The Templar 1

[Dead Woman]

The following self contained story connects with other stories that I am working on.  In short, they're chapters to a much larger story.  The first can be found here with "The Gunslinger" https://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php?topic=12201.0


"Pulling someone down will never help you reach the top." – Kushandwizdom

I
   Stephen looked at the rope he held in his hands.  It felt sturdy.  It wouldn't break on him once he used it to hang himself.  A tear drop fell onto the rope and then another and another.  Stephen saw this and wiped the tears from his cheek as he rose up from his bed and prepared for his suicide. 

   Depression.  It wasn't about feeling blue.  Mom's cookies and milk along with some encouraging words wouldn't solve the indescribable pain that ravaged the body.  It never felt physical.  There were no bruises, and there were no cuts, but the pain was strong enough to break anyone physically. 

   And Stephen felt he was shattered. 

   Growing up, Stephen knew that he wasn't going to have it easy.  His father was a drunk who gave him the ole one two while his mother watched and did nothing.  His older sister was planning for the day when she could escape and she knew that she could easily make it if she left her brother behind.

   All of that paled in comparison to the greatest Hell of all – high school.  Kids could be unforgiving and Stephen's peers were just that.  They laughed at him because he was poor wearing dirty clothes that came from Good Will.  They laughed at him because of his love of comic books, cartoons, movies, and drawing.  They laughed at his love of knights and of Excalibur.  They laughed at his looks which they said looked downright hillbilly.  And of course they laughed at him for his last name – Dyke. 

   What made it terrible was the fact that high school really didn't want to do anything about the abuse.  Indiana a blood red state that believed in order, and for them that meant that bullies picked on the weak and that it was the job of the latter to fight back and if they didn't then it was their fault, not the bully's. 

II
   Stephen took his time as he wanted to make sure he got it right.  He left his home ignoring his father's drunken rhetoric and walked a few blocks towards the local elementary school.  In the back of the school were swings, teeter totters, and of course the great big jungle gym he would hang himself from.  He climbed the top of the gym and sat there while he got the rope tied securely well, but before he would slip the noose around his neck he made sure he could fall from the gym itself.  He did and he landed in the sand pit that was below.  All was ready.

   He climbed to the top of the gym and sat there and placed the noose around his neck.

III
   And before he fell, he thought of the book that gave him so much comfort in life – Le Morte d'Arthur.  He fell in love with that story when he learned that his favorite hero of all – Hero 1 – was an incarnation of King Arthur himself.  He read that story time, and time again whenever the pain grew to be so bad, but even medicine loses its potency when used constantly over time. 

   Stephen looked to the ground below and braced himself for the final push. 

IV
   Look. 

   Stephen turned his head to see a bright glow coming from the center of the playground and as he stared at it he swore that he smelled roasted meat, wine, he could see vegetables, bread, silk, and gold.  Stephen's intent fell away as curiosity made him rise and take the noose from his neck.  He hopped down from the gym and made his way over towards the light.

   I was one of three who sought out our lord's chalice.

   Trembling in awe and ready to fall to his knees in tears, Stephen saw what Gawain saw so long ago.  It was the grail centered amidst the feast that only angels could make.  Humbled by what he saw; Stephen could not move another step and made him fall to his knees. 

   But the words of the knight urged him, let me show you what God showed me.

   Inspired, Steven reached for the chalice amazed that he was allowed the honor to do so.  Drinking deep from the grail Steven would see Galahad's vision and it made him understand one thing: the world would always need a knight whose soul was filled with God's word and with King Arthur's dream.    

   Stephen Dyke drank deep of the grail.

   Rise.

   He did so and while he would still answer to Steven Dyke; Paragon City would know him as – The Templar.