Post by chaos lite on Mar 10, 2013 0:05:47 GMT -4
this is how it should be done
mar.9.thirteen2:02pm
”Do you want to know why I did it?”
I turned my camera on Aubrey and I was nearly chilled by what I was seeing. I’ve known her for close to two decades and I never thought I’d see that haunting void behind her eyes as she explained her actions from weeks ago. Everything she did to Anthony, and Jair, and William- poor William. All of that, and I’m trying to decide in my own head if she really cared. If it really meant anything to her.
She was vile.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start from the beginning...
mar.8.thirteen5:30pm
I turned the camera onto my best friend as she stood at the sink in an airport bathroom mirror, doing her best to carefully apply eyeliner in the flickering overhead lighting.
”What are you doing?”
”Putting my face on, sugartits.”
I rolled my eyes.
”I know... but tonight. Dinner with William? That’s not exactly friendly territory. You hurt him.”
She glanced at me for a moment through the mirror, but soon turned her attention back to herself and continued to apply the eyeliner.
”I aggravated an injury he already had, and I apologized for that. I was wrong for it... and what more should I do? I mean-”
She laughed a little as she slipped her makeup bag back into her purse, looking back at me through the mirror once again.
”I can’t have dinner with my friend now? Shit.”
”That’s not what I’m saying. I just think you can agree that the timing's weird.”
”I think you’re reading too much into things, baby. Business is business, and I’m not going to bring up anything about Anthony or the Suicidal Championship. Scout’s honor.”
I knew she was lying.
She closed her purse and turned to me with a small smile, reaching out to extend her pinky finger... to pinky-swear. I couldn’t stop myself from laughing lightheartedly at the gesture. It was off-putting but I walked forward and grasped her pinky finger with mine anyway.
”It’d be nice to know that my best friend didn’t think I was such a conniving bitch... man.”
She winked and kissed my knuckles and then dropped my hand, moving past me, toward the door of the bathroom. She held the door open a bit and lingered, turning to look back at me.
”Give me a ride?”
”How are you going to get back to-?”
”William will take me.”
”You can’t just expect him to drive you thirty miles at whatever hour.”
”We already talked. It’s fine.”
”Is Talon okay with this?”
”Talon! What? It’s not a date, Cassandra. I’m having dinner with my friend. Have some fucking faith in me.”
Her words were spiteful, but her tone was anything but. Again... off-putting... but it was better than the norm. I sighed and turned the camcorder off once she walked ahead of me out of the door, back into the halls of the busy airport.
mar.8.thirteen10:59pm
”...So when I was fourteen, my mom thought that if she started making me go back to church with her then she could turn me into this little, pristine little doll that she always wanted me to go be, and you know how that shit goes- well- maybe not, because you’re a guy hahaha... but my mom never had any sisters, and she wasn’t too close to her own mom, and I was the only girl of the house... so it was really important to her that we just did all of these little things together. Just us girls. And- I’m sorry, I’m boring you!”
“The Smooth One” himself, Mr. William D. Williams looked at Aubrey with a sly grin and then laughed, shaking his head, taking turns between looking over at her and keeping his eyes on the dark, outer-suburbia roads as he drove.
”Not at all. You know better than that.”
Aubrey smiled at him for a moment and then looked out the window as they crossed the familiar streets back toward her hotel. She had no desire to pick up where she’d left off, but turned to look ahead at the path instead.
”Thanks for dinner tonight, and for the ride... I had a lot of fun.”
”Me too! There’s no need to thank me, Jess...”
”And I’m sorry.”
She looked at William with her face illustrating guilt, and a sadness that may have been sudden, or may have just gone unnoticed by William for the past few moments.
”I’m sorry for what I did out there. I know it was a little while ago but... you’re hurt. It’s not fair. You didn’t deserve that.”
William looked at her for a moment, clearly unsure of what to say and then turned his eyes back to the road, chuckling.
”That’s behind us.”
”Some of us.”
”Right... some of us...”
”I have to face Anthony this week and I know that, to me, this is a wrestling match and it’s about holding onto this title, which is everything to me... and... to him, it might be about revenge. I know that you guys are close. I just don’t want you to think differently of me, after whatever happens on Sunday.”
”Hahaha, ‘whatever happens’ like... what? What are you gonna do? When you say things like that, that’s why people call you crazy, Jess.”
He laughed at his remark, but Aubrey didn’t. She smiled at him humorlessly and spoke quietly.
”Anything I have to, to make sure I hold onto this. I just want you to know that it’s all business. It’s-”
She stopped when his smiling stopped, but picked it up again after a second.
”I guess it’s not an appropriate time to talk about it.”
”Hey, I’m not complaining. If you need to get anything off your chest, I’m here.”
She turned and looked elsewhere- perhaps at the dashboard. William couldn’t quite tell. She was silent for a few seconds and he reached over to place a hand on her shoulder, but nearly recoiled as she quickly turned to him and nodded toward a long driveway just east of the road.
”That’s our stop.”
”I got you.”
He turned into the driveway and looked over at her again.
”If I came out to ringside, that isn’t something you would hold against me, is it?”
If one had to question William D. Williams Jr. about any one incident in that car ride, it would be that pause... he could silently count the seconds- one... two... three... four... five... before Aubrey said a word.
”Sorry, I- got distracted. Um, no, why would I...? No. I just don’t think you would want to risk something happening.”
”Haha, what would happen? Are you going to hurt me?”
”It’s not me. I’m not your enemy.”
As the car slowed to a stop, William threw it into park and turned to give Aubrey another warm smile, but an inquisitive stare.
”Can I ask you a question?”
mar.9.thirteen2:02pm
”Do you want to know why I did it?”
We were sitting in the living room of my house. Aubrey was on the couch, reclined with her left leg folded over the right, and a distant look behind her eyes. I was standing in front of her, and for the life of me, I can’t remember why I’d started standing- but I had my camera on Aubrey for two, maybe three seconds before I looked up over it and right into her eyes.
She had told me everything about her dinner with William, and I bit my tongue, deciding not to mention her promise to leave Anthony and the Suicidal Championship out of it. She must’ve read my mind through my eyes because she groaned and lowered her eyes into the lens of the camera.
”It came up by chance with William. He asked... everyone’s asked.”
I looked at her smiling face and I was a little sick.
The topic of conversation is obvious. It doesn’t matter how we got here. It doesn’t matter why I asked her... it just mattered that she said it. I wanted her to say it. I wanted her to tell me why she attacked the Dying Breed. I wanted her to admit that she’d changed.
And then...
”Because I hate them.”
It was out.
”I hate Jair Hopkins. I hated Krunk, but most importantly, I hate Anthony. Everything, from his fake smiles, to his fake promises... to his false sense of security surrounded by the Dying Breed. His entire team was embarrassed and injured within a matter of seconds by one person.
Me.
And I don’t like how Anthony looks at himself as the leader of this scorned, dying breed of wrestlers which- and correct me if I’m wrong, Cass- prided themselves on being some of the few upstanding wrestlers left in this business, fighting for the right reasons, despite NOT being all-inclusive. This group has one requirement... a lot of us don't fit the bill.
A lot of people don't fit Anthony Bailey's vision. And THAT is disappointing because as a wise man once said, 'our objective is freedom, justice and equality by any means necessary.' That's a motto M&M lives by.
Does Anthony?
...
With the Dying Breed, Anthony even claimed to rebuild the tag team division from the ground up, and they could have done it.
But every time we turn around, we see Bailey sticking his face in front of a camera and reminding everyone that he’s the “golden boy”, and promising that he’s better than ever, stronger than ever- but most of the victories he’s picked up this year have been as the result of a disqualification, or due to some sort of outside interference.
But I’m the one that’s viewed as weak.
I’ve watched Anthony Bailey score victories over people like Phil Atken and Sally Talfourd because somebody else was holding his hand. I’ve watched Anthony Bailey take a steel chair to Shane Borderland’s head to win a match, just a week after I debuted in Action Packed Wrestling. And I watched people continue to cheer him and praise him like he’s some fucking kind of God. He’s no better than me, he’s no better than Atken... thinks he’s so great...”
Her voice lowered for a bit and I looked up over my camera at her face. She was staring off, out the window with her lips pursed as she began to form her next words.
”I think I’m the best here.”
I continued to stare at her, and the silence in the room at that moment was something that I couldn’t describe to you, while doing it justice... I heard the beating of my own heart. I heard the floorboards beneath Aubrey’s chair creak when she shifted her weight just a tiny bit westward to crane her neck up toward me, looking at the camera.
”But we only see what we want to see.
So I had to show them... that Anthony Bailey could be laid out just like anyone else. I showed everyone that this supposed tag team dynasty that he was trying to build, wasn’t whole.”
Her stare narrowed when she took a pause.
”You know what happens if he wins this week?”
I shook my head.
”Our little Anthony -he becomes a Grand Slam Champion.”
”At your expense...”
”That’s right.”
Her expression turned sour. Out of instinct, I took a step back and Aubrey stood up from the couch. She didn’t advance toward me, but her tone didn’t change.
”I’m not letting that happen. From the moment I won this title, I decided that if I was going to be denied the World Heavyweight Title match that I rightfully earned, then I’ll turn this championship into most important thing in APW. I’ll be holding onto this for a long, long time... I’m not going to be a vehicle for Bailey’s first Grand Slam Championship.
So if I can’t make people forget how I won this title, then at least I can make them remember how I kept it.”
She turned from the camera and walked over toward the love-seat where several of her belongings were piled across the arms, across the cushions. I focused on what I knew her target to be...
The APW Suicidal Championship, still covered in the hearts and glitter she’d applied the very day she won it. She picked it up, cradling it in her arms before she turned to me again. I looked over the camera and right into her eyes.
”You know it isn’t that easy.”
”Why is that?”
”You know that every moment you’re in that arena tomorrow, someone’s going to be looking for you.”
Is it bad that I got a sick feeling of satisfaction when I watched her cringe at the realization?
”And... you brought it on yourself.”
She took it in, and for a few moments she didn’t say much. She looked away from me and back down into the face of the belt. She shook her head a little and moved a hand up, brushing her hair up and out of her face. She took a deep breath and finally looked up- not at me, but into the camera.
”I know I’ve said some bad things, but from being in the ring with Anthony... I know how great he can be. Fucking genius, sometimes. I know that I need to be at a hundred percent to face him, and to defend this title. He’s too good to have my mind clouded with thoughts of William at ringside and Jair lurking...
And that’s one thing I know... Jair will be looking for me. Before the match, during the match, after. I know that it’s going to be a challenge the entire night... and Logan-”
”Logan can only protect you so much. You have to get yourself out of your own mess.”
”It’s not a mess.”
She smiled at me and ran a hand through her hair again.
”It’s going to be a demonstration.
This week, Anthony and I are going to have a great match... I know it. He’ll fight like hell to avenge what happened to the Dying Breed, and what happened to him, because this is the time- this is the place that Anthony Bailey handles that. And it’ll be tough, and it might be the biggest challenge I’ve ever had to face. He brings it here. He won’t take it ‘to the streets’ like Hopkins.”
”And William doesn’t get hurt, right?”
”Pardon?”
I knew I didn’t need to repeat myself but she laughed a little and placed a hand to her cheek.
”You don’t even like Will-”
”You don’t need to hurt more people.”
For seconds, she stared at me... and then nodded with a smile.
”Nobody else gets hurt. Ha, just Anthony.”
I recorded her smile though the camera; broad, warm, endearing. And if I knew anything about my best friend, artificial.
”Good.”
fin.
