Morphosis

May 16, 1996
    “Yeah dude, I’m definitely going to that party tonight. Seriously, the whole graduating Class is going to be there.”  Xaden said to his friend on the phone.  He was ready for the Night to begin.  He paced back and forth, checked himself out in the mirror, and turned up the music that he listened to when he was in a great, excited mood.  He couldn’t understand why he liked hip-hop, considering how pointless and arrogant most of it was. 
    “I’ll be there around nine tonight, count on it.” He hangs up and then checks himself out one more time in the mirror.  He smiles.  Someone knocks on his door. “Come in.” It was his oldest sister Riana.  “Xaden, I need to ask a real big favor of you.” “What?” he asks as he stops packing a change of clothes in his bag to show her is full attention. He knew it bothered her terribly to be talking to someone without them looking at her, or at least not doing anything else.
    “I need you to watch Jennifer tonight. It’s me and Paul’s fifth year anniversary, and, well,” “Sorry sis. I got plans. You should have thought of finding a baby sitter sooner,” he says, looking at her with a face of slight pity, then turns around and resumes his task. “Please Xaden. Paul is only in town for the weekend before he goes back to Korea, and we would have planned it out, except he didn’t know he was coming back either. This is a last minute deal to us too.”
    Xaden is packing slower now, breathes a heavy sigh, and then pauses to think.  “There must be somebody that can…” “There is no one,” she says. “I’ve tried everyone. Xaden please, I know how much you’ve been looking forward to your graduation party, but I may not see Paul again for another year before he is released from active duty. I’ll make it up to you, I swear. Besides, Jennifer says she would rather stay with you more than anyone else, so…”  “Ok, Ok,” Xaden turns to look at her, with defeat in his face, yet finally forcing a smile.  Xaden motions for Jennifer, who just appeared behind Riana, to join him in a hug.  “Whew,” he says, hugging the 5 year old little girl. “Your lucky I kind of like you.”

January 23, 1999
    “Well Hello Mrs. Eoff, how are you today?” Xaden asks as he enters the little old ladies room for his volunteered weekly visit.  Mrs. Eoff, slumped in her wheelchair with her head hanging down, slowly shifts her head up to look up at Xaden with a smile on her face. “Well hello young man,” she replies with her cute, little laugh. “Have you brought me some candy today?”
    Xaden walks up to her and kneels down in front of her so that she may hear him better and also save the strain on her neck. He smiles at her and says “Indeed I have,” handing her a bag of assorted soft chews. “You are careful with those, and don’t let the nurses find them, or they make take them away.”  “Oh ho ho,” she laughs, slowly lifting her left arm to pat him (a little too hard) on the face. It stings, but the fact that at her age that she could make it sting humored him. 
    “You’re such a nice young man, and so handsome. Why if I was 60 years younger, you’d have to beat me off with a stick,” she says, again followed by a short little laugh.  He smiles, enjoying the compliment. “You have yourself a little girlfriend, you told me, right?” He smiles and says, “Well yes, I do.” “Oh, young love is a wonderful thing. If you find someone you really love, which you have told me before you have, you should not let it go.” “Yeah, but I’m still so young.” “My dear, you’re never too young to be happy for the rest of your life.”
    He lets this sink in, rubs his chin while staring off in the distance, then asks “Do you need anything while I am here?”  “Huh?”  He stands up and leans towards her ear.  “Do you need anything while I am here?”  “Oh, well, uh…” she slowly, very slowly, turns her head towards the stuffed animals on her windowsill.  “Well, I believe my little babies over there are getting cold. Can you put them over there on my bed, darling?”  “Of course, Mrs. Eoff.”
    He could never tell whether she was serious about these stuffed animals or not.  She seemed to pay a lot of attention to them.  Nevertheless, he never asked.  After doing as she asks, he walks back over to her and pats her on her head, signaling like always that it was time for him to leave.  As he was starting to exit, she says, “Oh wait darling, I want to ask you something.” He turns his head back towards her slowly, then turns around and walks back over and once again kneels in front of her. “Yes?”  “Promise me you’ll come to visit me next week.” He smiles. “Of course I will.”  He never got the chance.

August 28, 2003
         As soon as they were both outside, Xaden uncovers his fiancé’s eyes to reveal to her the majestic layout that embraced the little clearing leading down to the beach.  Her mouth drops and tears begin to break free for her eyes.  “It….it’s beautiful.”  He looks at her and whispers “Yes she is.”
All of the trees were covered with white Christmas lights.  The fountain, which had not worked in years, had now been resurrected back to life with water flowing graciously.  Bouquets of white roses were everywhere, and at least 50 of them made a path from the clearing, leading all the way down to the picnic table he had set up just close enough to the beach where the water would occasionally kiss their feet.  The moon was full and bright.  Not a cloud in the sky. 
         A soft, pleasant island tune serenaded her ears.  Out from behind trees, just a little a head of the couple, was two Hawaiian men, one singing, and one playing the ukulele.  She turns around to give him a hug he’ll never forget.  “I love you so much!! With all of my heart!!!” She can’t stop crying, and as much as he tries not to, he joins her in the waterworks.  “I love you too darling.  God, you have no idea how much,” he says, barely being able to complete the sentence from sobbing so much. 
         They give each other a passionate kiss of such radiance and ecstasy that both of them wish it could last forever.  This kiss, this moment, this night, this life.  All of it, forever.  Finally, they break to look into each other’s eyes. “Despite my circumstances, I am still the luckiest guy in the world.  How’d I ever be so blessed as to you have you?”  He rubs his fingers through her hair softly, giving her a faint smile as their eyes remain locked together.  Both of them felt exuberant to the touch.  She leans forward, giving him a slow, soft kiss, then replies, “By just being you.” 
    Xaden takes a hard gulp.  “I am going to miss you so much.  I am so sorry baby, I” She presses her finger to his lips.  “Shhh. No need to apologize.  You saved me and you. You had no choice.  I love you, and I’ll wait forever for you, I promise.  I’d go to the ends of the earth to be with you.”
Xaden finally breaks eye contact with her, and looks down to see his right hand holding her left, with his thumb rubbing the diamond that she was so happy to receive and that he was so happy to give.

March 12, 2008
    Xaden stretched himself out on the couch, getting ready to enjoy the next 20 minutes immensely.  An evil grin made its way across the bottom of his face.  “So what are we about to watch,” Walter asked, for himself, as well as the 5 other viewers in the room.  It was a small get together/reunion for a couple of friends in a small apartment.  “You’ll see,” Xaden answered.  “I made it especially for Greg.”
Greg enters the room to join the crowd in the living room.  Greg sits down on the other end of the couch from Xaden.  He looks at Xaden curiously.  Xaden looks back at him, eyes squinted, his smile the same.  Greg and Xaden had been friends for years.  Xaden looks back at the television, asking “Do we have the popcorn ready?”  Jamal says “Yeah, let’s get this started.”  Xaden nods and presses play. 
    Everyone immediately leans forward to make sure that what they are seeing is real, except for Xaden.  He leans back further, arms stretched out behind his head.  He loved seeing himself in action, especially with Greg’s girlfriend.  Apparently, so did everyone else, well, except Greg.  “WHA….WHAT THE HELL!!!??” Greg says in a horrified tone, not being able to take his eyes off the screen.  Xaden leans forward, rubs his hands together is a taunting matter, and looks over at him and says, “Hey man. You were right. Your girl does take it like a champ.” 
Greg is too stupefied to move.  He doesn’t believe it until he hears his girlfriend on screen asks Xaden “Greg must never know about this, promise me.” “Sure, I promise.” She never even knew she was on tape.  Xaden leans up, smiles, and shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t even know what the word promise means. Oops!”

December 24, 2014
    “Mr. Rath, 2 minutes before you’re on.”  Xaden shoos the man away with his hand.  Time to give the people what they want and the world what it need’s.  Marching out onto the set, he stops to gaze out the crowd.  His eyes are squinted, his mouth motionless.  He tosses his bottle of water towards the camera men to the side, as if they are janitors.  This causes him to receive more boos than he is already getting.  This makes him smile.  He walks over to shake Jim Norden’s hand.  Xaden liked being on this show.  HBO let him say and do whatever he wanted.  Xaden meant ratings, despite how much he was despised.  He and Jim both take their seat at their rightful places.  Jim is a little nervous.  “Well, it certainly seems as if everyone on the planet knows you,” he says, trying to be funny.  Xaden didn’t laugh; he just looked at the crowd and said “You have to be living under a rock to not know who I am.” 
    There were some cheers, but not many.  He was asked about this too.  “As long as they say something.”  “Your often criticized for your views, well, on just about everything.  Could you clarify?”  Xaden remains relaxed, left leg folded over his right, leaning toward his left side; he answers “I have an opinion just like everybody else, only mine matters and most of theirs doesn’t.”  “Booooo!!” the crowd yells.  Xaden smiles even wider, and laughs. 
    Jim asks “How so?”  “Because I have become successful enough to make mine matter.  What do most of these people do besides work 80 hours a week for this piece of shit country, and for what?  Tell me, for what?  They express their opinions on shit they know nothing about and criticize and judge people like me on my past, or my personality?  They can’t handle that I’m different, that I’m honest. Then they want to hate on me because I do whatever the fuck I want whenever I want. I’m different, I say what they want to say, but are afraid to. I do what they want to do, but don’t have the intelligence or skill to.  They’re envious, and incredibly stupid. This country is filled with problems, and no one wants to believe it.  But at least these people hear me.  Almost everyone that I have ever known has turned their back on me, and now I am the most dominant figure the world has ever seen.  I am the measuring stick by which each and everyone one of you are compared!”
    People start to throw things at him, and he stands up and points at all of them.  “I am the final step in evolution!  The phrase that ‘there is always someone better’ ends with me!”  He points both thumbs towards his chest, and says, “It doesn’t get any bigger, it doesn’t get any better!”  His anger caused him to get more arrogant than what he really was. Just to piss them off.  Jim gets up and tries to calm Xaden down.  Xaden shoves him back, not taking his eyes off of the people he so despised.  Nothing would be done about it.  Xaden had his hands into everything. Television, Hollywood, sports, the media, even politics.  Xaden was the most powerful man on the planet.