Author's notes: Although I'm still pleased with how the first chapter turned out, I'm extremely anxious about how I want to take the story from there. For a few days I've written and deleted so many drafts of this chapter. The main things that I am struggling with are 1: How do I make this fic a good enough read? 2: How long do I want this chapter and the forthcoming ones to be? And 3: How well will I manage to keep this tale from being a rip off of my inspiration's work?

I understand it will all take time. But I won't let myself accept that fact. And it is putting a huge layer of stress over me. Fortunately, like my Felix character, I have people to help me out in these situations by offering me advice or providing me with emotional comfort. And that's one of the key themes I want to incorporate into this story, no matter how hard you find your life to be, there will always be people to help you, you just have to let them.

PS: I've changed the cover image because I think it looks cooler/creepier.

Lights, Camera, Achievement

The first sound I heard this morning, other than my groans of discomfort, was the buzzing sound of my phone alarm. I groggily sat up from my bed and turned to face my bedside cabinet. Opening it up, I grabbed my phone out and switched off the irritating alarm. After that task was accomplished, I sat my phone on top of the cabinet and closed the door to the wooden ornament. Taking a moment to stretch my arms, while yawning at the same time, I slumped back down on my bed with my left arm hanging at the side of my bed, while my right rested on the quilt.

It was exactly 3 minutes past 8 now. I could tell that much from looking back at the screen of my phone when I checked its battery power.

Why hadn't I deleted the alarm I'd set for half 8? I think it was for something important. I distinctly remember wanting to change my wake-up routine, but for what? Wait. Now I remember why. Film Central, that's why. How could I be so stupid to forget that yesterday, I went to their building for an appointment so I could join up? In my defence, I'd only discovered the club's existence two days ago.

Suppose I better get up then? Hold on. There was another thing I remembered about the club. Their filmmaking sessions only last from 11am to 4pm. I don't need to get up just yet if I don't want to. And anyway, Steve said to me… What did he say to me? Thinking to myself out loud now, "What did he say? What did he tell me? It was something about coming into the building during the week whenever I felt like it. Or it was something along those lines."

Yeah! It was! I could come into the building any time I wanted to. As long as I felt comfortable doing so. Same goes for the other club members. And Steve definitely told me that if none of them turns up one day for a session, he and his staff will make sure to keep the club legally operational for future use.

All in all, I had nothing to worry about!

"Nothing to worry about?" I mouthed to myself. I had a feeling there was one thing I should be worrying about. One tiny piece missing from the jigsaw. Oh, right. I barely learnt anything about how the film club make their films. Well, technically that's not true. I was there for over an hour yesterday. I couldn't have spent all that time sitting on my arse doing nothing. I had a rough understanding about the editing software they used, but very little besides that.

And that on its own is enough to convince me to attend today's session. And so, I will.

Coming out of my room, I went straight to the bathroom down by the right door in the far left of the upper hallway. Once I got in, I locked the door for privacy. I then stripped out of my pyjamas, and got in the bath tub to have a quick shower. Before I turned the hose on, I pulled the shower curtain near to the back edge of the tub, so the water wouldn't spray out onto the floor. About 10 minutes later, as I was drying myself off, I saw that I'd put on a few pounds, judging from my stomach being bigger than what it had been a few months ago when I was still at school. That's another reason why I need to get out more added to the list.

After I had finished dressing myself, I heard a knock on my bedroom door. Quickly turning around, I saw that it was only my dad. "Hi dad. You… Did you… Sleep well last night?"

"Yes, I did. I had a wonderful sleep last night. Thanks for asking." my papa bear replied. "By the way, Felix. How did you get on at that film club place you went to yesterday? Any results?"

Putting my hands in my pockets, I hung my head, looking at the carpet of my room. "Yeah-yes! It went well. I became a member like I'd hoped. And, I am going to go back there today for my first filmmaking experience. Um. The reason I say "first" is because I… Um… After my appointment had wrapped up as it were, I got so overwhelmed at my achievement that… I only stayed there until not long after the start of 12. I don't want you to take that the wrong way, I was… Just. Very anxious. That's all."

Now, my dad and I usually get on well with each other, as any father and son should. We're similar in a lot of ways. However, my dad has earned a lot more hardships in his life than I have, and he's moved on from them to become a functioning member of society. He works as an estate agent, so he's got his hands full with work most of the time. He's been very successful in his job so far. That makes my efforts to impress him with my achievements all the more important to me.

While his generation have worked hard to earn their places in life, my generation doesn't have much of that same determination. Maybe it's because we've been given an easier transition to employment than what our parents received. Either way, with my anxiety, I mentally can't take that chance. I do want my future to go steady and smooth. But I want to prove to my dad and more importantly myself that I can cope with enduring hardships.

"Okay. As long as you felt good about the whole thing. You do feel good about it, don't you?" asked dad.

"Mhm. I do. But I want you and mum to feel good about it more. Because, that was my number one reason for deciding to join this club. And I'm not lying." "I know you aren't.", my dad interjected. "And… I feel honoured that you did this for me and your mum. But, as a father, nothing makes me happier than seeing my kid happy. And we both know that's true."

That got me to smile, even if the smile itself looked awkward.

Afterwards, we hugged and said our goodbyes to one another as my dad went off to his work, while I stayed at home until it was quarter to 10. I phoned Melanie at FC to let her know I'd be coming in today, then she would relay my answer to Steve straight after.

I got into town much earlier than I did yesterday, thanks to the bus arriving earlier too, and not picking up as many passengers as before. Shame the weather hadn't improved that much today. Still wet and miserable. Good thing I had my waterproof jacket on. As I made my way to Film Central's HQ, I made sure not to accidently step into any big puddles on the ground.

When I managed to get to FC, I was a bit surprised to see that I wasn't the only one there. Of course, Melanie was sitting behind the desk, but there were two new faces I didn't recognise who were standing right in front of the desk. I pulled down my hood as Melanie noticed me standing in front of the automatic doors. "Morning Felix.", she stated positively. The two unfamiliar individuals turned around to look in the direction in which I was standing.

"Hi." I waved to them, as well as Melanie.

"Hello." The enigmatic duo responded to me in unison. Odd. They sounded like they had the exact same voice as each other when they spoke. They had the same faces too. These must be the twins Connor and Bill.

"Are you two twins?" "Yes, we are." The one on the left answered before smirking to himself. Alright, my question might have sounded stupid, but I was just checking to be sure that they were twins. The twin on the right walked over to me, offering his hand for me to shake, which I did. "I'm Bill." he said. "That's my brother Connor.", he pointed to said twin who was still in front of Melanie's desk.

"So, you're new here, are you?" Bill asked. "Yeah. That I am." I answered. "Technically I started yesterday, but I got too nervous being here by myself. So… I just left early."

Okay, I haven't said too much to these guys, so far. Phew. Need to know when to talk and when to stop. And when I am talking, I should remember not to appear or even sound awkward at any time today in front of the club members. I think I can manage it. Here's hoping.

I didn't tell you before what Film Central's editing room was like, did I?

It was in the same hallway as Steve's office, but on the right side by the second/last door at the end of the corridor. Inside was a small but spacious area. In the far left were two wooden desks stacked beside each other. On both of the desks were two computers, plugged in at the wall directly behind them. On the far right near the door was a small table, behind which stood a filling unit (like the one in Steve's office but almost devoid of the natural goods). And a few meters from where the door was, a worn-out cream coloured suttee was positioned.

With the time still being under 11am, the twins and I were the only club members to turn up at the building. It has… Got me in a bit of a trap, actually. Not to be rude about the twins, they do seem nice enough. But I spent so little time with Ryan, Martha and Andrew yesterday, and I barely got to them at all. Look, I'm just saying that when you're feeling nervous meeting new people, then after some time spent with them on your own, you can get over it, but then, when you meet newer people the next day, you can get concerned they won't treat you as well as the person before them did.

And that's my dilemma involving the twins.

Better to get it over and done with, while I still have the chance.

"So, what were you doing before you came to Film Central Felix?" one of the twins asked. Looking at the carpet I was standing on, I tilted my head to the left, glancing out of the corner of my right eye at the twin who had asked me the question. "I… Was… Just in town having a stroll. That's all I was doing."

Both of the twins sighed to themselves before chuckling. "No. What Connor here was asking you was, were you at school or college before you made the decision to start coming here?", said Bill.

Damn! Should've figured out sooner that was what he really meant. You are alright man, don't worry about it! Just give them the answer they wanted to hear from you. "Eh, I finished high school not too long ago. I haven't gone to college, let alone applied for a course there. What about you two? What were you up to before you came here? If you don't mind me asking."

The twin who I was certain was Connor answered my question first. "Kind of close to what your answer was. Except we're actually at college for some of the week. We were asking around the campus if there were any groups we could join, so we could spend our free time wisely, and a person from one of our classes told us about this place because he's a member too. His name's Oscar, if you were wondering."

I now know of at least 3 people of Film Central's membership who go to college. I wonder if the "Oscar" Connor mentioned fitted the same psychological description that Steve gave me of him yesterday. I'll have to wait and see. Same goes for Jazmine. No-wait Yasmine! Yes, that's her name! Funny how I remembered the names of the other club members but hers.

"Hey 'Lix. You've still got your bag and jacket on." Bill gestured to me. Looking down slightly, my rain drenched jacket was indeed still hugging my body along with the rucksack on my back. Before I took them both off, I stared directly at Bill and asked him "What did you call me a moment ago?" He stared back at me before he turned his head to face the left of the room, before he whipped it back around in my direction. "'Lix. As a nickname. Sorry, I should've asked if you're into that sort of thing. Are you?" Shaking my head from side to side slowly was enough of an answer for him.

A while later, I was sitting next to Connor at one of the desks, as he worked on a computer. Connor was showing/teaching me how the club edits their videos before uploading them online. It was much less complicated than I imagined. And as a bonus, the software he said they were using was easily downloadable and free of charge. Maybe I could download it into my computer at home?

The flick that he was editing looked like a "Pirates of The Caribbean" fan film. We decided to take turns doing the editing process. Obviously, as a first-time user of such software, I was rough around the edges, but Connor was kind enough to help me and let me take my time getting accustomed to the mechanics.

Some few minutes afterward, I got bored of it. I asked Connor if it was alright for me to take a break from it, which he acknowledged and allowed. I walked over to the filling unit in the room to look for any blank sheets of paper to use. I succeeded, and took out a single sheet. As I got to the table, I laid the sheet on its surface as I quickly went over to grab my bag. I unzipped it and took out my pencil case and took a seat at the part of the table where I'd put the paper.

Now the great decision to be made was: "What could I write down on it?" Film ideas? Yes. But what kind of films do I want to make? You'll know yourself when you first plan something, you aren't sure how you want it to play out. I looked to my right, out to the nearest window. The rain had stopped by now, the sun was just beginning to shine through the upper clouds. Below them, I caught a glimpse of the trees surrounding the premises rustling in the wind. That gave me my first idea! A short montage styled video showcasing the best woodland areas to visit in the city.

I wrote down a list of the areas I wanted to film in, then got up from the table, went outside the room, and walked towards the door of Steve's office which I lightly knocked four times before I got a response from its occupant. "I hope I wasn't interrupting you by any chance?" Steve shook his head, "You weren't.", he looked at me intently, "Can I help you with something at all? Are the twins bugging you?" "No. They're… Fine. I, um. Got this idea for my first video contribution to the club."

"Okay, that's good. Do you mind if I ask what it is?"

"No-no-not at all!" I beamed. "It was-it is, I mean… A nature one. Because there are quite a couple of good forest environments around the city, I was wanting to film some of them as a way to… Erm… Promote them. Ugh-I mean not in the money sense! But rather show to people that these sights exist and they can be visited at any time. And I was wondering if you would be okay to drive me to some of them today, please. That is if you're not too busy at the current moment?"

As luck would have it, Steve wasn't busy at all and was more than kind enough to accept my request. Within the next three minutes, we both grabbed our jackets, found a camera and tripod to use before we left the building for our journey ahead. I made sure to take my list with me.

The first area we went to was a few miles just outside of town. When we got there, the ground was reasonably dry, though some puddles from the earlier downpour remained. We didn't walk too far into this forest. I found a good spot to film in, mounted the tripod and placed the camera on top of it with Steve's assistance. I checked the camera's battery was fully charged before I pressed the record button on the top left of the screen. A good minute's worth of footage was taken before I stopped recording and went to the next location. The same amount of filming time was used for each following shot I took with the camera. There weren't too many good woodland spots in this part of Scotland, disregarding that, I didn't want to keep Steve away from his work at the building, so fortunately there were only 5 locations I wanted to film in today. All of which weren't too far off from the city.

Our final destination (no pun intended) was, give or take less than 20 mins away from Film Central. It was a secluded Loch, that's the Scottish name for a lake. Very spacious, very quiet. Right up my alley, if you catch my drift. I safely stepped down the hill leading to the exact ground level which overlooked the vast Lochside environment. "Utterly amazing." I quietly mumbled to myself as I began setting up the tripod.

Now this was the ideal filming location for me! The crystal-clear blue sky, the gigantic trees which stood guard over the other stretches of land in the vicinity. At one end of the Loch, there was a hill stream coming from the mountainside from just above the Loch, whilst on the other end there was a weir (Scottish name for a dam), which then opened into a river below it.

"Do you think it looks good enough, lads?" I asked the twins hesitantly an hour after Steve and I had gotten back from our afternoon road trip. The footage I'd filmed was now downloaded or uploaded into the computer as a video file, and I was taking my own sweet time going through each itty-bitty piece of it to check for any noticeable mistakes. In my eyes there weren't any, but to be on the safe side I asked Bill and Connor for their opinions.

"It looks fine to me." was Bill's answer.

Connor's answer was less than stellar. "In one or two of the shots I could see someone standing in the background. Did you want the shots to just focus on the woodlands and have no people in them?"

I frowned at him, "There was someone standing in the background? I've checked every slice of this mildly appealing cake, and I did not see anyone in any one of the backgrounds. If there was somebody standing in the background, who cares? They were probably either out walking with their dog or by themselves. There's nothing wrong with showing that, is there Connor?"

"No, there isn't I was just making an observation, not a criticism."

"Well, I regret to inform you, I can't tell the difference between those two."

Bill diffused the tension between me and his brother. We all agreed the person in the background wasn't an issue, so I kept the footage that included them. Besides, as my first venture into video editing, I needed to make small errors, and it was just one person. Minding their own business, not a threat to anyone or anything.

Before I could start editing the footage, I noticed the time was nearer to 10 past 1. I hadn't eaten anything since my breakfast this morning, therefore I knew I had to have something filling for my lunch. I still had enough cash on me. And I was in town, surrounded by a dozen or more shops. Coming off the computer quickly, I went to Steve's office to tell him about my plans for lunch, and that I'd be back shortly. There was a Harry Gow's a street in front of where FC was. Harry Gow's is a bakery that is popular in my country. I think one of their branches in Inverness won an award for such popularity a few years ago.

Another hour later, I completed the finishing touches to my video project. The title I went with was "Nature's Ethereal Beauty". With "ethereal" being a fancy word for "delicate", I thought it was the perfect name, considering the type of footage I had filmed.

Hm… Maybe I hadn't really completed the finishing touches after all. The length was trimmed to the amount I wanted. A few basic visual effects were added. Even a mini credit sequence too boot! But no music. Shame that the editing software, let alone the computer, didn't have a feature where you could customise your own tunes.

I do have a couple of CDs at home. But it would seem a waste to take a half an hour's drive on the bus to my house to grab one, then take the same amount of time getting back here. The whole ordeal can wait until tomorrow. There are other pressing matters that require my attention. One of them being social interaction. But I can't force myself to have some if I feel uncomfortable doing so. But I have been getting on swimmingly with the twins so far. Still, this is only my first day of knowing them, so I need to relax and take it easy.

Thursday. Day number 3 of being a film club member, and day number two of being an amateur film maker. Compared to the past two days, I got up later than half 8 in the morning. 10 to 9, to be exact. Still enough time to get ready before the bus comes. I went through my small collection of CDs to find one to use for "Nature's Ethereal Beauty". It took a short while, to say the least. With my perfectionistic mind, I needed to look for the right CD, with the right song to use. Trouble is, I like a lot of music, so it was difficult to find an exact album to use in my project.

The Damned "Phantasmagoria" album was the one I settled on. And the "Is It a Dream?" track was indeed the perfect song to use in my video. And once I'd uploaded it into the computer at FC, and added it into the project, what an atmosphere it gave to the footage! Now to just trim the footage itself a bit more to fit the time length of the song and add in a disclaimer piece to the credits.

Now I all I have to do is export the video to the club's YouTube channel. I asked Ryan to help me. And voila! Mission objective has been fulfilled. Once my video had been exported, I clicked on it to check it was working fine, and it was.

"Yes." I whispered to myself. I'd gone and done my own little vid in just two days, now the whole world was ready to view it at their leisure. It feels like so much has happened in the past four days. But like the great Michael J. Fox once said in the first Back to The Future, "If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.".