Assorted Heroic Words: Finalist

a contestant in the final competition of a series

Shots rang out
(bang!)
in the halls of the high school
(bang!)
and suddenly Marty's narrative
(bang!)
changed tracks
(bang!)
forever.

Everything that had come to define
(bang!)
Marty's perception of his life
(bang!)
was suddenly no longer true.

There were still leftovers
(bang!)
but all the essentials
(bang!)
were recontextualized.

That was why he put on a mask
(bang!)
why he decided to embrace
(bang!)
the legacy of Wesley Dodds
(bang!)
namesake of his school
(bang!)
the erstwhile Sandman
(bang!)
who had skulked the streets
(bang!)
in a gas mask and suit
(bang!)
in a previous era.

When Marty had thought of the past
(bang!)
before
(bang!)
it was a dead subject
(bang!)
left to dull classrooms.

Now he understood
(bang!)
its significance
(bang!)
and resonance
(bang!)
and relevance
(bang!)
and urgency.

And he wanted
(bang!)
desperately
(bang!)
to feel as if he belonged to that
(bang!)
and not to his new status
(bang!)
as some kind of finalist
(bang!)
in a sick game
(bang!)
of mere survival
(bang!)
in a world
(bang!)
that no longer made sense.