need to drop before my message is heard? How many more will meet their demise before the words become the reality?”
A long pause
“All of them…………”
“All of us……………”
“We are born to fall. We are born to believe that we cannot fall into that place. We are raised to fight it, to resist it but in the end we are born to give in and fall to our knees in front of it.”
Neforians hands sit clasped in his lap. His head down towards the ground. His back slightly hunched
“Last week I kept my word. I sent two more competitors into the loss column. I vowed to push forth with the message and I accomplished just that. I walked into that arena last night as an unknown and I walked out as the only thing that mattered. When I left Starr and Phoenix lying in the center of the ring battered and bruised the message was clear and the point was made.”
“Accept the inevitable or face the repercussions….”
“There is no longer any denying that the shift is here. I am sent to usher in that shift. I am here to ensure that the shift happens as it was always supposed to. I am here to weed out those who live in a fantasy that society has convinced itself is reality. I am here to show everyone what reality TRULY is. Slane, Starr, and Phoenix were the first. I promised they will not be the last. I do not break promises.”
The camera finally shifts around and we now face Neforian. He raises his head up and faces the camera.
“Benson and Night Rider are next.”
A smile curls across the face of Neforian
“You see, this week I have a chance to further my message. To win the WCF Television Title and walk out of the arena with an even stronger voice. That opportunity will not go by the wayside. It must not go by the wayside. A title around the waist of Neforian would only serve to prove just how serious this situation is. Just how real this message is…..just how right I am.”
“In the end, inevitability is inevitability. All things eventually come to light and the truth that hides behind all of the lies WILL come to reveal itself to everyone as it has revealed itself to me. The world will eventually be forced to take note of just what reality really is….
But I don’t want to wait. I want it now. I want to be the man who uproots society from its very core and drags it down into the darkness with me. I want to be the man that history books write about. I want to be the man who exposes all the foolishness, all the bullshit, all the lies. I want to be the man who makes the world right. Who sets society straight. I want to be the man responsible for showing the world just who we truly are.”
Neforian stands up from his chair. He walks out from under the light and disappears into the darkness around it. His footsteps can be heard along the concrete floor. Finally a beam of light shines into the basement. Neforian has opened the curtains to a tiny basement window, allowing a single beam of light to streak across his face. Cutting the room in half. He stares out the window with the camera to his back and speaks again.
“But who are we? Who are we now? Who are we truly?
“To answer that question one must look no further than Benson and Night Rider.”
“Bad News Benson. The beer guzzling, Nearly Illiterate man of few words and even fewer brain cells. A man who holds anger and hate in his heart. A man unable to control his anger and emotions. A man who is victim to all the things that make you weak.”
“I know that many of those who hear this will look at me and say that I harbor all those things in my heart. The truth is I have none of them. I hate no one, I am always in complete control of my emotions and I am never angry. I am at peace with who and what I am. The message I carry is for the benefit of mankind as a whole. My purpose is to weed out those people who are incapable of hearing it.”
Neforians hand moves to his mouth and strokes his clean shaven chin
Night Rider....
A gentle nod of the head
“I look at night rider and I see someone so similar to myself and yet different in so many ways. Rider when I look at you I see a man capable of being every bit the animal that he was meant to be. I see a man capable of being a monster, of releasing that caged beast that sleeps within but you have flaws. Those flaws expose you as someone who can be beaten. Those flaws are in your own mind……”
“A mind is a terrible thing to waste, Rider. You could be a force, you HAVE been a force but you will fall before me just like everyone else because you are not the one in control of your mind. There are outside influences that you allow to play games inside your head. Urges that you cannot fight back against.”
“Your biggest problem is a lack of recognizance of yourself. Look inside yourself and see that you are not the man you pretend to be. Is the tough guy persona real? Is that little bit of evil really there or is it a fleeting thought inside your head? Is it a fantasy? Is it just a dream? Is the whole thing even real?”
Neforian smiles broadly
“It can be………”
“It can be whatever you want it to be. It WANTS to be real. It WANTS to exist both inside and outside of you. Those fleeting aberrations are merely a glimpse inside of you. They lie in waiting for the day you decide to truly unleash them on the world. They long for the day that the artificial exterior that you have matches the fantasy inside your own head.”
“NightRider, I think you and I aren’t so different you know? But I want to fill you in on the one reason you and I will never be the same. You have a touch of evil that exists inside you. I AM the very existence of evil. My existence is fueled by that evil but it is not evil in and of itself. The evil that you portray is what brought me here in the first place. The evil in the world is what birthed me into existence. Without it, my message need not be told. Without it, I would cease to exist. I would be unnecessary. I would be irrelevant.”
“I would be Happy…….”
“The misconception here is that I am the bad guy. I’m not the bad guy. If anything, I am the hero here. I am the mirror for society to look at and see what they truly are, what you truly are.
“I am the change that needs to come. I am the hero to the broken and the beaten. I am the personification of all those things that need to change.”
“I am…….the messenger……….”