Fate

Fate

(1) James Lee is a tall, lean and handsome man. He loves sports and doing exercise regularly. That gives him a graceful movement which is even more attractive than his handsome face. He is single, lives in San Francisco, works for a big bank. Today, March 2nd, 2006, when he finished his whole day's work, he is ready to go home by BART. He was saying Goodbye to his coworkers when he saw that old man was trying to collect many pieces of paper from the ground. He approached the old man asking:"May I help you?" The old man looked at him with a smile, saying :"Please! Thank you, young man." James quickly collected all those paper and gave it to the old man. "Thank you!" the man said,"Have you ever heard of Phony Bar? It is located in Market cross 6th avenue. There, you will find enoumous help --- more help and learning than you can ever imagine." The old man put one sheet of paper in James' hand. "Here, keep it, you will find it come in handy." "Thank you!" James replied as the old man walking slowly away. But he thought, what kind of learning can I have in a bar? How to seduce a woman? James realized that many people are walking out of the bart station with obevious frustration. Several police cars approached and one of them is broadcasting :"BART is closed. Please take other transportations. BART is closed for undecided time. Please take a bus, or furry, or carpool with other people. Attention ... " "What is happenning? Without BART how can I go back to Fremont?" Someone asked. The policeman answered:"I don't know. But if I were you, I will try to find a place in San Francisco for tonight." The buildings around James suddenly all fall into darkness --- the electricity just went out, too. People just fall into silence for several seconds, then began to move to all directions: some go to bus station, some walking towards the hotels. But James didn't move. He noticed a strange thump in a distance, and he also think he heard someone screaming. He tried to figure out what was that. After a while, everyone noticed it. The screaming was so scary, so miserable, people began to run into buildings for shelter. James hid himself behind some flowers. He looks through the leaves towards the direction those strange noises come from. The thump became closer and closer. The screamings are from different people. It sounds like many people are being tortured. There it is. It looks like a dinosaur with 2 stories height, all covered by blood, still have a human leg in its mouth. A group of soldiers appeared and began to fire at the dinosaur. The bullets shotting to it like a storm. But the dinosaur didn't pay attention at all --- those bullets didn't give it even a slight scratch. The dinosaur approached the soldiers, grabed two men at a time, put them into its huge mouth, and began to chew. James turned over and puked. The he was so furious. He jumped out and ran towards the soldiers. He grabed a gun from the ground and fired at the dinosaur like crazy. Quickly he regained his control over his emotions. He realized the bullets couldn't hurt it. He also noticed that every time it eats a man, it will grow bigger! He throw away the gun, and began to run at his highest speed with the last few soldiers. He run all he can. He almost feels the heat the dinosaur blow in his neck. He runs and runs, he feels like his lungs will explore. Finanly, he lost the dinosaur. He feels so tired, and there is a fire in his throat that he became very thristy. He sat down to the ground. Then, his eys cathes something: Phony Bar. Has he ever heard of it? He quickly remembered the old man and his interesting suggestion:"more help and learning than you can ever imagine." Okay. Help or not, there must be water and food in there! James goes into that bar. (2) The TV is on and everyone is watching closely: "CNN broadcasting: The monster dinosaur has growed to 20 stories tall, killed at least 200 people and damaged several buildings already. Look at the famous Golden Gate Bridge --- it is broken into half --- thanks to the dinosaur. Here look at this debris: it used to be a 40 stories building. Heaven knows how many people were trapped under. ..." James just feel his stomach all knotted together. There is only one thought in his mind: I am going to destroy you, you monster! James captured a very low wisper :"There is no monster. It is only your imagination." He turned and saw two wired-dressing people sitting in a corner table. One of them waved at him as if they want him to go over. James went to that table. He saw two monks. One elder, and one young man. The old monk just close his eyes, murmuring something, while the young monk asked James if he wanted to sit down. James sat and smiled at him: "What can I do for you?" The young, ugly-looking monk stared at him, then said to himself: "This is you? You are so damn good-looking. You are supposed to do that job? Are they out of their minds?" James sharply looked him, directly interupted: "Are you talking about me? What is that mean?" The old monk stoped murtering, the your monk became a little embarrassed:"Well, yeah, I am talking about you. So you are James Lee?" James became very alert and very calm: "Who are you? How do you know my name?" The young monk said: "My name is Tiba. And this is my mentor, Sashi. We came from Super..." Sashi opened his eyes and interupted Tiba's words :"We came from a far away place. We are here to find you and one of your old friends bring a gift for you." There are so many questions rising in James' head. He asked:"My friend? What is his name?" There are more questions he didn't ask: How do you know my name? How do you know you can meet me here? Which place is called 'Super...'? What do you mean by there is no monster and it is only my imagination? He hold up these questions, thinking it is better to ask them slowly. Sashi didn't answer. He turned and get a long box. he opened it, and there, lying this sword, shimmering a dim light, so elegant and beautiful.  James just felt a deep connection with the sword. He gently touched it with his fingers, a wired feeling rised up --- it feels like he has been with this sword for many many years! Sashi said: "Here, this is Kuf. This is the gift your friends wanted to give to you to help you defeat the monster dinosaur. Remember its teeth is poisonous and it can kill you." James asked:"Who send me this? It is beautiful!" Nobody answered. James looked up, realizing the two monks already left. He is surprised because he didn't hear them leave. It felt more like they disappeared in thin air. This is like a dream! James thought. First, a monster is coming and killing people. Then, I met these two wired people and they give me a sword. Now, looks like someone want me to kill the monster by this sword. But why me? The monster is so big and I could easily be killed by it. And poisonous teeth! James signed. He knows himself: I am going to fight the monster no matter what. I am killing the monster. Or, I die trying. He spoke to nobody in a low voice: "Thank you, whoever you are, for helping me killing the monster."                         (3) It is easy to spot that monster. It is so tall now it is the tallest thing in the whole city. James run toward it. The policemen, soldiers were holding a bar to prevent anyone from getting even close to it. But James just hiding himself and sneak in. He can see helicopters fire at the monster. But the monster didn't show any sign of hurt. James feel his sword: Buddy, please help me. Please kill that thing! It is all dark everywhere. James easily get close to the monster. He pulled out the sword, realize it is really small compare to the monster. I can stub its feet. James thought, but will it feel a thing? Still, he used all his strength, use the sword to cut the monster's foot. A big block come off. At least, to James, it is big. He felt very encouraged. The sword really works! It has much more power than those bullets. James began to cut again and again. Then he saw some dark green liquid coming out of the foot. James yelled: "I made you bleeding!" He cut even faster. The monster turned and looked what is happening to its foot. Looks like it is the first time it noticed something is hurting it. The monster saw that little man, it strenthing out to grab him, but he nimbly jumped away and began to cut its foot in another place.  The monster pulled up its foot, and try to step on him. He run. He jumped. He hide. Sometimes the monster will step on its other foot but it could not hurt the man. Then the monster just give up. It continued its slaughting to people without paying any attention to James any more. James realized why: Even if he cut continuously two hours, he will not be able to cut off one toe from the monster. And he will be exhausted long before that. He looked around and saw a big pile of iron rope on a pickup. He knew what he need to do. He break in the pickup, turned on the engine, of course, without a key. He drived the pickup beside a heavy truck. He tied the rope to the truck, then he drive to far away, drive all the way inside a big building, leaving the iron rope straight in the air. The monster is walking this way. James can feel his heart pumping in his chest, he waved his sword in the air, yelling at the monster to get its attention. The monster walking its way toward him. Step 1, step 2, step 3, good, the monster tumbled on the rope and fell heavily to the ground. James run as fast as he could. He is almost certain he can win a medal from olympic competition. But the monster still fell on him, all he can do is to find a place under the monster to avoid been smashed flat. The trumble of the earth ceased, the rolling thuder noise disappeared, the dust became cleared, James found himself still aliving, all covered by green blood from the monster. The monster's body now fell into debris. Its head is into dozens of pieces. Its body is located everywhere. The soldiers, the policemen, and James, everyone just burst into yelling :"The monster is dead! It is dead!" But then James stopped. He looked at the position where it supposed to be the monster's chest, there, another monster is standing up, 20 feet tall, ugly octopus appearance, waving 4 arms, walking on 4 legs, with a big mouth and many many teeth, approaching him. James just remembered one thing: Those teeth are poisonase.                (4) Soldiers and policemen began to fire crazily at the monster. But, just as before, bullets didn't do any good. James hold his sword firmly. He run toward the "small" monster, cut off one of its arms. It shreked loudly, vigorously waved all other arms and beat James out. James felt severe pain in chest. He doesn't know if any bones are broken. He regained his strength, standing up, charged toward to the monster again. He cut off another leg, was throw out even further. He laid on the ground. His body is so painful he thought he will lost concious. He know he can make another charge --- but that will be the last one --- he will be killed by the monster by that time. He breathed heavily. He carefully observed the monster. There, the big open mouth. He thought of one idea. He made up his mind. I will win. Or, I will die trying. He climbed to the top of a tall building nearby. He run, then jump of the roof, sword in front of his body, directly toward the big mouth of the monster. He can feel he get in the mouth, the sword cut through the monster's throat and its heart. He cut a big hole in the monster's body, and flying out from its back and fell to the ground. He felt that the teeth cut open his shoulder. Those poisonous teeth. He turned and looked at the monster. It screamed. It fell. Then it stopped. Everything became quiet. He knew he has already killed it. His shoulder now became unbearably painful. I am not dying. I am not going to die! He thought. He can feel his conciouse is leaving him. NOOOOO! I am not dying! This is just a dream!!!!! Every figure, every noise, everything, just faded. He lost conciouse. "Buzz! Buzz! ..." James was waked by his alarm clock. The dream he just had was so real. Is that a dream? He turned on TV, the date is March 3rd, and there is no special news on TV at all. He looked out the window, Golden Gate Bridge is shinning in the rising sun. So it is a dream! He thought. So real! Then he saw a sword on his table. His Kuf. And a sharp pain in his shoulder makes him go to mirror to find out what is there: a cut, and it is still bleeding.                             (5) The only place James can think about is "Phony Bar". He went there and, such a relief, he saw Sashi and Tiba there. "Hi!" He said. But he is a littel hesitate about what to say next. Should he ask them about the monster? or the sword? Does those things really happened? Maybe he bought a sword and cut himself in the shoulder last night and then forgot everything. In other words, he is plainly insane. Tiba looked at him and said: "You are awefully handsome. How about your shoulder?" James sharply stared at him said: "Do you have to be so brokeback mountain?" Tiba looks embarrassed. Then he murtured something like sorry. But Sashi began to talk: "James, please sit down. How is your shoulder?" James use a hand covering his wound, feel this can alivate his pain. "What happened last night? Have you seen a monster last night?" Sashi smiled: "Yes we saw a monster. We saw you fight the monster. The monster's poisonous teeth killed you --- " He stopped and looked at James. James listened carefully. He looked straight in Sashi's eyes: "Then why am I still alive now?" Sashi chuckled: "Because right before your death, you have such a strong wish that everything will just pass without leaving a trace ..." James said: "So my wish is so strong it come true? Next time I will strongly wish to win a powerball or something. This is unbelievable." Sashi put an empty cup in front of him: "Here. Try to think this cup is full of wine. Your wish can make it true. But you need to focus." Somehow, James began to believe in him. Maybe deep down inside, he think to be an idiot is better than to be insane. He focused on the cup, thinking about wine pouring in it. Gradually, the cup was filled with wine. He looked up, surprised, asking: "How did this happen? Why?" "Because," the old monk said with a smile: "Nothing really exist. The cup doesn't exist. The wine doesn't exist. I don't exist. It is all your imagination. It is all in your head. Even you don't exist. Do you understand?" James admitted: "I am more confused than before." Sashi said: "It is Ok. It takes time for you to see the truth." Tiba, after a long time silence, said: "You better get the truth quickly. Otherwise, the wound on your shoulder will give you  a real painful time once everyday. And it eventrully will kill you." After this, both of them disappeared into thin air right before James' eyes. Well, if I don't even exist, how can I be killed? James thought. (To be continued ...) 寫一些東西，才知道要把一種哲學思想用故事表達出來有多難。 要敲漢字有多累。若有語音識別係統就好了。