I Don't Want To Grow Up Part III
The screen was captivated by a vast portrait of a religious work of art. Known in times past as Rembrandt's 'Descent From the Cross'. It depicted the act of lowering Jesus, the Son of the Lord, from the Cross following the brutal act of his Crucifixion. Stationed up on a wall of a solid white background, the camera retracts back to see the painting was hanging over a religious altar set against the backdrop of a Church's pulpit.
His footsteps clicked in a resounding echo as if one were walking through the abandoned halls of a school or hospital. The heels of his dress shoes hard against the floor beneath his impressive weight of well over two hundred and eighty pounds.
The man's name was Synn. Known to this very day since he had went through the process of having it changed legally to never again be burdened with the Christian name he had become burdened with in a past long since buried. Dressed in a black dress jacket over a red emblazoned shirt, matching black slacks tailored to suit his six foot-eight inch frame, he had a tasteful appearance to match his handsome qualities. He took his place behind the altar and calmly paused, his eyes shielded from the camera and those that would be watching him. Moments passed until he cleared his throat and glanced up, his soul gazing into our very own.
"A Virgin Birth, is just one of the many stories that had led my beliefs away from the ever-controlling systems of the Christian church. Have you ever taken a step back, and listened, truly listened, to what they were attempting to tell us. The tales that they wanted us to believe? Have you ever done as they asked, and say back to read the Holy Bible, and understand it as they instruct you were meant to?"
Synn held up a large, ornately decorated copy of the Bible and sneered.
"Had you ever done so, you would have found so many discrepancies and contradictions, you never would believe a thing again that would come from the mouths of the Holy Order. Was Jesus equal to or lesser than his Father? The Bible gives answers that say both. Should children be punished for the sins of the Father? Again, answers are in the pages that give credence to both yes and no. Thou Shall Not Kill, but then there is Thou Shall Not Suffer A Witch to Live."
He held his arms out, dropped the Bible to the ground.
"If God is perfect, why then is He named a jealous God, as jealousy is perceived as an emotion of weakness and without faith."
He chuckled and shook his head in mock disbelief.
"You might ask why am I speaking of this and not yet of the match that my disciple Despayre will find himself in, in just a mere matter of two days? Because..."
He smiled.
"I find it tedious to repeat myself over time, and it is time you understood who it is you deal with. The man whom you refer to as enjoying each of the Seven Deadly Sins?"
He tapped a forefinger into his chest.
"That would be me. I...am Synn. I am the living embodiment of all seven of the Capitol Sins. Despayre? he is but one. As is Gabriel, and others you have yet to have the pleasure of meeting officially."
"I am the man behind the beliefs. I am the one whispering in your ear, telling you that it's okay to take another drink. Telling you that there is nothing wrong with adding a little excitement to an otherwise dull se life with your spouse."
He shrugged.
"Some call me the 'Dark priest', but I prefer to think of myself as the anti-conscience. You see, there has been some confusion as of late when the opponents of Despayre have been addressing him. He is not the one who has been talking to you directly. That would have been me. You see my friends, I'm afraid Despayre is not much of a public speaker, so as his manager and guide, it befalls to me the responsibility of being his mouth piece. I know him, and what he is capable of, better than any of the four of you."
Synn stepped down from the pulpit and to the floor of what is now seen as a large church and he stood between the two sides of pews.
"I believe it tiresome to continually address the same men, time after time. What else can be said that has not already been done so to better warn you for what is soon to be in store? 'I'm going to defeat you.' "You don't take me seriously and thus you will pay dearly.' It's been said many times over. What more can be stated to where it doesn't sound like a scratched record, repeating itself on a loop."
"Big Bad Casey. Dmitri. Sin. And yes, you, Kain. The man himself. The AWA World Television Champion."
He smiled and began to walk slowly down the aisle.
"Each of you have made one critical error in judgment when you look upon Despayre. What is that you might ask, and why would I give up an advantage in telling you?"
He paused and held out his hands.
"Because hey, I'm a nice guy, and it's not as if you're going to take heed to my word anyway. So I will have the ultimate satisfaction of having told you, and then watching your surprised reactions when you find my statements were indeed no bluff."
He shook a finger toward the camera before continuing up the aisle.
"You look at Despayre, and you have judged him prematurely. You saw one match, and perhaps a handful of appearances, and you think you know all there is to have discovered. Most of you see him as somewhat naive. You think him to be a man with the mind of a child. To a degree, you are right. Others, like the champion himself, don't trust e when I warn you about the animal that lurks within."
Synn shook his head with a sympathetic look on his face, one that would not be believed for those that knew this man.
"I acknowledge that as your call to make, but one that you will find no blame to fall on rather than your own when you have done that one random thing that would make him upset. Despayre is a creature of pure instinct. His mentality knows no bounds on which to draw the line, so go ahead. Take him for granted. believe him to be weak and uncaring about becoming a champion and doing himself proud."
"That will be the mistake that ends the night for the four of you, and begins an all new existence for his own."
Synn emerged from the open door of the church and stood atop the steps, looking down. A close-up of his face and he smiled and gave a nod to those watching.
"And now if you don't mind, we rejoin our previously scheduled broadcast already in progress."
"Angel....Angel, he's gone! HE'S GONE!!"
The fear was evident in Despayre's voice as his tone quaked at the thought of having lost something endearing. A friend having vanished. A child having wandered off, possibly never to be seen again. these were the random fears that every friend and parent would have at one time in their life, and one that was being experienced so suddenly by the unstable man who was fastly becoming despondent.
"Cam down..."
"No! He's gone!"
"I said calm down!"
"NO!"
Synn had tried to bring a soothing reassurance immediately to his charge but the situation was growing out of hand. It had caught even him out of the blue and unaware. One moment the two men were on speaking terms with one another over Synn rewarding Despayre for some work well done, and the next he had discovered Despayre's cherished possession had gone missing right out from under their noses.
Despayre turned around and grabbed at the toys in the basket and began to hurl them out in every direction in a vain, childish search attempt for the missing 'Angel'. Finding nothing inside, or at least not hat he had hoped, Despayre grew visibly angry and grasped the grating of the cart and flipped it over as effortlessly as a man might toss newspaper onto his kitchen table.
He looked left and right but saw nothing of familiarity and Synn knew that he had to act fast. Despayre's mind was indeed fragile, and a link that brought him a sense of stability was the one thing that had just gone missing. Angel was not just an object to the man. The teddy bear was a security measure. It was his friend.
The crash of the cart against the store's tile floor had been brought to the attention of the store manager who turned around the corner of the aisle and approached cautiously.
"Sirs, is there a problem?"
"Angel is missing!!" Despayre shouted in answer and made a move on the manager as if in accusation that the man had taken it but Synn quickly grasped his arm and reeled him in. Despayre begun to struggle but Synn wrapped his other arm around him from behind to better restrain him and he whispered desperately to Despayre.
"Calm yourself! We will find him but if he's in trouble, you'll need to calm down to help him!"
Only this seemed to start to affect Despayre's frantic emotional response as he turned and stared wide-eyed at the manager who was vexed at this occurrence.
"Someone's missing? A child?"
"No..."
"Yes!"
Synn sighed and glared at the manager. "My friend here has a...problem, if you understand what I'm saying?" He arched his brow and the manager slowly nodded, taking his meaning. "A possession of his has come up missing from our cart and he would like it back, very much!"
The manager reached into his breast pocket of his shirt and took out a small notepad and pen. He asked, "What was the object?"
"It was Angel!" Despayre hollered.
"A teddy bear." Synn emphasized for the manager's benefit. "Dressed in a small business suit and with shades on I believe?" He looked to Despayre for confirmation so he would feel he was helping and Despayre nodded in confirmation.
"O...kay." The manager said in a hushed whisper of disbelief at the odd situation, keeping his face down so neither man could see his 'weirded out' expression. Synn did not need to 'see' it however, as the man's body language was enough. He was mocking them without words. he scribbled down on his notepad something before he looked back up. "I've got a few employees free. I'll round them up and see if we can't find the little guy. Check the security cameras in the area..."
Synn tilted his head in acknowledgement and let the man tae his leave. He already wished he had let Despayre loose on the bastard but that was neither here nor there. Despayre again begun to struggle in his grasp and Synn spun him around and held him by the shoulders so that they faced each other.
"I am telling you again to calm yourself." He growled. "I know you're afraid for Angel. I am as well, but this will not help him!"
Despayre swallowed, his eyes wide with worry.
Synn continued, "We will go search for him now, leave no corner unturned. Perhaps ... perhaps he saw a toy he liked and wandered off to check it out?"
Despayre glanced away and paused in thought. He slowly nodded. "Maybe." he looked back again to Synn's eyes and Synn was relieved to see a faint trace of hope in the gray orbs.
"Good man." He said and wrapped a beefy arm around Despayre's shoulder and led him away, all but ignoring the mess of toys and an overturned cart they had left in the lane.
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"I told you I need a price check for this!"
The irritated father held up a certain teddy bear that had coincidentally gone missing from a certain cart when a certain daughter and her family had passed by two certain men in a certain RP you might have read earlier. He had hold of 'Angel' by the arm and waved it in front of the cashier's face that took a step back and tried to reason with the man.
"But sir." The young man said. "I'm trying to tell you that we don't sell that bear here. I'm not sure where it came from."
The father's face flushed scarlet and he looked down at his daughter who watched with anxious eyes. he asked her, "You found this in one of their aisles you said?"
The child nodded vigorously and the man turned back to the cashier and held his hand out in mock salute. 'There, you see? She found it in your store so you have to sell it in your store! So I am telling you t either sell it to me or get me your manager!"
The cashier sighed, "One moment sir." and he reached over to the intercom.
"I need a manager to register three please, a manager to register three."
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Despayre and Synn fund their way toward the front of the store where there were large displays of various stuffed animals, and after rifling through them, still they had found no Angel. Despayre began to suck in the oxygen, almost in a mild panic when Synn came up and placed his hands on his shoulders. Yet before he could say anything to stay off another possible hysterical fit, the loud words drowned them out...
"What the Hell are you accusing my daughter of!?"
I did not accuse your daughter of anything sir!" The manager stated forcefully, unwilling to back down to this consumer bully. "I am telling you that this item was reported missing from another customer! It belongs to them, not this store!"
The father, never minding the evidence or accusation, refused to entertain the notion that his daughter had relieved another child of their property like a common thief. He grabbed the bear from the counter and began waving it around in the air like a maddened lunatic...
Despayre turned his head around to the source of the commotion and his eyes widened considerably!
The father at the counter bellowed, "YOU ARE NOT GOING TO REFUSE MY DAUGHTER GODAMMIT! YOU ARE SELLING ME THIS BEAR! YOU..."
"ANGEL!!!"
The thundering outburst stopped all ranting on the father's part and all heads present turned....
The father’s eyes were wide as saucers at what was speeding right towards him and...
SPEAR!
