He looks down at his watch frozen in time, as the second hand does not tick. He taps on the timepiece to check if it broke. It did not break. The timing broke instead.

Timing. That one word sentence becomes an altruistic realism for an apparent life. Such a simple word, but it might be the most important factor of a person’s psyche. It all comes down to timing when you think about it.

Can any one factor trump another?

Well, if the timing is wrong there is nothing else. Timing becomes a simple building block for progress for readiness. “If only,” becomes a pang of regret when the timing does not work out despite everything else seeming correct. Timing is a sole influence on how and when people meet to interact. In the initial timing forms that first impression. Timing also builds a person’s present from their past.

People become steeled on three or four key events. To be part of such an event leads to a lasting influence, however those occur when one is young. If those events are negative, the person will be tougher or weaker yet skeptical. If those evens are positive, the person will be trusting or sheltered yet naive. Such events can never be neutral, but may be as simple as watching the sunrise.

If the timing is aligned then any sort of magical things can happen. At the same time, if the timing is misaligned, then nothing will happen at all. When one stares down the empty corridor of shut doors and no windows, one waits for that moment when someone does something as simple as open a door. It would seem that far too many people spend their time closing doors rather than allowing a breeze to flow through. They close those doors on those around them for a myriad of reasons, but mostly a fear of one form or another motivates them to.

The antagonist waits for just that moment when the door opens to interact. They seek out why that person opened a door in the first place, and then see where the story leads. The initial intention of interaction is merely a curiosity.

Unfortunately, as an antagonist, they exist to move the story forward for the protagonist. They hold no lasting impact for themselves. As soon as the fable plays out, the protagonist learns their moral the protagonist retreats to the confines of a closed room. They grow distant from those that either helped them through turmoil, or depended upon them for support.

The plight of an antagonist is to help the protagonist steel through a conflict in a transient manner. They push the protagonist along by challenging them as either an adversary, or an advisor. The only true enemy is the situation. Once the true enemy falls, the protagonist moves on.

He looks down at his watch frozen in time. The second hand does not tick, and the gears do not crank. Motionless, the person stands starting down an empty corridor of shut doors and no windows. The corridor turns up ahead, but alas, there is just more of the same on the other side. A perpetual transient existence where the timing never works, and the situations never pan out to have a lasting impact.

It is always raining in my dreams and sunny in my nightmares. Without windows, one cannot see the answer to know what this restless sleep actually is.

I raise a glass to you the listener and the reader, for you are the ones that peered into an open door when the initial desire was simply a breeze.

Sincelery,

Leo