2012 - Covolution

Sixty years ago, fortune hunters unearthed several stone tablets, hidden within a cave in Africa. Carved on one of the artifacts was a primitive inscription, “…a labyrinth of translucent corridors encircles and controls…” The rest of the proverb is unreadable. Yet, numerous of scholars analyzing this millennium stone, concurs it means; our existence lies inside a Glass Maze.

Hmm…for a commoner, accepting that Mother Nature purposely plays a game of fortitude on our destiny as fact, is an implausible assertion. Self-absorption prevents us from seeing any connection to nature. But of course, looking from another angle, numerous of traditional fairytales does metaphorically illustrated ways for humans to overcome their fear of being.

In reality, only a tiny minority of the human populace comprehends the complex legendary fables from the past and therefore, successively moves through life’s lucent web of survival to accomplish their true goals. Oddly, for the majority, seeing light shining in the Glass Maze of Life is a too difficult task. Seeing as, they either fail getting past the first obstacles of the Glass Maze of Life or fight against destiny’s objective.

Leonard Kain agrees with this, however, via his logic, he belongs to a special group of people lacking choice in their destiny, and therefore, spared from falling into the game of life.
After all, he surfs through the Glass Maze of Life with ease because diversions from semi-transparent mirrored walls never blocked his way.

Well, umm…that is until around 2:00 AM on the first day of 2012, as the hazy fumes from the New Year fireworks blazing in the sky above Mainhatten finally dissipated into the air. Mysteriously, the cloudless dark sky engulfing the city divided by the Main River jiggles joy into the hearts of many stargazers standing at the waterfront. An intergalactic hint that Leo should see as a warning, but the thousands of stars dominating the bluish-black setting tricks him.

The full Moon protecting the heavens causes an unexpected delight in Leo, and this panoramic view screams, “Hey, ask Lori the big question now.”

Irrational confidence swindles Leo into believing, the Cosmos approves of his plan. Therefore, he and others push through the overcrowded waterfront at the Main River to their objective.

Superstition tricks many people into believing they are unique. In this case, Leo is lead to the old bridge which created a bond with him and his brothers, Ricky and Eddie. An erroneous faith that causes him to envision, asking Lori to marry him under the Brickegickel (pronounced brick-a-gickel) statue would bring them a long life of luck.

Being, the oldest operational bridge in Frankfurt am Main, the Alte Brücke was built in twelfth century AD. This historical masterpiece of work succumbed to devastation, at least, eighteen times over its lifespan. And the last official time man-made aggression destroyed this bridge was March ‘45. Afterwards, the local governing body accepted defeat and then refused to restore it completely.
Luckily for Leo, the citizens of Frankfurt pressured the local governing body into rebuilding the bridge in ‘65, as a reminder of the wickedness from long ago. You see, many people deemed physically viewing the Alte Brücke’s mystical attraction could improve the conscious mind of humans. Especially since, over several centuries, at least 418 people died through drowning, hangings and beheadings on this bridge. Tragedies from the xenophobia that refuse to release its grip on the residents of Frankfurt even today.

What’s more, Leo believes when two or more objects and organisms are born in the same moment, then the cosmic bond between them stays forever. A cosmological equilibrium of the Universe occurred in June of ‘65, when the Alte Brücke newly opened the same time upon Leo’s birth. The results of this celestial wonder also mysteriously compelled the local government into placing the Brickegickel statue back on the bridge.
Hmm…the Brickegickel is…uh, golden rooster alerting the passing ships on the Main River that the bridge is there, while simultaneously, protecting the Alte Brücke from evil entities. Yet, unusual circumstances caused it to be replaced six times in its lifespan. Sadly, in ’92 some lowdown no good…umm, individuals, stole this sculpture.

Ahm…that’s before many people realized this particular golden rooster really was the yellow metallic element, costing hundreds of dollars per gram and still controlling society today. So…uh, it’s no mystery why the thieves swiped it. After all, at today’s prices, a six-kilogram bird of pure gold would influence the most decent person. Hey, humans are not Angels, and staring everyday at an unguarded cool million dollars is…well, you know….

Following the Brickegickel heist, no one foresaw it as wise, to place another extremely expensive bird on a bridge just to prevent its destruction. “Superstition was yesterday,” is the phrase many intellectuals scream out these days. So instead, they replaced the stolen golden rooster two years later with one made out of cheaper materials; bronze to be exact. Yet, this current monstrous looking icon of history has less of the elegance than its predecessors. Hmm…now, after pondering it over, that was a bad decision because eighteen years afterwards… 

KABOOM! An echoing deafening noise dominates the atmosphere without warning. Startlingly, a Cargo plane erroneously rams into the oldest bridge in Frankfurt am Main.
On impulse, the molecules on the backside of Leo’s body freezes up. The alarm bells in his head flip on high alert, and stiffer than timber he stands in a state of shock. For the first time, anxiety pushes his blood pressure to a level that normally gives the average person a heart attack.
Leo is in denial that his muse, mascot, talisman, and lucky charm, the oldest bridge in Mainhatten, no longer exists.

Leo prays that this is only a nightmare and he just needs to wake up. Nonetheless, callously this calamity of horror prolongs its dominance as the Cargo plane continues dancing on the river. In sequence, the Eiserner Steg and Untermainbrücke no longer have a purpose in life. And before an act of fate stops the Boeing 747 a few meters from the Holbeinsteg Bridge: a people overpass so costly that the local government decided to save money by not giving it an official name placard. Thousands of people instantaneously die on this New Years morning.

Well…um, factual data concerning the Holbeinsteg Bridge is useless to the people standing on it, because currently their only interest pertains to surviving. Sure, the main part of the wreckage was stuck, however, like many disasters; human nature persuades us to act without thinking, an unsolvable phenomenon that influences the many of us to do stupid things. So, although the survivors on the Holbeinsteg Bridge were aware of the small fragments from the other bridges still flowing down the river, unconsciously, people began jumping to their instant deaths.
         
This was a wake up call for Leo, who suddenly realizes he is not dreaming and he utters, “Oh man…” Yet, the cries and screams of the rest of the thousands of people, earlier celebrating New Years at the waterfront, overpower his statements. And although, none of these fortunate souls stood on any of the bridges, witnessing the entire event traumatizes them into dismay.
Googols of people stood on the bridges that destiny now considers useless, when minutes later. Another Cargo plane unexpectedly appears and crashes on the other side of the river, directly before the eyes of the remaining people still participating in the Glass Maze of Life.
Startled, like hikers surprised by a hungry bear, no one caught their bearings from the destruction of the bridges, as flames engulfed Sachsenhausen, a section of Frankfurt laying in the south of the city. Uncontrollably, delusional states of imagination begin overwhelming everyone standing at the waterfront. Many people believe they are hallucinating until; the burnt smell of Apple wine rudely tingles through their noses and commands, “wake up, this is not the boy who cried wolf, it’s real.”
Quickly, a diversity of fears circulates through the minds of every surviving individual and then disorder takes over the massive crowd of bystanders. Helping somebody was the last thing on Leo and everyone else’s mind, because what’s transpiring in the bank capital of Europe, showed signs of a terrorist religious group attempting to change the social order again. So, no one could be trusted.

Well, regardless of the typical paranoia that ensnares most people into its web of cynicism, Leo doesn’t believe, a fanatical group preplanned the current tragedy in Mainhatten.
As they push through the massive crowd, Lori unexpectedly asks, “Hey, what is going on Leo?”

Impulsively, Leo begins lying, because here is not the place to explain everything, “Um…I don’t know Schatzel….”

“It’s a terrorist attack!” his brother Ricky suddenly blurs out. 

Promptly, Leo’s other brother; Eddie intervenes before he could respond. “Hey! Shut up - you don’t believe that just as I…,” he said, while keeping an eye on the chaos that swiftly hit the streets of this municipality.

“Uh…well I’m hoping, I’m right instead of…” Richard begins but goes silent and hugs his girlfriend Susan. During this compassionate act, Leo ruminates within, (we received the message two years ago, but until now, none of us knew the meaning of it.)

The Kain brothers have a hypothesis over the origin of this chaos, but, it’s too unbelievable to inform the others at the moment. Leo suggests that presently the safest location is his apartment and after undisputable approval, they commence on this journey.

Some moments later, as Leo and friends, push through the chaotic crowd in Mainhatten, another plane crashes once they arrive on Romerberg. Even from this legendary Roman Mountain region, the fireball of terror flowing down the very crowded pedestrian street name Zeil petrifies everyone. From their distance of 900 meters away, the intensity of heat could still be felt. “Oh jeez…um honey, you don’t think an airplane would hit us before we make it home,” Lori shouts on a whim.

Although unsure, betting on it is something Leo refuses to do because startlingly they all notice that many cars are running over people, as if the vehicles can now think for themselves.
Looters immediately begin smashing store windows and grabbing everything in sight, as a glass barrier, begin materializing before Leo’s eyes. Yet it goes unobserved because he ponders, what if; the government had at least forewarned everyone about the potential enemy. That information could have reduced the amount of deaths occurring. Yet sadly, the wasted money in the year 2000 scare influenced them to keep everything hush-hush.

Under a lot of stress, they take the Saalgasse, a backstreet and shortcut to Leo’s apartment. During this, Leo thinks, (none of the governing bodies alerted to this problem could have prevented the mayhem. Nobody really knew the meaning of the senseless message from two years ago.) When out of the blue, Eddie vigorously yells, “Hey look out!” and then pushes Leo out of the pathway of a rouge mini-SUV, which jumps the curb and decides to make him the next target.

“Thanks Eddie, I…was lost in my thoughts”, Leo utters as the small-size sport utility vehicle crashes into the side of a building.

In a dash, they quickly run over to the car and check on the passengers. Only one person is inside it and the airbag saved her life. “Are you all right?” Leo politely inquires to the stranger coming out of a slight daze.

“Uh…yeah, couldn’t control - this stupid car. It all of a sudden had a mind on its own. By the way - I’m Monic.” She gleefully says, once getting her orientation of the area, as Leo helps her out of the wrecked car.

Either, Monic’s penetrating brownish-green eyes gave Leo the impression that he knew her, or the intonation of her voice. Whatever the case, instinctively he utters, “I’m Leonard Kain - the person you almost attached to the front grill of your car. Um…I would suggest….” Leo and Monic develops a sociable tête-à-tête that astonishes the others.