Little Inklings 2024

A REGRETFUL CELEBRITY By: Jack Akselrad ’28 Fame, that was what John wanted; he wanted to be like all the celebrities on TV. “Imagine a life without troubles,” John pondered, “it must be so nice to have no worries.” John was a 19 year old man taking his second year of classes at the New York Film University. John had always wanted to be a famous actor since he was a young boy. In fact, he could almost imagine it: cameras flashing, lights shining, and all the people in the world admiring him. It was a perfect life; it was his dream and nobody could take it from him. 9 YEARS LATER… “Mr. Harrison, sir!” one reporter yelled. “Over here, Mr. Harrison!” another begged. Reporters and paparazzi beleaguered John like a swarm of fire ants crawling up his leg; the more he fought back, the more stories would come out talking about made up scandals that he was supposedly involved in. “Enough!” John screamed, expecting the people to listen. Click, clack, click, clack. But the noise and flashes of cameras continued. John just wanted to get to the end of the carpet, but everytime he inched forward, more people jumped in front of him just to beleaguer him with more irrelevant questions. I hate this, John’s thought, why did I ever choose this career path? Over the past few days, John had gotten more and more unstable as more and more reports about the “scandal” he was supposedly involved in got out. The reports had chipped off parts of his mental stability piece by piece, and John was reaching the breaking point. Whap! John felt a strong punch straight to the cheek as his head flung in the other direction. “How dare you do that!” an angry citizen screamed at John. This was it, the breaking point. John couldn’t take it anymore; he felt a heat build up from his toes, up to his legs, and eventually up to his waist. As he stared at the man, he could feel the heat pulse throughout his body as he put himself in a fighting stance. John quickly brought back his elbow and thrusted his fist forward like a cheetah sprinting at a gazelle. Crack. The punch landed, and it broke the man’s nose. Punches of rebuttal were thrown back from each side as the singular punch became a full-on fistfight. ONE DAY LATER… Clank. The sound of iron bars hitting the wall sounded throughout John’s small cell. After breathing in the pungent smell of rotten onions for hours upon end, John was finally allowed to leave. John looked up and saw a guard preparing to speak to him. “The bail was received and processed; you are free to go Mr. Harrison.” John got up from his bed and walked out of his cell, only to see his brother waiting at the reception desk, arms crossed. “You’re lucky that man survived!” John’s brother furiously exclaimed. John looked down in shame as his brother scolded him for his actions. “I wish I hadn’t gone to film school,” John muttered under his breath. Then, an idea popped up in John’s mind. Wait, what if I change my identity and move to another country? John pondered, trying to think of the way he would execute this plan. In a matter of days, John had gotten a name change in court and applied for British citizenship. He was going to start a new life, free from the chaos that was his previous one. 50