Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2013 17:42:16 GMT -6
It begins with a hit, and doesn’t it always? A man hit’s another man’s face. Another man’s face hits another block of pavement. Another man is out cold. Another man wakes. Another man is now another man and all he can see is smoke and shadows.
All he sees are busy streets filled with lonely people like him; filled with the losers like him. The one’s who got nothing to their name but two legs and maybe one nice coat. Danny’s wearing that nice coat now. It’s a nice trench coat his grandpa gave him. Not that he remembers his grandpa anymore. Not that he remembers much anymore. Let’s go catch up with, shall we? He’s always good for a laugh, for a throwdown, maybe even for a night’s distraction. Who knows where the night will take him.
A Hospital.
“It’s quiet.”
“Yeah, it’s a slow night tonight. Not too many boozers shoving light bulbs up their ass I guess.” The nurse is a put together woman. The kind of woman formed by too much bullshit. Shovel enough and after a while it gets old. And she was very old.
“Didn’t actually expect you to wake up so quickly. When you I spoke I thought it was a ghost or somethin’. Do you know who did this to you?” She asks.
But Danny didn’t hear her. Danny was listening. Intently. His head used to be full of constant chatter. Maybe from God. Probably not. .
He raises his hand in front of his face. He turns it. Front. Back. Front again.
“What color is my hand?” He asks.
“Looks pretty white to me.”
“Yeah...And that curtain, what color’s that curtain?”
“Kinda brownish, I guess, are you seein’ alright.?”
Daniel stares around the room and smiles. It’d been forever since he last smiled.
“Better than ever.”
A Doctor enters. He gives lopsided smile to the nurse. They exchange pleasantries. The Doctor gives a wave.
Time stops and Danny sees everything in that wave. He sees, the awkwardness, the betrayal, the pain. It danced in the doctor’s arm.
This was a case.
“Is he your husband?”
The nurse levels him with a glare. “Supposed to be. Don’t know where he goes anymore. Shows me I can't just fall for a smile and a pretty face....I just...” Her voice gets low. “I can’t do this again. I just wish I knew...I think...I could move on if I just knew...”
A little tear formed on her cheek. She dabbed it. She didn’t think he saw. In a second he saw the nurse all at once. She was a woman who had always dealt with things herself, but this was something she would need help with. Daniel feels drawn to her. He feels the need to help. He wants things to be clean.
Danny nods. “I can help. It’s what I do.”
Now look at him, Mr. Danny Prophet. No longer a little loser from Boston, but a man stalking a cheat and looking good doing it.
No more shit t-shirts and jeans. Now Mr. Prophet wears a nice button down white shirt, some suspenders and a fedora he picked up at a thrift shop. He lights a cigarette. People stare at him funny on the street but he doesn’t know why. People dress so peculiarly these days. No sense of style at all.
After he was released from the hospital and after he was finished with his little shopping spree, Daniel waits outside for the Doctor to come out. He follows him,down dark streets and empty sidewalks, always at a safe distance. Daniel never hears the sound of his feet against the pavement. Ghosts don’t make noise.
The Doctor checks into Service Inn, the kind of generically named place that charged by the hour and listed “no judgment” as one of its perks. The Doctor takes a room on the first floor. He goes in, and waits. Daniel slumps in the shadows, and waits.
About 20 minutes later a man knocks on the door. A man? More like a boy, no older than 16. The Doctor answers, surveys the merchandise and lets the boy in. He tries to close the door, but there’ something blocking it...a foot. The Doctor looks up.
From the darkness: “Hey bud.”
And the flash of a camera.
“WHAT THE FUCK DUDE. GIMME THAT!”
The Doctor makes a grab for the camera. He misses. He tries to punch the man’s face.
A big mistake.
Now there’s a man in a trenchcoat hitting a Doctor. The Doctor hits the pavement. The Doctor is not out cold. Not yet.
The Doctor is yanked up. The boy is inside the hotel room, shaking.
“Go back to your mother.” The man in the coat says. The boy obliges.
The Doctor tries to kick free, but Daniel gives him a good punch in the gut.
“I know who you are. “ The Dcotor says, recovering his breath. “You’re that punk who gets his ass kicked every week on TV. You’re nothing. I’ll get the police. Your ass is mine, whatever the hell your name is. You’ll go to jail.”
Daniel shakes his head. Drops the Doctor and holds up the camera. Nothing gets his spirits up like good old blackmail.
“And then maybe we’ll share a cell. Won’t that be fun?”
And now the reality of the situation is sinking in for the Doctor. There’s a beautiful expression that plays over a man’s face when he’s beaten. Daniel hopes to be seeing that expression again soon.
“Just...just don’t tell her, okay? It was a one time thing just...just have some mercy, please...”
Shhhhhhhhhhh. Daniel’s whisper cuts through the air. It’s quiet. It’s slow. But the Doctor hears every word.
“It’s my world now. Doctor, I used to see things like red, yellow and gray. But now, it’s all just black and white. Light and Dark. Clean and dirty. Now. You need to be cleaned. You need to be remade. I will set the terms. I remake you in my own image, are we clear?”
The Doctor nods, slowly, sweat pouring down his face.
“You’re gonna go back to that nurse. You’re gonna apologize. You’re gonna confess that you fucked a whore in a hotel room. She'll break up with you. And you won’t ever bother her again. Okay?”
He nods.
“Now. “
Daniel grabs the Doctor again by the throat.
“Let’s do some cleaning.”
A piercing scream as we fade to black.
(Daniel, in a dark street alley, the same one where he was beat up. He wears the trench coat and fedora. There are few spots of red on his white shirt. He lights up a cigarette. Low lighting. The color fades into black and white. We are in Prophet’s world now.)
Hello.
I have been remade. No more awkward castoff crying to himself under a tree. The pity party is over. Now the work begins. Now it’s put my nose to the grindstone and fight. Fight for order, fight for a world in my image, under my power.
It’s time to fight the people like Jafreese Frazier, the kind of people who make this world reek, the kind of people who make my city rot, the kind of people I will destroy.
Mr. Frazier, you are broken. You need to be fixed. I can remake you. I can crack your case.
You see you’re sick. You’re covered in grime and filth. You need to be cleansed. You need someone to take you down. You need someone to show you the pain you inflict on others.
(Daniel takes a long drag on his cigarette. He closes his eyes, savoring the smoke)
You may think you’re a monster, Mr. Frazier, but that’s just because you haven’t turned off the lights yet. I’m the shadow in the corner, the thing just out of the corner of your eye, waiting to pounce, waiting to fight, waiting to take you out. And when I do. When I stand over your lifeless body and the lights go out, I know I’ve done my duty. I know I’ve helped rid the world of another piece of scum, of another little boy who thought he could hurt for pleasure and get away with it.
I am your justice.
I am your reckoning.
(He flicks out his cigarette on the ground.)
Next time, Jafreese, when you’re walking home and you hear footsteps behind you, when the hairs on your neck stand, when your heart starts beating faster, just think of me. Think of the lights going out slowly, one by one.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Until there’s nothing but black.
That’s my world.
Welcome to it.
All he sees are busy streets filled with lonely people like him; filled with the losers like him. The one’s who got nothing to their name but two legs and maybe one nice coat. Danny’s wearing that nice coat now. It’s a nice trench coat his grandpa gave him. Not that he remembers his grandpa anymore. Not that he remembers much anymore. Let’s go catch up with, shall we? He’s always good for a laugh, for a throwdown, maybe even for a night’s distraction. Who knows where the night will take him.
*********
A Hospital.
“It’s quiet.”
“Yeah, it’s a slow night tonight. Not too many boozers shoving light bulbs up their ass I guess.” The nurse is a put together woman. The kind of woman formed by too much bullshit. Shovel enough and after a while it gets old. And she was very old.
“Didn’t actually expect you to wake up so quickly. When you I spoke I thought it was a ghost or somethin’. Do you know who did this to you?” She asks.
But Danny didn’t hear her. Danny was listening. Intently. His head used to be full of constant chatter. Maybe from God. Probably not. .
He raises his hand in front of his face. He turns it. Front. Back. Front again.
“What color is my hand?” He asks.
“Looks pretty white to me.”
“Yeah...And that curtain, what color’s that curtain?”
“Kinda brownish, I guess, are you seein’ alright.?”
Daniel stares around the room and smiles. It’d been forever since he last smiled.
“Better than ever.”
A Doctor enters. He gives lopsided smile to the nurse. They exchange pleasantries. The Doctor gives a wave.
Time stops and Danny sees everything in that wave. He sees, the awkwardness, the betrayal, the pain. It danced in the doctor’s arm.
This was a case.
“Is he your husband?”
The nurse levels him with a glare. “Supposed to be. Don’t know where he goes anymore. Shows me I can't just fall for a smile and a pretty face....I just...” Her voice gets low. “I can’t do this again. I just wish I knew...I think...I could move on if I just knew...”
A little tear formed on her cheek. She dabbed it. She didn’t think he saw. In a second he saw the nurse all at once. She was a woman who had always dealt with things herself, but this was something she would need help with. Daniel feels drawn to her. He feels the need to help. He wants things to be clean.
Danny nods. “I can help. It’s what I do.”
*********
Now look at him, Mr. Danny Prophet. No longer a little loser from Boston, but a man stalking a cheat and looking good doing it.
No more shit t-shirts and jeans. Now Mr. Prophet wears a nice button down white shirt, some suspenders and a fedora he picked up at a thrift shop. He lights a cigarette. People stare at him funny on the street but he doesn’t know why. People dress so peculiarly these days. No sense of style at all.
After he was released from the hospital and after he was finished with his little shopping spree, Daniel waits outside for the Doctor to come out. He follows him,down dark streets and empty sidewalks, always at a safe distance. Daniel never hears the sound of his feet against the pavement. Ghosts don’t make noise.
The Doctor checks into Service Inn, the kind of generically named place that charged by the hour and listed “no judgment” as one of its perks. The Doctor takes a room on the first floor. He goes in, and waits. Daniel slumps in the shadows, and waits.
About 20 minutes later a man knocks on the door. A man? More like a boy, no older than 16. The Doctor answers, surveys the merchandise and lets the boy in. He tries to close the door, but there’ something blocking it...a foot. The Doctor looks up.
From the darkness: “Hey bud.”
And the flash of a camera.
“WHAT THE FUCK DUDE. GIMME THAT!”
The Doctor makes a grab for the camera. He misses. He tries to punch the man’s face.
A big mistake.
Now there’s a man in a trenchcoat hitting a Doctor. The Doctor hits the pavement. The Doctor is not out cold. Not yet.
The Doctor is yanked up. The boy is inside the hotel room, shaking.
“Go back to your mother.” The man in the coat says. The boy obliges.
The Doctor tries to kick free, but Daniel gives him a good punch in the gut.
“I know who you are. “ The Dcotor says, recovering his breath. “You’re that punk who gets his ass kicked every week on TV. You’re nothing. I’ll get the police. Your ass is mine, whatever the hell your name is. You’ll go to jail.”
Daniel shakes his head. Drops the Doctor and holds up the camera. Nothing gets his spirits up like good old blackmail.
“And then maybe we’ll share a cell. Won’t that be fun?”
And now the reality of the situation is sinking in for the Doctor. There’s a beautiful expression that plays over a man’s face when he’s beaten. Daniel hopes to be seeing that expression again soon.
“Just...just don’t tell her, okay? It was a one time thing just...just have some mercy, please...”
Shhhhhhhhhhh. Daniel’s whisper cuts through the air. It’s quiet. It’s slow. But the Doctor hears every word.
“It’s my world now. Doctor, I used to see things like red, yellow and gray. But now, it’s all just black and white. Light and Dark. Clean and dirty. Now. You need to be cleaned. You need to be remade. I will set the terms. I remake you in my own image, are we clear?”
The Doctor nods, slowly, sweat pouring down his face.
“You’re gonna go back to that nurse. You’re gonna apologize. You’re gonna confess that you fucked a whore in a hotel room. She'll break up with you. And you won’t ever bother her again. Okay?”
He nods.
“Now. “
Daniel grabs the Doctor again by the throat.
“Let’s do some cleaning.”
A piercing scream as we fade to black.
**********
(Daniel, in a dark street alley, the same one where he was beat up. He wears the trench coat and fedora. There are few spots of red on his white shirt. He lights up a cigarette. Low lighting. The color fades into black and white. We are in Prophet’s world now.)
Hello.
I have been remade. No more awkward castoff crying to himself under a tree. The pity party is over. Now the work begins. Now it’s put my nose to the grindstone and fight. Fight for order, fight for a world in my image, under my power.
It’s time to fight the people like Jafreese Frazier, the kind of people who make this world reek, the kind of people who make my city rot, the kind of people I will destroy.
Mr. Frazier, you are broken. You need to be fixed. I can remake you. I can crack your case.
You see you’re sick. You’re covered in grime and filth. You need to be cleansed. You need someone to take you down. You need someone to show you the pain you inflict on others.
(Daniel takes a long drag on his cigarette. He closes his eyes, savoring the smoke)
You may think you’re a monster, Mr. Frazier, but that’s just because you haven’t turned off the lights yet. I’m the shadow in the corner, the thing just out of the corner of your eye, waiting to pounce, waiting to fight, waiting to take you out. And when I do. When I stand over your lifeless body and the lights go out, I know I’ve done my duty. I know I’ve helped rid the world of another piece of scum, of another little boy who thought he could hurt for pleasure and get away with it.
I am your justice.
I am your reckoning.
(He flicks out his cigarette on the ground.)
Next time, Jafreese, when you’re walking home and you hear footsteps behind you, when the hairs on your neck stand, when your heart starts beating faster, just think of me. Think of the lights going out slowly, one by one.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Until there’s nothing but black.
That’s my world.
Welcome to it.