Writing - It's a Disease - Writing - It's a Disease - Writing - It's a Disease
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Strictly������������������������������������������������������By James Hetfield
���������Text�������������������������������"Remorse"��������������������������
��������������Distribution��Issue Five�����������������������������������������
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Writing - It's a Disease - Writing - It's a Disease - Writing - It's a Disease
--- Cold, typical winter day. Long view of a bridge overlooking a mucky
river. Steve enters, stares out at the view.
STEVE: Over. it's all finally over.
--- Forest. Steve carries walking stick. GENERIC FEMALE ACTRESS #1 walks
along side Steve.
GFA#1: Regrets?
Steve: None.
GFA#1: Can't you turn back?
STEVE: Never again can I cross back onto the trail of emotional pestilence
and famine I emerged from.
--- On the bridge. GENERIC FEMALE ACTRESS #2 leaning next to Steve.
GFA#2: But they love you.
STEVE: Love is a polluted river I dare not wade through. It taints the
clothes and irritates the flesh. It corrodes the soul, tearing
apart the single metaphysical appendange that can never heal.
--- Street corner. GENERIC MALE ACTOR #1 leaning by Steve.
GMA#1: You have no money. You have no car.
STEVE: Material possessions mean nothing to me. Material possessions
bog down the soul from reaching a state of Nirvana, a utopian
tranquility with oneself.
--- The Forest. By a flowing stream. GENERIC FEMALE ACTRESS #2 and
Steve looking out.
GFA#2: Isn't it beautiful?
STEVE: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To me, this world as we know
it contains nothing that could justifiably be called aestetically
pleasing.
GFA#2: But what about this? Isn't this beautiful? Nature is beautiful.
STEVE: Mother Earth sucked dry the feeling and emotion in my breast. No,
nature is simply beautiful in youth. A facade. Then it ages, and
we see the truth, as it withers away and dies.
--- On the town. Steve and GENERIC ACTOR #2
GMA#2: Hey buddy, got a match?
STEVE: The flame burning deep inside me was smothered long ago by society.
Society has pilfered my will and strength to live and left me with
its two prized possessions, insignifigance... and remorse.
GMA#2: ...Is that a no?
--- Living room of a house. GENERIC ACTOR #1 and Steve.
GMA#1: Whoo-Hoo! Touchdown! (Goes to Hi-5 Steve)
STEVE: Haven't you ever though about whether or not the material world
really exists? What if we are simply the puppets of another's
show? How do you really KNOW that was a touchdown? Maybe it was
a field goal, maybe it was an interception. Some outside force may
be using you at their laboratory rat, making you believe that was
a touchdown, to further weave their web of illusion upon you.
GMA#1: (Getting a tad annoyed) Maybe.
STEVE: Exactly. Maybe. Maybe yes, maybe no. We don't know. There is no
answer we can conclude. We can only ask more questions, which in
turn yield no answers.
GMA#1: (Quite annoyed) ...Then WHY ask?
STEVE: Exactly! Then why ask any questions at all! We have no formulas, we
only have ideas that might have been instilled into our puny minds by
outside forces! I think you're finally realizing it all! Life is
like a box of chocolates, you either eat them right away and vomit
all over your bathroom floor, or you let them melt and become
dismembered globs of goo.
--- A graveyard. Steve and GENERIC ACTRESS #1
GFA#1: She was so young.
STEVE: Death claims everyone someday. Our own private armageddon is always
lurking within our shadow.
GFA#1: At least she's in a better place. God has mercy on those who deserve
it.
STEVE: And how are we to be so sure of such a thing? Our weak minds are not
capable of fathoming such a colossal idea as higher beings. However,
there might not even BE higher beings. Death may be the inevitable
end all eternity.
(GFA#1 runs off crying)
STEVE: How can I help but hurt others, considering the loathing I possess
for humanity? (Belltower Sounds) 'tis 2 o'clock and all is lost.
Time marches on as it tramples the memories and willpower of ones
once brave and strong.
--- At home. GENERIC PARENTAL FIGURE #1 Enters, looking annoyed at Steve.
GPF#1: (Talking in gibberish, very much "Peanuts"ish)
(Points, raises voice, lowers voice, sighs, exits)
(All this Time STEVE stares at GPF#1 blankly)
STEVE: Even my parents cannot understand where I am coming from. My own
flesh and blood, caught up in the rat race. All they want is to
make their money, eat their dinner, watch their television, and
die peacefully. They have no goals. They have no insight on the
world. Just more puppets to the great chain of being,
a chain where everyone is on the bottom, and the ultimate evil
holds our marionette strings.
--- Classroom setting. GENERIC TEACHER #1 and Steve.
GT#1: So, class, do you understand the problem?
STEVE: I don't understand the point. You could sit here and manipulate
this preconceived number system night and day, but it never gets
us anywhere. Sure, because of Calculus we might get a person to
the moon, but that person will be dead in less than 50 years,
have we really accomplished anything?
GT#1: Without Mathematics, Steven, our world would not be nearly as
technologically advanced as we are.
STEVE: Advanced? If our world was as advanced as most people believe it to
be, why do we still have such conflicts about racism and hatred
and prejudice and land and good and evil and famine and death and
the meaning of it all and the uselessness of it all and the pain...
GT#1: Steven... (Talking In Peanuts Voice)
STEVE: It's hopeless. We're all hopeless. We can't even communicate
anymore. We're all falling off the face of sanity and gripping on
by one last shread of dental floss.
--- Bus Stop. STEVE and Generic Actor #2.
GMA#2: So, how's everything going, Steve?
STEVE: How's everything going? The world is decaying before our eyes
and you have the gall to ask me how it's going? The planet has
decided to take a one way trip to oblivion, that's how its going.
We are destined to rot in our graves in a matter of moments, at
least compared to the entire scheme of things. Our lives are but
dust, small, useless, and petty. (GMA#2 Walks away) The worth of
my life is a ball of lint. A piece of candy. A token. A popsicle
stick. (looks over, notices he left.)
--- Outside of Niles North's Auditorium. Steve...........
STEVE: When will this eternal torment end. When will the world finally
implode like it should have hundreds of years ago. I tried to cry
yesterday, but I'm so empty and cold inside I had nothing to sustain
the tears. The outside took control of them, freezing them as they
slowly made their way barely around my bottom eyelid. Even when I
try to feel, all I feel is pain.
(Enter GENERIC LEPER BEGGER GUY #1)
Leper: (Speaking in Peanut's Gibberish, but doing a snappy job of visually
displaying his need of money, his need of food, his need of shelter.)
STEVE: And I thought the worst was behind me. But no, they still torture me!
I am plagued by idiots. Remove yourself from my presence! You will
receive no help from me. I have nothing to give. Everything
I valued was ripped from my womb as the thieves ran off, laughing all
the way.
Leper: (Almost at tears) (gibber gibber)
STEVE: I said back off! (Pushes Begger away from him) No, my friend, I have
nothing you'd want. Life's a circus, and I'm the peanut vendor.
Life's a head of hair, and I'm the lice. Life's a feast, and I'm the
tainted meat. Life's a parade, and I'm some ugly unused float.
Life's a story, and I'm just the comic relief. Life's a crowd, and
I'm the plague. Life's a bowl of cherries, and I'm the pits. Life's
a street and I'm a pothole. Life's a chorus, and I'm a b-flat.
Life's a Sunrise, and I am the fog. Life's an arcade game, and I'm
the quarters slot. Life's a teddy bear, and I'm a seam coming
apart. Life's a dictionary, and I'm a page number. Life's a knock
knock joke, and I'm the "knock knock?". Life's a band, and I'm the
roadie. Life's a telephone, and I'm rotary. Life's a brick of blue
cheeze, and I'm the blue stuff. Life's a can of carbonated beverage,
and I'm the flip top. Life's a remote control, and I'm the "Made in
Japan" sign. Life's a bingo game, and I'm the free space. Life's a
walk in the park, and I'm the mugger. Life's a bad actor, and I'm
forgotten line. Life's a vacation, and I'm the travelor's check.
Life's a new toy, and I'm the shrink wrapping.
(as monologue continutes, zoom out, fade out)
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[��������������������Remorse����������������������������������������������]
[�������������������������������By James Hetfield�������������������������]
[�������������������������������������������������04/14/95����������������]
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