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The Phantom of Istanbul: Fan-Comic
This is a short-story inspired by Jeepers Creepers and The Phantom, a comics 'horror-mix' if you will...
What do you think? ==== Derek was traveling to the area of Istanbul for his junior-year Dartmouth College FSP (Foreign-Studies Program) to complete his anthropology thesis on local folklore. Specifically, Derek wanted to explore/investigate the folk-tale of a mysterious purple-cloaked and hooded shadowy figure known cryptically as the 'Phantom' who was said to haunt the dominions of Istanbul and Constantinople in generations past. Derek was familiar with the legend of the haunting 'Phantom' who apparently wielded circular/rotary handheld blade-saws which could be used to decapitate people. Derek decided to stay at a youth-hostel near a small town in Istanbul where lore about the cryptic Phantom thrived. He met a craftsman who made clay dolls of the Phantom and purchased one. The craftsman/merchant smiled at Derek when Derek admired and bought the doll from his artisan-shop. Derek asked the creative merchant what he himself thought of the Phantom, and the merchant confirmed Derek's notes about the haunting figure by explaining that the Phantom used his handheld rotary blade/saw to decapitate random people traveling through the area during the time of the dominion-shift between Constantinople and Istanbul. Derek wondered why the Phantom would surface in a time when dominions/kingdoms were in flux or transition. Derek surmised that the cryptic Phantom, if he was in fact a real stalking killer/assassin was some mind of 'messenger' of uncertainty and vagrancy (or migration!). Derek realized that he was now in the Istanbul area in the year 2020, at the beginning of the second decade of the new millennium. Former capitalism-baron and U.S. President Donald Trump was seekin re-election as the modern world was embracing a new age of commerce-gauged geopolitical intelligence. The world was in flux again, and perhaps in sociological ways as 'grand' as those seen during the Industrial Revolution, the inception of Arthur's Camelot, the Christianization of Europe, and yes, the dominion-shift between Istanbul and Constantinople. Derek realized he may have been standing on sacred ground. Here he was in the Istanbul area in a time when capitalism 'consciousness' was impacting world imagination in substantial ways. Derek suddenly felt serious goosebumps, wondering if the Phantom would oddly resurface and 'hunt' for travelers, wanderers, tourists, or yes, even 'overly-curious anthropologists'(!). Derek suddenly entertained the scary notion that the Phantom might resurface in Istanbul in 2020...and begin tracking him! Was the Phantom merely a 'witch-hunter' or 'vigilante' who assassinated wayward vagrants who polluted the land as aimless loiterers (or vandals!), or might he even kill 'random' travelers/tourists? DEREK: Who the hell are you? PHANTOM: You know who I am... DEREK: I awoke; and here you are in my hostel-room! PHANTOM: I'm the Phantom of course... DEREK: What do you want? PHANTOM: I surface in times of world-flux. DEREK: Look, I'm just an anthropology student. PHANTOM: You're very inquisitive about Istanbul! DEREK: I'm just writing a thesis about folklore. PHANTOM: So you're like Ichabod Crane then, eh? DEREK: Did you bring your rotary-saws, Phantom? PHANTOM: My 'job' is to eradicate vagrancy... DEREK: Look, if I write me thesis, will you pardon me? PHANTOM: Is your thesis worth a damn? DEREK: I go to a very good school, so...yes! PHANTOM: Alright young man, complete your thesis in peace. DEREK: Thanks; I won't come back to Istanbul...I promise! PHANTOM: Very good; be sure to keep our 'exchange' secret. DEREK: Alright; I'll write you're a 'traveler-vigilante.' PHANTOM: Good; that's my honor --- I'm a 'dark crusader.' DEREK: Depart from me then, Phantom! PHANTOM: Maybe I'll read your thesis...online. DEREK: Hail to modernism, right? PHANTOM: Remember to keep my identity a secret...young scholar. DEREK: You have my word... PHANTOM: You have my pity... ==== ::danger:: |
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