Preliminary summary: In order to prevent a woman who can make the written story come true from affecting real life, Zach asked Madison to become friends with the woman and watch her to prevent her from writing random things. End of feed. This article was written by this woman, West.
"My Friend Madison"
Morris (the teacher of Madison’s writing class) said that if what you write cannot affect or fall on anyone, it is meaningless. He said that if you want to be meaningful, you should start with the people around you. If you can't do this, then get out of his class early. Moreover, he will not refund the tuition fees.
But there is no one around me who can write. I am applying to ask if I can write about my cat. Teacher Morris took off his glasses, looked at me motionless, and asked, "Tell me, Ms. West, what am I thinking about right now?"
"I don't know, Mr. Morris." I answered him honestly.
"Very good!" Teacher Morris continued to look at me, with a loud and intense tone, "I'm still worried! Do you know what I'm worried about?!"
This is obviously not a question I need to answer.
"I'm worried that my contempt, ridicule, and smile will make your face distorted! It will make you feel embarrassed!" Teacher Morris shouted at me. His eyes left me and looked at the faces of all the students under the podium. Then pointed at me, "Did you hear that?! Did you hear what our Ms. West said? She said she was going to write about her cat!!"
The 'teaching' of Mr. Morris began again, and this time the protagonist was me. As he really expected, I felt very embarrassed.
"Look! Look at her! She only knows the embarrassment now! It's too late! I just want to ask Ms. West. What have you done to yourself?! How pathetic is your life!! Look at yourself! You are already past middle age, and now you tell me that the only person around you is a cat to write about!! Sad!”
My pathetic life. It didn't take a paid teacher to remind me that whoever gave this mean guy the right to comment on other people's lives made me angry for a moment.
"Just get used to it." Behind me, a hand put on my shoulder, "Look at me, I never care about what he says."
I turned my head slightly, haha. It's Madison, this poor young man who has been called out and scolded in every class since the first day he came here.
"Look at him." Madison leaned forward. Whispering behind me, "He may be really good at writing, but look." Madison reached out and tapped Teacher Morris on the podium, who continued to humiliate me, "The corners of his mouth are rising. Did you notice?" When it comes to humiliating other people. He takes pleasure in it.”
I observed Teacher Morris's face carefully. Madison was right. It seemed that Madison had a lot of experience in observing Teacher Morris.
"This kind of guy who takes pleasure in humiliating others is really sad." Madison chuckled and concluded, "So let him speak, don't deprive him of his only pleasure."
I smiled.
"Laugh!" Teacher Morris noticed my smile, "You actually have the nerve to laugh! Is living such a miserable life something worth laughing at?! Are you laughing at yourself, right. Laugh! Laugh! In your miserable life, laughter is the only thing you can do!!…”
I wanted to laugh even more. Fortunately, Madison held down my shoulders from behind to prevent my shaking shoulders from becoming more obvious. Madison is a good guy.
So, I changed my mind and decided to write about Madison, the only Madison I could possibly call a friend.
Maybe I should feel ashamed. I really knew Madison as his boss, maybe named Zach, when I came to attend the lecture. Before that, my impression of Madison was just that of a classmate who would be scolded every time for writing something whimsical.
Yes, it was that time when my article was selected as excellent and read aloud in class.
Maybe Madison just had an attitude of learning, but he started to get very close to me. At least in class, he would always sit behind me, ask my opinion on what I wrote, and also share new ideas with me. .
It's always good to have someone to communicate with. While I kept lamenting that Madison can come up with a bunch of magical 'things', such as vampires, werewolves, undead, shapechangers... I also started to put together ideas that sometimes suddenly came to my mind. tell him.
Sometimes, after listening to my ideas, Madison would say something like this, "A mentally unstable person gathered a bunch of anti-social elements to carry out destruction, rebel against the system of the world, and finally blew up the Lister Building." ?"(boxing Club)
Madison shook his head. It was obvious that he was frightened by my idea, "Yes, it might be a good story, but..."
"It always feels a little weird, right?" I shook my head and thought about it.
"Yes, well, it's weird, haha, even weirder than me writing my boss as a monster that lives by sucking blood... I'd better not write it."
"Well, I won't write about this." I nodded. I was also surprised why I suddenly came up with such an idea. Speaking of which, this idea seemed to have come to me one night when I was pouring cat litter and I saw someone secretly overturning it. I thought of the trash can.
But there are times when Madison agrees with me. For example, once I took my cat to Ogier Street to buy some cheap clothes. I heard Rita, the female owner of the five-dollar store, said that the Paisley Youth Activity Center was going to be demolished. I feel so sad about it, and I think it would be great if there was a place where those children could play for free.
Madison had no objection, and said it would be great if there really was such a place. But I think more, nothing is free in this world.
But it was a pity. The next day, when Madison called me anxiously to ask if I had finished writing, I lied to him. I said I didn't write it at all because the news on TV was showing that the old Grande address in the West End was being used by a gang of sex traffickers, using a youth entertainment center as a front...
This is too similar to my setting. Knowing that Madison is an employee of Grande, I don't want to irritate him anymore.
Madison, he is actually a very easily excited young man, I remember one time. I asked him, "Your boss seems to be a nice person. Why do you write about him like that?"
"Why do you think he is good?" Madison glared at me, "Because he looks pretty good, dresses and moves well, and looks like a gentleman?"
I nodded. Such people are rare nowadays. I don’t think my judgment based on superficial appearance is wrong.
Madison took off the hat he always wore. To be honest, that gray hair scared me. I had to confirm Madison's age.
"This is what it's like to work under the guy you thought was a 'gentleman'!" Madison was excited.
Hey, it seems I work at a funeral home. It really puts too much pressure on this young man. Over the next few hours, I began to listen drowsily as Madison complained about how irresponsible and arbitrary his boss was.
Madison said his boss ignores the vicious competition he faces (the mill is being outshone by other cremation homes on the South Side) and randomly places people to work for him (Demon Lyons). Unprincipled violation of their work rules (disputes over funeral methods in prison errors)…
but. This can only show that Madison is a good person who is responsible enough for his work. Most of the time, Madison is actually a very calm young man. I have noticed that he is a very observant person. If we apply what Mr. Morris said, everyone, every character, does anything, there is an essential reason why he does it. Madison is good at spotting this.
But this does not mean that what Madison wrote takes advantage of his strengths. For example, even now, I still can’t quite understand it. Even if a boss is a gentleman on the surface, but may be a little willful on the inside, why does Madison's description turn him into a monster-like figure who squeezes the blood of his employees
Exploring the essential reasons and infiltrating the characters does not mean that the characters can be misinterpreted based on these reasons. No, it is not a misinterpretation, but a fantasy-style reshaping. I really can't look at Madison's vampire and think of this character as the gentleman-like boss.
The person who feels the same way as me is Mr. Morris.
Hey, Mr. Morris is really a mean guy. As if humiliating Madison every class wasn't enough for his pleasure, he took it a step too far.
One day in class, he called Madison in front of all his classmates, waving the information in his hand with a happy look on his face, "Ah! Madison! I want to tell you some good news!"
Madison stood up calmly behind me. For a moment, I was happy for this young man who was the only friend. I thought something good had happened. I was so stupid. I want to say it again, Mr. Morris is a mean person.
"Everyone! Look at Madison! Look at him! Do you know what he is now?!" Teacher Morris encouraged everyone's emotions. Everyone looked at the calm Madison. Those who had doubts would not scold him today. Those who are curious about what happened, and those like me who foolishly expect something good.
"He is the only author among you who is recognized by a real magazine!" Teacher Morris raised his voice.
I saw Madison's calmness turn into confusion, and he obviously didn't know what was going on.
"Ah! Seeing the confused looks on your faces, let me tell you what happened!" Morris walked down from the podium, holding a stack of information and walking towards Madison while shaking it, "Did you hear what I said? Yeah, I said author! Yes, that’s the author! The only one among you who can be called an author! Do you know why?!”
Who would know!
Mr. Morris was just asking and answering his own questions.
"Hahaha! I sent Madison's writings about vampires, ah no, vampires, sorry. Vampires, werewolves, undead... these articles to real magazines! They were recognized by the editor! It's a real magazine It’s a magazine! It’s a magazine that is distributed to the outside world and requires readers to pay for it!”
Everyone, including me, had envy on their faces. Teacher Morris liked to emphasize money, whether it was the tuition fees he charged us or whether anyone would pay to read the things we wrote. Well, in short, following such a teacher whose values are not wrong, his description at least makes us mistakenly believe that Madison has passed the test and succeeded.
The happy smile for Madison hasn't spread on my face yet.
Teacher Morris walked up to Madison and suddenly frowned, "Wait! Uh... let me look through it." He began to turn over the information in his hand and waved casually, as if to say to everyone in the class, "I Forgot what this magazine is called. Uh. Wait a minute... let me take a look."
here we go.
"Aha! Found it! "Urban Legend - Barton's Weekly"!" Teacher Morris glanced at everyone, "Ha! How about it?! Has anyone heard of it?! It's a real magazine!"
Madison's face regained its composure, and now I knew. He should be observing the smile on Teacher Morris's face.
"Shake your head? Are you all shaking your head?" Teacher Morris glanced at the faces of all the students who were shaking their heads, and frowned hypocritically, "Haven't you heard of it?! Well, let me take a look, I have the information about it. …”
"Yes!" With a heavy blessing, Teacher Morris reminded everyone to listen to him, "Found it! This is a weekly book that deciphers all the mysterious events in Barton!" He raised his voice deliberately. "This is a weekly that allows people to see through the surface of events and explore the essence! This is a weekly that is filled with things hidden in the shadows of this city that transcend human understanding..."
Teacher Morris' tone had artificial ups and downs, which reminded everyone. Madison’s whimsical monster characters were intentional by Mr. Morris.
"It's in convenience stores, shopping malls, bookstores..." Morris raised his voice honestly again, then stopped, and exaggeratedly put the information in his hand in front of him. Then he made a surprised expression to all the students. “None of them are for sale!”
"This is impossible!" Morris waved his hand in front of Madison honestly and exaggeratedly, "Isn't it not for sale? How can readers read an unsold magazine? How can it be sold for money?! Isn't this a real magazine?! No, no, no! Wait for me a moment, I must have missed something, it must be a subscription! Wait, I’ll look at the information again!”
I frowned and looked at Madison comfortingly. Madison smiled at me. It seemed that no one except his boss at work could arouse this good boy's emotions.
"Look!" Teacher Morris seemed to be happily pointing at the information he had turned over. Showing it to the students schematically, "I found it! What I said! It's really a subscription! How could there be no place to sell the magazine?! Haha. Let me see, the subscription for "Urban Legends" is..." His finger was on The information kept scrolling, and he pretended to be looking for it seriously at first, and then smiled softly, "The lowest number in the city, 82."
This mean humiliation was coming to an end. Teacher Morris turned around with a smile and raised his hand, "Let us applaud the author Madison for being recognized by a magazine with only 82 copies sold!"
My cat jumped up on the desk and lay next to my arm. He probably sensed that I was in a bad mood after writing a sad thing, so he came to comfort me.
Hey, forget it, such an article full of disrespect for Teacher Morris must not be submitted. It will be in vain. I will just follow my original idea and write about my cat. I will be humiliated again today.
However, I don’t want to write with such a mood. Let me think about it, a good guy like Madison deserves to be treated better.
Look, my cat also agrees with my idea. It sways its tail and lies next to the manuscript, encouraging me to continue.
Well, I don’t know if Madison has really tried that magazine that sold only 82 copies. Well, I think the sales volume doesn’t mean anything. At least those are articles that are actually seen by readers, right
In this way, Madison submitted the article and it was included. The first article gained many readers who liked him.
This is good, look, my cat is also happy that this happened, wagging its tail happily.
Well, I think I can add a little more. Madison takes the pressure of work too seriously. It seems that such a good young man is alone now. Moreover, in a place like the funeral home, hey, there is no chance of meeting any good girls.
Let me think about it, hmm.
He thought, in this way, it would be nice if a girl showed up somewhere other than his work, how about in the editorial department of that magazine, a beautiful girl, not enough, a very, very beautiful girl.
Look at me, I made the mistake of only looking at appearance again. This girl must have an inner setting. What's good
By the way, this is a girl who appears for Madison. How about giving him the same setting as Madison? This makes it easier for two people to make more progress. Haha, I won’t hand it in anyway, just let me write whatever I want, and my cat agrees with me.
Let me think about it, Madison seems to have just come to Barton at the beginning of the year. She seemed to be in bad condition when she came (rumored to be a low-level alien), so this girl must be in the same situation, huh.
And then, like Madison, work pressure? That's right, it's no wonder that there is no pressure when working in a magazine like that. It's great that the two of them can share their work pressures with each other, and then chat more and more.
Haha, okay, okay, I feel much better. Just put this article away. If you don’t show it to Madison, you will be accused of being nosy, haha.
Look, my cat agrees too. (..)