"So that's what you meant, Caius. Really impressive how you could deduce something they left unanswered even after it was revealed!" Sythrik said in shock. "Its nothing impressive, simply recognized the character." Caius replied in a calm setting.
Johann looked at Caius and said, "didn't they say this was a newly made story? So how do recognize his character?" With a recollective expression, Caius said, "I'm not referring to him..."
The two looked at him knowingly, Johann clearly regretting his question.
The curtains opened up, revealing a new scenery once again. There was a boy, sitting before a desk, writing stressfully. He had dark hair, a pale face, and lifeless eyes. He wrote, and wrote, and wrote. It was all he did. He bit his lips, gnawed at them, wrote faster, messier, and soon, nothing at all.
"I have to be better! I have to write more! I have to please my parents! People have to like me! I have to like them! No I don't! No I do! I dont know!!! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!!!" The boy talked to himself, showing more than enough signs of internal conflict... Who cause them?
The boy started writing, faster, faster, faster, and faster. His eyes were that of a crazed person, focusing only on his pen and ink.
"Am I... Good enough?"
He stopped writing, took a look at himself through a mirror that sat on his wooden desk. He slightly opened his mouth, seemingly talking to the mirror, "you have to be better! This isn't good enough! Concentrate!
"... You are a disappointment!"
The boy took a hold of the mirror, stared into his own eyes and asked, "what is wrong with you! You never act like you should! You are never good enough! You are always a disappointment!" He stared at himself, then shed a tear. A tear of goodbye.
"I will be perfect! I want to be the greatest! I want to be revered! I WANT to be better!!!" His crazed expression ceased, now a solemn gaze with a neutral, yet kind expression as cover.
"I will make my parents proud."
The curtains closed, then opened soon after.
There was a dinner table with a middle aged man, and young woman. They ate with a quiet aroma, slicing and gathering the pieces as if in the same room as the king and queen. All they did was seemingly perfect.
"So, how was school, Richard." The father said, not caring to look at his son.
The boy's pale face remained solemn despite the exaggerated smile, and answered, "almost perfect. I got a full score on my test."
The father smiled while the mother remained silent and neutral and said, "good, that is what I've always wanted to hear - A 'perfect' score."
Richard stopped eating for a moment and said, "Its not perfect. Perfection is going beyond the standard perfection! I should've become the teacher, not thought by another. I should look beyond and leap, not sit still and listen, taking worthless test that I can pass with the smallest of efforts. I should be perfect!"
The father and mother paused eating, then looked at their child at only 12 years of age. "About time you realized. Keep working hard and become someone I deem my child! You where such a disappointment in the past, keep going like this and you will become precious to me. Is that understood?"
Richard nodded and said, "Yes, father. I understand."
The curtains closed once more and opened again after a small moment.
There were a young man teaching science to teenagers. Rambling on about topics they ignored.
Anger was seen in his eyes, but he quelled it, seemingly not caring for his students.
The curtains closed again, then opened.
There were a man meeting a woman. The man had two parents behind him, and so did the woman. An arranged marriage perhaps?
"Greetings, miss Lui. May I take your hand as my own, and remain intertwined for all of eternity?" The man said to the woman, reaching out his palm.
She looked him up and down, then stared at his eyes. Soon after, she accepted his hand and said, "you may."
The curtains closed, then opened at a terrifying speed.
There was a man and a woman, clad in formal clothing. There was a man in religious clothing in the middle who spoke before they finally kissed.
The curtains closed and opened.
"They don't know shit. I am PERFECT! That's right, I, am PERFEFCT!!!" A man said surrounded by none. Suddenly, he fainted. Then, after a few seconds, he woke up. He found a chair, put it in the middle and sat down.
A moment later, he found himself struggling unrestrained, grunting...
"Fuck you, Mr. Perfect." He mused as the lights dimmed.
The curtains closed, and after a little while, they retracted.
The scenery returned to the policeman and Richard's wife.
The policeman said solemnly, "more accurately, he killed, not himself, but an intruder... A second personality in other words."
The wife looked at him with shocked eyes and a slightly gaping mouth, "a-are you trying to say... That the man I married, was an alternate personality!? Who did I fall in love with!?!? The fake, or the real?" Her voice weakened.
The police officer looked worriedly at Miss Lui and said, "I'm sorry, miss. That is a question only you can answer..."
She fell silent, her face twitching. She shed a tear, then stopped, then shed more, and more, and more. Soon, it was uncontrollable. She fell to the ground and screamed, drowning the stage in tears. She shivered restlessly, pouring out all of her once, quelled sadness.
The officer simply stood, holding his hat in hand, and stared. There was nothing he could do.
The curtains closed, accompanied by the weeping of the crowd, some sat there in awe, and others sat there indifferently.
Sythrik gaped in shock, somewhat holding back his tears. "This really lived up to it's reputation! right, Caius?"...
"Caius?" Sythrik said as he was left unheard. He looked to his side and saw Caius, leaning back, smiling. His eyes were open, looking at the ceiling... Lifelessly.
Sythrik's eyes lost its brightness, understanding what had happened. Johann realized something was wrong and looked over, only to scream out Caius' name and run to check on him. Sythrik, however, simply sat there, unmoving, emotionlessly.
A single thought repeated in his mind, as if it was running around in desperate in circles: "You're alive, you're alive, you're alive-"
His face twitched, his eyes softened, and his vision blurred.
He slightly opened his mouth, then spoke with a broken tone, "Are you're really... dead?"