Wow! Tyler has really outdone himself here. I really didn't think that he could think up anything better than our last prank. Jeez that was a good one, but he did. As a little bit of a background, we love to pick on our old highschool principal, Mr. Brad, the guy was just a complete and utter pain. One time Tyler and I were messing around in the science lab trying to make our concoction explode and he called the cops. Tyler and I got dragged down to the station and we got utterly embarrassed. Since that day Tyler and I have gone out of our way to ruin his life even though we graduated almost 2 years ago now.
Ohhhh, we got him good. Mr. Brad had one of the nicest principle offices I had ever seen. He had a huge mahogany desk the length of a small car that had carvings so detailed it must have been done by hand. He also had one of those new 50 inch box TV’s that also had a DVD player built in. He adored his office, even more now though because we noticed that he has been sleeping on the couch in his office as he and the Mrs. had been going through a tough time. At first this was a problem as we usually messed with the school at night; when nobody was around so we could sneak in with the key we stole a few years back; but Tyler and I eventually had the idea to mess with Mr. Brad while he was in his office.
We conceptualized a devious plan, and it went perfectly. Mr. Brad walked into his office to watch some TV after a long day of work, who doesn’t do that, but as he turns his TV on it shorts out starting an electrical fire. Mr. Brad fell into a state of panic. The man who sold him the TV assured that it had the best surge protector one could buy. Sadly the surge protector was in my left hand. In a moment of quick thinking Mr. Brad reached for the fire extinguisher as it wouldn’t ruin the electronics like the sprinkler system would and the fire wasn’t that big yet, only about the size of a small filing cabinet. As Mr. Brad reached for the fire extinguisher, I looked at Tyler and we shared a look of sheer excitement as we had swapped out the usual foam to something a little more interesting. Mr. Brad's face as he sprayed gasoline all over his precious TV was priceless. As the flames crept up towards the mouth of the red canister Mr. Brad threw into the fire causing a decently sized explosion. Wow, it was awesome. Even from 300 feet away hidden in a bush using a pair of binoculars. It was awesome.
The carnage isn’t over though we had one final act planned. In a move of desperation Mr. Brad Pulled the fire alarm, expecting a flood of water to come raining down from the ceiling. Instead of water Tyler and I had swapped out all the water in the sprinkler system with white drywall paint. Why drywall paint you may ask? Well it is quite cheap and in addition it is nearly impossible to remove as it is just about the stickiest paint you can buy. Tyler and I had pulled off the ultimate prank; Mr Brad was utterly embarrassed as he had to explain to the fire department and later the police what had happened, his precious desk and TV were both ruined beyond repair; the school was completely totaled, that white paint is most likely never coming off and will cost thousands to cover up; and Tyler and I sat watching our arch nemesis having the worst 20 minutes of his life. We enjoyed every last second.
Reflection
The Prank is a loose adaptation of the characters introduced in the first chapter of Fight Club. As I have not yet read the book I elected to create a scenario that I believe the main characters introduced would partake in, written in a style that emulates Palahniuk. I emulated Palahniuk’s writing in Fight Club by making the story non chronological, as the bulk of the story is a flashback as early on it has lines like “Ohhhh, we got him good,” implying that the narrator already knows what happened.
Also in a very Fight Club esque way I had the main characters performing outrageous tasks that they played off as small and ordinary, making the narrative very over the top. The best example of this is that it is simply called a prank, as in reality this is leaps and bounds beyond a prank. This also shows how the characters are kind of insane, one detail that stood out to me as I read the intro to fight club.
As far as writing techniques go I elected to hold back on the adjectives as I find Palahniuk’s work to be more event based rather than description allowing you the reader to fill the gaps in your mind in an effort to place these characters closer to you so you can relate to them as these characters are quite far away in that sense. This effect is similar to when you see what you want to see rather than seeing what is there but in this case you aren't seeing “wrong” you are building an environment you are comfortable in. I also added some stream of consciousness as that was extremely prevalent in the first chapter of fight club. This is seen when the main character starts to talk about the paint, answering made up questions he made in his head, which also adds to the insane narrative.
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