Harold Finn: Ninja Warrior "The Warrior Within"

By Paul Donovan

“I don’t know why fate chose you. All I know is that it did. If you choose to follow, I’m sure at some point the reasons will be made known to us. The path of every chosen warrior is different, and each one is chosen for different reasons. If you choose to follow, I will train you in the ways of Ninjutsu, and you will become a powerful force, more powerful than anyone.”

Harold’s life as an accountant was pretty boring, and he liked it that way. He and his best friend Connie had grown up together in a California sea side community in relative anonymity, but their lives would change forever when they decided to stop for dinner at Mr. Doshi’s Chinese Take Out and Gift Emporium. Great personal tragedy, workplace espionage, and unbelievable destiny will rip them from their ho-hum lives and begin an adventure for the ages.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paul Donovan
• Release date: May 19, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458143907

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Harold Finn – Ninja Warrior

The Warrior Within

PAUL DONOVAN

Copyright 2011 Paul Donovan

Smashwords Edition

For

Cameron, Zachary, and Roxanne

(Thanks for all your help Roxy!)

Prologue

Fear is the opposite of life.

He let the words hang out there for a moment, seemingly caught in the air, encircled by the thin blue line of smoke streaming up from the ash tray on the table.

I know that probably sounds strange to you, he continued, It did to me the first time I heard it. But in the many years that have followed, I have come to see it for what it is. The truth.

But isn’t death the opposite of life? I asked him.

He smiled as if his plan had worked beautifully. He wanted me to ask that question, he had led me to it, and I had played my part perfectly. In the few moments that I had spent with him, I already realized the amount of control he commanded. I had the feeling his life was a play that he starred in and directed, and the rest of us were really just extras, filling in as needed.

That’s exactly what I thought, he continued, But then it was pointed out to me that death is merely the end of life, not its opposite. Death is actually a part of life, his eyes glazed over a bit as he reached up to his neck and felt the small cross and chain around it, Everyone dies, no matter what you do there’s no way out of it. But fear – fear can be overcome. Fear is what holds us back, keeps us from reaching our potential. ‘The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.’ Have you ever heard that before? It’s talking about the same thing. How we all are so fearful of so many things that it chokes the life right out of us. It keeps us from doing the things we long to do, until we lose sight of those things and go on walking without direction. We convince ourselves there’s nothing more out there and choke on the vomit of our lives until death mercilessly ends what had never really begun.

Amazingly, there was no trace of bitterness in his speech, only the conviction of what he knew to be true. I had run into him here, somewhere north of Taos, New Mexico, in a small roadside tavern. Well, more of what used to be a tavern. I suspect it only remained open for the convenience of the owner/bartender. There was no one else in the place, and little potential for future customers. Granted it was winter, but I really could not see there being much difference in the height of the season. I had been heading to Colorado and when I started to get too sleepy to drive, I stopped in for a cup of coffee. The bar itself was a small rectangular building with a few tables, a long wooden bar and a jukebox against the wall at the far end of the room. A thin coating of dust seemed to cover almost everything, but the tables and bar were clean, and you could tell there was cleaning done at times, but not too often. The drafts that were constantly evident were explanation enough for the dust.

He walked in not too long after I did, and although he was not a large man, he was indeed an imposing figure. He wore a full length, drover style coat with old, faded jeans, black shirt, knit cap, and old engineer boots that were worn and tired beyond repair. He moved with a liquid quality that had no wasted movement and was eerily silent. I instantly felt drawn to him, not because he was the only other person in the place, but rather for the obvious strength that seemed to radiate from him. He slumped into a chair at a table with his back to me, and the bartender automatically brought him a drink. He took a drink from his glass, and pulled a pack of cigarettes from his inside jacket pocket.

What do you want? he asked.

I was taken entirely off guard. I searched for a response, but couldn’t think of what to say.

I…I’m not sure what you mean.

I know you’re searching for something. Some meaning you’re sure is out there. Perhaps you don’t even know yourself. But it’s there, I can smell it all over you. Maybe I can help. I’ve been around a while, and seen a lot of strange and wonderful things. If you’ll let me, I’ll tell one of my stories – an unbelievable tale that at times even I don’t believe, but I can assure you, it’s the truth.

And this had brought us to where we were at the moment. A speaker of truth, a seeker of truth, and the serendipitous path that had thrown us together in this dive in the middle of nowhere. He continued his discourse on fear, and I was still clueless as to why I was listening and why he was talking, but on some strange, deep level I was compelled to hear him out.

There are a few people who learn, over time to reduce their fear, and these are the few who make a difference in the world. One man stepping up to the painful challenges in front of him can make a positive change for the millions that follow after him. All it takes is courage and determination, and sometimes the hand of fate. But we’ll get to that in a minute.

Now the question is, where to begin? As a young man, like you, I would have been so sure of where the beginning was. But now I understand that things – time – places are all connected in some way. Everything that comes before us affects us, and everything after is affected by us. Where we begin or end becomes almost impossible to define.

He paused here and reached into his jacket for another cigarette. His lighter cast a glow around his face, and his eyes shone with the excitement of a fond memory pulled from his mind like found money in the crevices of an old sofa. He drew hard on the cigarette and exhaled the smoke.

I guess the best place for this story to start, is 6:00am…

Chapter 1

The alarm was going off.

Harold reached over and hit the snooze button.

Five minutes later, it was going off again.

Harold reached over and hit the snooze button again.

Harold! Quit hitting the snooze button and get your butt outta bed! called a familiar voice from the other room.

Harold rubbed his eyes and let out a long, loud groan. He slithered out of bed and grabbed a pair of sweats off the floor. He got one leg through, but the second leg proved to be more challenging and Harold took two skips, leaned to the left, threw his right arm out to counter-balance, and in the end finally succumbed to the inevitable pain of the hardwood floor. He finished putting his pants on before he got up and walked out of the bedroom.

Good morning! Have a nice trip? Connie said.

Hey, you don’t know that I fell, he bluffed, Something fell off the shelf in my closet.

She rolled her eyes.

You know you fell, you know I know you fell, deal with it.

Harold noticed that the top right of her head seemed to be experiencing some type of anti-gravity issues as the dark curly hair seemed to be trying to escape the bonds of earth. He smirked at her.

Nice hair, he said to divert the focus of the conversation.

Why thank you. I got up extra early to work on it. It’s all the rage in Paris, you know!

I think ‘rage’ might be exactly the right word to describe it.

Connie stood in his kitchen making French toast. She was wearing an over-sized t-shirt and puffy slippers in the shape of two Pikachu.

Shut up! I know it’s a mess. You’re not exactly ready for the Abercrombie and Fitch catalog yourself.

Well I don’t know, he said with a slight chuckle, "I’m looking pretty…suave!" He struck several ridiculous poses until Connie cracked up.

Okay Zoolander, she laughed, Sit down and eat, or we’re going to be late – again.

They sat across from each other at the kitchen bar as they did every morning and ate breakfast. Connie lived across the hall in a similar, albeit tidier, apartment. They had keys to each others’ places, and every morning she would come over and fix breakfast before they got ready to go to work. They could’ve eaten at her place too, except Harold had a fondness for the snooze bar and would probably never have been on time for work.

Connie Stinson and Harold Finn had been best friends since the fourth grade. The Stinson’s had bought the house next door, and Harold had been so disappointed that they only had a daughter in his age range that he didn’t even go over to meet her. The first day of school had been typically brutal for a chubby girl with braces and glasses. A teasing trifecta that had reached such a height by the end of the day that Harold stepped in and bravely ordered everyone to leave her alone. It probably would have worked if Harold had been of any higher social standing than the new girl. As it was, it just increased the crowd’s frenzy of sing-song insults with two targets in their sights. Harold grabbed Connie’s hand and ran down the street as fast as he could, leaving the scornful mob behind laughing. The two shy fugitives didn’t say much until they got to Connie’s house. She invited him up to see her room and Harold begrudgingly followed into the house and up the stairs. He walked into her room expecting to see an explosion of pink, purple, unicorns, and glitter. Instead he saw a collection of Transformers the likes of which his eyes had never beheld!

From that day on, they had been inseparable. They had gone through grade school, high school, and college together, and when they had graduated, they even went to work at the same company, Global Investing, Inc. Different divisions, though. Connie had been a computer major and gone into the IT department, while Harold had majored in accounting and went to that department.

Harold was rinsing his dishes in the sink, and trying his best to wake up.

See ya soon! Connie said and disappeared out the door.

He jumped in the shower and contemplated his day. He loved his job, but he hated the mean-spirited jerks that worked there. It was the same old story as high school and college, only worse now because he had come to the harsh realization that he was the problem. He was socially inept, and an easy mark for anyone looking to feel better about himself, and he did little to defend himself. He rinsed off his feelings of dread and got dressed.

As soon as he deemed himself ready for the workplace, he headed across the hall and into Connie’s apartment.

Hey Girl! You ready to go?

Not yet, Connie called from the bathroom.

Harold walked back to the bathroom to find her wrapped in a towel in front of the mirror putting her makeup on.

You’re not even dressed yet?

I know I’m sorry. I’m trying to hurry! At least my hair’s done.

Glad to see gravity has been restored.

She looked at him and had no idea what he was talking about. She let it go, and went back to makeup.

I heard the boss is going to be back in town today. We really can’t be late, he said as he sat down on the toilet.

Are you serious? Crap! Crap! Crap! She spun around and took off for the closet.

Harold went and sat on the bed, and quickly Connie emerged from the closet like some kind of magician. She was wearing a business-like but sexy dress that Harold had never seen before, and she looked ready to go except for the fact that she was wearing two different shoes.

Left or right? she asked.

Right, he said, and she whirled back into the closet and came back out just as quickly.

Okay, let’s go!

They headed to the elevator and were soon walking down the street to work. They lived only a few blocks from work, so unless it was raining or too windy and cold, they walked together every day past the many shops and restaurants that lined the street on their way. Most of them were closed this time of the morning, but on the way home the sidewalk would be packed with shoppers and eaters. Harold noticed one of the shops as they passed. Mr. Doshi’s Chinese Take Out and Gift Emporium.

We should stop by here for dinner on the way home, he said motioning with his arm, I’ve been craving Chinese lately.

Connie looked the place over quickly.

"Chinese sounds good, but are you sure that’s the place you wanna go?

Why not?

It looks a little run down. And old. And dirty.

Oh c’mon, it didn’t look that bad. I thought it looked promising. Besides, there’s a gift shop too! Looked like they had a lot of knick-knacks!

Harold knew Connie’s weakness for small cute things that took up space on virtually every horizontal surface of her apartment.

You couldn’t even see in the place! It was too dark! But I do have to pick up something for my mom’s birthday next week, so we’ll try it out if you want, she consented.

Besides, she was getting too out of breath to argue. They had left a little late, and Harold had set a pretty quick pace to make up for it. He wasn’t overly tall, just shy of six feet, but she was only five-three with short legs that made it tough to keep up.

Harold, we gotta slow down! she gasped, I’m too outta shape to keep up!

Okay, he said looking at his watch, We should be fine now. So, I never got to ask you why you were all dressed up today?

She had hoped he wouldn’t notice.

What do you mean? I dress up every day.

C’mon, not like this. You’re wearing a new dress that’s definitely higher on the hubba hubba scale than your usual, you’re wearing an inch higher heels than usual, and you’re wearing your hair down. Who’s the guy?

You don’t know there’s a guy. I just felt like being girly today.

Yeah right, who’s the guy?

I’ve got a meeting today.

And the guy in the meeting is…?

Unnngh! You make me so mad sometimes!

They stopped as someone had dropped what looked to be a case of beer on the sidewalk. Broken glass and muddy beer was everywhere. Harold put his arm around Connie’s waist and she gave a little squeal as he lifted her slightly off the ground and carried her across.

Thank you, Harold, she said a little sheepishly.

I just lifted you over some glass. You hardly weigh a hundred pounds!

I weigh 138, and I didn’t say thank you for that. I said thank you because I know you always think of me first. You’re the only guy I’ve ever known who’s treated me like that, and you’ve done it all your life.

He looked at her for a second, and in that moment felt a powerful attraction, which he would not deny he felt from time to time,