Post by Murdoc on Apr 17, 2006 3:28:23 GMT -5
<...and I'm living it right now.>
[The thought was absurd. Preposterous. Absolutely insane.]
[Yet, those qualities...however accurate they may be...made the situation no less poignant and REAL.]
[To be living a dream, to be acting out what is merely concocted in the realm of the mind is taught to be fallacy, in all shapes and forms. Fallacy...and insanity. Never let it be said, that he adhered fully to the rules set forth.]
You have to go...NOW!
[He could hear it just as plain as day. The voice calling out behind him. Stony and compassionate, all compacted into one terse statement. He no longer was in the realm of the physical. No...no, his thoughts were somewhere FAR from physical reality. His thoughts...were grounded solely in the esoteric...the ethereal. The realm of fantasy.]
[In laymen's terms....he was 'zoning out'.]
HEY! Didn't you hear me?!
[In reality, he could...but he was paying so little attention, it barely managed a blip on his internal radar. Fortunately for him, the voice wasn't as passive as it would lend itself to imagine.]
What's wrong, rookie? Cat got your balls? Or is THAT what you're daydreaming about?
<What...?>
[The bodiless voice, that voice that had seemed so far away...was now right upon him. Whispering into his ear, soft and pleasant, with a hint of the jagged edges that he had found so enamoring earlier in the day. So enthralling...he had had incredible difficulty focusing on the task at hand. But...regardless.]
[Twelve thousand feet in the air was NOT the place to be thinking on THIS PARTICULAR SUBJECT.]
[Giving credit where credit was due...twelve thousand feet in the air was not the place to be dwelling on inner turmoil either.]
[His head rotating to the left, glancing over his shoulder through thick plexiglass goggles at the figure who was pressed firmly against his back. The figure in the bright blue suit so close, he could literally hear her lips as they parted to speak towards him. Blinking once or twice, his voice shaky and tremulous against the roaring wind as he called back to her.]
No..not at all! Maybe that's the PROBLEM! Perhaps I need a bit of company..!
[The silence swallowed up by the blustering winds outside the bay door, time seemed to rush past as quickly, with as much spirit as the clouds outisde. It was not long before the response was forthcoming...the words blanketed in equal parts jest and sincerity.]
Ohhhh I see...need someone to hold your hand. I won't tell...!
[Though he couldn't see the light wink through the goggles covering his and her eyes, he could imagine such a gesture. As well, he could almost hear the faintest hint of a giggle. He felt rather foolish. And yet...it seemed to be apparent to the woman. If it was apparent to HER...a complete STRANGER...it must've been READILY apparent to his co-workers, his inner social circle and the like.]
[He was intimidated.]
[Intimidated by the prospect that what was to come...was nothing like anything he had ever faced before. He had never jumped out of a speeding plane at twelve thousand feet. Never been free-falling at one-hundred and twenty miles per hour with only a thin cloth parachute to stop him from making a true impact, as he claimed to Ian Brody. Only this time, the impact would be his body...upon the face of the EARTH. He even kept hearing the lyrics to Assemblage 23's '30KFT' in his head.]
'The pilot's just informed us that our plane is going down,
...so I'm calling for one last time, to say I love you.'
[Oddly enough, he could draw some striking...and frightening parallels between the 'now', and his situation within the PCW's confines...what was to come.]
[Never before had he faced what was coming. A match wherein the opponent had such a DISTINCT advantage over him. A situation so uncontrollable, a six-man tag team match. He had been in a multi-person match before...and back THEN, it was obvious HIS side was the odds-on favorite. At least in his mind. Right now though...he wasn't so sure.]
[Never had he been so pre-disposed to suffer a defeat at another's hands. At worst, his matches were level playing fields. At best...he had the OBVIOUS upperhand. But now...he had stepped into a warzone between armies, a war in which he had no real stake in, no apparent gain in participating in. So why do it?]
[Why make that freefall? When the results are so clear-cut that the stark truth was blinding: Kill, or be Killed. Why do it?]
[Simple.]
[To say he DID it. To be able to say 'I stared death in the face. I stared Death herself in the eye, and HER GAZE STAGGERED.' The same reason why he was staring down at the muddied-looking Earth below...sprinkled with the silver gleaming towers that looked little more than sparkles in a nighttime sky. To show Death that her bony grasp was intended for another. And if she attempted to grasp him prematurely...he would surely break her fingers.]
[The Earth was mocking him. Taunting him. Sneering with such acidity that it couldn't be missed. 'I have your number. One little mistake...that's all it takes, and I claim your feeble body. You won't be the first, but you'll sure be the next.']
[Jason Willard was mocking him. Taunting him. Sneering at him so cruelly. 'Like a good dog, we'll put you under. ...the only praying you’re going to be doing, is in the form of begging Nightmare 2 Society to take mercy on your punk ass.'. Anthony Douglas was mocking him. Poking and prodding at him. 'You, Prophet, on the other hand, walked into a buzz saw. And the parts left over won't be enough to make a midget!'.]
[Though his cause noble, though his reasoning be solid...there still was that twinge of fear. Without fear...a decent human being cannot be. Fear of a mistake, fear of biting off more than he can chew, fear that he has intervened on a situation that he cannot control...fear that must be dealt with, lest it consume the soul.]
Hey hot stuff...you ready?
[Perhaps there is a way to LESSEN the burden....with the help of another.]
[With this thought in mind, he takes a prolonged breath. His nerves steeled and his will indomitable, the time for fearing was through. The time for doubting was done. Exhaling slowly, his frame and the one behind him take that last step over the edge, and into the open sky.]
[Head-first in the Nightmare below...]
[The thought was absurd. Preposterous. Absolutely insane.]
[Yet, those qualities...however accurate they may be...made the situation no less poignant and REAL.]
[To be living a dream, to be acting out what is merely concocted in the realm of the mind is taught to be fallacy, in all shapes and forms. Fallacy...and insanity. Never let it be said, that he adhered fully to the rules set forth.]
You have to go...NOW!
[He could hear it just as plain as day. The voice calling out behind him. Stony and compassionate, all compacted into one terse statement. He no longer was in the realm of the physical. No...no, his thoughts were somewhere FAR from physical reality. His thoughts...were grounded solely in the esoteric...the ethereal. The realm of fantasy.]
[In laymen's terms....he was 'zoning out'.]
HEY! Didn't you hear me?!
[In reality, he could...but he was paying so little attention, it barely managed a blip on his internal radar. Fortunately for him, the voice wasn't as passive as it would lend itself to imagine.]
What's wrong, rookie? Cat got your balls? Or is THAT what you're daydreaming about?
<What...?>
[The bodiless voice, that voice that had seemed so far away...was now right upon him. Whispering into his ear, soft and pleasant, with a hint of the jagged edges that he had found so enamoring earlier in the day. So enthralling...he had had incredible difficulty focusing on the task at hand. But...regardless.]
[Twelve thousand feet in the air was NOT the place to be thinking on THIS PARTICULAR SUBJECT.]
[Giving credit where credit was due...twelve thousand feet in the air was not the place to be dwelling on inner turmoil either.]
[His head rotating to the left, glancing over his shoulder through thick plexiglass goggles at the figure who was pressed firmly against his back. The figure in the bright blue suit so close, he could literally hear her lips as they parted to speak towards him. Blinking once or twice, his voice shaky and tremulous against the roaring wind as he called back to her.]
No..not at all! Maybe that's the PROBLEM! Perhaps I need a bit of company..!
[The silence swallowed up by the blustering winds outside the bay door, time seemed to rush past as quickly, with as much spirit as the clouds outisde. It was not long before the response was forthcoming...the words blanketed in equal parts jest and sincerity.]
Ohhhh I see...need someone to hold your hand. I won't tell...!
[Though he couldn't see the light wink through the goggles covering his and her eyes, he could imagine such a gesture. As well, he could almost hear the faintest hint of a giggle. He felt rather foolish. And yet...it seemed to be apparent to the woman. If it was apparent to HER...a complete STRANGER...it must've been READILY apparent to his co-workers, his inner social circle and the like.]
[He was intimidated.]
[Intimidated by the prospect that what was to come...was nothing like anything he had ever faced before. He had never jumped out of a speeding plane at twelve thousand feet. Never been free-falling at one-hundred and twenty miles per hour with only a thin cloth parachute to stop him from making a true impact, as he claimed to Ian Brody. Only this time, the impact would be his body...upon the face of the EARTH. He even kept hearing the lyrics to Assemblage 23's '30KFT' in his head.]
'The pilot's just informed us that our plane is going down,
...so I'm calling for one last time, to say I love you.'
[Oddly enough, he could draw some striking...and frightening parallels between the 'now', and his situation within the PCW's confines...what was to come.]
[Never before had he faced what was coming. A match wherein the opponent had such a DISTINCT advantage over him. A situation so uncontrollable, a six-man tag team match. He had been in a multi-person match before...and back THEN, it was obvious HIS side was the odds-on favorite. At least in his mind. Right now though...he wasn't so sure.]
[Never had he been so pre-disposed to suffer a defeat at another's hands. At worst, his matches were level playing fields. At best...he had the OBVIOUS upperhand. But now...he had stepped into a warzone between armies, a war in which he had no real stake in, no apparent gain in participating in. So why do it?]
[Why make that freefall? When the results are so clear-cut that the stark truth was blinding: Kill, or be Killed. Why do it?]
[Simple.]
[To say he DID it. To be able to say 'I stared death in the face. I stared Death herself in the eye, and HER GAZE STAGGERED.' The same reason why he was staring down at the muddied-looking Earth below...sprinkled with the silver gleaming towers that looked little more than sparkles in a nighttime sky. To show Death that her bony grasp was intended for another. And if she attempted to grasp him prematurely...he would surely break her fingers.]
[The Earth was mocking him. Taunting him. Sneering with such acidity that it couldn't be missed. 'I have your number. One little mistake...that's all it takes, and I claim your feeble body. You won't be the first, but you'll sure be the next.']
[Jason Willard was mocking him. Taunting him. Sneering at him so cruelly. 'Like a good dog, we'll put you under. ...the only praying you’re going to be doing, is in the form of begging Nightmare 2 Society to take mercy on your punk ass.'. Anthony Douglas was mocking him. Poking and prodding at him. 'You, Prophet, on the other hand, walked into a buzz saw. And the parts left over won't be enough to make a midget!'.]
[Though his cause noble, though his reasoning be solid...there still was that twinge of fear. Without fear...a decent human being cannot be. Fear of a mistake, fear of biting off more than he can chew, fear that he has intervened on a situation that he cannot control...fear that must be dealt with, lest it consume the soul.]
Hey hot stuff...you ready?
[Perhaps there is a way to LESSEN the burden....with the help of another.]
[With this thought in mind, he takes a prolonged breath. His nerves steeled and his will indomitable, the time for fearing was through. The time for doubting was done. Exhaling slowly, his frame and the one behind him take that last step over the edge, and into the open sky.]
[Head-first in the Nightmare below...]
**FIN**