Along The Trail

By Mere Practice

When two sociopaths wander nomadically through small town America, the spouse of one of their victims struggles to maintain his sanity. As he rips himself apart in order to become whole again, one of the sociopaths goes through a similar change. He attempts to silence his long-buried conscience and be one with his leader, with whom he is deeply in love. However, his leader only keeps him around for his usefulness. As his mind breaks, their shallow equilibrium disintegrates.

The main goal behind writing this was to see if it's possible to empathize with a sociopath. Often, when approaching this subject, writers will water down the evil aspects of their characters in order to make them palatable. However, I believe that anyone, when shown in full light, can become sympathetic. Not by hiding their flaws, but by truly observing them in detail. This is what makes the story stand out from others. It’s honest approach. It does not force you to connect with the characters by manipulation, but allows you to, by showing you who they are, unadulterated.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mere Practice
• Release date: Aug 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005505578

Mere Practice

I've found that the preachings of philosophers are heard only by philosophers. But a good story can be heard by anyoneBecause of this, I try to put my beliefs into my work, and hope it gets out there to someone. I've been writing for many years, and have recently decided to act on this hope with more seriousness.That being said, I am a strong proponent of the idea that all art should come out of a vacuum, so I'm hesitant to say anything at all about myself.What I will say, is that my main fascination is with how people come to believe what they believe. With the goal being to understand this, I have traveled around and learned what I could on the way.

Book preview

Along The Trail

Mere Practice

Published by Mere Practice

At Smashwords

Copyright 2016 Mere Practice

So it appears that I am writing another introduction. To start, this is a story I wrote a long time ago. Originally it was a screenplay, and as you will soon see, it still is. I can say I wanted to make it, but I never really tried too hard to see that reality come to pass. I also would have liked to have it envisioned as an animated feature. But towards that end, I did not try very hard either. The truth is, I just like writing. That is all I am really interested in. Once that part has ended, I have very little concern for anything else other than to start writing again. I just like practicing the craft. Nothing more: just practice.

However, despite my hatred of running around shouting Read my story! Read my story! I still like the idea of putting my work out there. And to be honest, I see no reason why people will read books, and stageplays as literature, but screenplays are forbidden. So I put my screenplay in a book and threw it out into the void to see who picks it up.

The original impetus of this particular piece was to see if one can possiblepossibly empathize with a sociopath. I found that, when approaching this subject, writers will water down the negative aspects of the characters. Or they paint them as someone who does bad things for a good reason, or even good things for bad reason. They perform some sort of morality shift to make them, at least arguably, not all bad. However, I truly believe that anyone, when shown in full light, can become understood. And once you understand someone, you simply become sympathetic towards them.

So I tried my hand at it. Not by hiding their flaws, but by fully observing them in detail. I do not force you to connect with the characters by manipulation, but allow you to, by showing you who they are, unadulterated.

The main character is not a good person. He has no excuse, or justification for his action. He does however, haves his train of thought that led him from his time as an infant to his current existence.

And the truth is, despite everything he does, I feel bad for him. And honestly, I hope you do too.

Anyway, you’re here for a story, so... begin:

INT. CHEAP HOTEL ROOM - EVENING

STEPHANIE, a thirty year old maid, walks into the bathroom and sees damp, used towels on the floor. She carries them out and flops them onto the bed before yanking the bedding, towels and all, off and walking off with a big 'ol bundle.

Stephanie drops her armload in her cart, grabs fresh towels and bedding before heading back inside.

Dropping the bedding on the bed, she enters the bathroom and hangs the towels before returning to make the bed.

Wrapping the last corner of the sheets around the mattress, she reaches for the blanket when sees two men, each with a duffle bag at the floor by their feet and specks of blood on their clothes. They are HARRY and LARRY.

Larry is around thirty, with a comfortable, almost warm, fear in his eyes. Harry is in his late fifties. His eyes contain nothing.

Stephanie jumps, startled, then frozen.

Harry closes and locks the door. Larry takes a step towards Stephanie, who shifts backwards, into the corner.

Larry walks to the window and quietly shuts the blinds as Stephanie sinks down. Larry turns and looks down at her. He slowly reaches out, extending his hand to her with a smile on his face.

Stephanie stares at him, lost and confused. She slowly takes his hand and he helps her to her feet.

Harry goes to his jacket and pulls out a silenced pistol.

He aims it at her head and fires. The bullet connects as she and Larry are staring into each other.

She hits the ground before she even knows she's been shot.

The blood splatters onto Larry's face but he doesn't flinch.

Harry swats at the blanket, flattening it out before picking up both of their bags and emptying them out over the bed. He begins to count the bills.

Larry walks into the bathroom, notices the towels and smiles.

LARRY

Hm, fresh towels.

He splashes water on his face, wipes the blood off with a towel and then takes it with him back into the main room.

With the back of his fingers, he moves the curtain and peers down the window. He's on the fourth floor.

He walk over to Stephanie, lifts her head up, and places the towel under it to catch the still spilling blood.

He stands back up and Harry tosses a wad of cash onto the bed near him. Larry looks at the cash and then at the pile of wallets on the bed next to it. He paws around at them.

Finding a nice one, he picks it up, takes his own out, and compares. They're similar minus wear and tear. One in each hand, he doesn't move. Harry takes the rest of the wallets and tosses them into a bag and holds it towards Larry.

Larry tosses the new wallet into the bag and puts his own back in his pocket. He takes his wad of money and puts it in his other pocket.

Harry shoves the bag of wallets aside, sits on the edge of the bed and stretches.

LARRY (cont'd)

I'm gonna go out for a beer?

Harry turns the TV on and lies down, getting comfortable. Larry pauses for a moment, and then walks out the door.

INT. CHEAP HOTEL HALLWAY - EVENING

Larry leaves the room and approaches the cleaning cart. Pushing it with him, he heads down the hall to the elevator.

He hits the button and then uses his sleeve to wipe the handle of the cart.

With his closed fists, he gives it a shove, sending it down the hallway.

INT. CHEAP HOTEL LOBBY - EVENING

Larry walks out of the elevator and through the lobby.

INT. GAS STATION - NIGHT

Larry walks up to the CLERK behind the counter.

LARRY

I need to trade some bills up?

CLERK

Not a problem, how much you need?

Larry takes out his wad of cash and starts laying it out on the counter in small piles, counting. He takes back two singles and looks to the clerk.

LARRY

Two hundred and forty dollars. Do you have hundreds?

CLERK

I got one. I can give you the rest in twenties if you'd like, I got plenty of those.

LARRY

That'll work.

Clerk takes the bills, puts them in the register, and hands Larry his money. Larry pockets the cash and turns to leave.

CLERK

So are you new in town or just passing through?

Larry stops and looks at him.

LARRY

Passing through.

Larry continues to make his exit.

CLERK

Well how long do you think you'll be in town for?

LARRY

I don't know.

Larry walks out of the store.

INT. STRIP CLUB - NIGHT

Larry is sitting at the bar, he is sipping on a beer and looking at all the strippers dancing and walking around. He looks at each of them, staring into their eyes one by one.

He spots one with large pupils and walks over to her. She spots him.

STRIPPER

Hey there, you looking for a dance?

LARRY

Yes I am.

Larry and STRIPPER walk into the private booths and she begins to give Larry a lap dance.

LARRY (cont'd)

You know, I'm here from out of town.

STRIPPER

Really? Where you from?

LARRY

The Northeast, I'm looking forward to some good skiing.

Stripper looks at him, confused.

STRIPPER

What? There's now skiing anywhere near here...

LARRY

I don't know, seems like there's plenty of snow around here to me.

Larry takes a quick but sharp inhale through his nose.

LARRY (cont'd)

Do you ski?

She catches on and smiles as she grinds up against him.

STRIPPER

Sure do baby. Lift tickets are always so expensive, though.

Larry tenses up from her touch, but makes himself relax.

LARRY

Two hundred dollars is usually enough for me.

STRIPPER

You know, most the people who come through here are so dull. But you,

you're interesting. I'll tell you what, I'm gonna tell the bartender to

hook you up with a free drink, alright baby?

LARRY

The bartender?

STRIPPER

Yes sir.

Stripper grinds on him again.

STRIPPER (cont'd)

Anything else I can do for you?

Larry just stares back at her blankly.

LARRY

No.

Stripper stops in her tracks and after a pause, backs off of him. Larry pulls two hundred dollars out of his pocket and hands it to her.

STRIPPER

Yeah, yeah, I gotcha.

She clips it on her waist and walks out of the booth and over to the bartender.

Larry watches, sticking his head out