The Lion Roams Tonight(awakening)

[TYLER COOR]

Tyler stared solemnly ahead. he was in his dorm room, alone. Marcus had left ages ago to go do....something. It didn't matter. The newspaper lay at his feet, one page lay open, crumpled.

No Headway Made In Case of Missing Girl
The police have yet to shed any light on the mysterious disappearance of High Schooler Neta MacHare. It is suspected that the young woman has been murdered, and police forces are doing their best to discover the body or the perpetrators.

She was dead, or at the very least gone forever. He had blown his only chances at talking with her, and now he would never see her again except in the "Missing!" posters that were plastered all over the school and, to a lesser extent, the city.

It had come as a complete shock. He had never even imagined that his time with her would be cut short like that. He had figured that even though he had wasted the time he had with her on school stuff like math and Spanish, he would still have other opportunities! He could...well, he couldn't do anything now. There was no chance of him overcoming his horrible fears with her now.

He didn't know how to feel. He was pretty swure that he hadn't loved her, because, well, how could someone love another person that they had never talked to other than to discuss the rules of Spanish? He just... had been interested in her, he supposed, but even that sounded wrong. If he had only been interested in her why did it hurt so much to think that she was eternally gone?

This was absolutely the worst he had ever felt. he couldn't remember a time, whether it had been when his brothers had been tormenting him or when he had to say goodbye to his Canadian home and sanctuary forever, anything was preferable to the blank....emptiness inside him right now. It was like he was a book and someone had reached inside him to rip out an entire chapter of his life.

He curled up into a fetal position on the bed, soft sobbing noises and coughing every once in a while. he didn't understand it. Usually when it got this bad he could just fall asleep and let it all fade away, but now there was no blissful sleep coming. In fact, it felt like his heartbeat was speeding up.

Coughing a few more times, he contemplated getting the sleep medication out of his drawer. He hardly ever used them, scared that he might accidentally overdose and kill himself, but at this point he wasn't so sure that that would be a bad thing. At least it would stop him from feeling like this and if he died then, well, he doubted anyone would care.

"Aw fuck no. You better stop this bullshit you little pussy. I will NOT be putting up with yer' bitchin'."

Choking with confusion and fear that he had been discovered by some mysterious rapist, Tyler shot his eyes up, forgetting his sorrow for the moment as it gave way to pure fear. That was the voice of every thief, mugger and sex offender he had ever imagined in his head. He didn't know if the demon was going to eat him or rape him.

There stood the most frightening person Tyler had ever witnessed. It was like some kind of nightmare that had thrown everything together to create this, this, BEAST of a person.

"Oooh, you poor motha' fucka', we gotta get your ass laid. The only shit you can think of is murderers and rapists? Sorry, dawg, I don't swing that way. You're gonna be gettin' some of stuff turnin' those wheels or we're gonna' have some problems, got it?"

Tyler didn't know what to do, he just stared blankly ahead. He was stunned into silence, all thoughts of neta totally erased from his mind.

"Goddamnit, you're gonna make me explain, aren't you, you little dumbshit? Fuck. Okay, well, I'm the fuckin' Cowardly Lion, and that's the TCL to you, you little bitch."

Tyler knew he must be dreaming, or hallucinating or or or, something. Maybe he took the sleep pills and forgot or, maybe he got something slipped to him. He wouldn't be surprised, there were plenty of drug addicts around that for all he knew would GLADLY slip something into a drink.

....they drugged me....they must have. Why the hell else would i be seeing hallucinations...?" he murmured, trying desperately to explain away the whole scenario.

"Trust me you little bitch, you would KNOW if you were drugged, and I ain't no pot dream, you can bet your little pussy ass on that. Now Jesus Christ, you'd betta' get yo' mind off that hoe. She ain't worth shit. There's some niiice girls you can meet just wanderin' around. This one bitch, y'know, she just comes walkin' through the woods while I was on the prowl and it was fuckin' sweet, man. you shoulda seen her ass..."

Tyler looked appalled, trying desperately to apprehend what was going on. He was pretty sure that he had been told that he was currently talking with a fictional character from a story he hadn't heard since he was in elementary school, and that this remnant of his childhood was blatantly telling him that he needed to slut it up and forget about the only girl that had made him feel like he had a purpose.

"She was....Whe was my only....she was my only shot at being hap-"

"Shut yo' mouth and stop right there. NO. There is NO reason to let a fuckin' bitch get to you that much. None. The minute you start to feel yerself feel anything more than carnal lust for 'em you pack it on up and move on out. "