- Event: ICONIC 2020
The scene opens outside a bar late at night. The sidewalk is wet with some puddles from the rain that fell earlier. A line has formed outside the bar with two big men of Pacific Island appearances are standing at the door while people wait to be let inside. The camera pans to Paul “Tripper” Trippard walking along the sidewalk until he gets to the end of the line. He looks down the line and becomes frustrated at how long the line is ahead of him.
He begins to walk around the rope and heads straight to the front, where the two big guys standing at the front of the door are.
“Hey, Matangi!” Trip said trying to get the door man’s attention.
The doorman turns and smiles when he sees Trip before saying, “Tripper! How are doing man?”
Trip and Matangi embrace in a friendly hug. Trip leaves one hand on Matangi’s shoulder and says, “Brother, I thought I’d stop by for a beer but it seems like you guys are full.”
“We’re never too busy for you my Brother!” Matangi replied as he lifted the rope for Tripper to walk under and through the door that was just opened for him.
Tripper walks through the packed bar that has loud dance music blasting through some speakers. He walks up to the bar and asks for a beer. While waiting for a beer, Tripper looks around to see who the people that were standing inside are and perhaps find someone he may know. Tripper gets his beer and pours a mouthful down his throat.
He feels a tap on his shoulder and turns around to find Gino standing there. His face bruised and slightly swollen from the beating Trip gave him on the docks a few days earlier. “Gino! How you doing there?” He asks with a cocky smile.
Gino shrugs his shoulders and replies with, “ As good as any other guy who got beat up.”
Tripper stands there with his arms wide open and shaking his head from side to side before saying, “Dude, I just want to apologize. I was having a bad morning and I was in a bad mood.” Tripper puts his arm around Gino and brings him to stand closer to the bar and says, “How about I buy you a drink?” Tripper looks towards the bartender and calls for another beer.
Tripper looks at Gino with a smile as he hands him a beer and says, “Maybe we can be friends again.”
Gino takes the beer and drinks from the cold bottle. He puts the bottle down on the bar and with a straight face, he asks, “Do you have a gun?”
Surprised from the random question Gino just asked him, Tripper’s face turns from smiling to being serious when he asks, “What kind of question is that?”
“It’s a simple question.” Gino replied with a serious tone. “Do you have a gun?”
Tripper looks at Gino with a serious stare before responding with, “No, I don’t”
“Want to buy one?” Gino asks.
Tripper pauses before answering as he tries to work out what Gino is up to. He responds with, “Sure, I’ll buy one. What kind of gun do you have?”
Gino tips his head to the side before saying, “Follow me.”
Gino begins to walk outside through a back door while Tripper suspiciously watches him walk out while following. The two walk outside and down a dark and empty street street to a parking lot that is behind some tall office buildings. Gino stands by the trunk of his 65 Chevy Impala.
Tripper keeps his distance as Gino opens the trunk. He reaches in and pulls out a handgun. Gino walks towards Tripper while holding the barrel part towards himself while exposing the holding the butt end towards Tripper.
Tripper braces himself as Gino gets closer to him. He reaches out to take the gun and just as he is about to wrap his hand around the grip handle, Gino quickly turns the gun around so he has fingers wrap around the handle and is pointing the barrel straight at Trippers head. Tripper quickly puts his hands up in the air.
“You’re not so tough now, are you Trip?” Gino asked with a smile on his face.
“Come on Gino, I said I was sorry.” Tripper replied nervously.
“You’re a piece of shit,Tripper! You only beat people up to make a name for yourself.” Gino yelled while pointing the gun at Tripper.
“You wont pull the trigger, Gino! You’re too much of a chicken shit to pull the trigger!” Tripper yelled back while challenging Gino.
Gino’s face changed from a sadistic smile to a serious one as he pulls the trigger and the gun only clicks. He tries again and the gun clicks again. He continues trying to pull the trigger while Tripper reaches behind himself and pulls a gun that was tucked in behind his back. He quickly draws it and fires one shot that hits Gino right in between the eyes. Gino falls backwards and lands on the ground facing up with blood pouring out from a bullet hole in the middle of his forehead. Gino’s eyes are wide open which tells Tripper that Gino is obviously dead.
“Do you have an encore or are you just going to lay there and bleed?” Tripper asked sarcastically. “I hope you’re in hell you piece of shit!”
Tripper walks away, looking around making sure nobody has seen him while he puts his gun back behind his back into a holster in his trousers. He continues walking down the empty street and splashing small puddles of water along his way. He sees a gas station near by and walks towards it. He sees a car at the gas pump with a guy pumping gas into his car with his back turned from Tripper. The guy turns around and sees Tripper walking towards the entrance door to the gas station store.
“Reeves?” Said the man with a confused tone.
Tripper stops in his tracks and slowly turns around. He looks at the man standing at the pump and he immediately knew who he was. It was at that moment, Tripper knew that his days as Paul “Tripper” Trippard is over. It was at that moment, Tripper knew that Austin Reeves had returned from the dead.
……..To be continued.