Storytelling for Week 5: The Name of Power

             It’s extremely dark, cold, and dusty. David kept chipping away at the wall with his pickaxe. He has been working down in the coal mine since he left home at age 15.  He is 27 now, and has changed a lot from that timid child. He grew over 6 ft tall, and gained hard muscle from working the mine.

            He keeps working enough to make it by, hating life as he goes. All the time thinking that there is something more for him, something meaningful. He presses on in hope for that one day when he figures out what it is.

 As he was mining, dazing off about the future, he felt a violent shake. He knew what that shake was, and it wasn’t bring any good news with it.

“Earthquake, crap” David muttered.

Following the other miners’ actions, he dropped his tools and ran. The walls were shaking all around him and were starting to crumble. Pushing people out of his way left and right, he raced out with only the will to survive on his mind. The light from outside grew larger; he could smell the dew of the morning. He made it out. Looking back at the collapsed entrance he thought about the other miners he knocked down.

“It is their fault they didn’t make it. They were weaker than the rest of us.” David thought to himself.

Figuring out what was next for him, he set out to another town to find a job, but something interesting happened on his bus ride. A man sat next to him and talked about power beyond David’s imagination. The man promised to show him the way to absolute power. All it would take is to find the old man living alone in the woods, and to figure out his true name. David understood that this power was the thing that would bring meaning to his life, the power to dominate and control his own fate. The next morning he set out to find the old man, and after months of searching he found the old man.  The old man saw him and knew immediately why David had come.

“I will not give you what you seek. There is only hatred and evil in you, and this power will destroy you.” The old man stated

“You will tell your name old man. I did not come all the way for nothing.” David screamed.

            David blood was boiling at the point, and the man sat perfectly calm. David knew he could never get the man to yield willing. He needed to find something to break the man, and then he heard it

“Daddy!” a child said from a distance.

The old man’s heart sank. He had no choice now but to give in. “If you only knew what this power will do to you,” he said.

            David left both bodies where he struck them down. As we walked away for the house smiling, he knew his life was changed. Nobody would ever command him or look down on him. He was free.

( Image from movie plot )

Authors Note: This story was adopted from The Secret Name of Ra. It is about the god Isis poisoning Ra to give up his true name, so she could have the power of Ra as well. She finally gets his name and they share his ultimate power. In my story I wanted to create a more sinister character for that kind of power. I felt no one would want to share that kind of power with somebody, which is why I figured one who have to have evil intent to want that power. I chose the Joker as my image because I believe he is a true picture of evil. He cares for nothing or no one but himself, and enjoys power over others.