ENCORE - I WEEP FOR THE SOULS…
The J stood before the microphone, and Anni was on drums with a microphone in front of her. A.J. stood behind a keyboard rack, Nolan on guitar, and Bekki on bass. Anni marked the time, and the band began a fast rock song, yet it was mellow and sad. After the introduction, J began,
"Somewhere in the darkest night
A stranger has lost the way." Dakota walked into a dark alley.
He shivered, "Cold wind and a distant light
Has carried her heart away." She looked at him with total hatred.
"Some say she was one of us." A toon? A friend? A Waiting One?
"A prodigal gone astray." Due to parental neglect?
J and Anni, "But inside she's as cold as ice—!" More shivers.
J, "To the truth that she won't obey!" Dakota threw the Book into the fire.
"She won't discern—" And watched it burn.
"The point of no return—in the—"
All, "Last daze, the final haze!"
J, "There was—strong delusion to believe a lie! In the—"
All, "Last daze before the blaze."
J, "She couldn't see beyond her misty trance." Dakota smiled as she looked at her monitor.
"To grab the truth and have a fighting chance!" Tex knelt before her, weeping.
J looked up, "In the last daze…"
All sighed, "Last daze…" She walked away, toward the darkness.
Everyone shuddered, "Cold chills when the Spirit speaks
J, "That some shall depart from the Faith." Dakota eyed the ghost with contempt.
"All ends in calamity—!" She fell into the pit.
"Just when she thought it was safe." And all looked at her helplessly.
"She followed the lies." She read the biography, and gave an evil smile.
"The fables men devised—in the—"
"Last daze, the final haze!" Dakota smiled in her laboratory.
"There was—strong delusion to believe a lie! In the—"
"Last daze before the blaze."
J looked down, almost weeping. "She couldn't see beyond their misty trance."
He clenched his fists in frustration, "To grab the truth and have a fighting chance!
In the last dazeeeeeeee…"
A.J. and Nolan played a sad solo for a while, as they saw scenes of Dakota rejecting every warning, scoffing at the ghosts, rejecting J, rejecting Tex, rejecting her uncle, rejecting Granny, rejecting her cousins, rejecting Leo and Miranda, and rejecting Montana. She smiled as the Book slowly turned to ashes. After a while, J and Anni shrugged,
"Some say it's a certainty."
He opened his Book, "'A sign of the times', I am told."
But the others wept, "Wo——!"
And he did, too: "But I weep for the souls of those who will never return to the fold—" The ghost trudged on.
The rest echoed in despair, "Never return to the fold—!"
J, "In the—"
All, "Last daze, the final haze."
"There was—strong delusion to believe a lie! In the—"
"Last daze before the blaze."
"She couldn't see beyond her misty trance.
To grab the truth and have a fighting chance!
In the last daze…"
The others replied, "Last daze…"
J, "Last daze!"
All, "Last daze…"
J, "It's the last daze!"
All, "Last daze…"
J, "Wo—wo—yeah! Na-na-na-na-na-na-yeah!"
"Last daze…"
J,"Last daze—! Na-na-na-yeah!" The rest echoed as the song and light faded to oblivion,
All, "Last daze…
Last daze…
Last daze…"
What, you thought I was going to end it right here? This is a story about choices, and their consequences. What was presented here was the result of one choice. Now, here are the consequences of another choice.