The Script of Evil

01 - The Strange Writing

It's a lovely, clear summer's day in 2018 and Billy is walking through the lower entrance of Settler's Park. He is on his way to home after a tough session with his Kung Fu friend Danny. He likes to take a shortcut through the tranquil park. He lives at the higher end of Central Hill in Park Avenue that circles the historic St. Georges Park with its sports clubs and cultural institutions amongst beautiful vegetation, gardens and monuments. He is a fit, seventeen-year-old scholar and could not have wished for a better place to stay. Nearly every evening he runs five kilometers, twice around the park, before he showers and goes to sleep. He also regularly swims a few kilometers in the public swimming pool and also plays squash for the Crusaders that have courts at the back of the cricket stadium's main stand.

He has almost reached the steep footpath between the lush growths of plants that extends all the way up to the upper end of the park where the main entrance is near his own home. He notices people in the picnic cove between the bushes near to the rock face. There are a giant tree and a picnic table that people can use. This is a remote part of the park and seldom will you find people here. He glances quickly in their direction. It looks like a father and his young daughter at the table under the tree.

Between them sits a man in black clothes and next to them there are two sturdy men standing. They look like wrestlers and they are looking away from the party at the table. They are scrutinizing him as he passes them. It's a strange picture and Billy wonders whether they are bodyguards. They look menacing. Well, it could be stinking rich people that need to be protected. These bodyguards look professional and highly ready for any eventuality.

As Billy enters the bend before the path becomes steep against the hill, he realizes that nature is calling. It must have been all the water he drank during the practice session with Danny. Quickly he dashes into an opening in the bushes and relieves himself leisurely.

Then, a sudden scream from the direction of the people he has passed just yet. Then he hears a flood of words from different men's voices and harsh words that are directed to someone. It sounds like a heated argument. Billy is startled when he hears the girls anxious yelling. What the heck is going on! He finishes and slowly and cautiously walks back and peeks to see whatever on earth is going on.

The man that was at the table is now holding the kicking girl tightly, whilst the other two are busy with the old man. It looks as if he is desperately trying to fight them off with his left arm while keeping something away from them in his right hand. Suddenly he tosses it away from him. It looks like a desperate attempt and it lands in front of Billy's feet. Instinctively he picks it up.

He is still studying the small notebook he picked up when he hears the sickening noise of someone's wind been hitting out. He looks up and sees how the old man is heavily assaulted by the two men as he falls down on the grass. They are kicking him deliberately with unnecessary brutal force while the girl screams hysterically and wrestles the grip the man has on her. Billy stands paralyzed and it is if he is living a dream. Then suddenly there is a knife in one man's hand near the old man. As if in a dream Billy hears himself yelling: "No, don't stab him, please ...!"

The men's heads jerk in his direction and they hostilely glance at him, still with the notebook in his hand. The one with the knife yells: "Give it here, lad. Drop it now and go!" He has an outlandish accent and his voice definitely indicates that he is not a South African.

Billy turns around and starts running away like a madman at high speed with the book in his hand. At this stage, he only wants to put as much distance between him and them as possible. There is no time to contemplate or process what is happening. He hears how they shout after him. He recognizes the original speaker's voice: "Just drop the damn thing and we'll leave you alone! Damn, we gonna hunt your little ass fellow. We gonna find you and ..." But then Billy can't hear the voice anymore. He has left them too far behind. Billy is at full speed running up the path.