Second Chances

With a big ole smile, some homeless man they found on the street goes up on the stage and grabs the microphone and mumbles some stuff about his childhood and about being the reincarnation of the Buddha or something along those lines. The homeless man then gets dragged out by two absurdly muscular men through the backdoor.

 I'm not sure who those two muscular men were, but after they left, the lights in the studio went dim, as the host of our show is getting ready to present himself to the viewers at home. A booming disembodied voice announces, "And now, out comes our main man, the man with the hair, the man with the legs, the man with the arms, the man with the face, body and clothes, Tim Franklin Jr!"

Timmy smiles at the audience, bows at the audience, claps at the audience, as the people clap and woo with stagnant enthusiasm.

 "Good evening ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to Second Chances, the show that has Second Chances!" Timothy says, the people still clapping. The people continue to clap as they're unsure when they should stop. "Stop clapping please," Tim says. The entire crowd ceases in unison, complete silence fills the room.

 Timmy walks down into the crowd and violently grabs 3 people and guides them up the stage as the band plays the theme music. he yanks them from their chairs, walks each of them along the aisle, always slightly faster than them, making them pace behind him uncomfortably. patting them on the top of their heads, whispering his deepest fears and insecurities into their ears, he assigns them to their spots behind the three podiums on stage, with a digital display on the front of each podium. Timmy Franklin Jr sits on his podium and winks at the camera, "ladies and gentlemen! give it up for our three contestants!" the crown lets out an ear-piercing screech, indistinguishable from the cries of a several thousand dying deer.

 "Contestants! please introduce yourselves to the audience one at a time." The first contestant, a tall black man, about 6 foot 5, looks around confused and tired as if he spent the night in his seat. "hello" he mumbles, "my name is Roy, and I like coffee, so I would use the money to buy some coffee" Roy says. The crow goes wild, the middle-aged mothers in the crowd are in tears to the mere thought.

 After the crowd calms down, the second contestant speaks. "Hello, my name is Donna Ryde, and I am an animal rights activist." the crowd awws in unison, "and with the money that I win in this competition, I will use it to donate to dog shelters all across America!" the crowd goes wild, as Roy kicks over his cardboard podium and walks off stage angrily.

 When the crowd calms down, the third contestant sits in silence, a man in formal attire, a suit, tie, and dark sunglasses. "What's your name, young man?" Tim asked. "My name is Jason Stevens, and I'm a normal guy, doing normal everyday things," he said. Jason uses every muscle fiber in his mouth region, and produces a smile to the audience, then calls Timothy a very handsome man.

"That's very nice of you Jason!" he says, "Now what would you like to do with the money you win in this contest Jay?" he asks. "you know, normal guy things, buy things here and there, family, animals and such." the crowd claps, "Well that's absolutely fantastic!" the host says. The camera zooms into timothy's face, "And now, having introduced our contestants, let us get right into tonight's first question!" he shouts, as a question mark shows up on the monitor above him, the monitor is old, and flickering, as if it's been urinated on.

"Tonight's first question is, which holiday is celebrated on the 2nd of February and is also an American film?" The contestant's race to get their answers written down, as slow jazz plays in the background. Donna finished first as her bell dings, "Alright then Donna, you finished first so you're up!" Tim shouts. Her screen shows the answer "ground dogs day" "Oooooo, I'm sorry Donna but that's not quite it!" he shouts. Donna makes a polite face, as to let the audience at home think she can deal with it, though she wishes to strangle Tim to death.

 Next up is Jason, which just drew a really awesome picture of a stick figure wearing a cowboy hat, shooting its stick gun. "Now what is that Jay?" asks Tim" "to be completely and utterly honest with you, I don't see the issue here." Jay Jay tells Tim Tim. "Now don't worry yourself, Jason, that's why this show is called Second Chances! You can try it again!". The crowd screams an otherworldly scream, as the host said the name of his show. "Here’s your Second Chance!" he says as the music plays once again.

 Donna finished first again, and this time her screen said what could only be read as "mine bifhday" "I'm sorry, Donna" Tim says uncomfortably, "You didn't win a point this round." the crows awwed in respect, Donna looks at Tim, she looks at him some more, then, she looks away. next up, was Jason, "what's your answer, Jason?" Tim exclaimed. Jason’s screen lit up with the same image of a stick cowboy, but this time with a slightly larger hat, and a speech bubble with unintelligible text. "Hey, Jason... would you mind telling us what that stick figure is saying?" Tim says smugly, as the crowd giggles. Jason states, in the most serious man-voice he's expressed on the show, "It says your show is getting shut down big fella." as several armed policemen, with 80s style superhero costumes, covered in TV remotes climb onto the stage. The crowd was screaming, the producers were in a panic; Tim Franklin Jr was detained, and while keeping his gameshow host smile, was put to sleep, and dragged off his stage.

 "Timothy," says a deep, raspy voice, "you have to have seen this coming sooner or later," he says, "Nobody has watched your show in two years, Tim." Tim opens his eyes and sees the CEO of the game show network sitting across from him, In his private van. A forty-year-old man, with white streaks through his black hair and beard. "Tim... I've been worried about you ever since your show started, I haven't been able to get in touch with you." Tim doesn't have any words to say, as he hasn't prepared any.

 The air conditioning gave the air a solemn feel. "No one wants to watch a show where people have to answer questions twice, it just can't compete," Tim thinks in silence. "I can still remember, all those years ago, since before you started speaking in your gameshow host mannerisms, since before you put on that suit. you need to wake up Tim. I barely recognized you up there, I miss you Tim" Timothy Franklin Jr had forgotten what the world was like. He never left his dressing room, he never had conversations with his coworkers, he never even had time to call his only friend, who was the only reason the show was even airing.

  Tim had been alone for so long, this show was the only thing he had, the only idea he had that became a reality. That night, his entire life was shut down in an instant, but he couldn’t help but feel liberated, like he had woken up from a repetitive nightmare that never stopped. His fragile, strained eyes, adjusted to his studio lighting. His weak, frail fingers, that shook in confusion, as they lost the feel of certainty he had in himself; how comfortable he was in his own little fish tank. His filthy, unwashed suit, which he never changed since day one, it always there, all he had to do was open his eyes. Tim was a broken man, and in his first moment of pure, human emotion, Tim broke script; he lost his presentable smile, and he broke into tears, for the first time in years.