You may say I'm a dreamer...Thunder Rp Part 1 of 2

[Caden Dean]

“Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...”

Grits, eggs, bacon, and possibly toast. The scent was so refreshing and real, Caden could almost taste them. He felt the dull feeling of growing starvation pinch at his empty stomach. ‘Roll onto your stomach, it eases the pain’, he thought as the smell became more real. Music? It was distant, however it was very real as well. The pain kept growing. It was fierce by the time he realized that one does not feel real pain in dreams. He awoke. White walls, paintings of flower gardens, the scent of potpourri mixed with a musky perfume. Was he in heaven? The bright early morning sun, it illuminates the room like God shining down on it, himself. A soft dry breeze lifted the white lace curtains. Why this must have been heaven! But the intense pain, where did it come from?

‘Surely God would not allow such hunger in heaven?’ He rolled to face the door. CLINK CLANK. What the hell? The sound of porcelain hitting metal lifted from the hallway. He eased from the bed. Catching a glance of himself in a bedside mirror, his clothing, how peculiar? Red silk pajamas? Caden only owned baggy pajama pants and t-shirts. Not to mention, he really had no idea if he was truly awake yet. Caden felt for the walls to brace himself. His legs felt numb, jelly-like, almost as if he had not used them in weeks. Even the hallway was white. ‘Why so plain?’, he thought. Down the stairs, one step at a time, was this the stairway to heaven? If so, the Berber carpet was a nice touch. Bravo, God.

“ Imagine there's no countries,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...”

As he reached the bottom floor, the white carpet turned into brilliant maple colored hardwood floors. He stepped cautiously maintaining absolute balance. The quite crackle and pop of a record player’s white noise jolted him as he neared the smell of breakfast. He turned slowly to eye an antique 45 player. He smiled, for he had not seen one in such perfect condition, ever. Reaching the kitchen, his knees weakened. He had made it to heaven. Sadly, no curvy blond beauty stood before him, however, who is to say that at the prime of her life, perhaps she had been. She was elegant despite her age. Sixty-four, sixty-seven? Yes, that had to be it. She stood only four inches shorter than he, rather hippy for a Grandmother, her hair quite long for an elderly woman as well. She wore a long blond braid down her back. Her gown was a delicate floral print. Soft and cottony it fell below her knee. So modest the elderly were. She hummed along with John Lennon, her back to Caden as he creeped inside the kitchen. But then…

Elderly Woman: You’re awake? I was beginning to fear that the fever would have you out for much longer. You looked starved; therefore I woke early to cook. It has been too long since I have cooked for more than one.

Caden slowly pulled a chair from the kitchen table and collapsed in it. His legs ached from forced walking. His eyes were still heavy from his exhaustion. He still had no idea where he was, nor had he the slightest clue as to who she was. She turned with plates of food. Smiling, she placed his first before him, then a second adjacent to him. Her eyes were a delicate green. Not lush like grass, however olive with a tint, no a hint of brown. She placed a weary hand upon his shoulder then returned to the stove.

Elderly Woman: How do you like your tea, hot or cold?

Her thick southern drawl reminded him of his own grandmother. However, that was many years ago, this was a complete stranger, but who was she? Why was he here?

Caden (his voice cracked with sleepiness): C-cold.

Elderly Woman: Ah, you are from the south. I hadn’t any idea. I take it you eat grits?

Caden: With butter.

Elderly Woman: As I guessed. You have no accent, though. You aren’t much of a talker I assume.

Caden spooned a bit of grits into his mouth. She returned with two glasses of iced tea. Once again placing Caden’s down first. He watched curiously. ‘Could this be poisoned?, he thought.

Elderly Woman: In my day, the men folk always eat first. Traditionally after grace, but I’ll let a starving youngster get by without the lord’s blessing.

Caden dropped his spoon. CLANK!

Caden: I apologize to both you and him. I am not used to blessing anything.

She nodded and bowed her head. Caden followed.

Elderly Woman: Oh heavenly father, we give thanks this morning for all you have given us. For the food you have so humbly blessed us with, for the gift of life, and for the company you so graciously blessed me with. I ask that you watch over my guest and I as we continue our day in your name we pray, lord, amen.

Caden raised his head. His eyes fell inline with the woman’s.

Elderly Woman: What is your name?

Caden swallowed the food in his mouth.

Caden: Caden. Caden Dean.

Elderly Woman: Mine is Evelyn. Evelyn Ross.

Caden: Where am I?

The woman wiped at her mouth and sipped her tea in a very womanly feminine fashion.

Evelyn: Canton, Texas. Rider Street to be exact.

Caden’s heart stopped. Canton? Why that was hours from Dallas!

Caden: How did I get here?

“Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...”

Evelyn: I brought you here, to my home. But, I assumed you ran away from home. Did you? Are you a runaway?

Caden: Why did you bring me here? How did you find me?

Evelyn: You stumbled into the street. Luckily I was able to stop before I hit you. You collapsed shortly after I stopped. The police and ambulance came. I was the only witness to your fall. You were quite feverish.

Caden: And you brought me here? Instead of a hospital?

Evelyn: No, after they diagnosed you, they released you. You were still passed out. I took you with me. Runaways usually don’t have homes.

Caden: I didn’t run away. I haven’t ran away since I was seventeen.

Evelyn: How old are you now?

Caden: Twenty-two. What was my diagnosis?

Evelyn took another sip from her tea. She motioned for Caden to eat. He did.

Evelyn: Malnutrition and exhaustion. The lack of nutrients and rest caused you to faint. We believed you to be a diabetic.

Caden: And you took me in? A perfect stranger.

Evelyn finished her breakfast and pushed the plate towards the center of the table.

Evelyn: I did.

Caden: I could have been a murderer.

Evelyn: Your face is too kind to be a murderer’s face.

Caden: I am sure Hitler and Manson’s grandmothers felt the same.

Evelyn: True, but I am not your grandmother.

Caden: True. But, to take in a stranger. That is very dangerous.

Evelyn: Sometimes we must all take risks.

Caden: I have taken enough risks to last me for the rest of my life.

Evelyn: Many of the younger generations do. The problem is, is that the risks you all take are not beneficial to the world. In my day, peace was an action, not just a state of mind. Homes and vehicles could remain unlocked, women could walk safely home. Children did not go unfed or unattended.

Caden: In my day, people with that frame of mind are asking for misfortune.

(ooc: continued)

[Caden Dean]

Evelyn stood from the table and lifted her plate. She slowly walked towards the sink and placed the dishes in it. Caden lowered his spoon. The kitchen too was plain. Yet, it did not lack the motherly touches of hospitality and love.

Evelyn: And that is what is wrong with the world. You young people have no idea what the world has in store for you now. Not after all the years of change and all the loss of morals.

Caden: I have seen more misfortune in my life alone than perhaps you have ever.

Evelyn: I know.

Caden looked startled. He had never met this woman. How could she possibly know anything about his misfortune?

Evelyn: Your face is delicate and feminine. You look like your mother no doubt. You are very pretty for a boy.

Caden: So they say.

Evelyn: Your eyes, however, they are rough and cold. Lifeless even. When I look into them, I see no depth of a youthful soul. I only see the aching and longing of an elderly man. You have your father’s eyes.

Caden: I have the milkman’s eyes.

Evelyn: You are sarcastic and clever. I take it you dislike home life.

Caden: I dislike life in general.

Evelyn: You won’t when you are near your deathbed.

Caden: Perhaps not. But I have been there.

Evelyn turned to face him as Caden moved the sleeves from the pajamas back to show two identical jagged scars horizontally placed across his wrists.

Evelyn: You failed no doubt.

Caden: I usually fail in the long run.

Evelyn: Life is not fair. A fair is a place where cows and pigs win ribbons. But you can choose to either accept life as unfair and wicked, or you can look past the faults of life, and look toward your heart for help.

Caden: Life is an evil game of chess, and we are all just pawns in it.

Evelyn: Maybe so. But with the right person as your king or queen, you will easily move to bishop or knight.

With that, Evelyn retrieved Caden’s half eaten plate and returned it to the sink. She took her seat shortly and admired him.

Caden: Why the music? Why John Lennon?

Evelyn: Inspiration comes to us all in all shapes and forms. Wise words may go a long way to the human soul to help penetrate the heart enough to inspire us all to be motivated towards a happier life. We are all dreamers, no doubt. Sometimes dreams are all we have to keep us young, or even they are all we have to keep us alive.

Caden: Dreams never come true fully. That would make the world too perfect.

Evelyn: It would make life very dull. We would grow bored with the constant perfection and seek for some flaw of man to humor us.

Caden: I am the flaw of man.

Evelyn: No one is a flaw of man. We were created in God’s likeness, not man’s. We are born into this life flawless, innocent. It is the work of man, the loss of morals, and the work of Lucifer himself, which corrupts us.

Caden: The devil?

He scoffs.

Evelyn: I do not wish to force you to believe, merely to have faith in life and yourself. I know not of your absolute troubles, however, I know you could not be any flaw of man to be so humble and so sincere. To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.

With her final words of comfort, Evelyn pardoned herself from the table leaving Caden alone at the table. His eyes fell across the plain old fashioned country kitchen decorations. The music! It still played. Was it on repeat?

“You may say I’m a dreamer,
but I’m not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.”

His mind fell into a blank as Evelyn Ross, the kind older woman who had so graciously taken a strange young boy into her home, had left him a young man with her inspirational words. He gathered his thoughts.

Caden: Defeat is not defeat unless accepted as a reality-in your own mind. Bruce Lee once said that. Someone so successful in both entertaining and martial arts held the power of wisdom and sought to pass it on. She is kind, is she not? To take me, a pathetic, reckless youth wander around her clean, wholesome home and bring my misfortune onto her quaint life. Yet, we both see that her happiness is not from the life she lived, but for the life she lives now. Perhaps, that is the meaning of life, to not live in the past but to enjoy the life you are in currently. As if, God is allowing us to start anew.

I am humbled before Justa Mazing. He has more notches of success on his belt than I could ever imagine obtaining. It’s a shame that someone so successful should have to debut against someone like myself. I am not a champion in anything more than self loathing. However, despite my personal hatred for myself, he sees some talent shining through the darkness that is Caden Dean. It is true, only one of us can win the match. It is not help me help you; it is not help me help me. That would be too fair. Despite his accomplishments and my “whatever”, our job is not to enjoy one another’s company, but to seek dominance. Like life, this business is a hierarchy. Someone once said, the toughest part of getting to the top of the ladder, is getting through the crowd at the bottom. That is where Justa Mazing and myself stand. At the bottom.

He has climbed a ladder before, and I have walked under many to purposely obtain bad luck. He had stood a champion among men, and I have stood a blemish on society. Our differences outweigh our likenesses in that two men from the same world are never equal. However, he is right. We are alike. Although I am honored to learn that he sees himself in me. I, sadly, cannot return the same feelings. I see no misery in Mazing. I see no pity and I certainly do not see any fear. What divides us, only makes us who we truly are. Separate but equal? Only in God’s eyes. At least to him, Mazing and I are from the same model. It is our life choices that have separated us into two piles. Yet, in the eyes of man, Mazing and I will never be equal, and with that we will never be on the same playing field. It is that, that inspires me to go into our match with a free mind. I carry that ‘what if’ feeling everywhere I go. Usually I give in to the urges of man and the ‘what ifs.’ It is better to know, than to never know, right?

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult. Just like our dreams. No matter what they are, we each dream and it is our dreams that fuel our life fire. We constantly wonder what life would be like…’what if.’ By dreaming, we let our imaginations free our hearts, minds, and souls. By being free and open, we are more capable or driving ourselves to ‘live our dreams.’ They are like inspirational gifts, subliminal, mental words of wisdom from some greater power, encouraging us to try our damnedest. And with that, we do. Even if life still deals us a sh*tty hand, we still dare to dream. Because without our dreams, our hopes, our aspirations, we would never dare to live. We would never dare to experience success nor failure. What does not kill us, only makes us stronger. It will not kill me to lose at Thunder. But it will not make Mazing less of a man to lose either. We both know that. I am foreseeing greatness in both our lives. It is just a matter of who dares to dream first. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope some day you will join us, and the world will live as one. Until then Valor, Mazing, go back to sleep.

Caden stands from the table. His legs have regained some strength from the food as he has awakened much more. Hobbling out of the room back towards the stairs, he stops by the record player and removes the needle and arm from the record. Clicking the switch to off, he admires the records as its spins slow. JOHN LENNON-“IMAGINE”. Caden smiles the first smile of the morning as he braces himself against the record stand as the scene fades out.

[Morbid Angel]

YES! The Power of Satan Compels you! Hehe... the first 4 lines got me interested. Even though that was near all the atheist talk it had...I liked it! I want a match some day!

[Reverend Shadow]

Wow I really enjoy the emotion put into your rps and everything you put forth...I think your speech is great and over all I really enjoyed this rp...I wish you the best of luck in your match and hope that you get the victory..great rp....

Rev.

[Seth Xavier]

Brilliant rp. I love Caden. I want to face you one, you put so much into your characters like myself. Kyzer versus Caden would be interesting, two junkies fighting it out.