A Word About Ed Drake

Photo by Joseph Brauer

Ed Drake is one of the lead characters (the "step brother") in Wicked Lovely (the second story in 4:Play). The title was "Ed & Julie" initially -- kind of was following a "Romeo & Juliet" type of vibe, but I decided to change it later.

Ed's voice might seem unedited and illiterate. I was inspired by the stream-of-consciousness narrative mode of The Rules of Attraction, by Bret Easton Ellis. I liked the unforced nature of the writing style.

Ed might sound like a whiny brat, and speak like a child (input I have received so far), but I think he manages to get his point(s) across.

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Excerpt of Wicked Lovely (Scene 1, Ed Drake) / 4:Play

Peel myself off the sofa. Ed, you sicko.

I wanna tell the voice in my head and the whole world to shut up. They can talk and talk but they’ve not been in the same situation, they don’t even know what they’re missing out on.

That. That’s the exact thing that fuels their disgust and anger. It’s a displaced frustration, that they can never have access to this deranged special kind of arrangement. Go, Ed!

Drag myself up the stairs in a weird mix of dread guilt apprehension and uncontrollable wild anticipation and excitement.

Find myself in front of Goddess Julie’s room. The door is closed but you can’t lock it from the outside. Glare at the morons on the poster. Some lame brothers emo-looking band with way too much eyeliner and black hair dye that really sucks BIG TIME, nothing but pop "rock" crap for 12 year old girls to listen to (Julie isn't 12 -- figure of speech). Their lyrics are about their love life and if those lyrics are indeed true, damn their love life blows. They don’t have one insanely hard and talented guitar solo, no drummer, no bass player, and no talent. They are just another manufactured product and who knows what their appeal is. Where’s a new Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Nirvana, or Guns n’ Roses? Good music is dead. So once again, I don’t think they suck, I KNOW they suck.

Then the paranoia and urgency strikes. Hurry up! Someone might be home any minute!

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