The Unusual Tale of Blue Spark

[majormet]

This is a concept I have been playing out and will be baseball related and OOTP thematic but it is a story with twists and turns so it eventually lands in my 96 team league, but this will be the story which goes in a baseball direction I promise.

When Blue Spark woke up on May 18th 2022, he kicked around and rolled over as he normally did every morning for the first 21 years of his life. He would not know how this day would change his life forever. Each day started with the usual thought processes.

Blue Spark with the unusual name was named after an X song by his mother Delia Spark who was a groupie for grunge bands in the 1990's. He came to accept his unusual name and carried about in life and was a lead singer in a punk rock band who dabbled in constant part time jobs after dropping out of college.

He reflected on his day which was going to be a whole lot of time wasting leading to a concert at the Knitting Room in Brooklyn. He would be one of 8 acts to play tonight at that venue and he was getting frustrated that his musical career seemed to be in paralysis mode.

After seeing the clock had hit 10:00 AM Blue rose and hit his Keurig machine for his morning coffee and wiped the sand from his eyes. He thought about the night earlier where his band which went by the same name of Blue Spark practiced and he was just frustrated that they were going more in a direction of cover songs than actual originals.

He lived in Far Rockaway in Queens not too far from Brooklyn where his band was part of the hipster music scene. He shared a 2 bedroom apartment with his mother and maternal grandfather and he slept in the living room on the fold out couch.

His grandfather only being 63 years old was a regular himself at the CBGB night club back in the day and was in a seminal band that was friend with the Ramones. Ironically Blue lived close to Rockaway Beach these days. Albert Beckwith is the name of his grandfather. Today Albert still worked as a bartender at a local watering hole down the road in clandestine Breezy Hollow, a town full of organized crime figures at one time, but now a place for the newfound yuppies. Albert worked the day shift at the bar and ran on the beach before he started his work day, so he was not home.

His mother, now 42 years old worked at Costco in the heart of Queens, and her groupie days were long over. She had no idea who Blue's dad was and named him Blue Spark as she had legally changed her name to Delia Spark from Delia Beckwith in her teen years. Her mom passed away from leukemia a few years ago and her dad moved in with her and Blue to help pay the bills. Her relationship with her dad was tenuous to say the least as he worked bars and clubs all his life and was constantly in and out of the house with the latest fling of the season. Her mother always stood by her dad despite his transgressions but it made for a depressing household.

Blue went to college at Queensborough Community College for 3 semesters majoring in communications but he did not do well, and still dreamed of being a rock star. He was only 21, which to a 21 year old seems old, with his whole life ahead of him, yet he felt that he was a failure and would not amount to much at this point.

He finished his coffee and showered and then took a drive to the Panera bread in Lawrence which is in Long Island but only a few minutes away, he drank a smoothie and called his friend Pat to meet him for lunch. Pat arrived and they ate and broke bread.

Pat was a childhood friend of Blue's who had not partook in the musical world, but ended up graduating from Binghamton in the spring and was now working for Goldman Sachs. Today was a Saturday so Pat was off of work and Blue was happy to see Pat wearing a Nike t-shirt and sweats and not the off putting Wall Street suit.

They talked about the usual dealings of 21 years olds in the age of social media. Women they met online, postings from mutual contacts and about some new music they heard. Blue did not understand Pat's love nor anyone's liking of the ambient and electronic music, but that is all Pat listened to. It explained why Blue's music did not catch up on as much as he though it should have. The world was just looking for unique beats and raps, the art of songs and composition were long gone.

Pat and Blue argued friendly about the differences, and Pat just summed it up as there are only so many chords on the guitar and so many combinations before everything has been played before. Blue agreed to disagree and they parted ways.

Blue went home and played video games, without any idea of the magnitude of his life change that would occur in probably less than 11 hours.

[majormet]

In another bed at the Holiday Inn near JFK Airport in Queens, Elias Springer woke up with purpose. The past 2 years had been very tough for him. Because of financial reasons he decided to take a job in Minot, North Dakota on the oil lines and it paid good.. Too Good. He was making nearly $200,000 a year after being a factory worker for 10 years in Iowa City. Things turned south though for Elias.

As part of the occupational requirement for the job, he would have to be medically tested for cancer or any other potential sicknesses from all the exposure and after a few months, he got a positive diagnosis. This was fall in 2020 and North Dakota has been besieged with COVID cases and to get a cancer diagnosis meant a weakened immune system.

Elias moved to North Dakota with his wife Cynthia and their daughter Samantha. After the cancer diagnosis and the Covid outbreak his wife and daughter moved back to Iowa City while Elias stayed on and worked. His production dropped and they cut back his hours and then right before Joe Biden came into office Donald Trump had the Supreme Court get rid of healthcare for prexisting conditions. This was all a perfect storm and by February 2021, Elias had cancer and no job. And as he returned back to Iowa City he found that his wife was now shacked up with an old high school acquaintance and he was on the outside looking in.

At first Elias turned to CBD to calm his nerves, he was still getting a lofty unemployment check. But the depression was becoming hard to manage and then he started to take stronger medications and slowly became addicted. He tried to get work locally in Iowa City but the heartland had not really recovered from the tariffs and COVID, so by the time Elias unemployment ran out, he could not find any work.

His family was not speaking to him, and his cancer seemed to be in some kind of remission. The silence from his wife and daughter did not add up, he was just trying to feed his family. But in retrospect, he was away on the rigs for 2 weeks at a time. The family did not want to relocate to Minot and he came back home he was very irritable all the time due to the nature of the work and surroundings.

It was late in 2021 that Elias finally found work at a Home Depot in Cedar Rapids and was able to afford a simple studio apartment and things were going good until early March 2022, when his wife served him divorce papers and her "ask" was a bit much for alimony and child support. He stalled and postponed court dates and now it was May and he was to be in court in Iowa City on Monday, however that was not going to happen.

Today, was a day that Elias saw as a changing point in his life. He always felt shafted by society, not really liked much growing up. His family was often not around and he thought he had it made when he married Cynthia. Now at the age of 39, he was on the brink of divorce and really not skilled to do to much in life. Each morning he got up and was the regret swelled. He did not see many options until he got to New York on Wednesday.

New York was in Elias opinion what was wrong with the country. He felt New York had too much weight, between the media, show business, Wall Street and the liberal agenda. He made no secret about his disgust when Trump lost the election. He was one of those guys that had Trump hats, Trump flags, and Trump boxer shorts probably.

It was only last week when he was at a stop on the Jersey Turnpike when a woman sitting near him made conversation and said that God allowed Coronavirus to happen because man was worshiping Trump and not him and went into the Ten Commandments about how God was jealous. This made Elias furious.

The world was upside down these days for Elias, he grew up in simpler times, social media wasn't the rage. You can get a job and feed your family. He was not a Bible believing Christian but he believed in right and wrong.

Today Elias woke up in a strange bed away from home knowing that things were going to change and that today was a day for expansion not to quote Steely Dan. The maid knocked on the door and he made sure she did not open the door and made sure that she knew that he did not need his bed made. After all he was going to make his bed now.

We live our lives so fast and we have so many seasons in our lives. Elias was one of those people that could not see the valleys as temporary. He got on his laptop and made sure he had some word documents saved, he made sure he had files on his computer that he would need.

He spent some time looking at the map of New York and he knew the area he was going to. Thanks to Google Earth he could do a lot of research and exactly what he had to do, and execution would be critical. The adrenaline was running in his body, not knowing what tomorrow or next week would bring if it would be brought at all. He chewed on a Beef Jerky he purchased along the way savoring all the salt and contemplating the road head.

[majormet]

The day passed by and it was another fruitless day in the life of Blue Spark, he met his friend at Panera bread and they had talked for another hour outside the place. Blue then went to a vinyl store nearby and walked through the alphabet of records and found an interesting LP from the 1980's by the Divinyls, he liked the song Pleasure and Pain.

After venturing out of the house, Blue took a nap as he tended to do and was interrupted around 4:00 by his mother who wanted to know if he need to be up for his gig. He told her that the show started at 9 and he would probably go on around 11. She told him that she would attend the show. Tate was never excited that his mother was going to the show because whatever women he saw, she would run interference on them. Also he tended to not move around on stage as much.

It wasn't like the band Blue Spark had that much of a following, they played a lot of the 70's and 80's post punk music like X, The Jam, Buzzcocks, Damned with an occasional orginal thrown in for good measure. What seemed to draw the crowd in was their cover of Lana Del Rey's Cruel World. It seems you slip some profanity into a song and it becomes great in this day and age, so much for Marty Balin getting a taste of the real world when he went down on you.

He hated having his naps ruined but his mother was looking out for him and he already had slept 9 hours overnight.

Tonight their would be 5 or 6 bands playing and the usual assortment of singer/songwriters, emo bands, some rock bands and an occasional poet. His band members were with him for a few years now.

Trent was the bass player, he was kind of a limited musician but more of a fan of music as bass players go. Darrell was the drummer he was in a band that did R & B at weddings but really was the success of the band. Blue played rhythm guitar and sang while Evan was the guitar player, who was a big Rage Against the machine fan and liked shredding on the original songs.

Blue was a towering force on stage though at 6'7 and probably under 200 pounds, with his blue hair and his ripped up clothes. He looked like a bad ass but he really never got into a fight in his life, and avoided violence at all costs.

He opened up his Tidal account on his computer and put his head phones on was playing the Black Pumas Colors, why this band was not the biggest band of the day was beyond him, but it got him motivated as did the band Chvrches.

Trent had called to go over the set list which they would open up with Blue Spark by X as always then play How do You like Me now by the Heavy... they debated playing Spanish Bombs and So Lonely but agreed to play both. They kind of ran the band together.

It was beautiful day today at 75 degrees and no humidity so the turnout tonight should be decent if they can get 100 people that would be great.

The band was what got Blue out of bed, he had no real other interests. He was not that into video games. He never went on Social Media. His friends were Pat and his bandmates. He never had a real girlfriend, women were scared by him and his look. If he had any interests besides music it probably would be English mysteries and he was a huge fan of the writer Elizabeth George who is an American author who writes British Mysteries with recurring characters.

Blue was intrigued by Europe and particularly the UK as he did like the Jam and the Clash and their songs created fantasy images of those places. What was it like to be in a tube station at midnight?

Sometimes Blue felt he was born in the wrong time period. He was not interested in a lot of the instant gratifications of today's world. He did not need "likes", he just needed to be stimulated with creativity.

Tonight was going to change how his life would be for a long time.

[majormet]

Work on Saturday was never fun for Alexa English, she had been pharmicist for a year now and she liked her job but after five years of college it sometimes seemed that she was just a retail clerk at a Walgreens in Brooklyn. Then she would say her paycheck and come to the realization that the five years of studying organic chemistry and physics paid off, even if she was wearing a sort of uniform and dealing with a cash register at times.

Alexa lived in Park Slope section of Brooklyn and she arrived home and to her roommate Kate. Kate went to college with Alexa at St John's upon graduation they moved from Queens to Brooklyn. They were eating their tofu salads to get energized for their night on the town.

They both shared a common love for entertainment from Broadway to rock music. Alexa really enjoyed the nights of seeing many bands perform and being part of a crowd which in Brooklyn finally opened up in March of 2022, it was now May 2022. This was the newfound freedom post Corona Virus, but the 5 boroughs were slow to open up.

Brooklyn was still a happening scene but many moved out of the city and move to upstate New York or even as far north as Vermont as the warning of the social distancing created a form of mass exodus.

She got home and said hello to Kate and checked her Emails and she posted on Facebook as she customarily did when looking forward to a big evening.

Alexa turned 24 last week and she was free of her five year relationship with Jeremy who she dated in college. Jeremy and her were in a bad place for the final year, he ended up going to Columbia, South Carolina for work in the engineering field and the distance made them grow apart in many more ways.

She had not date much since the breakup was official 3 months ago and the concept of starting over just seemed fatiguing in thought. She was just happy to work and be with Kate. Tonight she would see some bands she really liked. Tiramisu Boulevard was her favorite band of the moment they were big into original music but sounded a lot like bands from the 1990's like Elastica and the Breeders. The Magic Oyster Band was another good band that really mostly did slow down covers of known songs, which as a fad started in soundtracks. And there was Blue Spark that was a punk band with a lead singer that seemed so mysterious. She made eye contact a few times with the lead singer named Blue Spark, and not a traditionally handsome fella, there was a lot of intrigue in his movements and his eye motion.

There was a lot to look forward to on a night like this. While Kate prepared the salads, she perused through her favorite website which were mostly news sites, some leaning a bit left. After four year of Donald Trump in the office she really had very little to say about politics but the fear of 2024 election and what that might bring always loomed large.

She considered having a glass of wine before the salad, but thought better of it as she would be having a few drinks at the bar tonight. She entered the kitchen and helped Kate slice the cucumbers and tomatoes and saw her friend had life to her.

It was only a year ago that Kate had battled Covid with a respirator and for many months following, she thought there would be relapses. Kate lost her mother to the virus and went through a lot since graduating college. Kate had been in the pharmacy program as well but never started her career. Alexa was supporting her and didn't think twice about it.

All that was behind them now, and tonight would be a new chapter, just not in the direction they had anticipated.

[majormet]

Infuriated that is how Elias felt as he sat in a pizza place with his laptop. He could not understand how everything in New York was touted for being New York. New York pizza, New York steak, Coney Island Hot dog, Brooklyn pierogies... get over it.

Elias used one of his aliases to login to view some of the friends he has made with his alias. In particular this one girl who just angered him. Always touting her life as perfect and sharing the good moments. Rubbing it into those around her that she was living the Truman Show. It was bad enough with all the liberal postings, and anti-Trump speak, but just to show off new hairdo's or the horrible trend of photographing the meal you are eating.

Who cares about the Veal Piccata you are eating, and the worthless capers on your plate, some people were just too self obsessed.

All of this just reflected on the downward turn and the bad decisions that Elias had made. He was 39 but after a few years on the pipeline and battling a round of cancer, he looked like he was in his 60's. He would hit on women that were in his age range, and he would get varying replies from "I don't have daddy issues" to "you may want to meet my aunt" to "leave me the "f" alone". It was not a great place to be.

He changed thought and began to ponder about those that came before him and either outcome would be better than where he is sitting today. Death would not be unwanted, he would not have to feel the shame, embarrassment, hurt, dissatisfaction any longer. Prison would mean he would not have to think ever again, it would be like having a vacation in a one star hotel for the rest of your life but at least it would be all inclusive.

Those that came before him had different reasons for their actions. Attention seemed to be the top motive, which is something that Elias was not interested in. This was more of escape, it was to change a path. Life expectancy was too long these days, the thought of living 40-50 years and trying to make a salary, and have relationships, pay bills, clean his residence, and trips to the doctor just was way too overwhelming. It would be a lot easier if the finish line was nearer.

He then went back to Facebook and looked at "the girl" and he examined all of his disturbing thoughts. This girl would have a long life ahead, she would break a few men's hearts. She would eat a lot of meals, she would continue to believe her fecal matter was without scent. He believed he could save the world all of this trouble. He hated the fact that others were elation when he was where he was. Something had to give.

Elias then turned his mind to his soon to be ex wife and daughter and he recognized the media s*storm that would ensue, and that they would forever be a punctuation mark on his endeavors. He actually smiled at the idea that he would have remembrance of some kind. Certainly being replaced by Clint Everson was enough of a kick to the groin.


Everson was a high school classmate of Cynthia and Elias, he was a smart guy who opened up his own insurance agency in Iowa City. He was pleasant enough and was friendly enough with them as a couple over the years, but did not see the alterior agenda during those encounters. Today Everson was living with his wife and his daughter and he was a "dad" to his daughter.

One would rationalize that the target of Elias' exploits should logically be Everson because of what he signified, but Elias felt that although his entry into his family's existence was deceitful, it wasn't without some level of merit. After all it was Elias who wanted to go to North Dakota. It was Elias who took the job despite knowing the health risks. And it was Elias who chose to stay on even after knowing those risks. It wasn't bad enough that his family had to endure the Minot winters.

He did his reconaissance yesterday and saw the target location. He saw the side entrance to the dumpsters and how careless the barbacks were with the side entrance. Admission into the facility would not be challenging. He noticed the corner areas where he could be inconspicuous. Thursday night was not so crowded, but he anticipated a big crowd of over 100 people for Friday night, so volume would be amplified. This was his night, there was going to be no failure.

He thanked his God that people were so transparent using social media, they gave you the road map to their location without asking. If all went his way, he would be better off in some form or fashion within the next 6 hours.

[majormet]

Blue Spark entered the Knitting Room early tonight, no band was playing and there were just a couple of leftovers from the day crowd who actually went there to eat. He chatted with the bartender, Phil and looked around and just settled the acrid smell of dried beer that permeated through all alcohol serving establishments.

He saw the roster of bands that were playing and saw they were going on 4th of 9, which would be mean 10:30 to 11:00, they were playing after Rolling the Dice, which was good, since Rolling the Dice were just a bunch of power chord punk guys that were loud that were not that good. Basically all the stage diving would be over when that band was done.

Blue was a stage czar, he was very peripheral and was always trying to make sure sound was not blocked and that the atmosphere was just right. There was something about music and connection that had to be synchronized, like a candlelight for a dinner.

His bandmates were here as well, and they were more obsessed with a dartboard that was off the outer edges of the bar. The hard part about performing music is that there will be no unique experience, they will be playing in the same bar they have played in 50 times before. The crowd will be of similar size and composition and their song list will not vary much. It was a paycheck, but Blue was an artist. He wanted to hear his original songs on the radio, or being sung at randon on a stairmaster at the gym. He was tired of covering songs.

Tonight he had 2 originals planned and those originals would not spark the crowd like the other songs. People liked the familiar, that is what he never got about classic rock. How many times can you hear Free Bird or Brown Sugar and it will never change, the lyrics and chord changes are frozen in time. Some random day in the 1970's where a bunch of guys were probably hungover that did a lot of sound checks and wrote and recorded a song that they were not sure to make of.

And that was it.

The greatest moments of your life or the greatest successes of your life were basically unplanned. It was not like a lottery winner woke up that day and knew he was going to be a millionaire. Just the same way that Radiohead recorded the song Creep in 1993 and that 27 years later a bunch of cheesy contestants on the Voice would be covering it so Kelly Clarkson can validate their existence.

This remote chance of success is all that kept Blue going in life. He was not career minded, not a social animal. He was not geared for any kind of job that involved, sales, patience, analytics, conformity or dexterity, which left him in the artist bin.

In a few hours, events would transpire that Blue could not predict if given an option of listing one million events on paper. Right now, it was Just Another Day in the words of Danny Elfman.

[majormet]

Elias was parked on Metropolitan Avenue and was scouting the venue. It was around 9:00 PM and he was all prepared for what the night called. He saw the mixture of 20 something hipsters entering the establishment as if there life was going to change tonight. There life was going to change but not in a way that they expected. Packs of guys entering with great anticipation of meeting the love of their life or just someone to share their bed with increased inebriation. Girls showing up in droves just to catch the eyes of the bass player. Sad world they all lived in, but they would remember today for a long time.

Alexa and Kate submitted their ID to the bouncer and paid their $5 cover charge. They were young enough that they probably would be carded for the next 10 years. They were dressed very casually and their expectation level was to just let off some steam and see the bands, maybe get a little buzzed. Bright side of living in Brooklyn is that you were on foot, and either walked or got an Uber.

Elias recognized her. What an angry feeling that was in the pit of his stomach. How many self obsessed posts on Facebook. The countless pictures of Acai bowls seeking approval. The non factual trashing of Donald Trump and anything Qanon. Of course the democrats were eating babies it was on a website and the backed by 500 other websites. How could this b*** even debate him on these issues. Women like that have always just bugged Elias his whole life. High school cheerleaders, popular girls, princesses... they never took him serious. Seeing her flirt with the bouncer, just validated Elias objectives even more.

Alexa ordered a Blue Moon and got Kate a screwdriver. They found a decent spot in the corner and some band named Novice Bologna was playing. They were a folkish type band that typically opened the night up, and they were doing some Ray LaMontagne thing, which really just blended into the background in some pre-game ritual. Alexa complained about her job to Kate some more. Kate made her feel better with reason that pharmacy was the best job, you get paid $100,000 a year for what you could do for $15 per hour, outside of cutting up drugs. Alexa laughed and from a distance as they sat on a couch they looked like they were having the time of their life. Optics are always out of sorts. Optics are what changes perceptions.

Elias bought into optics. It was optics that drove his madness. He always saw the exaggerated version of what was happening. Those that were smiling were either snobs making fun of others, people who had better lives than him. He identified massively with the downtrodden. He saw so many people panhandling in Brooklyn. How did these kids party on a weekend night knowing that people around them were suffering. He was suffering, his wife left him for another man. This was the ultimate reinforcement of failure in Elias eyes. He did not measure up. Was it sexual, what was it? These things kept him up at night.

Alexa and Kate were approached by two very skinny guys who were drinking mojitos. They were not attractive in their eyes but also they were not rude and honored the diversion. Sadly these two guy only could talk about extreme left politics at the same time brag out their jobs at Goldman Sachs and the cars they drove and how they grew up in Westchester and had implications of money every 3rd utterance. Luckily for the blessing of awkward silence which drove the two guys. There was nothing let to say, and the only things that could keep the converation from going to neverland would be music or sports. The ladies thanked the heavens it did not go there.

Elias saw the barback enter from the side about 5 or 6 times. The silly fool never shut the door by force so the door close took about 2-4 seconds that would be enough time to enter and sneak into the venue. He timed it four time now and that was the average amount of time for the door to fully close. Entry would be easy even with his accompaniments. The layout was bizarre as the side door was not attached to any non public area. So access would grant him a spot pretty close to the state and pit. One wondered why so many of these kids would not avoid a cover charge and get free admission. He shook his head, damn woke people. Well in about 90 minutes it was time to execute the plan.

[sophiadenis19]

Originally Posted by majormet

This is a concept I have been playing out and will be baseball related and OOTP thematic but it is a story with twists and turns so it eventually lands in my 96 team league, but this will be the story which goes in a baseball direction I promise.

When Blue Spark woke up on May 18th 2022, he kicked around and rolled over as he normally did every morning for the first 21 years of his life. He would not know how this day would change his life forever. Each day started with the usual thought processes.

Blue Spark with the unusual name was named after an X song by his mother Delia Spark who was a groupie for grunge bands in the 1990's. He came to accept his unusual name and carried about in life and was a lead singer in a punk rock band who dabbled in constant part time jobs after dropping out of college.

He reflected on his day which was going to be a whole lot of time wasting leading to a concert at the Knitting Room in Brooklyn. He would be one of 8 acts to play tonight at that venue and he was getting frustrated that his musical career seemed to be in paralysis mode.

After seeing the clock had hit 10:00 AM Blue rose and hit his Keurig machine for his morning coffee and wiped the sand from his eyes. He thought about the night earlier where his band which went by the same name of Blue Spark practiced and he was just frustrated that they were going more in a direction of cover songs than actual originals.

He lived in Far Rockaway in Queens not too far from Brooklyn where his band was part of the hipster music scene. He shared a 2 bedroom apartment with his mother and maternal grandfather and he slept in the living room on the fold out couch.

His grandfather only being 63 years old was a regular himself at the CBGB night club back in the day and was in a seminal band that was friend with the Ramones. Ironically Blue lived close to Rockaway Beach these days. Albert Beckwith is the name of his grandfather. Today Albert still worked as a bartender at a local watering hole down the road in clandestine Breezy Hollow, a town full of organized crime figures at one time, but now a place for the newfound yuppies. Albert worked the day shift at the bar and ran on the beach before he started his work day, so he was not home.

His mother, now 42 years old worked at Costco in the heart of Queens, and her groupie days were long over. She had no idea who Blue's dad was and named him Blue Spark as she had legally changed her name to Delia Spark from Delia Beckwith in her teen years. Her mom passed away from leukemia a few years ago and her dad moved in with her and Blue to help pay the bills. Her relationship with her dad was tenuous to say the least as he worked bars and clubs all his life and was constantly in and out of the house with the latest fling of the season. Her mother always stood by her dad despite his transgressions but it made for a depressing household.

Blue went to college at Queensborough Community College for 3 semesters majoring in communications but he did not do well, and still dreamed of being a rock star. He was only 21, which to a 21 year old seems old, with his whole life ahead of him, yet he felt that he was a failure and would not amount to much at this point.

He finished his coffee and showered and then took a drive to the Panera bread in Lawrence which is in Long Island but only a few minutes away, he drank a smoothie and called his friend Pat to meet him for lunch. Pat arrived and they ate and broke bread.

Pat was a childhood friend of Blue's who had not partook in the musical world, but ended up graduating from Binghamton in the spring and was now working for Goldman Sachs. Today was a Saturday so Pat was off of work and Blue was happy to see Pat wearing a Nike t-shirt and sweats and not the off putting leather jackets at cyberpunk for Wall Street suit.

They talked about the usual dealings of 21 years olds in the age of social media. Women they met online, postings from mutual contacts and about some new music they heard. Blue did not understand Pat's love nor anyone's liking of the ambient and electronic music, but that is all Pat listened to. It explained why Blue's music did not catch up on as much as he though it should have. The world was just looking for unique beats and raps, the art of songs and composition were long gone.

Pat and Blue argued friendly about the differences, and Pat just summed it up as there are only so many chords on the guitar and so many combinations before everything has been played before. Blue agreed to disagree and they parted ways.

Blue went home and played video games, without any idea of the magnitude of his life change that would occur in probably less than 11 hours.

Blue agreed to disagree and they parted ways. thanks for sharing this, this is really amazing

[majormet]

It was 9:00 and some lousy band was getting through their set. Not sure if a set of Blink 182 and Green Day covers constitutes punk rock, but in Blue's eyes it was just harsh sounding pop. Punk was Anarchy in the UK or Holiday in Cambodia, it surely was not What's My Age Again. In essence, Pink singing So What was more like punk then this garbage. He had his guitars set up in the backstage area and was just hoping the aura of this cover band would not assimilate into his equipment.

Meanwhile, across the street, Elias picked up his guitar case and made his way to the side entrance, waiting for the next dumpster run. Elias looked about as much as a musician as Mitch McConnell looked like a GQ model. It was a bad fit, and without costume of any kind a late 30's something guy who looked like he was 60 and was 5'5 and weighed not much more than 130 pounds with the bozo the clown hairdo... he would not infiltrate easy so he would have to get inside and be so far off to the side as to not stand out, as standing out is something he could do even in a DMV office.

Alexa and Kate just did a few shots of Sambuca which served a dual purpose of intoxicant and altoid. They were not digging the Blink 182 cover band especially when they decided to add Shut Up and Dance to their repertoire. Still it was a night out and not having to fill out prescriptions for xanax for a few hours was like being on a beach in Aruba. They noticed the 2 faux hipsters that hit on them earlier and they seemed to be mouthing the words to this wretched song and someone forgot to donate the book of coolness to them.

Elias was able to gain entry. The music was loud and he did not make eye contact. He was able to very close to the stage but off to the right and behind the stage. A brief glance of the crowd and he just saw youth, and cluelessness. He saw a lot of youngsters that did not know the road ahead. Optimism is the potion for the ignorant in his jaded mindset. He noticed a really tall skinny fellow on the side of the stage. He could not believe the blue hair and the funny makeup. This is what was wrong with the world. How a parent could raise such a spectacle. At this point he was siding with his antithesis left and believed in post birth abortions. If a kid was going to aspire to be that, end it now. They made eye contact briefly and he recognized a look that was familiar to him. It was that anti social look, the one that he had learned to cultivate in recent time.

The music was so bad and then Blue made eye contact with a short squirrel looking guy that had as much business owning a guitar as Chris Christie owning a speed-O. It took a lot for Blue to be creeped out, he could just look in the mirror and see the essence of darkness. Something about this short fella, what band was he in. He knew the circuit, never saw this guy before, but who knows maybe he was the second coming of Stevie Ray Vaughn. Still something did not compute. At best he looked like a fly by night plumber, not a rock God.

There was the b***, she was in the middle of the crowd and Elias noticed her. So many nights he rummaged through her photos on Facebook. In person she looked even more conceited and disdaining. Doing shots and dancing as if the rest of the world did not matter. How many times did she beckon for "likes" on her Facebook page between making dumb liberal statements, reposting tweets from AOC and Omer. F*** her. She won't be smiling soon, that band that gets the stage divers out. She will know what it is like to suffer, feel pain, be afraid. And boy she would know that she was at the root of all of this.

[jasg224]

The cliffhangers at the end of every post get me, I wish I could keep on reading but also every new post is definitely worth the wait.

[majormet]

Originally Posted by jasg224

The cliffhangers at the end of every post get me, I wish I could keep on reading but also every new post is definitely worth the wait.

Yeah I am pacing it all, there will be twists and turns in this one and baseball somehow will get involved LOL

[majormet]

It was that time, Elias never matter much until these moments. His ex wife was being satisfied largely better than another male of the species. His career was going nowhere. The guitar case was now on the stage and back behind the speakers and now the crappy band was playing that awful Drowning Pool song "Bodies". The ultimate mosh pit song or song played at hockey games after a line brawl. Well Bodies will have a new meaning today, like Arianna Grande in Manchester.

Devon Schroeder waited his entire life for this moment as well. He was never cool and never mustered any courage to do much. At best he and his friend could strike out with the ladies like they did with Kate and Alexa. He saw the stage and saw people flying off the stage and landing into the crowd. For once in his secure, unspectacular saccarhin life he could do something, he was going to dive into the crowd.

Blue was just stunned how bad the music taste was a subpar band and a guy with no testosterone belting out "let the bodies the floor" in a very bad excuse for a scary voice. He saw the short older guy getting to the stage, whatever band he was in... they were not up next.

Kate and Alexa were pointing to Devon, the lame guy who hit on them earlier, what a wormy guy, who could not get any in Amsterdam with a fistful of 50's. What he is trying to do? They saw him awkward climb to the stage.

Elias unzipped his bag and the contents of that bag were not going to say Fender or Gibson. He reached in an got his Russian import and behind the speakers began a very quick preparation. Just noticed the odd guy with the blue hair. Well who cares that guy is either on meth or CBD.

Devon climbed onto the stage and saw the crowd and got intimidated, was he really going to leap into this madness, he was shaking, but then the loud boom and within seconds debating coolness submerged into pitch blackness and then into a realm of confusion or obsoletion.

Alexa and Kate instantly were scared by the noise and the gaggle of blood and brain matter that suddenly became available in the mosh pit. The gun was aimed again and more shots were fired, some poor man's Billy Bob Thornton was shooting into the crowd, people were running in all directions. Kate got away but Alexa tripped.

Elias started to utter Malachi, Esau, Haggai as he fired a few rounds into the crowd, he seems to have hit a few people and he continued to shout it out to see if there was some connection.

The bullet ripped into Alexa's legs as she was in great pain and on the ground with blood oozing out. She was hearing this madman chant biblical references and it sounded familiar, but she getting more delirious by the minute.

Blue was in a odd spot behind the stage and he was near his guitar. He could really stop this quickly, and without thought Blue picked up his lefty fender and ran to the gunmen, and took a mighty swing and the swing was so effective across the back of the gunmen that he knocked him down and the gun got dislodged from the gunmen's hand. Blue not being a fighter or anything, did remember getting picked on by a kid once and they put him in a full nelson, with the gunmen on the ground, was able to apply a full nelson and with his long body he was able to subdue the gunmen.

There were about 20 people still left in the venue, with a few down from gunshots, it seemed that Devon the hipster was definitely dead, and maybe one or 2 more people were in another dimension, but there were a few wounded people. The sound of police and ambulance were in the distance and this no name concert would turn to ground zero for news for the next 3 nights or so.

Blue continued to keep Elias in the full nelson. The blow to the back cause some serious damage, but Elias was alive and now a few people came to Blue's aid and were able to tie Elias arms together and legs together. Blue did not want to stick around so he was about to leave when he noticed the girl that always gave him a curious look, she was shot in the leg and pretty bad. He went over to her and held her hand as she was nearly passed out. Not knowing much about first aid as well, he took off his shirt and make a tourniquet of his outfit and wrapped it around the leg of Alexa to stop the bleeding. The hospital was not far away, he was going to have to make a decision.

Alexa was in a near dream state, the leg did not hurt any more, but she was nauseous and out of it. The interesting lead singer with the blue hair was next to her and he was doing something. Well he wasn't doing anything inappropriately. Now she was in the tall guy's arms and they walked out of the venue.

Blue would have to walk 8 blocks to get her to the ER before she lost any blood.

The police arrived and they arrested Elias. Medics arrived to take of the injured. All tolled 12 people suffered gunshot wounds, of which 2 were serious, of course a few were unaccounted for. Two were dead including Devon the hipster and another girl that was just in the front row at the wrong show.

The media descended and the next few days.. Brooklyn would be a media shower.

[majormet]

The police arrived on the scene and they took Elias away and all the world knew at large is "Gunman kills 2 in Brooklyn night club, many injured, identity not known". Elias had no identification on him and he was not speaking so the authorities had no idea who this assassin was or his motives.


Alexa was passed out in a hospital bed as the doctor's treated her leg wound. Kate assumed something happened and was in the waiting room. She had left the club unscathed, but assumed Alexa was behind her. She had some guilt but who could have prevented anything or predicted this.

The scene at the Knitting Room was beyond bedlam. Blood was everywhere, the injured were rushed to the hospital and the dead remained in the club in body bags. Suddenly the worst nightmare and PTSD would not be the awful crummy bands that played earlier.

Reporters descended on the scene quickly. CNN got there quickly and got eyewitness testimony. One attendant summed it up "There was body slamming, body surfing and then a large round of booms and the room became surreal". CNN and all the news outlets were excited because they had something to talk about that wasn't related to infrastructure.

Delia was relieved when Blue walked into the apartment and was in good standing. She did not make it to the venue and God was protecting her as many that missed their appointments to the World Trade Center on 9/11 or showed up to work late were able to live to tell.

Delia and Blue were watching the news and Albert appeared as well. Albert had a narrow world view and just said that drugs f's people up and summed it up in one sentence. Blue was not rattled nor did he comprehend the events of the past few hours. As he watched it unfold on TV he almost forgot he was there and was a hero. He did not see himself as a hero though, as people had died.

He thought about Alexa and he wondered how she was doing. He had feelings of sympathy which were so unique to him, that he questioned the experience to see if he took any substance to elucidate it. He did not want the spotlight, he did not want to be associated with all of this. The fifteen minutes of fame were better used for his musical career, anonymity was critical.

The remnant at the Knitting Room were still trying to figure things out. Many were grateful that they were standing in the right place at the right time and of course were heavily scarred by the carnage. It still baffled the reporters as they had no idea even three hours after the assault how the gunmen stopped firing. Some were saying he tripped on wiring, or some beer and then was tackled by a few of the patrons.


Tony Mitela was the first person who got his memory restored. Tony was standing to the right of the stage with his girlfriend and could remember thinking "when will this band end". He was from Staten Island and just started dating this girlfriend of his. Tony was a systems engineer and really did not like music much, it was in the background at work, he danced when asked to dance, but he could not tell the difference between Vampire Weekend and Alice in Chains, it was not his thing. So he did not know much about the bands or the scene at the bar.

The thing that Tony recalled was that a very tall gothic looking guy used his guitar as a weapon and knocked the shooter down and then was able to put him in a full nelson before others became involved. He recounted this to the police, media and anyone that would listen. Tony had no problem wasting his 15 minutes of fame on being an eyewitness, but unlike William Hurt in that same movie he was forthcoming.

Tony's testimony was spread around and the bartender at the establishment said that the front stage camera footage was in the basement. The police reviewed the tape and Tony's account was accurate and now they wanted to find the man that tackled the assailant.


Blue was eating a hot pocket from the microwave and was too tired. He would check on Alexa at the hospital. He assumed his gig the next night would be cancelled and that he could go on as he always did....

[majormet]

Elias woke up to strange surroundings. He was lying on a hard cement floor and the walls were made concrete. Not having his CPAP machine was a major issue, as he probably woke up every 2 minutes from his apneas. This was the chief reason his heart was racing and he was somewhat delirious, or it could be the guitar shot he took to the back or the full nelson he was positioned in for quite some time. Nevertheless, the steel bars became apparent and he was incarcerated and the events came tumbling back to the forefront of his mind.

All he can remember was unloading a few shots into the crowd. What was the result? It certainly wasn't suicide by cop, but was the body count? Was this the new national news cycle? These are the thoughts that were now generating in Elias' mind.

An armed guard came into the room and dropped off some water and a piece of white bread. Elias tried to make conversation but he could barely get the words out of his mouth.

He began to reflect about optics and orientation. What would his ex wife and kids be thinking at this point. Well, probably nothing as he had no identification on him and he hadn't offered up any information. He tried to force himself back to sleep but sleep was a reward for the righteous.

A few hours had passed and 2 men came into his cell. One was a rather small guy with glasses and a receding hairline, while the other man seemed to be more imposing. They pulled out some unfolding chairs and started to speak.

The first man with the glasses asked "Do you know why you are hear"

Elias stared emptily at the man named officer Rello. "I guess"

The more imposing man named Doak then spoke "You guess?" he got up in Elias face and almost made contact him and raised his voice "I ought to just pull out my gun and blow your brains out and save the taxpayers money you worthless piece of s****"

With the increased vocal volume, Elias began to become petrified. Why could he just die, you might as well pull the trigger"

Rello spoke "So what is your name"

Elias glanced at both officers then at the ground and mumbled something inaudibly"

Doak was still hot under the collar "Speak up you pond scum"

Elias "I name... not sure... "

Doak and Rello looked at each other and nodded their heads. Doak spoke up "Now you suddenly don't recall your name you spineless f****er..... You kill two innocent kids and wound a bunch more and that all is what you can give us"

There was disappointment on the countenance of Elias. He was underwhelmed, there were only 2 fatalities. Just kills? Going to be put away for the rest of my life for just 2. This probably barely made the New York news cycle.

Elias collected himself: "I don't know, what happened, what is my name"

Rello poured some water and gave the cup to Elias "Now let's not play dumb for too long here, at some point someone is going to see the footage of the carnage and recognize you and failure to cooperate is not in your best interest"

"I don't know my name, I just don't know what is going on, death, shooting, what are you saying"

Doak's impatience was showing and he grabbed Elias by the jumpsuit "Look you numbskull, either you start to talk or things are going to get ugly"

Rello tapped Doak on the shoulder and prevented things from going further. "Look we will give you a few hours to check your memory, but like my partner said, we need to know who you are and why you did this"

The officers left and Elias looked at the sheer darkness around him and became remorseful for the wrong reasons. Not because he killed and terrorized but because he failed at mass carnage. He was going to get the tough sentence if he killed one person or 30, so now he just has to live with another botched failure in his life.

The time passed and darkness continued to descend upon Elias, it will be only a matter of time before this event will be long forgotten and he will have to spend his time on earth behind bars.