The Man In The Big Picture

The Man In The Big Picture  - 

By Paul McCann

 

Meth had no family or friends. He had been abandoned at birth by his parents and in his childhood years was mistreated in the orphanage where he grew up Meth ran away to the city before his teenage years and found work in a zoo where he fed reptiles and birds. He lived alone in a flat with a pet rat and a collection of snakes. He had a fear of people and isolated himself as much as possible from their company. Meth bred mice that he fed to his snakes and the rat ate anything that was left over in scraps around the flat. Meth loved his snakes so whenever he left his flat the snakes came along too inside a backpack. No one would have ever known what he carried inside that bag and not one really could have understood why he liked being in their company Meth’s appearance strangely resembled a rat . He stayed away from people .  Humans threatened him and made him feel insecure. His fear of humans grew and drove dark thoughts through him . In his mind he imagined murder and destruction , . His life was cloaked by insanity and he was consumed with an anger out of control. 

 

Meth came to a place where he decided to strike back at the world.

He attempted to join a major terrorist organisation without any success. He even told them of his evil intentions of how he could take out many lives and causing harm to many people, however all the terrorist groups just ignored him which really annoyed Meth. 

 

This only fuelled his hatred for people and he started a solo an extensive research on how to build bombs..

His persistent efforts paid off as he obtained the knowhow and knowledge he needed to build a bomb, which in the end he did,

.

Meth placed the device inside backpack and off he went into town to find a target. He looked around town for a possible target. There it was. Amongst the supermarkets and restaurants, between the train station car park and the shopping mall was a large crowd standing outside the movie theatre. There lots of young and old people who were all out for a night’s entertainment...

They all seemed happy and excited .That’s when Meth decided that he would put an end to their little party. So now he had victims and the place of destruction. Slowly he made his way to the movie theatre. He waited until most of the people were inside before buying a ticket. The movie showing was called, “The Day Time Stopped” .Meth made his way into the theatre with the backpack filled with gelignite and a timing device.

 

Inside the movie theatre everyone had taken their seat. They all sat back watching the big screen and now the show began... All the lights were dimmed and people began munching on snacks and slurping drinks from straws. In the darkness Meth sat with no intention of watching the movie, for he was bent on destruction. This was his purpose, He opened the backpack to activate the timer. Suddenly everything went extremely quiet as a voice from the movie screen called out,

“Stop “

Meth looked up and noticed that everyone in their seats were motionless. 

It was like they were frozen in time. No one moved, no one spoke, and no one did anything. The movie had paused. 

A voice from the movie screen shouted out.

“Stop what you are doing right now. “

“Are you talking to me?” said Meth 

“Put the bag down and take a seat. “

 

Meth was not in control of his movements. It was like he almost had become a puppet and unseen strings had picked him up and put him into a seat.

The voice echoed in a loud voice. 

“You will see things differently after this. “

The movie started at a movie theatre and the main character was Meth.

It showed him about to blow up the entire place and kill everyone inside. Them the movie went back in time to the place where Meth had known as a young boy and it showed the truth of what had happened to him and how and why he had been abandoned. It began to make sense to him. 

He saw in detail how his parents had been unable to provide food or shelter because of poverty and sickness. He saw how his parents loved him and were forced to hand him over by the Government to an orphanage. The movie shoed how hard his parents had tried to get back their child from the orphanage but were denied every time .It showed how the system had changed the name on the birth certificateThj3e and how the child had was given a new identity . Then the child was sold to a very wealthy couple who couldn’t have a child of their own. The story continued to show how the relationship ended up in frequent arguments and violence and in the end the couple broke up leaving the child outside the orphanage where they had bought him.

The movie on the screen switched to the place where Meth’s parents and living today. It provided the address and showed how they still are trying to find their lost son.

Meth began to cry inconsolably as he could see how much he was loved. 

The movie switched to two people who were seated behind Meth in the movie theatre. It was his parents.

Then it showed a future glimpse of Meth with a wife and children of his own who loved him. His future wife was also one of the people there in the theatre that evening. On the screen the movie showed other people in the theatre who had been through worse situations than Meth but they had managed to overcome the difficulties and live normal lives. On the screen it began to show very quickly little segments of everyone’s lives who were there in the movie theatre. It showed their dreams and their hopes as well as their struggles to survive and maintain lifestyles under hardship. It showed the goodness of everyone’s life that Meth had decided he would end.

Meth shouted 

“Enough, for God’s sake please stop. “

A voice from the screen said.

“Now that you have seen the big picture. You will never be the same again:”

“Forgive me I was so wrong. Now I can see things much differently “

“So it’s up to you now I have shown you how things are. Now make a life for yourself here tonight. “

Meth felt all the strings that had control over him being released. 

As he bent down to open the backpack, to his surprise all of his snakes and his pet rat scurried out from the bag. 

The voice called out from the screen, 

“Rodent of the alleyway and reptiles of the earth, come to me. Hear the sound of my voice and follow me into the picture of life. “

All the snakes and the rat scurried into the screen and after wards the screen showed a great explosion that dismantled a city. 

“Let the show begin “,

 

Suddenly all the audience in the theatre were moving and eating.

Meth moved to an empty seat behind and sat there with his parents until the end of the show.

After the movie was over he spoke to his parents and told them the story of his life. 

That evening he was reunited with his real parents and from that night on Meth had found a new life in a world he had never known before.

His life went on as he had seen in the big picture.

Then just before the end as those who loved him stood around him , Meth  could see a new movie begin and it wasn’t a sequel , it was something really very special because this movie he was watching had no beginning or end , it just was a story full of beautiful adventures .  .

 

The End