Darkness Falls

Character: Protagonist Profile (DF)

Profile of Rally Witts:

Rallendister Muchova Witts was born 30 years ago in 1995 to a pair of transplants, who arrived in Texas from East Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall. A blond-haired, blue-eyed hunk of a young man, he inherited his good looks from both sides: Karl, his father, and Ethlista, his mother.

Though Karl and Ethlista had come from East Germany, living in two separate towns in that country, they didn't meet until they matriculated at the campus of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. They had both become Christians through the faithful preaching of the Word of God from the Trans World Radio broadcast location in Monaco. Karl felt called to preach. Ethlista was simply ready to leave Eastern Europe, starting a new life in America with the hope of finding a Christian husband at a seminary. She had finished her undergraduate work in East Germany and was now qualified to teach elementary school children with her college degree, as well as being able to attend seminary. How they met is another story for another day, but we may say that music brought them together. Ethlista played the piano, and Karl was drawn to the beautiful sounds.

Now, back to Rally, we find, that he had an aptitude for painting on canvas, paper, sidewalks, interior walls, floors, furniture, pets, pretty much anything he could lay his hands on from the ages of two or three. He virtually learned to walk, walked over to a box of crayons, and began adorning the walls of the hallway outside of his bedroom. Rally was a great success in Kindergarten. The twelve elementary grades were a bit of an impediment, but he had the nicest assortment of book covers among all of his classmates. Though Rally was painting all the time outside of his classes, he did manage to graduate with a 3.5 GPA. Finding out about SCAD in Savannah, GA, Rally moved halfway across the country from his parents. This did not sit well with his parents because their family was set-up to be close-knit, even in the extended family realm.

Rally finished his degree work at SCAD, finding a job immediately in Atlanta with a graphic arts firm that created advertising campaigns throughout the world. Rally was still a single man when he arrived in Atlanta, but quickly fell in love with the pretty street vendor, who sold him his lunch almost every day. Man, could she make a mean grilled cheese sandwich! After a year of lunch "dates," Rally asked Miss Jessie Fide, "Would you like to move into my apartment? You could cook for me full-time, since I make enough money for both of us. I could even pay you to do some light housekeeping. We're already good friends. I'm sure we could make it work. What do you say?" She nodded, wordlessly, but in the back of her mind, she wondered, Is that all? Or is he interested in fringe benefits?

Being a painter, Rally loves beautiful things. In time, Rally saw Jessie as more than someone who could help him with his career, but as someone who was interesting as a person, herself. He began to want to know her more intimately. Rally liked the acclaim his talent brought to him, and he really disliked being ignored. This effectively turned him into a narcissist, who used Jessie more and more until he went blind. This broke him in every way possible, changing his motivation from self to others. In the end, he desired to make the world a better place through beautiful paintings, whether created by himself, Jessie, or anyone else he taught, while meeting personal needs, even if he couldn't see the people he was helping.

Rally Witt and Jessie Fide become the story of redemption, changing sexual sin for a faithful marriage, self-centeredness for a lasting relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and knowledge and talents that originally benefit a self-absorbed man into a life of giving one's knowledge and talents to benefit others.