Slowly he turns the knob to his living premises, stumbling in. Not knowing what to think about what is going on, and what isn’t going on. At that, he can’t tell the fine line between the two. He weakly shuts the door and walks over to the bathroom. He opens the shower curtain and turns the hot water on. He walks away to go get a change of clothes for when he gets out of the shower and feels himself spinning. Spinning like the fan when he killed Cerda. Spinning like he felt when he opened his eyes to the shining light. He sits on the bed for a few minutes, gathering himself… trying to find it in him to get back up and take the shower. That’s what he needs right now… a shower. He’ll feel fine after that, right? He gets the clothes from the drawer, grabs a towel and washcloth, and heads back into the bathroom, entering the shower and adjusting the temperature.

Next we see him he is out of the shower, clothes on, feeling refreshed. He was right… he needed that shower. Not because it made a difference, but because he made himself think that. A mind game against himself. He shuts the lights off in the bathroom and walks over to his bedroom area again. The lights are on, and he sits back down on his bed. He remembers that he left his wallet in the drawer when he was getting his clothes out and decides to get it now because at least he remembers where it is. He opens the drawer and pulls out his wallet. He opens it, because it feels slightly funny, and slowly he pulls out a ticket. It reads, “The Great Society”, Madison Square Garden. In date it only says Tomorrow, and time reads Whenever You Show Up. He looks at it and disbelief, his life just getting more and more twisted as time goes by. Just a few hours he was strapped down to something, lights shining in his eyes, speaking to “government officials”. A week or so ago he killed an ex- best friend and the same man who killed his brother. Now, he gets a ticket which literally is for something that revolves around his schedule? What’s next? He tosses the ticket onto his drawer and shuts off the light, laying back in bed just trying to go to sleep. It’s so hard though, but he is mentally too tired to fight back and goes to sleep within a few minutes.

[ Madison Square Garden? The arena OF arenas? First of all, how the hell did I get this ticket in my wallet? Second of all, why is the information so generic? Whatever, that wasn’t a big deal to my mind at the time I laid down. What mattered was that for some strange reason the FBI wanted me. Why? Wish I knew myself. I wanted answers and I wanted them quick, so what would this hurt? The first thing that jumped into my mind was that I should go, so the next morning I sat and told myself… I WON’T go. I WON’T fall into this one. I already have enough going on. So what did I do, I went of course...]

He stands in the massive parking lot… not a single other car in sight. Nothing flashing on the marquee. No banners anywhere. Empty. Which is rare, considering what Madison Square Garden is all about. Nothing but the best of venues here. From boxing to wrestling, you get it all. He makes his way to the double doors in the front entrance and walks in. He goes through the hallways… and finds the main hall. He enters it, and a lone man sits in the center of a ring. Maybe wrestling, maybe boxing… maybe kickboxing… who knows. He sits in a steel chair, nothing moving him. He is an older man, white hair but there is some type of blonde streak… patch of blonde… towards the middle of his head, and he is wearing a gray suit. Tyrone looks about trying to figure something sensible out of this, but the man doesn’t let him…

???: Come, I have been waiting for you Tyrone. You are the lost sheep, and I am your shepherd…

Tyrone looks around to make sure nobody else is around… and slowly makes his way towards the ring. He notices that there is a second chair in the ring, directly across from the man. He slides into the ring slowly and the man doesn’t move. He walks around to the second chair and takes a seat. The man in the chair smiles, as he sees his “lost sheep”. Tyrone doesn’t even speak, as the man cuts him off again.

???: So nice to see you here in one piece Tyrone. It wasn’t clear to me whether or not you would be able to make it this far, but you did. I felt that you would, but still you left some reasonable doubt in the process. Allow me to introduce myself, and accept my apology in being so rude to you without doing so earlier. My name is James Frederick Kline… just call me James though. Why did I want to meet you here? Well, for one I already told you. I am your shepherd. I am here to guide you, because I know your follies… more than any other man. More than you yourself do.

Tyrone: How do you know anything about me?

James: Well Tyrone… that is for me to know, and you to find out. And you will, when the time comes. I know it all Tyrone. I know how you disappeared for years after your brother was murdered… I know the crimes you have committed… I know every single thing there is to know about you Tyrone.

Tyrone: What do you wan…

James: I don’t want anything but to keep your health intact Tyrone. It isn’t about what I want, it’s about what you want. I’m here to help you find what you want Tyrone. I’m here to tell you what lies ahead in your path. To tell you what words are being written into your destiny. Let me warn you though, Tyrone, that your destiny… the saga that it is going to become… only leads to the fate of another. Are you ready to accept your destiny, Tyrone, and step up to it? You say yes, there is no turning back. Your destiny WILL come full speed. No… and your destiny will STILL come... but not the same destiny. It’s time for the sheep to choose which man to follow… none… or his shepherd…

[ My destiny, another man’s fate? What does that mean? What is ahead for me? How could he even know what is ahead for me? Should I tell him yes… I’m ready to step up… or back away from this non sense and say no? What do I have to lose? Do I even have a choice in the matter, or is the answer already written into my destiny. Is me saying yes… giving somebody else destiny… and bringing my fate? ]

Tyrone: …I… I…

[ Why does he want to be MY guide? Why me? Why me in any of this? If I could have just never come back to Queens, I wouldn’t be sitting here in this chair, with a decision which has probably been predetermined already. I don’t even know this man, and I’m going to trust him with this? What the Hell am I thinking? ]

Tyrone: Here’s my question to you. Do I really have a choice in this matter… James. If you are such a firm believer in fate and destiny, then I’m not really making this choice, am I? I’m just following through with part of a master plan. I’ve been through more than my fair share of things in life; you aren’t going to out think me. This mind isn’t easy to get through…

James:Just like your brother…

Tyrone: You don’t know a thing about my brother…

James: More than you think. I trained him. I taught him how to box. I taught him everything he knew about this ring. You didn’t know he boxed did you? You didn’t know he was here every night trying to make money to support your family did you?

Tyrone: That’s a LIE.

James pulls out his wallet and flips it open. He digs through a few old business cards and tosses something at Tyrone. He picks it up… and looks… to see a picture of the man standing next to his brother. Tyrone smashes the old picture and throws it out of the ring in rage. He gets up out of his chair and turns his back to James. James laughs to himself, just what he expected.

James: How long are you going to keep this up Tyrone? How long are you going to keep running away from what you are here for… or how long are you just going to keep killing what you don’t want to hear. You can’t run anymore Tyrone, it’s time for you to accept things and make the best out of it. I know… you’ve been through more than any normal man could ever handle within the last few weeks, but you aren’t any normal man. You are special, because you know what the struggle is all about. You are special because you intrigue the curiosity of many… many men you would never even imagine. You can keep trying to run, but it isn’t going to do you any good. You will crash and burn in time, and when you do crash and burn it will be in the same place you began; nowhere. Even if you do pass out following my path, you will do so somewhere new. You would have progressed from what you are at now. Do what you want Tyrone, that’s your decision… but I will still tell you want I need to tell you.

Tyrone just listens, not turning to look at the man. So full of anger and confusion, what else could he do in that situation?

James: Michael Ryan Cerda was only a nobody in a plan full of somebodies. A minor addition to the real meaning of it all. You were right, his boss wants you alive. The only problem with that was that you don’t know who he was working for… and what he wanted with you. This is your destiny not mine, but I will shed the light onto the situation. Those weren’t your everyday police men, that was the FBI. What did they want with you? They wanted information. For what? That is for you to find on your own agenda, not mine. That is your battle… not ours. They didn’t get what they wanted to get out of you, because if they did… you would be dead already. They wouldn’t have let you back into society, you would just be a “missing person”… and soon enough your body would be found floating down a river with a fan around your neck. Your face unrecognizable. You ever hear of a boy named Emmett Till? At fourteen he was mutilated by two men because he “whistled” at one of those men’s wife. The men got away, of course that was around the time of extreme racism. My point is, is that even when the men admitted to killing the boy in a magazine article, the president and the federal branch refused to open the case again. It was sealed in history forever, a supposed unsolved murder. Do you think that the government didn’t open the case again because of controversy? No. The government was hiding weakness. The government was trying to stash away something they didn’t want the public to know. If there was nobody to “legally” point a finger at, then the government kept its hands clean of the problems that it would have arisen.

Tyrone: What does that have to do with anything?

James: The death of your brother… his murderer was never captured. No investigation… and you knew exactly who the killers were. Why do you think your brother died Tyrone? Do you think it was all about you? All over you? Are you that egocentric?

Tyrone: That night we ran into Michael at the club and we exchanged words… that’s why he came after us…

[ Right? That’s what I always believed… it has to be true… has to be. He’s making me question everything that my life has been revolved around for these last few years. Making me re-examine the pain that I thought I had turned into a settled score when I killed Michael. Now it was turning into something much more broader… broader than I could handle… ]

James: You aren’t putting two and two together are you Tyrone? Michael had two motives that night, one of them was personal. That’s the one you know and have believed to be the truth for so long. The other was business. His “boss” didn’t want you killed Tyrone, he wanted Kawahn killed. He was successful in one of those. Who was this boss Tyrone? Lee Harvey. A main contributor to the FBI. Why? Because Kawahn knew something they didn’t want him spreading around.

Tyrone: What did he know… what did he know that I didn’t know?

James: You know Tyrone. You know deep within. It flows through your veins. It makes you who you are. You know.

[ Why was I even listening to this man? I’ve never seen him before and now I’m changing everything I’ve ever believed in because of what he was saying? That’s not right. I didn’t know anything of importance… just what I learned in the streets about survival. What I’ve learned about life… ]

Tyrone: I… don’t know anything. All I know is what I’m about… my own personal things. I don’t know anything that anybody wouldn’t want me to know…

James: Oh but you do Tyrone. You hold the key to what they need, the key to changing the world…

Tyrone: I don’t hold a key to anything…

James: I’ll be on my way now…

Tyrone: WAIT! ARE YOU THE MAN I SAW ON THE ROOF? I’M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET! I’M READY FOR MY DESTINY!

James: Man on the roof? No… I don’t know what that is about… and you’re right. You aren’t done with me yet… I’ll catch you around. Stay alive, destiny awaits.

Tyrone spins around quickly now, the first time since his brother was brought up… but the man is already gone. On the chair Tyrone was sitting is a pawn. On the other seat, where James was seated, is a bishop. Tyrone picks up the two pieces and examines them. After, he shoves the two glass chess pieces into his pocket and looks around at the empty arena. One by one, all of the lights shut off that were shining down, and he is left in the dark… just like he is with his life. So much there, but he just can’t see it all now. Not yet at least…

And now the blurriness that should have been sharpened has only been worsened. So, the murder of his brother meant more than just a retaliatory attack? It makes sense… easy for the government to just point fingers and place stereotypes. But… what is it that Tyrone supposedly knows… and Kawahn knew? What is this all for? What is this so called destiny of Tyrone Williams? I hope that we all get some more answers, in the next issue… Broken Hearts. Till then… take heed to the apostle’s warning!