Versatile Superstar: Rise In Hollywood

[Sherlock of the Shadows|15 August-2017|Act 9|Scene 9|Take 1]

As the world went black, Finn found himself in an entirely different space. Images flashed past him as he struggled to keep his eyes open. 

Something hit and he felt like someone was banging on his head with a hammer. Even though he should have died, he was sturdy and hence, the hits got stronger and stronger. 

“Ahhhh!!”

He screamed as the pain got too much to bear. With images, the voices also started ringing in his ear. 

‘You should die.’

‘You don’t deserve this power.’

‘Your father was a coward.’

‘You are always going to kill people just because you are cursed by fate.’

Those words hit him like nothing before. When he opened his eyes, he saw several lives flashing in front of him. Those were not from his life. 

He instinctively knew that these images were from the life of ghosts that were trying to kill him to take away his power. As he went through their lives, he understood why the ghosts had turned so evil. 

None of the lives were good. They were the lives of killers, kidnappers, harassers and every type of people that were harmful to society. 

There were obviously motives behind their actions. Bad childhood, education, the overall depressing life but it didn’t excuse their actions. Life was never fair and the only thing that mattered was how someone would behave even after knowing that fact. 

These people had not turned good even after dying and just caused trouble. 

Their memories hurt him in the worst possible way as negative emotions started eating away on his soul. He was sure at that moment that he was going to die. 

‘Finn…’

The images became worse as the ghosts increased their grip on his body. Every part of his body had started to bleed now and they were now tearing away at his soul — The source of his power. 

‘Look at me…’

He was sure at that moment that he wouldn’t last. His power was too much for him and he couldn’t control it. He couldn’t save anyone. Real life didn’t work like that. 

‘Get a grip on yourself. You are better than this.’

‘Ah…’

Suddenly, he heard a voice that was very familiar to him. Looking around in the flashes of the ghost’s life, he found a distinct light that was standing out, like a quiet corner where no noise reached. 

The light slowly turned to become like his father. 

“How is it possible?” Finn muttered, his eyes suddenly seeing a bit of hope. 

“Don’t worry about that now. You are in a bad situation. Your soul is in danger. The powers of yours are out of control and the ghosts are taking advantage of it.”

“I can’t control it.”

“You need to. Remember the power is yours. You control the ghosts. They don’t control you. You are good enough to get out of this situation. Just remember my advice.”

The light disappeared like it was never there at that moment. 

‘Advice… What advice…’

Finn thought and he remembered it after going through his memories. It was something that his father would often say. 

‘Remember, everything is possible until you don’t give up. More often than not, it’s not about your talent or skills, it’s about how much longer you could keep your ground. In the boxing ring, I was paid to stand there and take hits. If I had given up, I would have lost. Longevity exceeds everything, so hope till your body is crushed.’

Remembering the advice, Finn tried to again concentrate on stabilising his powers as the ghosts tried hard to eat it away. 

But he was unable to do that. 

The flowing power from inside him wasn’t stopping and he was only able to stop it for a second before it would slip away. 

‘Fuck. I can’t do it!’

He thought and it was at that moment that an idea struck him. It was risky but he felt like it was the only way that would work here. 

He remembered the time when he had first gotten his powers. He wasn’t able to control it and a ghost had been attacking him at that time. Recalling that incident, Finn stopped trying to control his powers. 

On the other hand, Mike was still trying to fight the ghosts and trying to keep away from Finn, knowing full well that all would die if the ghosts really got Finn’s powers. 

It was then that something strange happened. 

A big surge of power erupted from Finn, throwing away the ghosts that were eating on him. Mike widened his eyes seeing that as Finn’s screams echoed in the distance. 

‘No way… he’s not trying to control his powers. Instead…’

Finn was trying to let his powers lose, making them go out of control so much that the ghosts themselves won’t be able to contain it. Feeling so much energy coming from Finn, Mike’s legs started shaking and he stumbled to the ground. 

“It’s impossible… he won’t survive.”

He muttered as his eyes kept glued to the indescribable scene in front of him. The ghosts tried to consume the power coming out from Finn but one by one, the power started eating on them. 

It became too much for them and they exploded, like firecrackers, their bodies turning into dust. 

Finn kept screaming, the power unable to contain itself inside him. At one point, his screams turned into cries of help but there was no saving him. 

‘He’s crippling himself.’

Mike thought as every ghost in the vicinity died. The portrals that they had come from were nowhere to be seen but a dark energy kept coming out of Finn as he struggled on the ground. 

His nose was bleeding and there were scars that were forming on his body. His soul was depleting itself and it was hard for Mike to say if he would even survive. 

It was only after a long time that Finn calmed down. The power flowing through him died down and Finn became unconscious. 

It was then that a distinct voice came out. 

“Cut!”

With that, the illusion of immersion broke and the scene returned to the studio where everyone who had watched the scene was in awe. 

***

“Wow. That was scary!”

“I got chills on my body. See, the hair on my arms is standing.”

“How can he act like that? Won’t he get an Emmy for his performance!”

“Maybe. I mean, he clearly overshadowed Jeremy who’s a veteran. My eyes were going to him and it really looked like he was possessed and some strange powers were leaking out from his body.”

“One of the actors in the motion capture suit even got scared when he was the one playing the ghosts.”

“Can’t blame him.”

The crew members, actors and every staff member talked like that as they all fixed their gaze at Aiden who was on the ground. 

Phineas was the person who was the most happy. He was watching the scene on his screen with a few assistant directors and the cinematographer.

All of them had to say that it was much better than what he had in mind. 

On the screen, Aiden’s performance was only after the green screen with the ghosts being guys in motion capture suits but his expressions and flailing of his arms were on point. 

Visualization was the key for most things as an actor and Aiden had nailed it. 

There was no need for a retake. 

It was at that moment that someone noticed that Aiden wasn’t moving even after the scene was over. It was the female staff member that had been told to call Aiden before. 

Mike was talking with his assistants in a corner but Aiden was still on the ground, not moving.

She nudged Tom who was standing next to her, too busy in keeping notes on the whispers about Aiden. 

“I think something is wrong.”

“What?”

“Aiden isn’t moving.”

Tom finally looked at Aiden and realised that it was true. He quickly walked towards him and crouched down. 

‘He’s unconscious for real.’

Tom tried to feel his breathing and it was okay. Slowly, other people also realised that something was wrong and quickly came close towards Aiden. 

“What’s going on?”

“Someone call an ambulance! Aiden is really unconscious.”

“What happened suddenly?”

“Don’t know. He’s not waking up.”

As people crowded around, it quickly became a mess. Jeremy and Phineas looked in worry, wondering what had happened suddenly. 

Why had Aiden become unconscious?

The scene had been successful, so he had gotten unconscious after that but how? Was he sick or was it something else?

The truth was just that Aiden had engrossed himself too much in his performance and without the safety protocol, he was invulnerable, so he had felt all those ghosts on his body. 

He had also felt his energy getting sucked out of his body and all the pain he had felt was real. At least borderlining realism. 

So, after the scene was over, he had no energy left in his body. 

The only saving grace was that he had a high affinity with the character of Finn Wheeler and had gotten used to ghosts and feeling supernatural powers in his immersion state. 

But it was inevitable that he won’t struggle after it. 

Until now Aiden had played a lot of characters but this was going to be the first time that playing a character was going to affect him in the long term. 

Sadly, that was something that all method actors had to go through. 

…

//DreamNote//

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