Is This Me? (Part One of Three)

-=(A fade in...So familliar...To a place so new...Well, somewhat. Enough blabber! Bah! Anyhow, we slowly fade in to see a dark, dark night. The early summer sky is just reaching twilight, the last hours of light, as we see in front of us an old, seemingly abandoned warehouse. It is pretty big, with its large sides covered in windows on the upper part, and doors on the bottom. Slabs of metal and 2x4's are nailed to the frames of the doors, barring them from access. Half of the windoes are smashed and shattered, while others are boarded up, blocking any light from entering the place. The roof is half there, with many of the shingles and coverings lying on the ground beside the place. The cool summer night carries with it an ominious feeling...Odd. We slowly move around the gravel lot that this warehouse rests on, circling it, seeing each side is about the same as the others, until we pause on the side that we began from. In front of us sits a pair of bay doors, like those on a barn. They lay open, but the darkness inside hides any activity happening within. All we can see is the faint flicker of a candle....We move forward, entering the depths of darkness, towards the light. After a few steps, we step into this circle of light, and onto an odd scene indeed. About eight men sit, surrounding this flame, on various old cartons and wooden crates, leaning somewhat forward. Most prominent is a man sitting in an old, beat up, ripped up armchair, at what appears to be the head of this group. He is a fairly tall man, with spiked black hair, and a cold stare, as he looks from man to man in his little circle. His arms are bulky, decorated in tattoos. The other members of the group share the same look of piercings and art, almost as if from the same day and age...All but one, that is...One man, seated next to the leader, is different. He has straight hair, falling flat in small whisps and strands over his forehead, the rare stray hair falling over his eyes, His hair is a brown color, contrasting with his bright, deep blue eyes. He is wearing a black basketball jersey, with a lime and white trim around the edges, which hangs loosely over a pair of baggy black cargos. His arms are somewhat muscular, with a tatoo on his upper right shoulder. He is wearing small black wristbands around his wrists, covered in small metallic spikes. neXt...The candle illuminating the scene rests on a small table in the middle of the circle, on which also a radio sits. "Whatever" by Godsmack is blaring from the speakers, but the leader leans forward and shuts off the power. The man folds his hands in his lap, and he starts to speak.)=-

-[Leader]- Welcome, once more, fellow Angels...Before we get started, I'd just like to point out that an old friend has joined us, maybe just for tonight, maybe forever...A man only I know, here he is...Ryan?

-=(neXt stands up, and looks around the circle)=-

-[neXt]- neXt, if you will...

-[Leader]- Ah yes...Wrestling, correct?

-[neXt]- Yeah...Just, habit..

-=(neXt sits down, and the leader turns to the rest of the group.)=-

-[Leader]-Well, Ry-, er, neXt, was with us when we first started out. Back then...Anyway. First off, many of you may have heard...

-=(The leader continues to talk, but his voice almost fades out as we close up on neXt, who is leaning forward, a look of deep thought on his face. He just stares...FLASH! A flash like lightning is seen, and our scene is now an entirely different one. We are looking at an alleyway. It is a cold, dark night, with the light of the moon illuminating the alley. The walls of the alley are brick, with the walls lined with dumpsters every ten or fifteen feet. The ground is littered with paper and other trash, like soda bottles, and old bags. A light rain falls from the heavens, making a soft "pit-pat" on the cold concrete ground. Three men come into view from the shadows, walking close together, huddled. One is a tall man, the leader we saw from earlier, now wearing a long, black trench coat, and a pair of sleek black sunglasses. Next to him is neXt, or Ryan, at this point, also wearing a trench coat, and black sunglasses. The last man is new. He has long, flowing blond hair, falling over his back. He is wearing an open black jacket, and has a pair of silver sunglasses strapped to the collar of his shirt. The two men walk over to the wall of the alley, and huddle together. Then, the leader looks at the two men, and speaks.)=-

-[Leader]- Alright. You guys know what we’re doing... Ryan, you light the symbol. Scott, you distract the cops. I’ll get the people...Let’s move.

-=(The leader heads off down the way they came, while Scott, the other man, opens a door along the alley wall, and heads inside. Ryan takes a deep breath, and runs down the alley, opposite the way the leader went. We follow him, until the alley lets out onto a busy street. People pass by on all sides, with a busy road running next to the sidewalk Ryan currently stands on. Ryan looks both ways down the sidewalk, and then runs down the sidewalk a few paces, until he reaches a door. He flings the door open, and runs inside. We see nothing but black, nothing illuminating this area. The sound of footsteps is heard, and the shot shakes a bit as we find the stairs. After about three or four minutes of what must be climbing, a light appears ahead of us, as a door is opened. We head up, and exit out onto what now looks like a roof. Ryan is heading off to the right, as we get a look at our surroundings. We appear to be about 20 or 30 stories high, an awesome site indeed. Different fans and radiators line the roof we stand on. Ryan can be seen on the other side of the roof, and as we approach him, we see he is positioning some odd symbol near the edge of the roof. The symbol is a variation on some sort of cross, and Ryan sets it down right near the edge. He then pulls out a lighter from his pocket, and bends down to pick up a small gasoline can. He pours the gasoline over the symbol, letting it drip into a small puddle at the base, and then peers over the edge of the roof. He nods, as if someone is giving him some sort of signal, then lights the lighter. He then throws the lighter into the puddle of gasoline at the base, and turns around as the symbol is ignited. He bolts for the door, and pounds down the stairs, us following him. The trip only taking about one minute this time, Ryan flings the door open at the base of the stairs, and leaps out onto the sidewalk. Still running, he steals a glance up at the flaming cross atop the building. A small smile crosses his face as he turns a corner into the alley once more, and belts down it, the way he came. We then look at the cross, and...fade out...We soon fade in again though, not back at the warehouse, but at another memory it seems. This time, we are in a field. A long, flowing meadow, with only grass as far as the eye can see. It is a bright, sunny day, with the flowers and grasses rocking back and forth in the mild winds. The sun shines down on this beautiful scene, void of humanity. Well, almost. Two people sit in this gorgeous scene, walking hand in hand, talking. One is the man we have seen through all of this, Ryan, or neXt. His hair is the same, though slightly shorter, falling over his bright blue eyes. He is wearing a loose gray V-Neck T-shirt, with a yellow stripe running down the arms, and a pair of cargo jean shorts. Standing next to him, holding his hand, is a girl of about his age, looking about 17. She has straight brown hair, falling down the back of her "Gap" baby tee. She is wearing a pair of denim jeans, and has a shiny necklace around her, well, neck. They are both smiling, walking through the field, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, just chatting away...)=-

-[Ryan]- And I figure, what the hell, might as well take it...

-[Girl]- Haha...Oh, Ryan, thanks for taking me out here...It’s so nice...

-[Ryan]- It’s no problem Amy...I love this place...There’s a church a mile from here, maybe fifteen minutes up the road from where I parked the car...Scott’s dad took me up here a few times, when we were kids, before...Well, we’d run around out here...There’s just so much empty space. Ha ha, I kicked his ass in paintball up here once...

-[Amy]- What about Scott though? What ever happened to him? I never see him at school...

-[Ryan]- Well...He...Fell in with a bad crowd, and...Well, you’ve heard of the Angels, right?

-[Amy]- Yeah. They’re a bunch of satanic freaks...God, remember last year, when they lit that oracle on fire?

-[Ryan]- Scariest moment of my life...

-[Amy]- What?

-[Ryan]- Nevermind...Anyway, Scott leads that group...They really aren’t that bad.
They push what they believe in, and we don’t do anything to harm anyone.

-[Amy]- We? Ryan, you’re an Angel?

-[Ryan]- No, I didn’t mean that, it’s just-

-[Amy]- RYAN! You could get KILLED messing with those guys!

-[Ryan]- Scott’s a good friend of mine, he wouldn’t-

-[Amy]- Oh my god...Ryan...Ryan...

-=(The girl then starts to cry, and hugs Ryan, her tears pouring onto him. He looks down at her worried, and pats her gently on the top of the head, looking very confused. We then fade out once more, and....Nothing. We sit staring at darkness, nothing moving, nothing at all...)=-

:::I think there’s one last thing you need to see, before you make that decision.:::

-[neXt (Faded)]- What?

:::One last little lesson...:::

-[neXt (Faded)]- What the hell?

:::Oh, don’t pretend you don’t know me...Even the subconcious has to have a voice, sometimes.:::

-[neXt (Faded)]- God, my thoughts are arguing with my own soul...What do you mean, one last scene?

:::All that you’ve seen, all that you’ve heard, it all impacts your decision.:::

-[neXt (Faded)]- Decision?

:::We have a lot to do, I see...:::

-=(A low sigh is heard, and our black gets somewhat blacker, as we make a final, fade out...)=-

[[Not making any sense? It shouldn’t!!! Catch parts 2 and 3, to see the whole story, tie together...]]