TRIGGERFINGER (ORIGINAL STORY) - SEASON ONE

S01E06 A Bolt of Lightning! Welcome to The Neighborhood! (Part One)

All residents of The Neighborhood were gathered in the town's church, Minister Toridae standing before them on a stage in front of a podium delivering a wonderful sermon about their gracious Dome Sanctuary leader, Maximus Paige. The Minister was Bolt's father, a devoted servant to that of Maximus, as loyal as they come. And when that day comes, his father said, we will follow our great leader Maximus Paige into a new era. The church-goers applauded and cheered, as did Bolt and his mother, Serpina, sitting beside him.

Music started playing, and they started to sing a hymn about Maximus Paige. It was beautiful, everyone singing in harmony, their voices aligned with one another, hands on their hearts. Bolt could feel the power of faith flowing through his body, as he ran a hand across his dark bald head. How thankful he was to have found such a perfect family, even if his Ma and Pa looked different to him. Their skin color was different, their eyes were different, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was that there was no difference in faith.

Gracious he will be, triumphant you will see. Oh, great Maximus, oh great Maximus. He is the savior of you and me. The voices echoed throughout the church hall, tears in the eyes of Neighborhood residents as they sung the great anthem the Minister had written. Bolt looked around, a shiver down his spine as the words of the song spoke to him and the other residents. His mother's voice beside him was truly magnificent, melodic, angelic, a tingle in his ears.

As they continued singing, the offertory pot went around and people put money inside, these offerings would go to the church so that the Minister could continue running it. Once it got to Bolt, he placed inside some of his pocket money and passed it onto the family sitting to his left. The father of the family began to sweat, and with a gulp, he tried to pass the pot on. The Minister noticed and raised a hand, the music stopped playing.

"Excuse me Trevor," he said. "Why have you not contributed?"

Trevor hesitated. "Money's tight this week, Minister. I can't afford it."

"You know what happens when a contribution is not made, do you not?"

"Yes, Minister, but I was hoping I could make it up to you next-"

"Three days in the hole," the Minister interrupted.

"But Minister!"

"Go, now."

The man's children began crying, as did his wife. He got up and tried to flee but nearby residents grabbed him, he was kicking and screaming as he was dragged out the church doors. Bolt knew it was his own fault in the Minister's eyes, everyone knew that they must contribute to the church weekly or there would be consequences. Three days in the hole? He got off lightly. Bolt had once seen someone sentenced to five days in the hole for the same reason.

Bolt couldn't help but feel sorry for Trevor's family sitting beside him. The children didn't understand what was going on. His wife tried to explain that it was because daddy couldn't pay their family's contribution but it fell on deaf ears. Bolt looked up at his father who stood proudly at the front of the church. He knew his Pa had to have had a good reason.

***

A few days later, Bolt stood with his father at the front of the hole. It was located at the very back of The Neighborhood, behind rows and rows of suburban houses. It was quite beautiful here, family homes, white picket fences, tyre swings attached to trees, a nice place for Bolt to have grown up in. The hole however took away from its beauty. It was rather wide in diameter, about 30 feet deep, not much inside a part from a well to drink from.

Minister Toridae took a long ladder from the back of his pickup truck and placed it in the hole, leaning it up against the side. Bolt watched as Trevor quickly scurried from the center of the hole and over to the ladder. Without hesitation, he rapidly climbed up the ladder and out of the hole. He looked sick, malnourished, like he had gone three days without a decent meal. He got down on his hands and knees and kissed the grass before him. The hole itself was mostly just dirt, so he hadn't seen grass for 72 hours.