Chapter 7
Chapter 7
The apartment was still.
No emails. No messages. No meetings. Just silence, and the low hum of the fridge in the corner. Outside, clouds hung low over the skyline, the light filtered and gray.
Blake Cross sat at his desk.
The envelope from RCA was long gone. The money had arrived. Rent was paid. Groceries stocked. For the first time in weeks, survival wasn't on the line.
So why did it feel harder to write now?
He tapped the edge of his keyboard. The blinking cursor stared back at him. Blank. Relentless.
On the desktop were two folders:
TSN_Final.pdf
SNG_Rev2.pdf
Two completed scripts. Both sold. Both solid.
And now?
A new file sat open:
The Surgeon - Draft 01
He had typed nothing.
Not yet.
Not because he didn't know what to write—he did. He remembered everything.
Monster.
That was its real name. A Japanese manga from his past life. A story that never existed in this world.
But he remembered it. All of it.
Kenzo Tenma. Johan Liebert. Nina. The orphanage. The lie that saved a boy. The truth that killed everything else.
181 chapters. A web of morality, identity, guilt, and the terrifying weight of doing what you think is right.
He wasn't going to write a version of it.
He was going to rebuild it. From memory. Every scene. Every line of dialogue. Every twist on his own.
Not because it would sell.
But because he needed to know if he could.
Day 3.
Blake hunched over the desk, eyes bloodshot. Half a mug of coffee gone cold. Pages littered the floor around him.
Draft 01: Discarded.
It felt wrong. Too shallow. The weight of Tenma's choices didn't come through. Johan felt cartoonish. Nina was just angry, not broken.
He scrapped it.
Day 7.
Draft 03: Abandoned.
He had restructured the first five chapters. Kept Johan mostly off-screen. Focused on the hospital. It was better.
But the emotional spine wasn't there.
Tenma had to be kind. Not passive. Quiet strength. A man who saves a boy because it's right—and loses everything.
And then slowly becomes someone capable of killing.
Blake paced the room, muttering lines aloud. Cross-referencing old plot points from memory. Writing character bios from scratch.
He drew timelines. He mapped cities. He scribbled Czech words he half-remembered on sticky notes.
Johan had to be perfect. Beautiful. Empty.
A mirror.
Day 15.
He hadn't showered. The power had gone out twice. The second time, he wrote by candlelight.
But the script—finally—was coming together.
Act I: The hospital. The crime. The choice.
Act II: Years later. The return. The realization that the boy Tenma saved had become something monstrous.
Act III: The chase. Through Germany. Through the past. Through trauma.
Final scene: Johan in the hospital bed again.
"Why did you save me... again?"
Day 20.
Blake sat back in his chair.
Pages: 127.
The Surgeon - Final Draft.pdf
He read it once more. He didn't think it was perfect.
But it was true.
He clicked the System icon.
The familiar interface appeared.
[Would you like to submit your script for analysis?]
He clicked [ YES ]
The upload bar ticked forward. Slowly. Then a pause.
Then:
[ Analyzing... ]
A soft hum. The screen flickered.
Then—
[ TITLE: THE SURGEON
GENRE: PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER / CHARACTER DRAMA
STATUS: ORIGINAL ]
Blake held his breath.
[ MATCH FOUND: NONE
SYSTEM ACKNOWLEDGMENT: USER ATTEMPTED TO CREATE ORIGINAL WORK BASED ON MEMORY-INSPIRED CHARACTERS.
EVALUATING… ]
A pause.
Then, the System screen changed.
The interface faded. Replaced by a black screen.
A single line of text appeared:
[Congratulations, Blake Cross.]
Another pause.
[You have created a masterwork from memory alone. No brief. No score. No shortcut.]
[ SYSTEM UPDATE IN PROGRESS…
WARNING: USER PATH HAS SHIFTED. FINAL SYSTEM UPDATE WILL NOW BE APPLIED.
DO YOU ACCEPT THIS PATH?
— YES / NO — ]
Blake blinked.
It felt like a checkpoint. A test.
He clicked: [ YES ]
The screen flashed white.
[ [ FINAL SYSTEM UPDATE COMPLETE ]
> USER LEVEL: HARDCORE MODE [ACTIVATED]
> FAME POINTS MODULE: DISABLED
> MOVIE MEMORY ARCHIVE: WIPED
> SCRIPT CHECKER: ONLINE
> SKILL MODULES: RETAINED
> NETWORK & INDUSTRY ACCESS: RETAINED
> BRIEF DELIVERY SYSTEM UPDATED:
– TITLE
– CORE SYNOPSIS
– CONCEPTUAL THEME
NOTE: NO ADDITIONAL MEMORY DATA WILL BE PROVIDED.
NOTE: ALL FUTURE SUBMISSIONS WILL BE CHECKED FOR CROSS-WORLD DUPLICATES.
> PATH ACTIVATED. FINAL EVOLUTION COMPLETE.
GOOD LUCK, BLAKE CROSS. ]
He stared at the screen.
Blake leaned back in his chair. Chest rising and falling.
No fear. No panic.
Only clarity.
He had stepped out of the system's shadow.
This was the path now.
He whispered, "I'm ready."
And for the first time in his new life—he meant it.
Author's Note:
So here we go Chapter 7, what you guys think? let me know in the comments...
Yes I know this might not be his original script, but it is based on a Manga, and I feel like adapting into film is incredibly difficult..
Thanks for reading..
Peace!