Fanon:Francis Pope Burning Light



JUMP! JUMP! JUMP!

A crowd of students of maybe 10 gather outside the school building. On top is another student. Lemon Wang. Chinese descent, parents and family smuggled in on a boat by a chinese triad. Lemon's about to kill himself.

I'm Francis Pope. This here is Lincoln Pierce High School, located centre of what I call Maine's chinatown. It doesnt have the smell of fish or the lanterns or the loud crowds or whatever you would expect. It's just a community of illegal Chinese immigrants. The school is not very well funded, teachers don't care, yet we're still ranked top 10 in Portland. How it is, I don't know. Chinese people are crazy. Bullying and drugs are an all time high. Back to Lemon. He's fat. Not very attractive. Bowl haircut. Looks like an egg. In terms of grades, he's ranked #1. Top of the school. So why is he killing himself? Because, bullying. If you kill the #1, then you can become the #1.

The students keep chanting. The teachers, all inside, probably. I think Lemon is starting to cry. He approaches the ledge like a panda, hands together, looking down.

STRIP YOUR CLOTHES OFF FIRST!

DO A FLIP!

The chants continue. My voice drowns in the screams. Every one has their phone out recording the event. Time to put a stop to this.

So. Why am I here? No, I did not inherit my parent's billion dollar whatever company. I'm 16!!! Did they even have a billion dollar company? Pretty sure my dad was on a four figure salary. I got sent to live with my Grandma. But then she died. So I became an orphan. And orphans don't go to Johnathan Slaveowner Elite Private School, do they?

HEY! EVERYONE SHUT UP! I scream.

Somehow, they stopped. Pitch came out as if I screamed into a megaphone.

HEY, ITS A WHITE GUY!

they say this in chinese. One of the dialects. this is the rough English translation. Why do I know chinese? because I learned it.

GO BACK TO AMERICA! they say.

THIS IS AMERICA!!! i respond. in English. I can't speak chinese.

EXACTLY!! they say. in English this time. phew. I don't know what "exactly" would translate to.

The student proceeds to pull out a gun and flashes it in the air. The others cheer.

a few of them lunge towards me. But I'm stronger and push them back. they stagger backwards, as if they were losing control of their legs.

The student with the gun now points it at me. Suddenly, all the phones are also pointed at me. Everyone cheers. Ok, how do I get out of this one?

I flip my backpack to the front, acting as if it was a kevlar vest.

They laugh.

I'M FROM PS:38!! I yell.

Suddenly, they all quiet down. There's still laughter, but it comes in fragmented pieces. They know what happened there.

What about PS:38?

You want to find out? Then shoot. There's 3 grenades in this bag. Be careful you don't miss me. Hit one of them, and you all die. Don't trust me? NO? I was transferred from PS:38 down to this shithole town! What do you think that means!!!?? Do you think I want to be HERE with you all? Jesus christ, this is a honey pot for HOMELAND SECURITY!!!! I BURNED DOWN PS:38. I KILLED MY TEACHERS. I KILED MY CLASSMATES. You know what, you should kill me. Do it. I've already done this to a school once before. KILL ME. Why live anyway? It's so pointless seeing! I see what happens every day. You either bully or be bullied. It's the same thing in PS:38!!! HA! Now you know why I did what I did. Because I can't stand to see the hollow scum NPC's like you run around. SO SHOOT ME!

I do, actually have grenades. I stole them from Nate's house before he let me go. For self protection, of course!

Their faces are frozen. Every instinct tells them to run, but they can't.

OK, Fine. I say.

I take one out. Finger on the trigger. Ready to pull.

Now they disperse.

After the last one finishes running, I turn to the kid on the top. The schools not big. Rooftop's on the third floor. I'm guessing his fat ass would give him a cushion landing anyway.

You can come down now, Lemon. I say.

Lemon nods. "ALRIGHT, IM COMING DOWN!!!" and walks towards the ledge.

NO, NOT THERE! DO YOU WANT TO KILL YOURSELF????

Lemon nods again. "YES!"

Oh right, I forgot about the bullying.

Lemon speaks up again. "Well, Not really so much now... that you're here... you know.."

"LEMON, THESE GUYS WERE TRICKED. GOBSMACKED! THESE GRENADES ARE FAKE! AND THEY FELL FOR IT! YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE BULLIED BY THESE GUYS!"

I actually don't know if they're real or fake.

WHATS YOUR NAME?

FRANCIS POPE!!!!

SO YOU'RE NOT THE GUY WHO BURNED DOWN PS:38?!?! THAT WAS NATE WRIGHT, RIGHT?

YEA! BUT THESE IDIOTS BELIEVED ME!

Lemon's finding a hard time processing this information.

LEMON, YOU DESERVE BETTER. I'm GOING TO LEAVE NOW. IF YOU KILL YOURSELF, THAT'S YOUR DECISION TO MAKE. IF YOU WANT TO TALK TO ME, THEN COME DOWN.

YEAH, ILL COME DOWN AND TALK TO YOU!

Lemon nods his fat bean like head, smiling widely, and takes another step closer to the ledge.

LEMON, NO! YOU STUPID—

He jumps off the building.

I do nothing but stare widely at what may be the corpse of this dim witted chubby human sized dumpling. blood splattered. really like the soup of xiao long bao.

He's alive. He talks weakly: I didn't mean to kill myself. I don't use my brain much, that's all.

How the hell is this guy top of the school?