Tertagonist

Chapter 1 : I am the Tertagonist

First fact for today, in every story, no matter in what form, whether it's a movie, a TV series, a sitcom or a book, they all have one thing that makes them a story. It's the character. Without this element, well, it's like earth without humans. The first type of character, of course it's the protagonist. In a simple word, the main character. They are the hero, the spotlight and the one that gets everything in the end of the story. Yes, this character is very important and memorable. If it's a woman, every girl would want to be them and every guy would want to score them. And if it's a guy, well you know how this works.

Then, a story would have the antagonist. The villain, the one that ruins the whole thing mid of the story and ends up losing everything to the protagonist. They might be the one everyone's rooting to lose but they are definitely the highlight in every story. There are tons of people who fell in love with the villain instead of the main character and some even root for them. Like Lloyd Hensen from the movie 'The Gray Man' or Loki in 'The Avengers'. So, it's safe to say that this characters are definitely important.

Now, of course in every story we would have the main character's best friend like Mindy in our beloved TV series, 'Emily in Paris'. This character is called the Deuteragonist. Yes, this character is not exactly in the spotlight but they are pretty close to it. I mean, the audience would actually look forward to their stories as well and sometimes they have a better love story than the main character. Don't believe me? Well think again, in the Harry Potter movies, which one were you anticipating more, Harry and Ginny's love story or Harmione and Ron's? If you say Harry and Ginny's, you have a serious problem here. Anyway, I know this is confusing and you're probably wondering why on earth am I giving a character lesson. Bear with me for a while, because the next fact is going to be the most important lesson of your life.

Here's the thing, there's also a character which does not have any impact on the stories. In other words, you'll not miss them if you don't see them for a while. Yes, you might remember their name or not. But this character only appears once in a blue moon. Just like Genevieve Delacroix in the amazing series Bridgerton. In case you don't remember, she's the designer that everyone in town goes to for a dress. That leads us to the second fact of the day, the word 'tertagonist' does not exist. Yeah, shocking, because this seems like a legit word. However, the character as described is what we call the Tertiary character. So we have Protagonist, Antagonist and the deuteragonist. So why wasn't the tertiary character called 'tertagonist'? Well, that's because this character is not important enough to really agonize anyone.

Now, I know everyone was told that they are the main character in their story. I tried telling that to myself as well for years, but my whole story just indicated me as a different character. Yes, I'm the so-called tertiary character which I love calling it tertagonist instead so that I sound more important. So, being this character in the real world really sucks because if this was a movie, I might suck but only for about 90 minutes because that's the duration of the movie and their feelings are not real. It's man made. In the real world, you deal with it for the rest of your life. It could be depressing especially when people around you wouldn't put much effort into telling you that you matter.

When I say that I've been living as a tertagonist my whole life you must think that I exaggerated. No, I'm not. Hear me out, I never had any exciting event in my life, my greatest achievement is that I survive and still breathing until today. I'm almost 30 (nope, not going to tell you my real age), yes I'm that old. Bet you thought that this is a typical high school girl problem. Well, it's not. Anyway, I'm almost 30, I have no love interest or love life. Yes, super lonely. 'Oh, she must be so successful in her career.' you must've thought. Well, if you consider a 9 to 6 job in the call service center hearing all these big babies whining about all the things that they at least could afford as a career, then I rest my case. Worse thing is, I Lived with my parents because I'm penniless and the cost of buying a house or leasing would cost me my soul. So, have I convinced you that I'm the world's biggest tertagonist?

Listen, I've been a kid full of hopes and dreams. I used to want to do a lot of things. But in the real world, life has a way to ruin it or challenge you for the better version of yourself. Which of course would make you suffer first. Just like my story, which we will get to later on. Earlier, I've been whining about the boring job I had. Of course, I have my own dream job and I've been trying to become one since I was 12 years old. It's not a fancy job that could guarantee fame and wealth but it would make me the happiest person alive. A writer. Imagine making money just by fantasizing and daydreaming. Oh... it's a dream job for a daydreamer like me. While we fantasize, imagine becoming a writer, then being a screenwriter and working with the one and only, the star, the only worthy actor, Luke Hamilton. He has been my celebrity crush ever since I was 14 years old. He's one of the reasons why I'm interested in screenwriting. All his movies are amazing. Of course, I mentioned him because he's about to be the catalyst to my boring life. I will get to him soon enough. He might or might not be an important character in this story. Well, it depends on your point of view.

Alright, I have been babbling on and on and yet you still have not known my name. So, before I begin, my name is Hayley Jones. Mom and dad always told me that I've been unpredictable even before I was born. I didn't know if that was a compliment or if they were criticizing me. Nevertheless, I made peace with it because it is true. Every single phase of my life, I've surprised them. See, when they gave birth to my sister, Hope, they decided that they no longer wanted to have another kid. That is why my sister's name is Hope. They hoped it would be the last one and they were so confident that my sister would be our family's hope. A year later, boom! I'm in mommy's stomach. God, it was like a hurricane in the family when they got the news. It's not that they weren't happy, but our family struggled financially. Me in the picture didn't really fit in with their plan. So, that's my first unpredictable movement.

When I was 7 and a half months old in my mom's tummy, I decided to strike once again. I refused to get out as scheduled, I pushed out and got born on the 13th June at 3 AM (my third strike) on Friday. Yup, I had to get out the same day and time as the horror movie. No wonder they called me the killer, the mood killer. It does have something to do with the day I was born. There were tons of other unpredictable things I have done in my life after that. More bad than good things if I'm being honest. I could dedicate one whole chapter to it, or maybe even two. Oh well, I might be the protagonist after all. Too many coincidental things happening which makes no sense but it does fit in. strange, but when has life become predictable?