Chapter 1
Brian Hughes was your average guy. Brian was 5’ 9” 186 lbs. Brown curly hair and blue eyes. He had an average look. He wasn’t ugly nor was he gorgeous but he was handsome. If Brian wanted to date he would be able to find a girl but he was a homebody and didn’t want to share these feelings. He worked hard all day to earn meager pay so he could live life his own way. He didn’t have many friends to speak of, his family was all but gone and he was alone. Brian didn’t have any love interests to speak of because he never wanted to get close to anyone or share what was inside of him. Things never went the way he wanted. Bills kept piling up because he didn’t make enough money to pay for everything he had. He had car bills, phone bills, internet bills, credit card bills, medical bills and almost any other type of bill you could think of he had. Brian wasn’t a sad person he had two things in his life he did enjoy. One thing was blaming God for everything that has gone wrong. His car breaks down it was Gods fault. He needs to have a crown put on his back molar its god fault for that as well. Whatever went wrong in his life it was blamed on god himself? However there is one thing Brian did enjoy was movies. He was proud to say he has watch over 3000 movies in his life time and knows each one of them from opening credit to end. He owns over 1000 DVD’s and has watched them all at least six times a piece because that was his rule. Brian wouldn’t own a movie unless he planned on watching that particular film six times. He probably has watched some of them more than that but, that depended on the movie and how good it was. Brian always said to himself that if there was a game show about movies he would be the Ken Adams of that show and he would have tons of friend’s cause of it. Brian wasn’t popular by any means growing up. He had some friends he would hang out with in the school auditorium or ones he would play basketball with but, mostly he felt like an outsider. Brian really kept to himself and enjoyed the simple life while growing up. Going to movies and playing video games.
Brian has had it hard his whole life. His parents died when he was 24 in a freak car accident. His parents weren’t rich when they died and left him alone and with basically nothing. He couldn’t afford to keep his home; he had to sell off his parents valuables which really weren’t much to pay for a new place for him to live. He didn’t have anyone to turn to in his time of need. He had no other family or really any family friends and it was then when Brian shut himself out from the world and started blaming god for his troubles. He worked from home because he never wanted to be blamed for creating a negative workplace cause of his attitude towards life. His job was an at home representative for a small computer company in which he basically made cold calls all day selling computers. This was kind of the best way for him to work because he was really a dark person and made sure his dislike of people was hidden. What I mean is people who he dealt with on the phone only knew a voice. They had no face to face interaction with him and he could pretend to be whoever he wanted and never had to meet face to face with anyone. Even the therapist who he couldn’t afford was only spoken to over the phone. Brian never saw this person face to face even though this person wrote him antidepressants every month. When Brian went out it was to buy groceries for the week or to drive him to the movies for him to enjoy his most precious thing. Movies were an escape for Brian. He would pick a different one each day and turn into the role of one of the characters and play it out in his mind. He would become this person and live their life which in his mind was always better even if the person died in the film. Brian was a very unhappy person and didn’t like his life but, each time he would consider doing something awful to himself he would put another film in and escape into another life and be totally happy for that length of time. The movies didn’t have to be about a specific genre. Brian loved movies of all kinds. He never watched the same type of movie twice in one day. Meaning he never watched two war movies or two comedies in one day. Each movie had to be different so he could live a different aspect of life. Even though Brian was depressed most of the day he could put on a comedy and be happy just for those 2 hours. Brian liked being alone but, hated to see what each new day brought. If he didn’t sell computers to any companies that day it was again god’s fault. Brian had no one else to blame and he believed that a higher power made his life horrible. Brian didn’t want to ruin anyone else’s life by making them unhappy each day. Brian’s daily routine was to wake up, eat breakfast and then take a shower. He would then go to his desk in his apartment and start making one of many cold calls throughout the day. Most of the leads were emailed to him and the others he got by just Googling an area and calling the businesses. Brian tried acting cool about selling these computers. He would pretend to be like Charlie Sheen selling Gecko on Blue Star Airlines. Or he would pretend to be a fast talker like in Boiler Room to make it sound like he sold hundreds of these computers a day, when in aspect if he sold 10 it was an amazing day. Brian was lucky if he sold 10 a week and that barely kept him able to live in the life style he had been accustomed to. This week however would become a want to end all for Brian. He hadn’t sold a computer all week and made no money to pay his rent or any bills such as phone or his electric bill. No power meant to T.V. and without that he couldn’t escape into his movie life. He had received multiple warnings about eviction and his utilities being shut off. He tried to explain his situation and tried to get any lee way but, no one wanted to hear his excuses. Brian had it and grabbed his bottle of Jim Bean off the top of his fridge which was empty and he walked out the door talking to himself. Brian didn’t care that he didn’t lock his door cause Brian wasn’t coming back. He walked down the darkened streets cursing god about this and that. He walked by multiple movie theaters and tears ran down his face cause he couldn’t afford to buy a ticket to try and get that escape he needed. Brian had been walking for about 3 hours and had been carrying the empty bottle but still kept motioning it to his mouth to make like he was still drinking it. This bottle was the only possession he believed he had left in the world right now. He knew all the stuff in his useless apartment was going to be sold to pay off the rent and all those movies he loved would be sold for basically nothing and given to a local store to rent or sell. This dragged him down more and he cursed god more for it. Brian was drunk out of his mind and he stumbled over his own feet and tripped forward and dropped the bottle and it shattered on the ground. Brian dropped to his knees and cried hard at the shattered glass and saw it as the end. The streets lights were bright enough that he saw his reflection in the shards of glass and he saw what he believed to be his useless life in the pieces. The death of his parents, the daily grind at his computer, his lonely daily routine, his phone calls to his therapist he saw them all and the one thing he couldn’t see was his movies. The one thing that could make him smile he couldn’t see in any of the pieces. He couldn’t picture them in his mind. Brian got to his feet and screamed at the heavens cursing god for putting him in this life and making his life a living hell. This was Brian’s way to express how he felt. He blamed god for everything not matter what it was. He told god that he was going to have to live with what was going to happen next. Brian kept on walking and made it to a bridge. He stumbled as he walked and made it to the center of the bridge. Brian leaned over the railing and the looked down and saw that it looked like it was at least a really long way down. He slowly climbed over the railing and was now standing on the other side looking down. There was lots of wind and it sounded like a rushing river. Brian looked up and began yelling at god that this was his fault and that his death was going to be on his hands forever. Brian looked down and kept on thinking about that he was going to be at peace and that he was going to end up with his family who was taken away from him at the wrong time in his life. Brian let his arms go and leaned forward and began to fall forward and fell for what he felt was like forever and boom everything went black.
Brian laid there and he felt cold and alone and he had this feeling like he was spinning and spinning. In his mind he had the vision from Vertigo of the man falling and spinning. He landed on a hard floor and slowly he began to gain feeling in his extremities and the room started to slowly light up like a movie theater after the film had ended. He remained still at first and slowly rubbed his eyes. All he saw was 4 walls and metal chair. Brian slowly got up and felt his way around the walls to find them solid. He was a little dizzy and didn’t know where he was or what had happened. He stumbled over to the chair which felt like it was bolted into the floor and he sat down to try to right himself. His eyes adjusted to the light and he tried to understand where he was. The last thing he remembered was falling off the bridge and now he is here. Now that he could see all that was around him he concluded that this was where he was to be judged. All there was were four white walls and lights in the ceiling. No mirrors on the walls or anything so he was confused. He got up and walked to the walls and felt around them all to find out whether had already concluded in his mind and that was that they were solid. Was this to be where he was going to spend eternity? He looked up and again yelled to the ceiling cursing god himself even though at some point he was going to meet him he still cursed at him for keeping him here. He walked over to the chair and sat down and noticed the lights going down and then a voice spoke to him.
“So Brian I have ruined your life and made you the way you are. Do you know how impossible it would be to single one person out of over billions and make his life the worst of all? Give me a break Brian. Don’t you think if I was going to make certain people life hell it would be the likes of the Hilter or Bin Laden or other types like them?”
Brian was in awe because he couldn’t see who was talking to him but knew that this was god by the way he spoke. The voice was loud and echoed loudly though out the room and Brian didn’t know what to say but he was able to mutter this answer. “Well why you didn’t make their lives hell.”
There was some clearing of the throat and the answer that was replied wasn’t what Brian had hoped to hear but it was what was told and the answer was.
“They slipped through the cracks and out of my vision, its hard ruling the world and punishing everyone. I punish thousands of people and two people get through and I am the bad one. Could you think if I just watched and punished no one this world would be rotten to the core. Then there is you Brian. I seem to just pick on you like a kid with a magnifying glass pointing the sun rays on it. You think I have nothing better to do in my day but to single you of all people out and make his life hell. Well thin k again little man cause there is such a thing as pure bad luck and things happen because they happen. I was about to punish ten terrorists for trying to blow up a church but, since you decided to interrupt that and ended up here cause you believe that I made you the way you are.”
Brian didn’t know what to think at all. He never thought of that fact that god has placed everyone on this earth for a reason and maybe sometimes a few bad eggs make it through or maybe some devils got a hold of a file and decided to make this person’s life hell. Brian hung his head in his hands and began to weep. A loud bang happened that knocked Brian off his chair and there was bright light that made him cover his eyes. The glaring light subsided and Brian uncovered his eyes to see a pudgy middle aged man sitting in the chair looking down on him. Brian was in kind of shock because he expected god to look a little more prestigious looking. Brian slowly got up and sat back down in his chair and looked at the gentleman and asked outright.
“Are you god?”
The man sat up straight and gave him a funny look and decided to just stare at him for a minute. He reached down and picked up a file from out of thin air and opened it and looked around the pages for a few minutes making several faces some smiling some angry and even ripped a page out and tossed it away.. He closed it and placed it back down and yelled.
“Who in the hell do you think I am. Some assigned case worker who has magic powers who knows everything about you.”
Brian told him he was sorry but it didn’t excuse the fact that his life had been a mess and began to list off all the things that went wrong or were wrong. God just sat there and felt like Brian just needed to vent so he took out a cross word and began to do it while Brian marched around the room spilling his entire life to someone who knew the answers. It was like a crazy person going to a shrink and the shrink knows everything but was just going to bill him for his time. Finally Brian was done and he sat back down and looked at God. You would think that most people would be speechless at this point of their lives. Brian was sitting in front of the all mighty and all he could do was yell and scream. There are people who just freeze and can’t talk. There are the types of people who just mutter jumbled words trying to make a clerical sentence to sound right. Then there are the people who know that they are fucked and try to apologize for everything they did to hope that they are going to make it to heaven even though they know they are going to burn forever, but not Brian. He figured that he was here he was going to get his two cents in and except what was coming to him. Most people expect to hear a lengthy explanation of what was to come but, in this instance god reached in and put his hands on Brian’s head and Brian saw what God wanted him to see. God showed him everything he needed to know about his life and made Brian see why life was worth living and showing him all that he was going to miss out on now that he has committed the worst of all sins. Brian wanted forgiveness but knew that there was no way he was going to be able to go back. He was dead and once you dead it really isn’t easy to just pop back up. Brian tried to explain that he understood and wanted another chance at life but God wasn’t buying it at all. God looked Brian in the face and asked him a simple question.
“Brian what is the one thing that you love most in the world.”
Brian leaned back and thought hard about this question. He also figured that god knew what he was going to say but, he was going to think about it for a few minutes. Brian wiped the tears in his eyes and looked at god and said “Movies. I love movies sir. They can take you to another place and make you think your there right with them and make your life’s problems just drift away. God just nodded his head and stood up and walked over to one of the walls and leaned against it and closed his eyes. The room went dark and Brian grabbed hold of his chair he was sitting on thinking he was going to fall or something. All of a sudden the lights came on and in front of him were what looked like the movie theater doors in the local movie theater about a block away from his apartment. He asked god what was going and this was what god wanted him to do.
“Brian you have taken your life for granted and blamed me for everything that has gone wrong in your life. You say that you love movies and that you believe you had made a mistake about how you had lived and what directions your life has gone and would like another chance to get back to where you were and make the best of your life. You will have to face a number of challenges and in these challenges you will be transported into a movie in which you will be responsible for the lives of certain individuals. You will have to come to appreciate the value of a life whether the person or persons deserve to live or die. You must save these people in each challenge. If you fail at anyone challenge you lose. Do not pass go do not collect two hundred dollars. You will not have the choice of what movie you will be transported into. Once you pick a door you will be transported into the character of a person in the movie and will have to complete the challenge as that person. Remember this is all real and the lives of these people lives are in your hands. If they die you die as well and remember this is so you see that life is worth living and this isn’t for your enjoyment. When I think you have gotten the point and see that life is a gift not a blight then you can go back. If you fool around and treat this as you have treated each day of your life then you will spend eternity wondering what could have been and never return to living or enjoy another movie again. Do you understand me?”
Brain took a big gulp and once again wiped his eyes of tears and nodded with his understanding of the rules. God snapped his fingers and disappeared and Brian was alone. He sat there wondering how this was going to work and like magic ten doors appeared in front of him. Brian looked at these doors and thought they were familiar but that wasn’t what was running through Brian’s mind right now. There was no titles above any of the doors so this meant t at Brian was going to have to just pick and whatever came up was what he was going to be stuck with. When he was alive he was able to pick and choose what he did in life and now that freedom is being taken away for a reason. Brian blamed god for everything so Brian was going to have to take whatever he was handed and deal with it. Again Brian looked at the doors and they looked the same as the movie doors at his usual movie theater. He looked at them for a few minutes and since they were all alike that it didn’t matter which door he chose but, there was a different challenge that awaited him on the other side. There was ten doors and since there was no title above them he had to choose by number and so he figured to go to the door of his favorite football player of all time Troy Aikman. He walked up to door number eight and took a deep breath opened the door and stepped through. It was pitch black as he walked through and then for a moment he thought he was going to be in a space movie cause what he saw appeared to look like he was going into light speed and then darkness fell upon him.
