First, this chapter is filled with my arguments and opinions and you can skip it if you like.
This chapter contains religious issues and I won't discuss or debate with readers about it in the comments section because it will end up in a long long argument and a fight.
Any mean comments about this issue also won't get a reply or maybe ends up in deletions if it has gone too far.
Happy reading!!
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"Mr. Brandt, you have made some controversial film here, do you have any comments about it?" A journalist from the New York Post asked him.
"Controversial or not, it depends on the people who react to my films. But I believe in the quality of my film, my job here is just to turn this script written by Jerome into a good movie. As long as there was someone who enjoyed my movies, it already satisfies me." Al said on the stage.
The people who were giving a hateful gaze at Al before were not mad anymore. Al was only making a good movie, not spreading theories and propaganda about atheism.
"Mr. Brandt, your not afraid you are the film will be boycotted by the Christians?" Reporters from France spoke with broken English.
"I say I'm pleased to hear it, it will also promote my film to everyone else who curious about it. Besides, as if they will watch my film, I believe that these people will only hear hoaxes rather than watch it. Why bother with people like that?" Everyone who heard Al agreed.
A lot of people only like to hear gossip rather than saw it with their own eyes.
"Mr. Brandt, will you make a sequel or prequel for this film? We are interested to know his next story." An Asian woman asked this question.
"No, nope, there will be no sequel to this film. Even if Jerome Bixby made the script, I won't be the one who directed it." Al immediately denied it.
"Why so Mr. Brandt?" She asked again.
"I want to explore another genre, besides I am easily bored, so don't be surprised I won't make sequels." He said with a smile.
He ended the question & answer session with a speech. He held a small poolside party by renting the place from the hotel where they stayed.
"Toast!" Al rose his glass and everyone else followed.
They made a toast with a glass filled with wines, but in Al's glass was just an orange juice.
He also watched every glass held by someone who was below 18, especially Drew and River, he put two times surveillance to them.
Steven approached him and said, "Congratulations Al, you made a great film far better than the first film I ever directed."
"Thanks, Steven, don't be mad when I surpassed you, Godfather." He smiled, Steven laughed and hugged him, congratulate him again for his work.
Suddenly he was grabbed by Anthony, Max, River, Toby, and Jon. Al tried to escape their clutch but was futile.
"Come on guys, what are you all doing? Release me please" When the hard way failed, he tried it with an easy way.
"No way Al, all the time was you got the idea to prank everyone at school, now it's your punishment time bro!" Anthony said.
They lifted Al above their heads and carried him to the edge of the pool. Everyone cheered on them especially the girls.
"Throw him!!!!!" Many voices were heard, ordered them to throw him into the pool.
The boys nodded at each other and threw Al to the pool as far as they could.
Splash!!
Al made a beautiful arc and fell to the pool on his face first.
Everyone at the party was all cheering and laughing at him. He let his head out of the water surface and said to his friend, "Okay, revenge time!!"
His friends who heard this felt danger and tried to escape. But Al already got out of the pool and caught Anthony, and threw his fat body into the pool.
Anthony also got out of the pool and helped Al threw all of them into the pool. The one who threw them into the pool also helped them searching for their new prey.
Al caught both Drew and Laura and carried them both on each of his shoulders and he jumped to the pool with them. While River and Max carried Ione and Robin to the water.
Not only kids, Mary, Steven, Robert, Jodie were also become their victims and thrown into the pool.
Everyone went home from the party with a wet cloth stick on their body, every adult felt they were back to their childhood tonight. The drowned war ended in laughter and cheers by everyone.
Everybody decided to go back to their room or hotels so they won't catch a cold, although the summer night is not too cold in Cannes, they were on a beach area where the wind is so strong.
Al decided to have a walk to the cliffside of the beach so he just covered himself with a pool towel and began wandering off.
He spent a few minutes walking because the beach area was not too far from the hotel. After he reached the place, he scouted the surroundings and saw only one spot that was illuminated by the street lamp.
He was surprised that he saw someone else there. He approached that person so he could at least greet him.
"[Hello, nice to meet you]" He asked in French.
"Huh?" Because the light was not so bright, he couldn't see the gender clearly but what he heard was a woman's voice.
"[Apologies madam, I saw you from afar and I thought you were a man, I also stay at that hotel and just taking a walk. I will leave you alone then]" He didn't want to be accused as sexual deviant by this woman so he gave her an apology and immediately turned away.
"I'm sorry sir, I don't understand French." The woman answered.
"Ah, apologies ma'am, I didn't know." He switched back to English.
"I'm sorry I approach you, I thought you are a man because it was dark, but turns out you were not." The lights finally gave him a clear vision to see her and to his surprise, it was someone he knew.
"Vi!? What're you doing here this late-night alone? Are you still wet?" Al came to her and gave her his towel.
At first she unsure to take it or not, but then she took the towel he gave her and covered both of them with it.
"Yeah, and whose fault is that?" She rolled her eyes and glared at him.
"Sorry?" He gave her a guilty smile. Because not everyone knew her, he was the one who came to her, carried her on his shoulder, and threw her to the pool.
"Yeah sorry, fortunately, I stayed at this hotel too. I'm here to take a walk for a while. The Cannes sky in summer is clear, I can see the moon and star from here." She then turned her head to the sky and smiled at it.
Al could see her eyes hid sorrow so he asked her, "Something happened Vi?"
She rose her brows when Al asked her a question, "Ah, nothing Al."
"Okay then, but if you need something, I will always be here for you." He put his fist on his chest.
She laughed when she heard Al said it, then out of nowhere she asked, "Hey Al, did you believe that what John Oldman said? Not about 14,000 years old man, but about religion. Is everyone just exaggerating some important events and made it like it was some..... I don't know, God's miracle?"
He was confused why she asked this, but he still answered her, "That's a fiction story Vi, maybe there were some theories that have similarities from it, but the more we believe about it, the more that theories could turn fiction to reality. Seriously Vi, if you are asking me something like this, there must be something that happened right? Because literally, you are asking a boy who is not 15 years old yet, a question about the world's mystery."
He became more worried about Vi, so he would just press her a little until she told him her troubles. If not successful, he would wait for a while and put pressure on her again in the future.
Vi stared at his bright eyes that shone with the help of the street lamp's light and moonlight. She felt conflicted to tell it but saw Al's passionate glare finally collapsed the wall.
She sighed and said, "It's my father Al, he has hospitalized again because of his heart. The doctor said that he needs to rest and suggested to cancel his shooting. Of course, dad won't listen and continues the filming preparation. He's okay now, he looks healthy but I am afraid that he will...." She held her words here.
"Gone?" Al helped her to finish her words.
She nodded "Yes, we are Jews but we never pray or follow Judaism. Dad even mocked them for hypocrisy. I'm afraid what will happen to my dad, no, us if we are gone from this world, I already try to forget this thing but watching your film again reminds me of it."
He laughed and said, "Welcome to the Alphonse Haters Club then. From the reaction of the audience at the theatre tonight, I could see the outcome when my film was released in North America."
She smiled and said, "You know I will never hate you, Al, never."
She continues, "There's even someone who introduced me to this guy that could answer my problems. He said when we are dead we leave our body and ascend to another planet where we are refreshed as pure soul and go back to earth then search for a girl who was about to get married and we were born again from her."
Okay, that guy's imagination went wild but he felt familiar with this concept, so he asked again, "Where did this guy say he come from?"
"He said he is from Scientology Church." She answered.
From there Al went speechless, a Scientology? The religion that Tom Cruise was crazed about?
"Vi, never trust this guy, no, never join any cult or any weird shit religion that any person offers. Did you know that Scientology was made by a Sci-fi writer?"
"What!? No way, but that guy sound convincing."
"Vi, America is a free country, you are free from choosing any religion. So it was then used by unresponsible people who were able to brainwash you and made you join their cult. If you want to join a religion, better follow the old religion even though outdated but more trustable than those newly founded religions. I even heard that there was a cult in Hollywood who brainwash the girls to become s*x slave."
Vi was surprised after heard it, she never knew that there was a religious cult, like that in America, she spent her life living with her family in England so her information about what happened in the USA was a bit outdated.
They went silent for a second, then Vi asked him again. "Al, what religion did you follow? Did you follow Judaism or Christianity?"
He saw her and said, "Neither, to be exact I'm a pantheist."
"You don't believe in God?"
"Vi, that was an atheist. Pantheist means that I believed that the universe itself is God. Same as John Oldman, but I don't believe in God as individuality, but as a system and laws that govern the universe. I also believed in Karmic Law, good deeds resulted in a good outcome, bad deeds resulted in a bad outcome, and again you are hearing a not yet 15 years old boy belief, I suggest you heard it as gibberish talk." He said.
Vi looked unconvinced and then asked him again, "And what did you believe in death? Is it the same as John Oldman?"
He looked at her with a conflicted look, then he finally said, "Let me tell you a story Vi, about this boy. This 4 years old boy, who was loved by his parents very much. One day his parents, out of nowhere took him to a daycare, they said to him that this boy had no friends and wanted to introduce him to his peers.
When they arrived at the daycare, The father hugged him so tight, and the mother kissed his forehead, told him that they love him, advised him to eat well when they weren't there, and told him to find a friend, they said don't look for many friends, just find a reliable one.
They left him reluctantly and told him they would pick him up in the evening, this boy thought that they were just sad for leaving him for the first time so he fulfilled their wish. He got so many friends in the daycare and played happily with them.
In the afternoon, when he played with his toy car, he saw that his parents came, he told them that he had so many friends and he had eaten his food. His father just looked at him with smiles and his mother come to him and kissed his heads, they said that they loved him very much.
The boy just smiled and continued to play with his toy car but when he looked up, he saw that his parents disappeared.
He came to the daycare sitter and asked where his parents were, he told him he didn't know. The boy said that his parents were here but he said that no one parents currently came to pick any of the kids.
Later he told the boy that his parents died in a car crash. The boy kept denying it and said that his parents were there moments ago and talked to him.
The boy attended their funeral, and every time he visited their grave, he felt that as if they were coming to him and crying for this boy.
He had some wild theories that every time he visited their grave, they would leave their peaceful place and felt the worldly suffering because they left the boy alone.
Since that day, the boy has never visited his parent's grave. He was afraid that his parents would worried about him and saddened for him.
So he thought that the best way for them to rest was to show them that he is happy in this world and continue to move on."
It has been 5 years since he has been sent here, he also found out the truth that he was still Alphonse, The Man who has been fused with his soul was more mature than him, so The Man's memories were dominant than Alphonse's memories.
Since Alphonse has matured, his soul also followed and they finally perfected their fusion. He WAS Alphonse and The Man, and that's why he got eidetic memory, He literally got two-person brain capability, and the Mind-Library also a gift that The Man brought when they were fusing. When this was happening, he almost got an identity crisis like Jason Bourne and a mental breakdown like Shinji Ikari, but fortunately, The Man's soul maturity kept him calm and checked.
He turned again to Vivian who teared up from his story. "My concept about death was, they had become one with nature and had a peaceful rest over there. But any contact with them will bring back their connection again to this world and felt another suffering of the world. From some sources I read about monks, they release their worldly connections like family, wealth, and power so they won't be called back again to the world. But that's my theory, again treat it like a 15 years old gibberish."
Vivian was guessing that the story he told her was his personal experiences.
Vivian wiped her tears, warped her body with him, and said, "No, that was beautiful Al, I think your explanation is better than those religious priests."
Al snickered, "Pfft, those leaders from Christian, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhas, Judaism or any religions existed, the moment they talked about killings, hate, or wealth they are politicians, who used religion as a cover to get a power."
Vivian also agreed with him, "So you meant the religions are not right?"
"That's a mystery of the world Vi, I think most of them right when they taught of us about love and peace, that's my scale to determine which religion matched with me. I know there was stuff made up by folklore and human imaginations like sci-fi on that holy scriptures Vi. Some of them are outdated but if there were the good ones you can pick up from them, I think you should learn it, you know to pick the good ones and throw the bad ones. We don't know what the originals scripture contains right?"
Actually, Al knew it. On his Mind Library, he found the originals scripture of the Bible, Quran, Tanakh, Tripitaka, etc.
The problem was he couldn't read it because every time he did, he was struck by infinite pain. He could only gaze at it from far.
He believed this scripture contained what he called divine sparks, the most powerful ones were on Veda that he guessed aged more than 12,000 years ago, he couldn't even see the form of it.
These scriptures were so different from the modern ones. He believed only the "World's" chosen ones like prophets or holy men could read and write it.
He even confused how he, the man whose mind already reached the pinnacle of human couldn't read it, but then some regular men said he read the modern holy books and claimed that he was God's chosen people.
Back to Vivian and Alphonse, Vivian then said, "When I think about it, I believe when our society becomes a Mad Max-like world when they saw Shakespeare's story, they will treat it as a Bible."
"Say, Vi, I think we have discussed it too far, want to end it?"
She nodded at him.
Then Al continues, "Oh, and what did you say before? Did you watch Mad Max now?"
Vi rolled her eyes and said, "You think I only watched a romance film?"
He nodded, "Yep, absolutely."
She gave him a white eye then said, "Okay I challenge you Al to direct a romance film that could move me, are you dare?"
He smiled and said "Game on princess!"
They both laughed and began staring at each other. She got so much from this encounter with Al and she really liked it.
Al turned to admire the view of the ocean that was illuminated by moonlight while Vi kept looking at his face. Suddenly a strong wind blows and made them felt a chilling cold night air.
They finally realized they were still wet and agreed to go back to the hotel room, Al said farewell to her and she kissed his cheeks. Al went back to his room while kept holding his kissed cheeks and smiled silly.
To Be Continued.....