Beynooz (A Short Story)

BEYNOOZ

(Side Character Syndrome)

And then it occurred to me, I don’t even know if I have a wife.

The mop splattered over the deck floor as the thought rolled over in my mind. Man, what did I know about myself in this story? I looked down at my relatively average body. I was fairly small, maybe only nineteen, twenty years old. I was probably too young to be married. I reached up and stranded a single forelock of hair between my fingers - a sandy brown. I was most likely average looking - most Side Characters were.

“Beynooz, we’re still boarding,” the captain hollered, “so keep mopping!”

Ech. I even had a weird name. Probably a name that the author had thought sounded interesting, but hadn’t dared give to a Main Character. I dragged the mop distractedly over the creaking ship, and peered over the edge. The dock below hustled and bustled with movement. What an interesting opening setting. I was obviously a shiphand which could possibly mean this scene was the one that was going to host the…

And there they were. I knew him and his friends the moment I saw them. They were boarding the ship just like all the other passengers. A young darker skinned boy, with steady brown eyes. He was the Hero. The main Main Character. He was followed by his two friends, one a girl and the other a boy. The girl was pale and bordering on flawless. The boy was taller, and sturdier looking. They were young and very good looking. Oh, wow. Each of them were obviously from different walks of life, but each had a determined look on his face, which, you knew, meant that these characters had no time for chit chat. They would obviously be in the middle of a struggling with a moral conflict. Oh, how neat! The heroes, here! They were the very reason I had been created of course.

I managed to work my way closer to the captain as he greeted them. He knew who they were too, of course, but had been written to greet them harshly.

“Children sleep in the lower decks,” he jabbed a thumb behind him, sneering, “and don’t be gettin’ any ideas bout havin’ more rations just cause your growin’! Down to the bottom with you!”

I winced. Yeesh. Even I knew that line was gonna need some editing later. The boy and his friends humbly obliged and trudged their simple belongings to the bottom deck, their faces somber. They could possibly have some great character development during this trip. They’d need it for the story to move along. Main Characters typically started out pretty plain and weak; their defining trait was their good hearts. That meant they’d know exactly what to do when the Climax came.

Wait a second. My head started spinning as I attempted to return to my shiphand duties. Was this scene on the ship at the beginning of the story or in the middle of it? I had just assumed it was the beginning, because, I, of course, had just barely come into existence. But if this was actually the middle of the story, some terrible trouble was much more likely to suddenly befall us! Main Characters always had to have something happen to them, and occurrences followed them like the plague. And to be honest, most of the time, they weren’t good. There wouldn’t be any character development without trials. I bit my bottom lip in apprehension.

I quickly replaced the mop into a closet, and took the bucket to dump its contents into the sea. As I made my way to the side of the ship, I heard the captain barking orders and all the other crew members preparing to cast off. Ropes were tugged, tied, pulled, passed from hand to hand. Men shimmied up ladders. I stood meanderingly by, I was pretty sure I wasn’t written for such roles. My knowledge of ships, as far as I knew, was limited, and that was the authors doing. Such was the way with Side Characters. If I was supposed to be doing something, I would just find myself… doing it.

Two burly men rushed past me, carrying a piece of equipment that we probably wouldn’t even be using. Most of it was just for show. Let’s be honest, the author really doesn’t know much about ships either.

“Out of the way, Beynooz!” one man hollered from behind. I leapt out of the way. Ah, so that’s what kind of character I was. Kind of a clueless cabin boy. My job was to mop decks and get out of the way. Good to know.

I was pretty sure all this commotion on top was just for the heroes to hear below. Everyone knows it’s only their point of view that matters. The captain took the wheel and turned us away from port.

Whoa! Did you feel that? A scene jump! We’ve been three days out at sea, and yet it feels as if it was only last page we cast off… Gonna have to get used to these lapses. We must be in a new chapter.

I was now on the other side of the ship, cleaning again. Some of the passengers were now up top amongst the crew members, peering out over the ocean. I swiveled around, trying to flood the crevices, when I realized in shock that I was mopping right next to the Main Characters! They too had joined the throngs in gazing out at sea, and they caught my eye instantly. The Hero was looking troubled. I was near enough to hear what they were saying, and nervously pretended to continue cleaning.

“But Jarren,” the young blonde girl said (Of course that was the Hero’s name - what a heroic name! Ending in an ’n’ and everything!) “We can’t go back,” she said, “not after what your father did.”

Ah, crumbs. Either this was an intentionally over-complicated and mysterious beginning or we really were in the middle of the story - which means a climatic action scene was just around the bend. I glanced around nervously. Would it be one of my crewmates to start a fight? Maybe a mutiny? Maybe it was going to be something more serious! A crash, a shooting! And where would that leave me, the helpless Side Character? I would die for affect, of course. I began to tremble at the thought.

“I know, Synria,” Jarren sighed, (He did it dramatically, but who would blame him? Being dramatic was a coveted right of Main Characters.) “but what choice do I have? If we can’t find this Mr. Sterious on the deserted island of Cruxoon, I’ll have no more options.”

“You could join me back in Freece,” said his male friend, less attractive, but somehow still lovable all the same.

Jarren shook his head, “Thank you Ross, but it’s not my place. I am a prince and must tear my traitorous father from the throne of Aurone.”

Oh man. Oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man. This really was too inconclusive to be the beginning of the story, and even though I didn’t know the storyline, I now knew for certain I was in the middle of it. I began to shiver uncontrollably, and my mop wiggled back and forth as I tried to set it down. I shakily made my way to the stairs and leaned against it, breathing heavily, my face flushed. The words ‘Jarren’ had just uttered were basically a petition for a climax. There was no way I was going to make it to the next scene.

And then it happened, just like that. The ship all the sudden gave a mighty crack and swayed violently on the oceans tides. Everyone gasped, and held onto for dear life on whatever they could reach. A few unfortunate souls lost balance and keeled over the side. The ship swayed back and forth, and everyone collected their themselves. Panicked voices began rising. Crew members tried their best to retrieve the men overboard.

“What was that?” One man shouted. The captain shook his head, shocked himself.

“Nothing more than a reef,” one of the smarter-looking crewmates insisted, he was probably second in command, “We can’t chart them all, and sometimes a ship will just give one a nudge.”

“Are we going to sink?!” One woman screamed. People began murmuring worriedly. The heroes were getting to their feet and looking carefully over out into the water. They would know before any of us what was going on. I panicked and began looking around for anything I could do to delay my inevitable and oncoming death. I could climb up the mast! Maybe I would sink last.

“There is nothing wrong with the ship!” the second hand mate was saying, “our crew will check for leaks. As for now, don’t worry. If the ship was sinking, we’d know about it.”

I kept my eyes glued to the heroes. The author always tipped them off first. It made for a more relatable affect. Just as a few men were making their way down the stairs to look for holes, I saw Jarren’s eyes widen.

“MONSTER!!!” He cried, and dove for the middle of the ship.

Just as he spoke, a giant tentacle, probably eighty feet high, leapt out of the water with an enormous splash and careened the ship to one side. Everyone screamed and once again grabbed for anything they could. I was thrown against the stairs I had been so desperately panicking next to, and thankfully, was offered many handholds, many of which I took. Hundreds more people slipped out of the ship as easily as if the monster had dipped a dish to spill the contents into his mouth, for surely, that’s where they were all going.

And I knew I was next.

“THE KRAKEN!” The captain shouted, suddenly having regained his senses, if not even a slight smirk. He turned the wheel violently to one side, as if hoping to dodge the massive tentacle that was now crashing down on us. The heroes had managed to avoid the massacre by diving towards the section of the boat I was tottering around in. More tentacles joined the first and wrapped themselves around the ship, crushing anything or anyone in their path.

Jarren jumped to his feet and quickly helped his friends to standing. The two of them took one look at me, still grasping desperately to the stairs and followed Jarren as he dashed to the side of the boat.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” I screamed. The boat was rocking violently and I was losing my footing again. The Kraken had begun to drag the whole boat down into the depths.

“LIFEBOAT!” Jarren cried to his friends, pointing. Both of them whipped out a knife, and found the lifeboat the Main Character had spotted. They began hacking away at the ropes that held it fast.

I rushed forward, trying to keep my balance as best I could and began helping them untie the lifeboat. I had been written to know how to do that at least.

Jarren grabbed my shoulders and heaved me into the boat, just as Synria and Ross jumped in as well. The ropes snapped and the boat went plummeting down to the ocean. We gave a large splash as we landed, and Jarren and Ross instantly grabbed the paddles as Synria kicked out and pushed us away from the sinking side of the ship. I watched helplessly as the Kraken began squeezing, the ship splintering in half. Men and women were screaming, crewmen were shooting, and somewhere, far away, the captain was laughing.

Maybe he had known that this was how he was written to die all along.

I thought about that even as we paddled far away from the dreadful sea monster and his freshly drowned prey.

…

I slumped dejectedly over the side of the boat, staring out at the neverending sea. I had not seen this coming. I thought for sure, I was going to join my crewmates in their watery grave.

“We don’t even know where we’re going!” Ross protested, almost on the verge of tears. “This is worse than being eaten alive by that thing! Now we’ll die out here, starving and aimless!”

Jarren said nothing, just looked down as he continued paddling. I had come to the conclusion that Jarren and his friends were not all that much younger than I was. We were closer in age than I had thought.

Synria put a hand on Ross’s shoulder, “At least we have a chance. With the first sight of land, we’ll be saved. First sign of a tentacle, we would have been chow.”

I couldn’t even find it in me to wince. But once again, another line that would need editing later. If there was a later.

“We just keep rowing,” Jarren said, “We hope, we try, and if we fail, we know it was not because we stood by and did nothing.”

Ooh, that was a good one, actually.

“So what’s your name?” Synria asked. We had been so long in silence, hours actually, that I was shocked to see she was actually referring to me.

“Me?” I asked, almost bashfully. Even after witnessing hundreds of people being eaten by a Kraken and barely escaping the same fate, Synria still was pretty good looking.

She nodded, her bright green eyes looking straight at me.

I gulped. “Beynooz,” I grimaced.

She smiled, “Thanks for helping us with the lifeboat, Beynooz. Without you, we’d be in a lot of trouble right now.”

I shrugged, “Least I could do,” I muttered.

“A few more hacks and we would have had it,” Ross sneered.

“Then Beynooz saved us a few hacks,” Syria returned snidely, “and a few precious seconds at that. He could very well have saved our lives.” She returned her gaze to me, “I’m Synria.” she said, “And this is Jarren and Ross.”

I was tempted to say that I already had known this, but I considered it to be a little creepy, so I just settled with, “Nice to meet ya.”

Once again we lapsed into silence. For hours, we said nothing. Only the sea dared make noise, crashing against our small pitiful boat and rolling far out into the horizon. Jarren and Ross kept paddling and would sometimes switch off with Synria and I. My mood did not change from its bleak state.

There was no way now I was going to make it to shore. This was going to be some kind of depressing scene were the readers would need to feel the helplessness of being lost out at sea. I was sure to starve to death before the next chapter or get an increasingly rapid and incurable case of scurvy or something. In such circumstances, my death was now destined to be long and drawn out. I almost wished for the mouth of the Kraken. Those thousands of teeth would have made death simple.

I realized we had been stranded for seven days. It was another one of those lapses that I had now almost missed! Of course the heroes wouldn’t recognize it, to their point of view, it probably really actually had been seven days. Oh, how horrible. Well, I guess there are perks to being a Side Character after all.

I was currently rowing (which I hadn’t been before - another tip off that we had reached a new section of the story) when Ross spoke up.

“We should draw straws,” he muttered.

Synria looked up from where she had been slumped over. “For what?” She croaked.

Ross cast his eyes about as if he didn’t want to look at her, “For food.” he moaned.

“Ross!” Jarren spoke up, “How could you say such a thing!?”

“We were all thinking it!” he spat.

Jarren said nothing. Synria made a disbelieving noise, but didn’t say otherwise.

Maybe my mind had actually been present in the last seven days as I mulled over my situation, or maybe the writer was now pouring new thoughts into my head. Either way, I spoke up.

“Maybe we should.”

They all looked at me.

I had come to a conclusion. I was a Side Character, nothing more. Written a Side Character, deleted as a Side Character. It had been merely luck that I had escaped the jaws of the Kraken. I had been fortunate enough not to die amongst the nameless throngs. I certainly wasn’t destined for quests, glory, dramatic moments or anything other than an awkward sounding name. I was just Beynooz. Beynooz the shiphand who had just happened to manage to get into a boat with the three Main Characters. That was it. There was no hope of survival. Even if we didn’t draw straws, I was sure to die some other way and soon. But now the readers were watching - they were watching the one ship hand with a name in this god-forsaken boat. I decided I was going to make an impact in the story. I don’t know why the author had done this to me or why I had been allowed to get this far, but one thing I knew for certain. I had done better than I thought I would. And that was enough for me.

“Eat me,” I said.

They continued looking at me.

“Eat me instead.” I said again.

“But Beynooz-” Synria protested.

“It’s really no big deal,” I mumbled, “I’m going to die anyway.”

Ross and Jarren watched in shock as I laid myself down in the bottom of the boat. “I know you have knives.” I said softly.

“We could never-“ Jarren began.

“Yes we could.” Ross insisted. His harshness was not helping my tender nerves. He unsheathed his dagger.

“This is horrible,” Synria whispered, but she too removed her blade from its sheath.

Jarren looked on in dismay. “We’re better than this!” He cried helplessly.

I shook my head. “I volunteered,” I said, my voice wavering more than I cared to admit. I was scared. Really scared. But I wasn’t about to let that stop me. I knew my place in this world. I knew what I had been written for.

Ross raised the dagger above his head. “I’m really sorry Baydude.” He said.

“Beynooz,” I whimpered.

He squeezed his eyes shut as if willing himself, and then the muscles in his arms tensed. I held my breath and braced myself.

“Wait,” I heard Jarren say, his voice alarmingly different, much more urgent, “WAIT!”

Ross didn’t move, but he glanced over at Jarren. I peered up through one watery eye.

“What is it?” Ross asked.

Jarren was leaning far over the side of the boat. “Is that…”

Synria leaned over Ross to get a better view. Ross let the dagger fall to his side as he too tried to squint over the horizon. Jarren’s brown eyes gleamed.

“IT’S LAND!” Synria hollered.

I staggered to sitting and braced myself against one of the benches to look out over the ocean. It was. It was land! A small strip of green that barely was noticeable on the horizon. A wave of relief washed over me.

“IT’S LAND!!!” The rest of them were hooting. Ross helped me up and then gave me a mighty hug. There were hugs all around, and I stumbled to the back of the boat, where Synria comforted me as the two boys began rowing madly.

“That was very brave of you,” she said softly, one of her arms over me.

I stared intently at my boots. I couldn’t believe what had happened. I was going to… live?

Ross suddenly got excited, “That’s the dock!” he shouted, “see that tower? It’s the same one we saw on our way to the ship! We turned around and came right back the way we came!”

“We’re rowing home!” Jarren cried.

I looked up forlornly. I was going to live. Beynooz the Side Character was going to live.

The author may pour actions into my head and throw trials and tribulations my way. I had the ability to act just as well as a Main Character. I may be nothing more than an extra, an ensemble to set the scene. But I had been given much more than I had had when I had least expected it. Maybe the author way up there had bigger plans for me than I had thought. I knew that the author was in charge, and always would be. But Beynooz the Side Character was going to find out the authors plot for him by trying his hardest. I would preserve myself as best I could for the story. Because that’s who Beynooz the Side Character is.

A representation of a true person.

Maybe a true… hero, even.

Far away, in an other entirely different world, a young woman sat back in her chair, exhausted. It was nearly past midnight, and she had been rewriting the final draft all night long. The computer screen illuminated the dark basement and shone harshly on her face. She pulled off her glasses as she hit ‘Save’ and reached for the off switch.

“Funny,” she said, rubbing her eyes, “how some characters can take on a life of their own.”

The computer dimmed and the sounds of her footsteps mounting the creaking stairs could be heard just as this story… drew to a close.