NOTE: I adapted this into a one act play! It's posted separately on my account under the same title if you want to check it out. Okay, on with the show! -Tired Holly of the Future
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Fate (noun): the development of events beyond a person's control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power.
Circumstance (noun): a fact or condition connected with or relevant to an event or action.
Sebastian Alagrotti is a simple yet interesting man. He is an artist and sells his work to the local gallery, who displays it with pride. In addition, he creates designs for things like book jackets and album covers for people who are interested in his talent. Sebastian likes to watch people and create stories about them in his head. This is how he met his longtime girlfriend, Ana Decarlo, a ballet dancer, some years previous. They like to dance on the kitchen tiles to songs their parents used to listen to and like to kiss frequently. His ears loves the way Ana's voice sounded as she called him 'Seb.' They have a Jack Russell named Oliver who goes everywhere with them because he cries whenever they leave him alone and neither Sebastian nor Ana can stand that. Taking walks with Oliver during the early autumn while holding hands with Ana and watching the leaves fall from the trees is one of Sebastian's favorite ways to spend his time. Sebastian Alagrotti has dark hair, fair skin, and blue eyes. He is five foot eleven and weighs one hundred and forty six pounds. Sebastian Alagrotti is thirty five years old (date of birth: 14 March 1980). Sebastian Alagrotti is about to die.
"He sounds like a drag," said Fate as she tossed his file in the trash can adjacent to her desk. "Let's kill him."
"Kill him?" squeaked Circumstance. "He's not such a bad egg! Why can't we let him live?"
"'Not such a bad egg?'" mocked Fate. "Need I remind you of that time he nicked that comic book?"
"He was seven! He didn't know any better!" Circumstance defended Sebastian.
"Seven years old is more than old enough to know not to steal!" argued Fate.
"His mother marched him right back to the store and made him return it. He learned his lesson and became a better person because of it."
"How about when he was fifteen and made his friend Scott Wright break up with Heather King?" Fate said.
"It wasn't malicious, though. Sebastian knew that Heather was cheating on Scott. He saw her making out with Garrett Terrance behind the library that one time."
"But you're also omitting the fact that he was motivated by his crush on Heather King."
"But what he did was ultimately for the greater good."
"You're missing the point," Fate told Circumstance as she sipped her morning cup of tea.
"No, I think you're the one who is missing the point, my dearest Fate," replied Circumstance. "You keep trying to find ways to convince me that Sebastian Alagrotti is a bad man, but admit it, your case is weak. Besides," -Circumstance paused to sip his coffee- "I know something that you do not."
Fate narrowed her eyes but didn't comment on the latter statement. "'On 3 December, 2003," Fate said, standing up, "Sebastian watched a man drop a hundred dollar bill and did not return it to him but picked it up and pocketed it.'"
"And then he felt guilty and subsequently donated it to charity. Now who is omitting information, Fate?" Fate only scowled.
"'On 4 February, 2005, Sebastian called Ana Declaro an 'irrelevant wannabe who only cares about herself' then threw a glass of champagne in her face.' We both know the significance of Ana Decarlo."
"Two days later he called her and apologized," Circumstance informed her, "and to be fair, she told him that he has a crooked nose and that she didn't understand his art, which is his life's work. You must admit, Fate, she kind of deserved a glass of champagne in the face."
Fate swatted at Circumstance's conclusion like it was a fly she was shooing away. "Irrelevant," she said simply.
"Is it? Is it really, Miss Fate?" ask Circumstance. "Trying to psychoanalyze every step Sebastian has taken in his life will not convince me to let him die, nor are his mistakes and shortcomings a logical reason for him to die in a car crash. The man is only human, after all. There are other matters to take into account."
"Oh yeah?" scoffed Fate. "Like what?"
"The things that he has done that were good. Go ahead, Fate. Read from his file." Reluctantly, Fate picked up Sebastian Alagrotti's file from the trash can. "On 25 May, 1985, Sebastian stopped a group of bullies from harassing Nettie Harden, a kindness she still remembers and is thankful for to this day." She looked up at Circumstance, who was trying and failing to hide the smug look on his face. He gestured for her to keep reading. "'Sebastian had accumulated over one hundred volunteer hours by the time he graduated high school.' 'When his brother Matthias came out at the age of fifteen and his parents kicked him out, Sebastian let Matthias live at his house until he graduated from high school.' 'On 3 August, 2003, Sebastian saved Ana Decarlo from jumping off of a bridge and committing suicide.'"
"See, Fate? I was right. He wasn't a bad egg at all. In fact, he was a good egg," said Circumstance. "But I don't think this is really about whether Sebastian Alagrotti was a good man or not. There is another reason why you don't want him to live, isn't there?"
"My numbers are unbalanced," Fate mumbled. "I'm sick of people thinking that I'm not a force to be reckoned with. 'This is my fate,' 'Fate brought us together.' Circumstance isn't the only variable, the only one to put a wrench in a situation! 'I was victim of circumstance,' 'The circumstances just weren't right.' I'm more than just some abstract concept to be cited when two people fall in love. I'm Fate, and not everything I do is good. Sometimes people's fate is to meet an untimely, awful demise. That's just how it is."
"But Sebastian's fate is not to meet an untimely demise," Circumstance pressed. "Sure, he had some flaws, but doesn't everyone? He's only human, after all. Ultimately, Sebastian Alagrotti was-is-a good man. He deserves to live."
"Who's to decide who lives or who dies, or who is good or who is bad? We spend most of our time interfering with the inevitable and killing people for a living," mumbled Fate.
"But not all of the time. We also spend a good portion of our time saving people for a living." He paused. "Fate, life is a series of very good things and very bad things. Sometimes they seem like one outweighs the other, but they don't. At the end of the day, you're left to deal with some very good things and some very bad things. You just have to learn how to balance them."
Fate nodded and stared at Sebastian's file, a thoughtful yet serene look on her face as she contemplated what Circumstance had said. All of a sudden, she whipped her head around to look at Circumstance inquisitively. "Wait just a second here. Earlier, you said that you knew something that I didn't. What knowledge are you withholding from me, Mr. Circumstance?" she asked her partner, wagging her index finger in his face as he spoke.
"Never you mind," replied Circumstance, waving her off. "Now, let's get down to business, hm?"
Their office dissipated and the two personifications were standing in the middle of a road. Time stood still. Two cars were seconds away from colliding.
"Okay, so good guy, bad driver," Fate deadpanned. "How are we going to save him?"
"We don't have to," said Circumstance with a knowing smile. "He has saved himself."
Fate furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
Circumstance motioned for Fate to follow him, which she did. "Actually, Fate, it seems to me that this one isn't Seb's fault. The other driver is on his phone, see? But Seb over here sees the crash coming. He's got his seatbelt on, he's sitting back in his seat, he looks calm. Just about to hit the brakes. Will he get a little banged up? Sure. But he will live."
"We don't have to intervene at all?" Fate asked.
"Doesn't appear so to me," Circumstance agreed. "I bet you that the worst he will get is a broken nose, if that." Fate nodded. "Hey," he said to her.
"What?"
"You did a good thing today by not killing Sebastian, believe me," Circumstance told her. "He's still got life left to live, and it's best that you let him get the chance to live it."
"Yeah, well," Fate said as she shrugged. "Thanks for breaking me out of my cynicism."
They were quiet for a moment. Then Circumstance spoke: "We do not have time to dwell on this. We have more cases to work on."
Fate snapped her fingers, and they were gone.
"You idiot!" exclaimed Ana Decarlo as she playfully hit Sebastian Alagrotti on the arm. The latter had just been in a car crash, but had luckily escaped with only some minor bruising. The other driver, however, was not quite as lucky. Sebastian was sitting in the back of an ambulance, waiting for them to confirm the inevitable, which was that he was not injured and could go home with his girlfriend and dog.
"Ow," muttered Sebastian jokingly, "you shouldn't hit the injured, my love."
Ana rolled her eyes. "I could just leave you here, you know," she informed him, smirking as she crossed her arms.
"But that would be no good," Sebastian said matter-of-factly.
"No good?" Ana repeated.
"Yeah, no good," he said again. "Oliver just simply couldn't take it if he was stuck with you all the time."
"Not to mention that I would miss you like mad." She kissed her boyfriend's cheek. "Now, c'mon. The paramedics cleared you to go, and it's Netflix night! I was going to get pizza from that one place you always rave about that's way too expensive, but you didn't die today so I think you've earned some way-too-expensive-pizza."
Sebastian raised an eyebrow. "Babe, isn't every night 'Netflix night' for you?"
"Yeah, but...we'll be watching together! With pizza from the one place!"
"Okay, okay, it's hard to argue with that logic," Sebastian said with a shrug.
"Come on, ya loser, let's go home."
They linked arms and began to make their way to Ana's car, which was decidedly less totaled than Sebastian's.
"You got really lucky today, Seb, you know that, right?"
"Nah, I don't believe in luck. It was my fate."
"Or perhaps it was just the circumstances."
"You know," said Sebastian Alagrotti, "I've got a feeling it might be both."