For those of you just joining the game, welcome to Instigator's HQ! My name is Owen, callsign Scotch and you're here because you want to tell the truth about the state of pop culture and society, even if it means arrest!
After a brief hiatus, we have received new mission orders from Goliath: Release The Instigator's Manifesto, the story of how IHQ was created, on the web! So I will be posting all 133,000+ words on here in sections, beginning with the prologue below. Enjoy, and remember, this is a work of fiction, partially based in reality.
PROLOGUE
Wallace High School
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
June 6, 2003
1430 EST
Owen Dawes’ stride was long and deliberate as he walked into the parking lot. He yanked
his car door open and sank in a huff into the driver’s seat. He shut the door of his blue Ford
Taurus and put on his seat belt. He took a moment to look at himself in the mirror. He cleared his brown eyes of debris, ran his hand over his short black hair, taking care to notice the feeling of short bristle in the wake of a fresh haircut, and ran his thumb and forefinger around his goatee to make sure there was nothing in it. His facial composure more or less regained, he now adjusted the mirror so he could see through the window behind him and placed the key in the ignition.
“Owen, wait!” a voice from behind him called in a pleading tone.
A good fifty feet away, Mariel Scott ran towards the car, dirty blonde hair flowing behind
her.
Jesus Christ. Now what the hell else do I have to deal with?
Mariel sat next to him in English class during their junior year at Wallace High. Like
every other guy in the school, he'd had a major crush on her. To be totally fair, it was more of an
infatuation, as she had the body of a Barbie doll, without necessarily having the mental attributes of one. He hadn’t said anything about it to her because there wasnabsolutely no realistic chance in holy hell that the homecoming queen, head cheerleader and all around most popular person in the school would be bothered to even approach the most average looking person in the class.
He wasn’t an athlete by any means, sticking mainly with tech crew and other liberal arts
extracurriculars. He didn’t have a flashy car, wore glasses and certainly was not ripped and cut
like most of the other senior guys. Her friends spent their time at concerts, shopping and
partying. His spent their free time reading, writing, and getting together at Susan’s Coffee and
Tea. Naturally, he had asked himself just what lucky star he'd been born under when she walked up to him in the middle of the Commons and asked him out the last day before Christmas vacation. He'd asked her if someone had put her up to it. Her response was pulling him around the corner and Frenching him. His response was getting ridiculously wasted with his friends in anticipation of the Rapture, which would be pretty pleasant as watching the original Peanuts ice skating in on their little frozen pond in Hell to Vince Guaraldi's theme music was getting boring.
“Can we at least talk about it?” Mariel asked.
Owen pressed the switch that activated the power windows
“Look Owen, it’s not you. It’s me.” Mariel started, leaning through the passenger side
window.
At least have the balls to not start with that old chestnut.
“I just feel like we drifted apart recently.”
“Right, I mean the play started up and I was hanging out more with the tech crew and you
were hanging with the other seven-eighths of the school. It was bound to happen eventually, high school social structures and all.”
“Look, Mitch was around a lot and-“
“And you were still in shock from falling into Mitch's lap that your mouth was still open, yeah, okay.”
“That’s not fair.” Mariel whimpered, a tear forming in the corner of her eye.
“No it’s not. What’s fair is at least telling me where I stood. It doesn’t matter anymore,
really. Look, I’ve got to get home.”
“Will you at least come to Jordan’s party tomorrow? He booked out the Plaza.”
“Jordan‘s throwing a party in a hotel? Well I‘ll be sure to show up to that.” Owen said in
a sarcastic tone.
“Really? You’ll come?”
At that precise moment a mousy looking kid opened the front passenger door and
climbed into the front seat, seemingly oblivious to the teen drama unfolding.
“Ready to rock?” Shawn Greene asked.
“Excellent timing, my friend.” Owen replied. Turning back to Mariel he said, “We’ll
see.” and started the car. He put the car in reverse then said, “but don’t hold your breath”
Owen released the brake, Mariel took a step back and just like that, Owen was speeding
down Wyaga Pond Drive, and out of her life. The worst thing about it was that she knew he was
right.
“You deserve better.” Shawn said. Shawn was an average looking white kid. His brown
hair, overly polite mannerisms and mature mindset made him seem at least five years senior to
his seventeen year old self.
‘I know, right? Who the hell dumps a guy for no other reason than to maintain social
status and then tries to rationalize it?”
“Bleach blondes.”
“Power daters.”
“Don’t forget sorostitutes-in-training” Shawn added.
“Of course!”
Owen turned his mp3 player on, filling the car with the sounds of Stacy Mallory and
Gerideau.
''God, I could seriously use a mocha and a biscotti.”
“So, where am I dropping you today?”
“At home. My mom wants me to sign for some package she's getting today.”
“Not another one of those liberal anarchy survivalist deals.”
“Nah, nah, nothing that bad. I think it's Aunt Rose's yearly summer cookbook.”
“Oh jeez. When's she gonna learn that no one in your family are vegans.”
"We'll give her until Thanksgiving. One more tofurky and someone's gonna have to say
something.”
All of a sudden, Owen slammed his hand against the steering wheel and yelled “Damn
it!”
“Don't worry man,” Shawn said, commiserating with his friend “You'll get over her soon
enough.”
“You know me, I'm already done. I told her upfront, take me for me, and not as some
social whatever, and we're kosher. She screwed me, I'll learn for next time. What I'm pissed
about is how this kind of crap's the norm.”
“What do you mean”
"When, in all of your years of school, has who's dating or sleeping with who been crucial
information?”
“Other than high school?'
“Including high school”
“Never”
“There you go.”
“Yeah man. It's bollocksed up.”
“Ain't that the truth.”
END TRANSMISSION
auth code EAVB_FUKWEFTMAH
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