Chapter 2 - Something Chaotic!
Created | Updated Jul 13, 2003
Pushing forward to the following Thursday, it is likely that things would have began to calm down. Maybe life would once again be ordinary and Fred back to his usual apathetic self. Or perhaps not. The only way to find out is to observe the behaviour at college registration on this fine morning.
Denzil was perched in his swivel chair, glaring intensely at his computer screen, seemingly oblivious to the rest of the universe. A gleeful young lady named Messandra Swinburne came trundling in and exclaimed a joyous "good morning". He didn't even notice. Thinking she had done something to offend him, Messandra perched awkwardly on a desk twiddling her fingers and toes. After a brief period of silence, Fred came strolling in, his face positively lighting up as he set eyes on her. Denzil visibly cringed as Fred draped his spider like body around Messandra in a decidedly sickening manner and announced in a rather loud voice how ecstatic he was to see her. He had done this every morning for several months, and it still never struck him that anyone would find such behaviour in the slightest bit irritating.
Several months? But Fred only met the woman a week ago, and surely she was a bit too old for sixth form? No, Messandra wasn't the debaucherous older woman; she was the sparkling genius of a girlfriend he'd apparently been insane enough to dump. It would appear that Fred's astonishingly normal mannerisms that morning would point to a major problem somewhere in the plot. This error occurred when it was assumed, quite understandably, that it had been Richard who had survived on that dreary Thursday morning.
It just so happened that, against all odds, Gordon had soared away in spectacular style leaving Richard to suffer the gruesome effects of the clammy hand of fate. Therefore the chain of events which led to Fred's downfall didn't actually happen, as Richard was marginally lighter and didn't disturb the sleeping ant. They are simply what would have happened had something incredibly unlikely not intervened. Sometimes the most improbable things really do occur; in fact for nothing improbable ever to happen would be pretty improbable in itself.
The whole point of this is that if Gordon hadn't survived, the whole of what you're about to read never would have happened. Instead, life would have just gone on in its usual, mundane way. Denzil would have beaten Fred up for trashing Messandra's life, Messandra would have fallen out with Denzil for being creepy and caring just that little bit too much about her, and they would have all merrily gone in their own directions. However, this obviously didn't happen, and everyone involved remained entirely oblivious to the fact that it could have so easily turned out that way. The infinitely unlikely circumstances established set the scene for the arrival of enough blatant bizarreness to chase each and every atom of normality out of our characters' lives.
Denzil was perched in his swivel chair, glaring intensely at his computer screen, seemingly oblivious to the rest of the universe. A gleeful young lady named Messandra Swinburne came trundling in and exclaimed a joyous "good morning". He didn't even notice. Thinking she had done something to offend him, Messandra perched awkwardly on a desk twiddling her fingers and toes. After a brief period of silence, Fred came strolling in, his face positively lighting up as he set eyes on her. Denzil visibly cringed as Fred draped his spider like body around Messandra in a decidedly sickening manner and announced in a rather loud voice how ecstatic he was to see her. He had done this every morning for several months, and it still never struck him that anyone would find such behaviour in the slightest bit irritating.
Several months? But Fred only met the woman a week ago, and surely she was a bit too old for sixth form? No, Messandra wasn't the debaucherous older woman; she was the sparkling genius of a girlfriend he'd apparently been insane enough to dump. It would appear that Fred's astonishingly normal mannerisms that morning would point to a major problem somewhere in the plot. This error occurred when it was assumed, quite understandably, that it had been Richard who had survived on that dreary Thursday morning.
It just so happened that, against all odds, Gordon had soared away in spectacular style leaving Richard to suffer the gruesome effects of the clammy hand of fate. Therefore the chain of events which led to Fred's downfall didn't actually happen, as Richard was marginally lighter and didn't disturb the sleeping ant. They are simply what would have happened had something incredibly unlikely not intervened. Sometimes the most improbable things really do occur; in fact for nothing improbable ever to happen would be pretty improbable in itself.
The whole point of this is that if Gordon hadn't survived, the whole of what you're about to read never would have happened. Instead, life would have just gone on in its usual, mundane way. Denzil would have beaten Fred up for trashing Messandra's life, Messandra would have fallen out with Denzil for being creepy and caring just that little bit too much about her, and they would have all merrily gone in their own directions. However, this obviously didn't happen, and everyone involved remained entirely oblivious to the fact that it could have so easily turned out that way. The infinitely unlikely circumstances established set the scene for the arrival of enough blatant bizarreness to chase each and every atom of normality out of our characters' lives.
