Stalwart WZCW interviewer Becky Serra stands in the hallway outside the all to familiar locker room of the infamous Drake Callahan. She seems to be working up the energy to enter.
Becky: Is it just me, or are the weeks passing by way too fast?
She sighs.
Becky: It seems like I was just dealing with this last week.
She politely knocks on the door, knowing Drake won't answer, but proceeding with the formality anyway. She opens it up to a dark room. She steps in, no longer being surprised by anything Drake can try.
Becky: Drake? Are you in here?
She fumbles around the room.
Becky: Where's that light switch...
The door slams shut, suddenly. A locking noise is heard, throwing the room into pitch blackness. Becky starts, suddenly fearful.
Becky: Drake?
A voice, deep, is heard in the darkness.
Voice: It's a funny thing, alcohol.
Footsteps are heard in the room. A match is struck and lights a lone candle, casting a dim, flickering light around the room. On the very edge of light, a dim shape is seen.
Voice: It can make a night, and it can ruin one. It can lighten a life, and it can destroy one. Sometimes, it's just a simple enjoyment. Sometimes, it's the accomplice of murder.
Becky, dimly illuminated by the light, has a fearful look on her face. She's kept silent out of fear.
Voices: Everything we touch is dangerous. Anything used irresponsibly can kill. The fire on this candle, for instance.
The dim figure gestures.
Voice: Now, it gives us light. But assume I tipped it over? It could burn the entire building down. How many might die, I wonder?
The figure begins to pace at the edge of the light.
Voice: We're all ruled by balance. Everything has its opposite force, opposite result. Every good has an evil. Every coin, two sides.
The figure stops.
Voice: Every man, two faces.
The pacing resumes.
Voice: Everything we do can have two results. Until now, perhaps, you've seen a man bumbling. Grinning. Happy go lucky. A friendly drunk who falls over himself, makes crude jokes.
Voice: But maybe what you don't realize, is that the drug we call alcohol, it doesn't change us. It brings out what's within. We let go of worldly inhibitions. It brings out the true spirit of the man inside. It can allow us to tap into new capacities.
Voice: Inside every man is the capacity for love. Peace. Happiness.
Voice: Inside every man is the capacity for anger. Rage. Hate.
The pacing increases in tempo.
Voice: There's light and dark to everything. Until now? You've seen a light side. You think that I'm a man to be trifled with, a silly drunk who can't meet a real challenge.
A sudden bang is heard, as if a fist has connected with a wall.
Voice: There is no excuse for preying on the downcast. No man can hold himself above another. No man has the right to look down upon another. Perhaps, Mr. Stokes, you think you're better because you don't succumb to alcohol?
A sneer is heard.
Voice: You have no idea what the capacity of man who's inhibitions are let go are. You think I can't focus myself? You think I won't be able to control what I do?
Voice: Perhaps you'd be right on that. When you step into the ring with me, you'll see a man who's inner self has been unleashed. Who has no inhibitions. No concerns. No concerns about myself, and much less about you.
Voices: Winning and losing will become irrelevant to me. All that will matter is destroying you.
The pacing halts.
Voice: You've seen one side of a coin. The light. The happiness, the fun, the kind spirit.
Voice: What you are about to witness is a transformation. The other side of the coin. The darkness within. The black side inside every man's heart. The capacity to hurt, to maim.
The voice grows softer.
Voice: You are going to step into the realm of a monster.
The voice raises.
Voice: Daniel Stokes, you will realize the fault of your arrogance. You will wish you had never trifled with the downtrodden, the outcast. With my people.
Suddenly, the lights raise. In the center of the room stands the ever familiar prescence of Drake Callahan, holding an empty bottle and quivering in rage. He stares at the ground.
Becky: Dr...Drake?
Drake: The time will be soon, Stokes. You will realize that what you have done is irrevocable. You will understand that your actions have taunted the beast within.
He raises his head to stare toward the heavens.
Drake: This is a change that you brought on. This is a side that you will wish had never come out. You will regret tampering with what's inside of me.
The lights go out again, and the candle is extinguished. The door creaks open.
Drake: Leave.
Becky needs no further encouragement, running out of the room and shutting the door quickly behind her. Back in the light, she blinks, and the scene fades with a shocked Becky trying to make sense of the man she has just witnessed.
