(Someday I'll, I wanna wear a starry crown.)
"Hey!"
A man stands there in the distance just in shouting range.
"What are you doing? Come here!"
The camera rushes in over hills and valleys and smacks the man in the face pushing him into the blackboard behind him.
"Too… Too close man."
"I'm sorry!" stutters the man behind the camera.
The man slowly gets up.
People unknown step in and straighten the blackboard.
"Ahem."
"Hi! My name is Mister Lonely! I'm the writer, head editor, and director of The View From Halfway Down."
The man grins like a fool.
"We're taking a break from the main story so that I can ask you something."
"Who's your favorite hero?"
"Some may reply with a real-life person, even more would reply with a fictional character like Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman."
"And to that I reply with good for you!"
"But I have a question."
The camera gets closer.
"Do you need a hero?"
You may be confused. That's okay, I'll rephrase it. Is a hero needed to make an action story good?"
"You could ask, But isn't Rio a hero?"
He laughs hard.
"Man "Rio" isn't even a-"
He pauses suddenly staring down the camera's barrel. At you.
"Oops almost spoiled something big!"
His grin widens.
"Anyway anyone who calls Rio a hero… well I'll soon be testing that theory!"
He turns serious suddenly.
"You know, this story isn't just… well a story. It's an experiment. One of those many experiments is this."
He points at the cameras.
"Me directly talking to you, with no pesky metaphors or misleading language to get in the way. Another is this. How far can I push the borders of the words "Heroes" and "Villains", and what would come out of it?"
He stands there almost proud.
"This story is me trying and doing so many things, and I know that. But that won't stop me from trying. I'll make it or…"
His voice drops a little.
"Anyway… you may ask "Why?" "Why would you try and strive for the impossible?" "When this book was nothing but stolen ideas, I heard this quote. "Writing is to bear yourself to the world." That's what I want this book to be."
"It's also why my name is Mister Lonely. Because of my ideals, what I strive to be, it…makes me truly alone in the industry. It's both a curse and a blessing I suppose."
He pauses. His proud visage trembles.
"Yeah, this book is ugly and messy. But…"
He leans in.
"You can't look away can you? So as you dive deeper into my world of insanity… keep this in mind."
He steps forward and grabs the camera, making all that is visible his face.
Along with a single tear…
"The view only gets uglier the farther you fall."
"So let's fall together, interwoven, into this beautiful world."
…falling down his face.
(Heroes and Villains Interlude (Heroes Edition) End)
(And nothing hurts anymore, I feel kinda free)