Of Angst and Men
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the WOECIS characters in this fanfic.
~ ~ ~
The room was destroyed. Everything was smashed, strewn about the room in a tribute to disorder and rage. The mirror was shattered by a hard backed dictionary flung into the wall. Glass, shattered porcelain were everywhere. The entire room was a tribute to the owner's rage.
His ACME ID card was cut apart and written on the wall in blue ink was, "To Hell with ACME!"
Clearly the owner's last few moments were racked with pain and rage. "How could he do this?"
The question snapped Ivy out of her surprise. One of her closest friends from the ACME Queensland Field Office in Australia, Tara, had called her a few minutes ago. For someone normally calm and level headed she seemed extremely distraught at the sight she had seen.
"I don't know Tara, but maybe we can piece together what went wrong." Ivy said. She paused as two ACME detectives walked by, they were seventeen at the oldest.
"Man did you hear that dude, Purvis, quit today?" said one.
"Yeah, I saw him storm out of the building. He was like totally spazing out. I heard him yelling, 'Almighty God! Enough! Enough!' all last night." The other replied.
"He was such a fucking dweeb man. With that gay ass laugh and how he tried to fit in." the first replied.
Tara looked clearly upset by both the comments of the room's former occupant as well as the destroyed state of the room. A large hole was kicked into the dry wall and his clothes and mattress were thrown angrily around the room.
Ivy picked up the fragments of the ID card. It bore the name Purvis, Larry M., age: seventeen. Most of the rest of the card's pieces were scattered about the room. A small portrait of a slight, bespectacled fellow with a grown in shaved head was part of the three fragments Ivy had pieced together.
Tara gingerly stepped aside, to avoid stepping on a shard of glass from the bathroom mirror. Ivy decided to question Tara about what she knew about Purvis, "What was wrong with him?"
"He was always complaining about how underappreciated or denigrated he was because he wasn't a field agent. Just because he was part of the evidence interpretation group the field agents used to give him a hard time but he always seemed to laugh with them. That was until at least a few days ago." Tara replied, brushing a stray lock of her short brown hair out of her face.
Ivy walked around a drawer that had been pulled out of the bureau and smashed against the tile floor of the bathroom. Several shirts and socks were strewn about as a result. It looked like the aftermath of a war zone.
Among the debris Ivy found a smashed framed picture. There were three people in the picture, one of them was Tara, the other was the room's former occupant, Larry Purvis, and the third was Duncan Glazers, another detective at the field office. Most of the picture was partially burned with a lighter.
Ivy's instincts told her that there was something significant about this picture, otherwise why would Purvis have taken such elaborate steps to destroy it. "How long did you say you knew him?"
"I've known Larry since he moved into my neighborhood in Sapphire Bay when he was six. We've been friends since then and I know him like the back of my hand. I didn't think he was capable of this." Tara replied.
"What sort of person was he? Who did he hang out with?" Ivy replied as she walked to the book case. The shelves were all knocked down, and several books ranging from Shakespeare to several cheap paperbacks were scattered about.
"He was a quiet guy, a deep thinker. I also thought he was the sweetest guy I knew; I mean he was always happy, always good to me. He didn't go out much; he'd just sit in here reading or writing something. He seemed happy with his job, but lately he had been making mistakes, allowing VILE henchmen to steal things from museums from Japan to Indonesia. Chief Inspector Bryce wasn't too happy with him. She put him under a professional competence investigation last week." Tara replied, "And after that he started to become bitter and angry towards ACME and this place."
"Was he upset when he was doing his job, even when he was making mistakes?" Ivy asked.
"It was around last month when the jokes stopped being funny, when his supervisor started getting on his case, when his fellow interpreters started getting on his case." Tara replied, "He stopped smiling so much, started becoming more withdrawn than usual. Even when he would want to be left alone, he'd always be willing to talk to me, but then he even started shutting me out."
"What about that third guy in the picture, Duncan." Ivy asked, she knew Duncan from a couple ACME mixtures. "He's my boyfriend, I started dating him around last month." Tara replied, "We had our first kiss last night."
Ivy scratched her chin thoughtfully, she knew what had been on Purvis' mind when he trashed his room and cut his ID card apart. It was starting to make sense. Purvis was falling in love with his childhood friend who didn't share his feelings.
"Ivy?" Tara asked, "There's one more thing. I know that some of those other field agents making jokes about geeky interpreters are common but Larry was genuinely hurt by them. I remember him being on the verge of tears last week at being called, 'Just a mama's boy interpreter dweeb' by Detective Mullins."
"What was his home life like?" Ivy asked.
"He was very close to his family. He spent hours on the phone with them every day." Tara replied.
Ivy pieced together more information. Larry Purvis, a broken hearted loner, a kid that was constantly teased by the common travails of the teenage life. Tara and Duncan started dating at around the time that Purvis started destabilizing emotionally. She could see it now, Purvis hearing about their first kiss and knowing that he had permanently lost and feeling completely devastated. If the words of the two ACME detectives that had walked by meant anything he was obviously angst ridden and enraged.
Tara's next question posed a dilemma for Ivy, "Why did he do this? I can't figure out why? I could see him probably leaving but not with this kind of violence."
The room seemed to scream, "I've got nowhere left to go!"
Ivy noticed the ripped pillow case had several tear stains on it. The grief was obviously long lived and caused the occupant a lot of pain.
Ivy debated whether to tell Tara the truth that was so plainly written, that Purvis was in love with her, couldn't express his feelings soon enough, and grief stricken, chose to flee ACME in an unconventional way. "Give me some time Tara, you know I'm always there for you." Ivy said as she walked through the C-5 corridor back to ACME HQ, San Francisco.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the WOECIS characters in this fanfic.
~ ~ ~
The room was destroyed. Everything was smashed, strewn about the room in a tribute to disorder and rage. The mirror was shattered by a hard backed dictionary flung into the wall. Glass, shattered porcelain were everywhere. The entire room was a tribute to the owner's rage.
His ACME ID card was cut apart and written on the wall in blue ink was, "To Hell with ACME!"
Clearly the owner's last few moments were racked with pain and rage. "How could he do this?"
The question snapped Ivy out of her surprise. One of her closest friends from the ACME Queensland Field Office in Australia, Tara, had called her a few minutes ago. For someone normally calm and level headed she seemed extremely distraught at the sight she had seen.
"I don't know Tara, but maybe we can piece together what went wrong." Ivy said. She paused as two ACME detectives walked by, they were seventeen at the oldest.
"Man did you hear that dude, Purvis, quit today?" said one.
"Yeah, I saw him storm out of the building. He was like totally spazing out. I heard him yelling, 'Almighty God! Enough! Enough!' all last night." The other replied.
"He was such a fucking dweeb man. With that gay ass laugh and how he tried to fit in." the first replied.
Tara looked clearly upset by both the comments of the room's former occupant as well as the destroyed state of the room. A large hole was kicked into the dry wall and his clothes and mattress were thrown angrily around the room.
Ivy picked up the fragments of the ID card. It bore the name Purvis, Larry M., age: seventeen. Most of the rest of the card's pieces were scattered about the room. A small portrait of a slight, bespectacled fellow with a grown in shaved head was part of the three fragments Ivy had pieced together.
Tara gingerly stepped aside, to avoid stepping on a shard of glass from the bathroom mirror. Ivy decided to question Tara about what she knew about Purvis, "What was wrong with him?"
"He was always complaining about how underappreciated or denigrated he was because he wasn't a field agent. Just because he was part of the evidence interpretation group the field agents used to give him a hard time but he always seemed to laugh with them. That was until at least a few days ago." Tara replied, brushing a stray lock of her short brown hair out of her face.
Ivy walked around a drawer that had been pulled out of the bureau and smashed against the tile floor of the bathroom. Several shirts and socks were strewn about as a result. It looked like the aftermath of a war zone.
Among the debris Ivy found a smashed framed picture. There were three people in the picture, one of them was Tara, the other was the room's former occupant, Larry Purvis, and the third was Duncan Glazers, another detective at the field office. Most of the picture was partially burned with a lighter.
Ivy's instincts told her that there was something significant about this picture, otherwise why would Purvis have taken such elaborate steps to destroy it. "How long did you say you knew him?"
"I've known Larry since he moved into my neighborhood in Sapphire Bay when he was six. We've been friends since then and I know him like the back of my hand. I didn't think he was capable of this." Tara replied.
"What sort of person was he? Who did he hang out with?" Ivy replied as she walked to the book case. The shelves were all knocked down, and several books ranging from Shakespeare to several cheap paperbacks were scattered about.
"He was a quiet guy, a deep thinker. I also thought he was the sweetest guy I knew; I mean he was always happy, always good to me. He didn't go out much; he'd just sit in here reading or writing something. He seemed happy with his job, but lately he had been making mistakes, allowing VILE henchmen to steal things from museums from Japan to Indonesia. Chief Inspector Bryce wasn't too happy with him. She put him under a professional competence investigation last week." Tara replied, "And after that he started to become bitter and angry towards ACME and this place."
"Was he upset when he was doing his job, even when he was making mistakes?" Ivy asked.
"It was around last month when the jokes stopped being funny, when his supervisor started getting on his case, when his fellow interpreters started getting on his case." Tara replied, "He stopped smiling so much, started becoming more withdrawn than usual. Even when he would want to be left alone, he'd always be willing to talk to me, but then he even started shutting me out."
"What about that third guy in the picture, Duncan." Ivy asked, she knew Duncan from a couple ACME mixtures. "He's my boyfriend, I started dating him around last month." Tara replied, "We had our first kiss last night."
Ivy scratched her chin thoughtfully, she knew what had been on Purvis' mind when he trashed his room and cut his ID card apart. It was starting to make sense. Purvis was falling in love with his childhood friend who didn't share his feelings.
"Ivy?" Tara asked, "There's one more thing. I know that some of those other field agents making jokes about geeky interpreters are common but Larry was genuinely hurt by them. I remember him being on the verge of tears last week at being called, 'Just a mama's boy interpreter dweeb' by Detective Mullins."
"What was his home life like?" Ivy asked.
"He was very close to his family. He spent hours on the phone with them every day." Tara replied.
Ivy pieced together more information. Larry Purvis, a broken hearted loner, a kid that was constantly teased by the common travails of the teenage life. Tara and Duncan started dating at around the time that Purvis started destabilizing emotionally. She could see it now, Purvis hearing about their first kiss and knowing that he had permanently lost and feeling completely devastated. If the words of the two ACME detectives that had walked by meant anything he was obviously angst ridden and enraged.
Tara's next question posed a dilemma for Ivy, "Why did he do this? I can't figure out why? I could see him probably leaving but not with this kind of violence."
The room seemed to scream, "I've got nowhere left to go!"
Ivy noticed the ripped pillow case had several tear stains on it. The grief was obviously long lived and caused the occupant a lot of pain.
Ivy debated whether to tell Tara the truth that was so plainly written, that Purvis was in love with her, couldn't express his feelings soon enough, and grief stricken, chose to flee ACME in an unconventional way. "Give me some time Tara, you know I'm always there for you." Ivy said as she walked through the C-5 corridor back to ACME HQ, San Francisco.