ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS - CHAPTER TWO


So glad this week is finally, finally over!

Arthur Stuart paused to take a deep breath, feeling the cool air fill his lungs to capacity and filter
out again, leaving his body calm, refreshed, and pure. Rinse. Repeat.

What a week.

Arthur had spent the last few days researching and re-discovering the hectic and repressed
memories of his adolescence, a task which proved almost painful to his stable and jaded persona.
Events resurfaced which he wished had remained forever hidden in the dark depths of his mind,
events which had caused himself and others unbelievable grief, and left him feeling hollow and
deceived.

For the last ten years of his life, Arthur had fought to regain the self-discipline he had shirked off
as a child. He strove to right the wrongs he had made, the personal morals he had violated.
Violated ... that was how he had been feeling. In those days ... he gave up everything -- his life,
his family, his body -- and for nothing, for a lie. For the legacy of a forgotten wonder. The fates
laughed as every day he tried to mask his insecurities with perfectionism. With work. With
anything that could make up for the fact that Arthur Stuart felt like a bad person.

His ever-present guilt had been building steadily ever since he'd been assigned the god-awful
article to write. He couldn't believe it had already been ten years of suppressed emotions,
emotions which now threatened to billow and erupt in a heave of tension. Interviewing Cecil had
just been the beginning of a floodgate forced open by time. He couldn't sit a moment alone
anymore without some smothered vision welling up and contaminating his mind's eye.

When he met Mandy Slade, Arthur had no idea that her own memories could harmonize so
sadly with his own. As she spoke, lost moments seemed to clamber to the surface of his mind,
fighting for recognition and precedence within the tumult of his anxiety. Everything he had ever
wanted to forget was washed upon the shores of his brain, floating in and out with the tide, but
never quite finding it out to sea.

But it was a fix, and he couldn't stop. He had to know more. He had to keep going. He didn't
know why, but something important drove him on, to the brink of his own self control, to the
limits of his sanity.

And then he found it.

Shocking, coincidental of course, and totally unplanned. "Tommy Stone is Brian Slade. Brian
Slade is Tommy Stone" brought a wash of closure that ten years of shame hadn't begun to
achieve. "Tommy Stone IS Brian Slade. Brian Slade IS Tommy Stone."

He had almost blown it. The article was out. Of course, if he had been thinking correctly, Arthur
would have realized that such a piece of fluff would undoubtedly be shrugged off at the last
minute. It was to be expected. But the topic had been so jarring, so deeply attached to his every
fibre, he had forgotten all logistics. The article was out. But he HAD to tell somebody.

Shouting his newly discovered glory at Tommy Stone had been the worst idea of his life. The
look of horror, pain, disgust, fear, and anger in Tommy's eyes made Arthur's blood run cold.
Some secrets were meant to be kept.

But contents under pressure cannot remain bottled forever. Maybe his past deserved an airing
out. Nothing was more reassuring than a clean confession. Perhaps these memories needed to
be revisited, let out in the open. For everyone's sake.

Even someone like Curt Wild deserved a break.

Curt Wilde. Arthur had never expected to see him again. But after the raging storm of his teenage
years, Arthur was relieved to find that no trace of the wonder or infatuation he had held for the
man still lingered. Curt, of course, had no recollection of their previous encounter, of which
Arthur was quite glad. Nothing was as humiliating as being recalled as a naive groupie, a pursuit
Arthur had long since given up.

Curt had given him the pin. He remembered it well. It shone like nothing else, green and decadent,
sparking jealousy and awe in all who viewed it. It would forever stand as a marker for the things
he had witnessed, and perhaps understood, during a time when no one seemed to understand
anything.

He wanted to help himself forget. He wanted to start again.

He would write a book.

Finally, Arthur Stuart felt like a new man.

Slinging his coat over his shoulder, Arthur locked his desk and swiftly walked towards the
elevator, whistling happily. As he waited for the doors to open, he could hear the telephone
ringing back in the office. He didn't know if it was for him, and didn't care, but the unfulfilled
whinnying of the contraption somehow fuelled his motivation, and as the elevator doors clanged
shut, Arthur played a smug grin across his lips.

"Hello, you have reached Arthur Stuart at the Herald. I'm sorry, but I am either away or
unavailable at this time. If you leave your name and number, I'll be sure to get back to you as
soon as possible."

As the beep sounded obnoxiously through the vast and empty room, a gruff voice cleared its
throat.

"I just called to say ... I didn't before, but ... I do remember you. I'm sorry."


Note: In response to your query, the events of this story do take place après the movie.