Cycle Comic, draft two

DRAFT III

PART 1: TIME
1
narration
High School: this is where social expectations waste no time in dying.
narration
I always wonder how others here define me.
2
each time he suggests a new definition, a high school archetype becomes Anthony's focus
drugs?
a group of very uninteresting, glaring pupils
love?
an unattractive girl, nobody is her friend, smiles at the narrator
am I cute?
a "hot" girl, makeup, slut-clothes, fake hair, et al
do I turn straight guys into queers?
goths
am I wasted time?
a teacher, glaring at her failure of a class.
3
narration
what is time?
4
narration
It's something I'll never have enough of.
5
narration
we grow up, we get sad, we get stressed,
it pays off: we love. we accomplish our life goals: we win. then, we pass onto another realm of life: heaven, ideally.
6
narration
it is a pattern. life is full of them,
7
narration
and if we learn these patterns, we'll learn how and why to live.
8
narration
Where in this pattern, you ask, am I now?
9
narration, some surrealistic depiction of purgatory and our protagonist
I'm in limbo, between the sad realisation of humanity, and the weighty stresses of self-expectation.
10
narration, we see our narrator with friends, for the first time
I'm learning.
11
narration
If I'm sad enough, I'll learn to love;
If I'm sad enough, the caring will love me for it.

PART II: NOSTALGIA
1
narration, we see a locket or something equally sentimental, perhaps even risque.
I had love once. I loved a girl, Jacquie, and she loved me.
2
narration, we see bodies pressed up against each other, anywhere they don't belong
We laughed, we cried, we fucked. I thought I'd won these honours,
3
narration, we see Jacquie pushing Anthony's gropey hands away as she tries to explain herself
but eventually, I learned that I'd lost their merit.
Jacquie decided, she didn't "get" me.
4
narration, a panel for each:
I lied,
I cried.
5
narration, we once more see silhouettes of grinding torsoes
She loved me again. But then, she learned. I saw her learn.
6
narration, Anthony is completely alone somewhere, we see him from above, he is infinitely insignificant
My simulacrum tears imbued her with skepticism, she moved on.
7
narration, same as before, but the world is bigger, Anthony is smaller. this time, we see him from an ant's perspective.
Simulation became sincerity, I despised myself,
and finally, I lost myself.
8
narration, we see the only touching moment between Jacquie and Anthony in the whole strip, but it is a memory.
Nostalgia took over. I can still cry, but not for myself:
9
narration
instead, I weep for the hurt of my friends.
Clearly, I will never learn from my own mistakes.
10
narration
I will have to learn from the failures of those around me, like Jacquie did.

PART III: Love Ideal
1
narration, we see Anthony looking over his shoulder, at Sarah
Once more, I am in love with a girl.
2
narration, we see Anthony engaging in casual conversation with Sarah. We hear his thoughts.
Sarah, I want to have you cry on me, so i can learn from your hurt;
3
narration, we see Anthony and Sarah hugging or something.
Sarah, how I longed to want to fuck the body and mind.
4
narration
This girl must learn that I own her sense of judgement,
only I may provide her retribution for sin.
5
narration
I will correct her wrongdoing, and in this, I myself may press on.

PART IV: TWO, LOVE
1
narration, Anthony provides Sarah with solace, possibly on the phone or in embrace.
Sarah's breaking, her dog is dead. I'm not learning:
What do your petty interesting matter?
2
narration
This is not misery, unless I may substitute it for my own.
3
narration
She'll talk for hours about her parents' divorce,
4
narration, Anthony is bawling into his palms.
Much like my folk's own, but I wasn't ever upset about that.
Why would I be?
5
narration, Anthony is the epitome of stoic masculinity.
But she'll talk, and i'll listen.
6
narration, Anthony is trying to rape Sarah, or something
She won't put out, no more than a cure.
She's a "pure" christian.
7
narration
She's not like me, but she's sad. what would I learn?
She knows how to shake me of my once feigned sadness.
8
narration
She knows i'm selfish, that i need her to stay alive.
She knows i'll never be the ideal lover I strive to be.

CONCLUSION: TIME IDEAL
1
narration
life is full of patterns, and death is a cyclictic motion.
2
narration, in the opening frame
here lies Sarah, dead.
3
narration, Anthony hangs rosary beads on a tombstone adorned with fresh flowers
she ran away from me, to find God,
to find god in herself.
4
narration
Oh, the cycle:
age, sad, stress, love, work.. death.
You rushed time, my love; because I pushed you too fast.
5
narration
There was so much care expressed in your heart's faint beat,
you taught me to know myself,
and I taught you to hate me.
6
narration
But, in the process, you didn't teach me to hate me.
I advanced on the cycle, my anxiety has become love,
7
narration
and eventually, there will be nothing left but to let you know this.

3.21.08!AM