Post by Gib on Mar 21, 2009 9:14:32 GMT -6
(Scene opens to an alleyway in New York City, it is desolate but the hustle and bustle, the life-force of the city of New York. The camera focuses on a dumpster and we see Harold sitting on the top of it, his legs dangling over the edge, he is mumbling to himself and this is where we pick up his conversation, not knowing how long this has been happening)
No one understands…
(his hands reach up roughly and cradle his face, almost as if they are getting ready to rip the mask of)
No one truly gets it, beyond Adam.
(He lets his hands go, the mask staying on his hands falling to his side in a lifeless motion.)
Under this mask there is no revelation, no great surprise, nothing but a mere shell of something that once was, that once existed. Now, as I sit and ponder I realize that Harold isn’t new, Harold has been here forever. Every time I lost my temper, every time that I took it too far in the ring, every time that I hurt, maimed, and destroyed. See, Harold isn’t a person; it is what I am, deep down, deeper then the antics of the past. Harold is what we try to cover up because we know that is isn’t accepted; Harold is what we try to suppress. Harold is the carnal desire and hatred that lies dormant in most. At first I wasn’t able to fully harness Harold, but now that I have ripped myself of the notion that I must make people happy to truly be happy, I am able to become myself in its most effective form.
(He finally raises his head to the camera, his eyes are devoid of anything, once a long time ago we might have seen hope, or even anger but now there is literally nothing there, it is as if he is a complete shell of a human, one who has truly lost himself and has no idea of the nature of this planet or his place on it)
I guess what really helped me make this final transformation is realizing that true happiness will never exist. Regardless of how good things are whatever greater power we have will eventually tear our happiness asunder like a bear to a trout. See, some people can harness the power of their ultimate inhibition without transforming their selves. One of those men was your father James; your dad the Punisher could come to the ring and do things to people that would make Jason Voorhees look tame. Then afterwards he would go home, have a sandwich make love to his wife and play football with you outside. He was able to separate the feelings he had in the ring with those he held outside.
(His eyes lower to look at the ground, his shoulders slump as if the weight of the world rests upon them)
My own failed life is an indication that I was never able to take these two things and separate them, I am all in and finally, I am able to ignore the crowd, instead of drawing energy from them, I draw from them their negativity. I harness the hatred that they have for their families, their mortgages, and their lives in general and then I turn it on my opponent, the more I hurt the more hatred they feel and the more powerful I become. James, I know you want nothing more in the world then to beat me. It is like a badge of honor to you, but most people realize that if at first you don’t succeed that you should quit, and in this situation the only alternative to quitting is being maimed.
(His leg starts to bounce up and down, like his nerves are getting the best of him. It isn’t a conscious movement, but one that is automatic and involuntary. Some sort of method used to calm himself down)
It wasn’t long ago that I put you through a couple tables, and it seems that you aren’t a very good student. I hesitated that day, I didn’t fully complete the task of crippling you and Adam wasn’t happy. He told me that the next time we face off that I will finish you for good. The second time, when I split your skin so deep your skull was showing, when you had to be defibrillated to survive I thought for sure that you would have stopped after that. You didn’t and then I crushed your skull with a chair last week.
(He looks to the camera again and still there is no emotion, no sign of life or excitement, is seems that hurting people has become a robotic automatic behavior)
It has been a long road for us, but eventually the roads must end. I know the storybook ending has you coming out as the victor in the end, it has you gaining retribution for what I did to you, but this isn’t a fictional world of little men walking up a yellow brick road. This is the real world, and in the real world the good guy rarely wins. I am afraid that there is only one way to end this battle, only one way to finish this…
(he slams his fist into his hand)
No, I am not going to kill you, but I am afraid you must be broken. When Adam finds the time to speak to me he often talks about your spirit, and it seems the only way to finally end you will be to break your spirit. I have sent a ticket to Marie, your mother. I have sent to her a front row ticket to this weekends show and I have asked that she be present for this match, I wrote a little personalized note detailing to her what is going to happen to you, and that these moments, your final moments will serve as the calling hours to your career.
(he hops of the dumpster, landing softy on the ground in front of him, once again you are amazed by his size and muscle definition. He truly is a massive monster of a man.)
See, now, you must make a choice. You must decide whether losing your humanity and love of life is worth defeating me. You know what it will take, and I am not sure that you have it in you to behave like that in front of your mother. You saw what Bates had to do to defeat me, and maybe I didn’t push so hard the second time I fought him, because maybe I kind of like the guy now. Can you go where he went? Can you do the things to me that he did, and do them in front of your mother? To defeat me you must become a monster, you must harness the rage that you have bridled your entire life and turn it against me, you must attempt to break me, and I don’t think you can Jimmy. You have tried several times before and have failed.
(he points to the camera)
I don’t know why you and Adam hate each other so much, and if I was on your side maybe, just maybe things would be different for you, but a world with me next to you doesn’t exist and as far as my mind remembers, never existed. Adam has decided that you have been a thorn in our side long enough and that I must finally finish you. I will admit you have been more resilient than the others I have removed from this place but you are just representative of nothing more then a job to me, just another day of work. I know you want to make this match about more, about something special, about you fighting for the redemption of a fallen comrade but the words you speak fall on deaf ears. If you somehow manage to remove my mask, there will be no surprise, there will be no festive gaiety, and there will be no celebrations. The only thing that will occur is a collective groan of disgust, for what lies under this mask is nothing, nothing but a shell, a body with nothing left.
(Scene fades)
No one understands…
(his hands reach up roughly and cradle his face, almost as if they are getting ready to rip the mask of)
No one truly gets it, beyond Adam.
(He lets his hands go, the mask staying on his hands falling to his side in a lifeless motion.)
Under this mask there is no revelation, no great surprise, nothing but a mere shell of something that once was, that once existed. Now, as I sit and ponder I realize that Harold isn’t new, Harold has been here forever. Every time I lost my temper, every time that I took it too far in the ring, every time that I hurt, maimed, and destroyed. See, Harold isn’t a person; it is what I am, deep down, deeper then the antics of the past. Harold is what we try to cover up because we know that is isn’t accepted; Harold is what we try to suppress. Harold is the carnal desire and hatred that lies dormant in most. At first I wasn’t able to fully harness Harold, but now that I have ripped myself of the notion that I must make people happy to truly be happy, I am able to become myself in its most effective form.
(He finally raises his head to the camera, his eyes are devoid of anything, once a long time ago we might have seen hope, or even anger but now there is literally nothing there, it is as if he is a complete shell of a human, one who has truly lost himself and has no idea of the nature of this planet or his place on it)
I guess what really helped me make this final transformation is realizing that true happiness will never exist. Regardless of how good things are whatever greater power we have will eventually tear our happiness asunder like a bear to a trout. See, some people can harness the power of their ultimate inhibition without transforming their selves. One of those men was your father James; your dad the Punisher could come to the ring and do things to people that would make Jason Voorhees look tame. Then afterwards he would go home, have a sandwich make love to his wife and play football with you outside. He was able to separate the feelings he had in the ring with those he held outside.
(His eyes lower to look at the ground, his shoulders slump as if the weight of the world rests upon them)
My own failed life is an indication that I was never able to take these two things and separate them, I am all in and finally, I am able to ignore the crowd, instead of drawing energy from them, I draw from them their negativity. I harness the hatred that they have for their families, their mortgages, and their lives in general and then I turn it on my opponent, the more I hurt the more hatred they feel and the more powerful I become. James, I know you want nothing more in the world then to beat me. It is like a badge of honor to you, but most people realize that if at first you don’t succeed that you should quit, and in this situation the only alternative to quitting is being maimed.
(His leg starts to bounce up and down, like his nerves are getting the best of him. It isn’t a conscious movement, but one that is automatic and involuntary. Some sort of method used to calm himself down)
It wasn’t long ago that I put you through a couple tables, and it seems that you aren’t a very good student. I hesitated that day, I didn’t fully complete the task of crippling you and Adam wasn’t happy. He told me that the next time we face off that I will finish you for good. The second time, when I split your skin so deep your skull was showing, when you had to be defibrillated to survive I thought for sure that you would have stopped after that. You didn’t and then I crushed your skull with a chair last week.
(He looks to the camera again and still there is no emotion, no sign of life or excitement, is seems that hurting people has become a robotic automatic behavior)
It has been a long road for us, but eventually the roads must end. I know the storybook ending has you coming out as the victor in the end, it has you gaining retribution for what I did to you, but this isn’t a fictional world of little men walking up a yellow brick road. This is the real world, and in the real world the good guy rarely wins. I am afraid that there is only one way to end this battle, only one way to finish this…
(he slams his fist into his hand)
No, I am not going to kill you, but I am afraid you must be broken. When Adam finds the time to speak to me he often talks about your spirit, and it seems the only way to finally end you will be to break your spirit. I have sent a ticket to Marie, your mother. I have sent to her a front row ticket to this weekends show and I have asked that she be present for this match, I wrote a little personalized note detailing to her what is going to happen to you, and that these moments, your final moments will serve as the calling hours to your career.
(he hops of the dumpster, landing softy on the ground in front of him, once again you are amazed by his size and muscle definition. He truly is a massive monster of a man.)
See, now, you must make a choice. You must decide whether losing your humanity and love of life is worth defeating me. You know what it will take, and I am not sure that you have it in you to behave like that in front of your mother. You saw what Bates had to do to defeat me, and maybe I didn’t push so hard the second time I fought him, because maybe I kind of like the guy now. Can you go where he went? Can you do the things to me that he did, and do them in front of your mother? To defeat me you must become a monster, you must harness the rage that you have bridled your entire life and turn it against me, you must attempt to break me, and I don’t think you can Jimmy. You have tried several times before and have failed.
(he points to the camera)
I don’t know why you and Adam hate each other so much, and if I was on your side maybe, just maybe things would be different for you, but a world with me next to you doesn’t exist and as far as my mind remembers, never existed. Adam has decided that you have been a thorn in our side long enough and that I must finally finish you. I will admit you have been more resilient than the others I have removed from this place but you are just representative of nothing more then a job to me, just another day of work. I know you want to make this match about more, about something special, about you fighting for the redemption of a fallen comrade but the words you speak fall on deaf ears. If you somehow manage to remove my mask, there will be no surprise, there will be no festive gaiety, and there will be no celebrations. The only thing that will occur is a collective groan of disgust, for what lies under this mask is nothing, nothing but a shell, a body with nothing left.
(Scene fades)