“The Catalyst” Series
Epilogue
Finally, it’s the big day. Somehow it seems much less significant
now. Faced with my own mortality, having a whole range of people that I’m
personally responsible for, and already having a large foundation to run,
somehow graduation day seems like a pretty small event in the overall scheme of
things. In fact, I can’t imagine what I’ll ever use my diploma for. I’m not
going to college, though I may try to attend a couple of online college courses
while I travel over the summer, I doubt I’ll ever get much farther than that.
Although who knows, there’s a chance I may just survive for another ten years,
in which case I may be able to focus on my education after all. But chances are
that would just give me time to visit other places looking for new followers.
Places like Europe, Asia, Australia, South America and possibly even Africa. I
think I can safely skip Antarctica.
However, everyone likes ceremonies, especially supposedly
significant ones like graduations, marriages and yes, even deaths. So I’m here
mainly for my friends, all those people I’ve met over the last two and a half
months since I returned from New Orleans a changed man.
After that momentous day when I had to face two gunmen out
to shoot me in the back, things have been busy. We tried to manage it
carefully, making sure Lisa was there to report the original story so she’d be
first in line to do any in depth interview thereafter. Everyone seemed to run
interference for me, from my school friends and even my enemies here at
Eldorado High as well, to the local police. There’s nothing like the image of a
naïve young man to bring out the protective nature of people. After my story
hit the news everyone wanted to protect me from further scrutiny and any
continued interruptions to my life.
But the two weeks since then have been filled with other
things as well. I had to accompany Nikki on her trip home to see her parents.
That went well, but it was stressful for both of us. The fact that I had an
armed guard and my sister along didn’t make Nikki’s parents feel any better about
me. However we avoided all the unpleasant talk of otherworldly powers. Once
they recognized me as “that guy on the news” they couldn’t be nicer, though.
They told me how sorry they’d felt for me and what a nice kid I seemed. In the
end Nikki said she was going to work for the Angel Vision Foundation, she would
also be working with a variety of universities and would be attending SIU,
which was closer to the foundations headquarters but which was still not that
far away from home. She didn’t bother to mention it was where I now called home
as well.
Kevin did show up at our table that following Monday, and he
was guardedly accepted by everyone. They treated him much like Julia in that they were wary, but encouraging in his efforts to change his previous behaviors.
If he maintains contact with everyone, both he and Julia might be brought on
board. The other kids also got a few more details about my life, but not a lot.
They pieced together a lot of what was happening at the hospital, so I gave
them a brief summary of what I was doing, but without any of the technical
details of how I was able to do it. But I think Cate is right, they all seem to
be hooked, so I think they’ll be hanging around my girls longer than I’m likely
to.
We’d moved into the loft in Carbondale soon after the events
that Saturday. Once the floors were all painted and the floors finished, we
built an elevated bed that overlooked the entire loft, office and the rest of
the building, and we worked on the space while living there. With so many
people working on it, it really didn’t take long to finish it either. However,
being so close to everyone, we constantly had people stopping by, between the
girls from SIU, various visitors from New Orleans coming up on the Amtrak train
just a short distance away, to our friends from both Shawneetown, Eldorado and St. Louis, there was always people wanting to say hello.
However the biggest thing was preparing for final exams and
graduation. Surprisingly, Cate actually had to work harder than me, despite her
better grades, because she had to pass a whole variety of tests and she
insisted on getting A’s in everything, even if she was only taking them on an
advanced placement basis. But she had no fears. SIU was more than glad to
accept her, and even if they didn’t, Northern University guaranteed her an
education as well, although she plans to use that for her graduate work in
genetics, human physiology and physics. Seems she has to study a lot of
different things to figure out what’s going on inside of her brother.
I’ve been doing well since the events outlined here. As
always, I heal quickly, and even though I still bear a small scar on my throat from
my gunshot wound, it played very well on television and in person, making me seem
both more dangerous and more endearing – as if I could be any more attractive
to women than I am now.
After the press coverage of my attack it seems the entire
school solidified behind me. When Tyler Cox and his cronies made a backhanded
comment, I literally thought everyone was going to put him out of his misery
then and there. Ever since, he’s been unable to get away with anything, as
everyone, students, school staff, teachers, parents and the local police call
him to task before he can even think of doing anything wrong. I even made up
with Tony, as unbelievable as that sounds. As I always thought, there’s
actually a fairly nice guy hiding behind that facade of his, but I doubt we’ll
ever be close friends.
Unfortunately, Rodger hasn’t fared as well. The police,
press and public all came down on him quite hard. He now lives on his own,
supporting two unemployed sons who no longer have an education to fall back on,
all three very publicly humiliated. He promptly got fired from his job, but
managed to get a lower paying one through a somewhat sympathetic friend
afterwards. Seems the friend lost his own family through an overreaching
fascination with his kid’s sports activities as well, so he could relate to
Rodger’s problems, although he’s watchful of him as well, making him come along
to his AA meetings even though Rodger doesn’t drink much. He says the 12 steps
work on a variety of problems.
Both Rodger and James are still facing a very public trial,
though I keep trying to downplay it and I’ve already recorded a sympathetic
disposition just in case I’m not around when the case finally comes to trial.
After all the troubles we’ve had, I refuse to see him as a bad guy. Each of
them were just short sighted in how they viewed their lives, and when they saw
troubles they simply panicked and overreacted. Actually, I blame the school for
the initial problem with Brandon, since it never would have occurred if he and James hadn’t both been pumped full of steroids.
As difficult as it seems it would be to support someone who
tried to have you killed, I really needed to do what I could for Chalise. As
much as she disliked her father, you don’t throw your girlfriend’s father under
the bus. Besides, I’m not asking for him to get off, just for a little leniency
based on his circumstances.
Caroline moved in with us at the Loft, as did my other
sisters as well, although they share a separate smaller loft that we sometimes
use for overflow whenever we get busy, which is often. We also put Caroline to work for the foundation, which actually worked out quite well. Not only does she
have an excellent business mind that Rodger had long ignored, but she’s great
at meeting nervous adults who are uncomfortable dealing with all the youngsters
we have working here. And no, very few people know that I’m actually in charge
of everything. Actually, I still play a very small role, just making a few
major decisions and setting the aims for the organization. I now have enough
good people working for me that they can handle things on their own. Plus we
have several people examining the paper work, part of the trouble with being a
charity organization.
The building we bought is already profitable, largely
because everyone, including me, pays the corporation rent for the lofts, which
helps our bottom line. Yes, charities have bottom lines too. You can’t spend
money you don’t have. Plus we got a hell of a lot of donations after the story
of my attacks hit the media. In fact the contributions continue to come in due
to that. The public attention focused everyone on what the foundation was
trying to achieve, and there were many people who felt it was a good cause. We
now have an office in New Orleans as well, and are discussing potentially
opening more in the future. But first we need someone to scout out some
possible locations.
Patricia stayed over after her Prom performance. Once she
heard what happened to me you couldn’t have kept her away. Everyone moved me to
the loft as soon as I got out of the hospital. Gail went ahead and hired a few
trusted fellow officers, all women, who do a few other jobs but mostly serve as
security for the foundation’s businesses. We also have a few willing volunteers
from some nearby schools.
Clara has plans to go back to school. She applied and
received permission to attend continuing education courses at St. Louis University, and she plans to study hard in order to try to ‘improve herself’. I wish
her luck.
Jennifer has already taken off on her mission to Utah to assist Dr. Simon Reinhart. I guess I’ll be seeing her soon as I pass through there.
I plan on crossing the country looking for new followers, what I’ve defined as
‘my mission’. I’m going to head due west after a short stop in New
Orleans, then I’ll travel north to Seattle, then east to Chicago again. After
that we haven’t really decided. Chances are, since it’s so close we’ll come
home again, then probably set off for the east coast. After all, I’m trying to
achieve as much as I can in whatever time I have left.
However now there’s something I have to get to, and that’s
my high school graduation.
There are a lot of people attending for such a small
graduating class. In fact, there are so many people in attendance they had to
move the whole thing from the school’s auditorium to the football field,
although the stands weren’t big enough for everyone, so they had to bring in
additional seating as well. As a result, I’m going to have to do something I
hate. Which is getting up in front of a bunch of cheering people, say something
clever and smile for the cameras. Again, the only way I’m getting through it is
by telling myself that I’m doing it for my friends at the school. And I’ll also
put up with the cameras, because the people who are supporting my charity want
to see the good that I’m achieving. It’s their own personal contributions; they
need motivation just as my girls do.
The wait in line to step up on the stage was frustrating, because you could feel the excitement rise as I edged closer. Everyone was waiting for me, so of course Principal Phillips scheduled me to be the last one to get his diploma, the alphabetic ordering be damned. When Cate came up, they made a big deal of her. She’s the youngest person to have graduated from the school, and she did it all with a series of advanced courses. She accepted it all gracefully, looking positively regal as she did.
Just before I was to walk up, Principal Phillips gave a little speech, which turned out to not be so little. It was followed by the mayor of Carbondale and a surprise visit by the Governor. I guess the media attention was too much to ignore. Finally they called my name and I walked forward to wild applause, everyone standing up and cheering wildly. I blushed about as hard as I could, and tried to dash across the stage, but Phillips had to make a big deal out of handing me the diploma for the photographers. Afterward I had to say a few words. Luckily Cate helped me put something together.
Despite her being a near genius, the title of Valedictorian
went to another girl. One who hadn’t skipped most of her classes to graduate
earlier than expected. Her speech was nice, but I suspect everyone was so
excited to see me graduate they didn’t listen much to her tales of future
successes for everyone.
Finally, moving up to the podium, I stood before everyone;
my friends, my classmates, my family, my friends, my followers, my multiple
lovers and the press and media in attendance.
“Hello there,” I told them all, absently rubbing my throat
for effect. “You may have some idea of who I am. I’m the guy that everyone
always wants to kill.” That got a few general laughs. I noticed Tony laughing at it, although Mike and his friends didn’t. Tyler Cox wasn’t in attendance. I’m
not sure whether he actually graduated or not, and frankly I don’t much care, as
I doubt he has much ambition for achieving anything in life. If Rakeem had had
a scholarship program I’m sure he would have applied, but I doubt he applied
for anything else, including any jobs.
“I started out here at Eldorado as a nobody. I managed to
stumble through almost four years in the same school with each of you, yet
hardly anyone even knew who I was. Then after a little trip I took for Spring
Break I managed to find myself. I realized I could achieve something, and that
I could make a difference in life, and what’s more, I could make a big
difference in the lives of other people as well. As a result, I tried to learn about
those people I’d previously been ignoring, deciding I wanted to take an active
role in my own life. When I did, walking up to each individual table in the
lunchroom, I was met with a variety of reactions. Some people accepted me for
who I was, others decided they already knew everything about me, while others
simply didn’t care who I was. However, I slowly found my own corner of the
world here at the school.
“Soon I found myself at a crossroads. I had a few fans, I
had others who were attracted to me, but I also had more than a few who
disliked me while the majority was waiting to see who’d I’d end up being.
That’s the role that each of us faces in life. You’ve got to decide if you are
going to join in your own life, or whether you’re just going to coast through
it without being involved with living it yourself. Then, once you finally
decide to participate in your life, you’ll be faced with doubts, skepticism and
questions about yourself. That’s when you need to apply yourselves all the
more. You need to prove to everyone; your teachers, your parents, your friends,
your enemies, but most of all yourself, who you can be and what you can
achieve.
“Now, as most of you know, I’m taking the next year off from
school while I try to wrap my tiny little brain around everything that has
happened to me these last couple of months. I want each of you to remember as
you attend school in the fall that I’m there with you in spirit, and that, like
you, I’ll be finding my own way in the world, trying to find a future for
myself and a way to becoming a better man, one worthy of all the time and
attentions that everyone has poured into me. I hope each of us here fulfills
that promise. We can be better. We can help our fellow human beings. We can be
better humans by reaching out to others like us to be better people. And when
you get there, I want you to remember this moment, and remember that it’s OK if
you fail, or if you can’t finish what you set out to achieve, because it’s not
the finish line that’s important. It’s the journey. To win big is nice, but to
struggle and succeed means more to everyone involved than anything else. Now go
out there, party for a few days, get a job to hold you over for the summer,
then make a difference in your lives. Decide to be a part of your own lives,
and make your lives a better place to live.”
When I finished everyone broke out in cheers and applause,
but I suspect they’d have done that if I’d have repeated the valedictorian’s
speech. They were here to celebrate their own achievements, and my own secret
mission to better the race of man, or perhaps to create a new one, were none of
their concerns. However I briefly looked out at everyone I knew, and I saw
recognition in their eyes. They were with me. They recognized the truth of my
words and they believed in these things the same way I did. I knew we’d share
my mission in the coming months, years, or decades that I had left. However
much time I had I’d put to the best use I could. Even if I was stuck sick on a
death bed, I’d dedicate myself to reaching as many people as I could through my
words, if nothing else.
I had something to achieve, and what’s more I had a hell of
a lot of people to achieve it for. My friends, my family, my followers, those
who may someday become my followers, all those that would continue on after I
was gone, but also those people that would share the planet with the new race
of people I hoped to help create.
With that I walked off the stage and into my new life.
So ends this, the second volume of Alex’s history. As you’ve seen, this book covered everything that Alex needed to do to be ready to advance onto the next stage of his life. The next volume covers Alex as he finally gets serious about his chosen task, and he travels cross country, searching out all the new followers he can find. It will be as different from this book, as this one was from the first book. As expected, there are a lot more people in it, since he’s traveling the country, actively looking for them, so it will be a little more involved, but it’s important in understanding Alex’s life, and what he eventually achieved.
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The End
Book 3 will begin in about two weeks time.
I wanted to get through the American Thanksgiving holidays before starting. The new Book will be called "Racing the Clock".