Chapter
4 – On the Opposite Side of Charity
Even after having three days off
from being at the theatre, there’s a part of Dario that blames himself for the
deaths of Renzo and Delia. He doesn’t blame Carlo despite him playing an
indirect role in their beliefs and he appreciates the constant affection and
help that Adelina has been giving him. His parents also lend him support by
giving him fewer responsibilities until he feels better and giving him advice
about his concerns. Dario doesn’t mention the theatre to his parents, but they
still understand what’s bothering him despite talking around it, since they
know the struggles of helping people who don’t want to be helped.
A woman from a larger charity walks
into the building with her parents. The parents approach Dario’s parents while
their daughter walks up to Dario. This woman has light blue eyes, dark pink
hair, light skin, and wears a red dress with short sleeves.
“Hello, my name is Dario. Do you
need any help?” Dario asks.
“Nice to meet you. My name is Elda,
and no, I don’t need any help. In fact, it is my parents and our organization
that will be helping you. Our parents are discussing a deal that will merge our
charities.”
“I’ve seen you online and on TV
before and know about your organization. It’s one of the biggest in the
country, but I also know you and your parents live in luxury.” Adelina sees
Dario talking to Elda, so she runs over to him and holds his arm as if making
it known that Dario is hers. “What is it, Adelina? Everything is fine.”
Adelina grunts and stares down Elda
like a fierce mother does when protecting her child.
“Everything is fine. You and your
parents will receive a generous deal though some of your fellow employees may
be fired and replaced,” Elda says.
“What? You can’t just fire them.”
“We can when the deal goes through.
You’ll want our more experienced employees anyway even though you’ll have fewer
people working with you. It’s all for the good cause of helping the poor and
needy, right?”
“You don’t do that by corporatizing
and cutting people out of the job they want to work. It’s not right to hurt
others so other people can be helped.”
“Workers come and go. It’s the
nature of business.”
“This is a charity. Not a
business.”
“That’s right. You should listen to
him and leave,” Adelina growls.
Suddenly, Dario and Elda find
themselves in the theatre and on Elda’s stage. Her mask closely resembles her
face and her body is mostly together except for her center, which is sorely
empty and in pieces. After Dario explains what this place is and what its
purpose is, Elda wonders why she’s here.
“There’s nothing wrong with me,” she
says with a grin as if pretending to be innocent. “I help run one of the
biggest charities in the country, as you said. Thousands if not hundreds of thousands
of people are helped by me.”
Many examples of Elda’s charity
show on the walls, ceiling, and floors, however, they are soon overshadowed by
scenes of her cruelty by firing people, cutting their pay, cutting hours,
giving overwhelming responsibilities to a person without a pay raise, and more.
“People are also hurt by you,” Dario
says while pointing at the scenes around them.
“So, what if a few people are hurt
so many more can be helped?”
“Because you’re supposed to help
people! You’re part of a charity! If you actually did care about helping more
than showing how ‘charitable’ you are, then maybe I’d respect you, but I don’t.
You’re a hypocrite, a devil with the appearance of an angel.”
The scenes all stop and the room
turns dark.
“How dare you!” Elda says while approaching
Dario. “You don’t know anything about me, what I have to sacrifice for others! The
many should be helped if only a few suffer because of it!”
Edla’s words are echoed by scenes
of her on the walls showing her pushing away people she once called friends
because they didn’t agree with her way of doing things. Inside Elda’s hollow
body, Dario sees the mischievous swimming around.
“Haha! There’s so much room in here
that I could fit two of me in here,” the technician says.
“I know what I’m doing is wrong,
but it’s what I have to do to help the world,” Elda says with the technician’s
voice mixed in with hers and lights start shining from her eyes. “Those people
who I fired and pushed away will understand. No, they should be thankful
because someone was helped because of the sacrifice that I made for them. They
should all be thankful to me for doing what needs to be done!”
Hundreds of people start pouring
into the room like the waters of a flood and Dario struggles to stay above
them. Some shower Elda with praise while a few of the voices criticize her for
her choices. She argues with them as she struggles to stay afloat and is being
dragged down by her critics. In the chaos, Dario finds a scene of Elda crying
and apologizing on a small mirror. He takes this small mirror, swims against
the crowd, and shows it to Elda while shielding her against her critics.
“There’s no such thing as doing
evil to do good. You know that. It’s okay to admit you’re wrong, but what’s not
is refusing to. That only makes things worse,” Dario says.
Elda starts to cry as she says, “But
if I stop now, I won’t be able to help as many people. They’ll be left to
suffer by themselves with no one to help them.”
“There are plenty of people in the
world to help them such as myself, my parents, and the charity we run. We can
help the people that you can’t get to, so you don’t need to overextend yourselves,
fire those who want to work for you, and overwork those who are as dedicated as
you are to helping the needy. We can do this together. How about we have a
partnership rather than a merger?”
The flood of people disappears into
thin air, leaving the two alone in a quiet room.
“Okay…let’s do that.”
Dario and Elda are back in reality
again. As they smile at one another, Adelina notices the shift in mood towards
one another and looks at Elda with even more hostility.
“Did you two just go to the
theatre? What did you two do?” Adelina asks.
“Nothing. Dario just helped me
understand something I already knew and didn’t want to acknowledge,” Edla says.
“I’ll convince my parents to partner up with your charity so we can help each
other. Can we meet up sometime so we can talk more?”
“Talk?” Adelina says suspiciously.
“About business and the nature of
helping people. I won’t take your boyfriend away from you though…I do want time
with him.”
“Yeah, we can talk again next time.”
“I look forward to it,” Elda says
with a wink.
Elda walks to her parents to
convince them to agree to a partnership rather than a merger to which her
parents reluctantly agree since Dario’s parents are stubborn in their decision
to stay independent. Dario’s parents, Elda, and her parents then walk to an
office to finalize their agreement. Meanwhile, Adelina grabs Dario’s face and
closely examines it.
“What?” Dario asks.
“She didn’t kiss you, did she?” Adelina
asks.
“No, why? You keep acting like you’re
my girlfriend when you’re not.”
“Well…I want to be…is that okay
with you?”
Dario hardly thinks for a second
before saying, “Yes, it’s okay with me.”
“Good,” Adelina says before kissing
Dario on the lips. “I would’ve cried until you said yes.”
Dario and Adelina hug each other
and then go back to their daily duties helping people.
“Ah, yes. I knew this setup I
created would pay off and they would make the right decisions,” I say to
myself. “Dario is truly a good servant for my theatre and will be a guiding
light to the truth and helpful hand for many, just as all who serve others
rather than themselves should.”
The End
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