faithless

"I am immortal."

This Eric declared loudly to his friends over a fourth round of beers. He had brought them over to one of the most upscale bars in the city to celebrate his promotion. This morning, he had just been promoted to company vice president by the CEO. And at the age of 28, the youngest person ever to reach that position.

"Hey, Eric! Where are the girls you promised us?", his friends chorused.

He clapped his hands and called, "Waiter! The girls! And another round of beer!"

The waiter came, carrying more beer. Then, one by one, call girls came out from some hidden door in the bar and sidled to each of the guys in his party.

"People, they're all yours for the night!", he proudly told his boys.

"Eric, your the man," one of them shouted, to the drunken cheers and applause of everybody else.

Eric smiled. "Yeah, I'm the man," he thought with pride. "This is the life."

A few more rounds of beer, the party soon breaks up. Drunk, and with him a young beautiful lass barely eighteen, Eric goes to his car, and gets in.

"We're gonna have a wild night tonight, babe," he said.

He starts his car, then speeds to the nearest motel. They soon stop for a red light in an intersection. Across the street sat an old church. The girl, by force habit, makes a sign of the cross. This does not escape his notice.

"What shit is that? You don't believe in that do you?"

Shyly, the girl answered, "You've at least got to believe in something."

Mockingly, he smiled. "Haha... funny... a whore telling me to believe in God..."

The stop light soon showed green. With his foot on the accelerator, he speeds off. And then from out of nowhere, a huge speeding truck rushed toward the car. Then he heard it, the sickening crash of metal on metal, of concrete on metal, of shattering glass. He barely had time to react, to think, to panic. And then, darkness.

***

Slowly, like a mist lifting gently, he returns to consciousness. A bright white light. And voices. Of a man and a woman.

"How bad is it Doc?" asks the woman.

"I can't be totally sure. But judging from all that damage he got from the accident, he'll be very lucky if he can walk, or even move at all"

"tsk tsk..."

"Have you got any id on this guy? Notified anybody from his family?"

"From what we got, doc, he hasn't any family here. They're all abroad. But he seems to be some corporate bigshot. Insurance should take care of the bills."

"Good. We wouldn't want to be saddled with another charity case. Inform me when he wakes up."

"Yes, doctor."

"To the next room, then..."

Then the sound of footsteps. The creaking of the door. The click of the door knob.

Still in a state of semi consciousness, bits of the conversation come back to him. "He'll be very lucky if he can walk again... What are they talking about..." The gravity of those words hasn't struck him, yet.

"Was that me they were talking about... ? No can't be. Must be dreaming. I must wake up. Must wake."

Painfully, he opens his eyes, and slowly looks around. It was a small white room. Then he sees the instruments. And the tubes connected to him. The casts all over his body.

His anguished scream fills the hospital's halls.

***

Four days have passed. The nurse, who gave him some pain killers, has just left. She leaves the television on, to at least give Eric a distraction from his misery.

An obscure TV evangelist comes on the air. He preaches of a merciful God. A loving God. A God of miracles.

Listening to his message, tears slowly come down Eric's eyes. He has heard a message of hope. Hope that, for him, is definitely in short supply. The evangelist then asks his viewers to pray with him. Eric closes his eyes, and prays.

***

More than three years have passed. From the depths of despair and misery he was brought down to by the accident, he has since climbed back up.

He is now at the head of his own company. A week before, his company won the bidding for a multi million dollar contract with one of the biggest conglomerates of the world, and it is sure to push stock prices for his company even higher.

He even graced the cover of business magazines, which tell of his dramatic climb to glory from the accident that almost took his life to his becoming one of the rising stars in business. He was also awarded as one of the ten outstanding young men in the country for his story.

He has also gained fame for his philanthropy. He was once featured in a front page of a national newspaper showing him donating a check worth one million pesos each to some of his favorite charities.

Two years ago, as a sign of gratitude, he donated millions of pesos to that obscure evangelist he saw on TV. The evangelist soon makes it big time, getting more television coverage, and staging grand preaching tours of the country. Then, another year later, he announces that he is the messiah, the second coming of Jesus. He now leads a fanatical membership numbering to a million. Last week, the body of his wife, wrapped in black plastic, was found in a ravine. Allegations of the preacher's drug use soon spread, and police investigators are now filing a warrant of arrest for the preacher cum messiah.

But for Eric, life is good. Fame and fortune have overtaken him, and he is basking in the glow of its glory. And like vultures to a carcass, women are all around him. Every week he brings a different girl to his penthouse apartment.

He soon throws a party celebrating the finalization of the multimillion dollar contract for his company. Invited are some top business executives and business associates, and other socialites.
His guests soon line up to give him messages of congratulations. Flustered by his success and fame, pride creeps back into his heart, and he declares to himself...

"I am immortal."

***

faithless
by rivermaya

your so called friends
your so called career
the time on your hands
the lover you cheat on every monday night
your sense of protection
your chord progressions

you have the world

indebted to no one
but your electronic diary
well that's impressive

you're so complete

until we tumble we are faithless
until our senses fail we're faithless
until we falter we are faithless
until there's nothing left to hold on to

the turn of events
the twister called fate
it came without warning
they gave you no freakin sign
now you've got zero
now you've got nil

how does it feel?

until we tumble we are faithless
until our senses fail we're faithless
until we falter we are faithless

faithless
until we tumble we are faithless
until our senses fail we're faithless
until we falter we are faithless