Mind Over Matter

Disk 5: "One baby step at a time".

Just one more time period to visit after this, audience. A personal favourite of mine, I must admit. I imagine that you must all be looking scathingly at the screen now, waiting for this charade to end. Yet, it's a rather long tale and to do the story justice we must take it one step at a time. 

One baby step at a time.

I think this is a tale you'd quite enjoy audience; something to pull on your heartstrings, so to speak. You can ignore the tall girl at the computer desk, listening to music through her Walkman, because this does not concern her. Well, in retropsect is does yet, you should not jump to the conclusion that she becomes Player Number 4, that would be to easy and predictable. If there is one thing you should know about the person who is doing this; they are not predictable. 

You see, if they were predictable we would not be having this court case right now. It was necessary for the events to unfold in this manner, or surely they would have been caught. So, back to the girl. From what I am able to gather her name is Anna. My information is not as sufficient as before, as my source is not as reliable as the others. You will see why shortly.

Anna is rather busy, being a 15 year old girl. She's not the most social of girls and is prone to locking herself up in the room she shares with three other orphans. However, there is someone that Anna has time for. That person, would be a four year old boy, named Max. My source tells me that they entered Wellston Orphanage at around the same time and have been close ever since, despite the eight year age gap. Whilst I was playing around with time, trying to find the right clip to show you, I learnt that these two children are actually pretty close. There's probably a great psychological reason for why they are so close, but that information is superfluous and irrelevant to the case.

Observe.

See how Max just walks straight into the room, oblivious to the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door? Anna does not even sigh, but turns around from her work, eyes lighting up at the sight of his black curls. She smiles at the way he rushes up to her table, placing an exercise book titled 'Homework' in front of her.

"What's the matter, Maxi?" she asks, scooping him onto her lap.  

"Anna-Banana, at school the teachers put me down a group", he says. She chuckles at the comic expression on his face before asking why.

"They said I'm slow, because I can't spell my name properly. It's not fair! I have a long name! I sometimes mix up the "o" and "u", that's all." Max says, eyes flashing. 

"I'll help you in a little bit, okay Max? Let me just run this floppy disk down to Hannah's house”, she says. She ruffles his hair reassuring before running down the stairs to her friend's house.

"Okay", Max says, walking over to her bed and sitting down, carrying his Homework book in his hands. He picks up the Walkman that Anna has left and presses Play after plugging the music into his ears. He hums along to 'Come As You Are' by Nirvana, not really knowing the words. Yet he does know that its Anna's favourite song and that is good enough for him. 

The song finishes and this is where it becomes important. 

Max waits expectantly for the next Nirvana song to come on; however he is met with a new song. Anna had made a recording of her voice, singing a song that she aspired to sing at the End of Year Play. 

I wish that I could fly,

Way up in the sky,

Like a bird so high,

Oh I might just try,

Max stops. He likes this song, he decides. Anna is what I would call a translator of music. Her voice may not be the best, but is clear and therefore make the lyrics apparent. Thus, it was easy for Max to pick up the words, so he sang along. He rewinds the Walkman and plays the song again, singing along this time. Precisely 2 minutes and 34 seconds into the song, the Walkman is broken and Max is nowhere to be seen. Yet, from my visit to Max we can see what really happened.

Max hears the sound of metallic thrumming what you are all familiar with by now. However, thinking that it is part of the song, he ignores it, letting its consistent sound wash over him. 

A shadow reaches over him, holding a white handkerchief. Still Max does not notice as his eyes are shut, letting Anna's voice wash over him. 

The handkerchief is extends towards Max's mouth, presses over his nose and his body goes limp. Then, even my camera goes blurry for a minute. It regains focus here, just as we see Max's hand drop his book onto the floor.

That is how Maximillian Papandrious becomes Player Number 5

 ____________________________________________________________________________

The screen goes blank. 

The Judge busies himself with the DVD player, trying to sort out the next tape, while the whole courtroom sits in shock. They just sit in anguish, their minds whirring at the thought of the terrible things that could happen to the boy. They don't think of him as Max, not yet. However, the fact that he's just seven years old worries people. There are a few sniffles in the courtroom, while the men look at each other, rolling their eyes. Women. That's what they're thinking. 

"I can't stand this! How is no-one saying anything? A young child was just viciously, yes viciously, kidnapped!" exclaims one of the old women, that was previously comforting Malcolm. Her friend tugs on the end of her sleeve, ushering her to sit down. 

Malcolm squirms uneasily in his seat. Miss Lyle is scratching awkwardly at her neck, avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room, making him feel even more uneasy. She was always loud and this reprieve had left him astounded. He looks back to the old women that he thought he had befriended. This is bad. From the age of sixteen, Malcolm has built himself up, conquering his former stupidity, enabling himself to become one of the richest men in the country. If he were convicted for this 'crime', then those twenty-six years of work would be shattered. 

That could not be able to happen. 

You would think, that crimes from so long ago would not really bother people. What happened to 'Living in the now' and all of that? Such hypocrites; Malcolm raged in his head. Feeding the world with such meaningless propaganda. The legal system is a joke and Malcolm knows this all too well. The most heinous of criminals can escape with a smack on the hand, if they have a pretty penny. Malcolm vows to use this to his advantage. There will be a short break soon and Malcolm will have to mix with people, in an attempt to change their minds.

Malcolm surveys the room of people. No-one makes eye contact with him, though. Everyone is much too busy with their own thoughts. All he wanted was a few encouraging smiles. That's all he wanted. He thought they would at least look at him. Isn't that their job, to check if he was guilty or not? Surely his reaction to this mattered. Malcolm shakes his head in contempt, clenching his teeth as the screen blared to life.

"Disk Six".

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There you go! Next chapter is the last of the time periods, then on to the main plot!

Dedication to the lovely MyBeautifulLie, for all her nice comments. Thank you!