Post by chaos lite on Oct 13, 2013 0:59:29 GMT -4
a dreaded sunny day
oct.9.thirteen11:21am
Clare Richards whistled a delicate, unidentifiable tune to herself as she pushed open the door of Room 216. She wasn’t familiar with who the occupant was, but according to her records, she had been scheduled to check out at 11:00… so one would imagine, it goes without saying to acknowledge the confusion and annoyance on Clare’s face as she gazes into the darkened room, looking at the bags, and the clothes, and the personal belongings that littered the room.
”Thaaaaat’s lovely. Ahem. Hellloooo? Anybody in here?”
The blinds had been closed, allowing only the tiniest trickle of sunlight to seep into the room. Clare sighed and stepped, cautiously, over the strewn about articles of clothing and to the blinds and drapes, pulling them back to allow the sunlight to pour into the room. She turned and stooped down, whistling to herself again, the Andy Griffith Show theme song, scooping the articles of clothing into her arms. She made her way to the bed and began folding them-- shirts, and boy shorts at first. She’d experienced worse.
Pants. A jacket. Folded, and stuffed into the nearby-lying duffel bag.
Clare then turned toward the dresser--
”What the hell…”
She moved closer toward the dresser, and the articles sitting on top of it… a white tank top, and a black mid-length skirt, both covered in droplets of what appeared to be blood… and a championship belt. Clare’s eyes grew wide at the sight of the championship belt.
The nameplate read “TERRY MARVIN.” The belt was covered in dried blood… and it suddenly made sense. She suddenly knew whose room she was in.
She suddenly knew whose blood it was.
Clare removed her phone from her pocket, activating the camera… and turning it toward the items on the dresser.
and then they lived
and then they died
and then they died
oct.11.thirteen8:02am
My name is Aubrey J. Parker.
I don’t know how long I’ve been driving on the San Diego countryside. We were surrounded by city, but as a teenager, I remember these backroads were all I had. I recalled one specific time… I had been seventeen… Trey must have been thirteen or so-- and I’d taken him, and we’d driven for miles, upon miles, until we got to this ranch. It was one of those things that you didn’t normally see so close to the city. We weren’t in the north. We weren’t in the desert. It was just a refreshing change of scenery.
We’d parked by the woodland area and moved to the fence… and I remember just seeing these horses, so calm, so unphased by our presence.
And I drove there again on Friday, and I’m not sure what I was expecting. I’d called Cassandra’s phone at least six times. I left without waking anybody in the house. I just drove… I knew she’d call back. It was just a waiting game.
And then I saw it-- that ranch. I’ll be damned. It had been several years since I’d driven the road, but there it was, in the same condition it had been in, say, 2008. I frowned just a little, because I saw no horses… no amazing stallions staring back at the common passerby. Instead, cattle roamed the fields, far beyond the fences, and the grass stood just a bit higher than it had before. Several pickups were parked in the makeshift lot. It looked as if they’d started running a moderate business. Maybe that wasn’t so bad…
Buzzzzzz…
On the first ring, I grabbed my phone from the passenger seat and pressed it to my ear.
”Cass?”
She yawned on the other line.
”If your goal was to wake me up--”
”Can I come by?”
She was silent for a few seconds. I felt my jaw tighten and this lump form in my throat, expecting the worst.
”Aubs, I haven’t seen you since--”
”I get it. Let me come over. Please.”
She sighed and murmured something on the other line that I couldn’t quite distinguish, as my heart pounded, and I continued driving on the backroad.
8:30am
Cassandra closed the door behind me as I stepped into her apartment. I turned a few steps into the entrance and turned to her, crossing my arms above my stomach and offering a small smile.
”Thanks for dropping Talon off yesterday.”
She simply nodded, not showing much emotion.
”How’ve you been?”
”Eh. Not… not really great.”
”Huh. Figured you’d be off the walls, winning the Undisputed Title from Terry. Great match.”
I smiled at her again, but I don’t know how sincere her little congratulatory rant was.
”I mean, it was a great moment… but then all this shit--”
”You missed your dad’s funeral for that moment, Aubrey. Please. Don’t insult everyone and say it was anything less than… spectacular. I really hope it was.”
I didn’t say anything for a while. I looked at her and tried to think of what the best words would be. I tried to piece together, in my head, something that would redeem myself in the eyes of my best friend, but it was difficult to come up with anything.
”And the way you went about that great moment was really something, wasn’t it? Driving him into the exposed turnbuckle like he was some… like he was anybody, right? Like four-hundred days didn’t mean anything… like your friendship didn’t mean anything. But then again, it almost seems like you don’t even want friends these days. Weird.”
”Cassandra, you know it’s not like that! Terry told ME that we weren’t friends--”
”And then the way you treated him on the internet, in front of millions of people, when he was trying to congratulate you on your first Undisputed Championship win. You mocked him. And that-- THAT is how you chose to spend that long-lasting great moment that you missed your father’s funeral for. You chose to win a belt, and then be a bitch.”
She scoffed and shook her head.
”A part of me wanted to jump up and down for joy when I saw it. I wanted you to be happy. I wanted to see the confetti and the streamers pouring from the rafters while you walked around with your Undisputed Title held high above your head. I wanted to see you and Terry embrace. I wanted to see him raise your hand afterward.
But he couldn’t. He couldn’t do that, and there was this other small part of me that wanted to feel bad for him after what you did. After what you put him through. But… hey... he had it comin’, right? After all, he told you that you weren’t special. He told you that you weren’t normal. After what you put him through back in the summer, he said you weren’t ‘friends’, so he had allllll of this coming back to him. Good. It’s good that you gave him a concussion. It’s good that you took his championship. That… bastard… good for you.”
Every word dripped with venomous, scathing sarcasm.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes before addressing her.
”Have you talked to Terry and Maggie?”
”Hahahaha, have I… you know what… no. I haven’t, Aubrey, because I wanted to give you-- my best friend for twenty years-- the benefit of a doubt. I wanted you to confront me and tell me that all this stuff going on between you and Terry was just for show. I wanted you to tell me that you weren’t truly, not possibly, that sick of a person. I just wanted you to talk to me. I wanted your side of the story, so no… no, I didn’t talk to Terry or Maggie.”
I wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but I guess it wasn’t the best time for it.
”I’m not sick.”
”Then what in the fuck is exactly wrong with you?”
”I just needed it. I needed that title more than you’ll ever understand.”
”No. I think I understand just fine.”
She moved past me and into the living room area.
”Want a drink or something? I know it’s never too early for you.”
9:10am
Two glasses of wine later, I think we were making some progress. In the past half hour, I think a smile had broken across Cassandra’s lips at least twice-- not all was lost. I’d started by bringing up instances in the past… perhaps times that had been a little simpler. We harked back to the high school days and the college days. We recited moments from a time, just three or four years ago, when this whole “wrestling” thing was still kinda new.
”How’s Trey holding up?”
And then she had to go and do that.
”Little bro’s fine.”
”Really?”
I simply shot her a look out of the corner of my eye. Whatever it was, it caused her to retract a bit, clearing her throat.
”It’s just that with everything that happened with Sarah--”
”Yeah. I know.”
I took a sip of the tiniest bit of contents of the wine glass. It felt wrong. I felt a buzz, beginning to creep past those constant feelings of pain.
”And you’re sure you’re fine?”
”Of course. I’ve got an Undisputed Title rematch to prepare for, right? Haha, it’s not like this is the ideal time for a breakdown. This is uh… this is the kind of shit Terry capitalizes on, know what I mean?”
”Hm. Don’t make him sound like he’s heartless.”
”It’s just the kind of negative energy he thrives on.”
”...Aubs, you’ve-- you’ve taken in a lot over the past couple of weeks, no? Maybe you owe it to yourself to… take a day off or something, and just get your head together and--”
”No.”
She looked up at me with confusion written across her face, and I glanced back up at her, meeting her eyes and shaking my head, following up quietly.
”No more days off.”
”Don’t be stupid--”
”I’m not. He’ll eat me alive out there. I’m not going into this match, sulking, beating myself up about… about this. Is that what’s expected of me?”
”No. It’s just okay to be a little messed up after… everything.”
”Terry’s going to come at me like a freight train when we get to Beijing.”
”Aubs…”
”And he’s going to hit me wit everything no matter WHAT. No matter if I lose my mom, or my dad, or you, he’s going to come as hard as he can, and he’s going to get me for what I did on Sunday. He’s going to hurt me for what I did to him.”
”Aubrey.”
”And if I don’t hurt him first, then he’s going to take--”
”You’re shaking.”
”I lost everything since I--”
”You--”
”EVERYTHING!”
An eerie silence befell the room. I could hear the most delicate things… the synchronized ticking of the analog clocks throughout the apartment. I could hear Cassandra’s breathing… her fingernails drifting across the wooden tabletop that we sat at, staring across at one another. I lowered my gaze from hers, feeling my eyes beginning to burn. Tears making empty threats.
”Everything was fine before the New Sindicate. I had everything I needed.”
And Cassandra was quiet. She knew not what to say, and for that, I was silently thankful.
”I had my friends right here in APW. I had Logan, and Christian… I had Tyler… I had my fucking mother... I had you… I had the Suicidal Championship-- although, I’ve moved onto bigger and better things since then-- but I had everything that I thought I wanted at the time. I had what I needed. I just wasn’t getting the job done. I wasn’t being the Megastar I wanted. I wasn’t the WRESTLER I wanted AJP to be.”
She looked at me with these quivering eyes. She was holding her first, near-empty glass of wine between her fingers, swiveling it as she looked at me, listening intently, and I leaned forward, speaking in the gentlest of tones.
”And then I joined forces with Terry, and there wasn’t a soul in the world that could stop me. Keaton couldn’t do it. The Dying Breed couldn’t. Shadow couldn’t. CJ Gates himself couldn’t do it. I was everything I wanted to be, Cass. Terry taught me how to be my very BEST, and that was ALWAYS good enough until Shockwave. Until I had to step into the ring with him, my best was the best. And I… that ate me apart… and he knew it.”
”So you hurt him. Right?”
I laughed and shook my head.
”By October 6th, 2013, I had nothing left. Not even Tyler. I looked at Terry when that match started, and I didn’t recognize him.”
”You made him your enemy.”
”I was everything I wanted to be, but I had to lose everyone. EVERYTHING because of HIM.”
unspecified
”And I’d fucking kill you to get it all back.
All I have is what I took from you, Terry. All I have is this Undisputed Championship, and no matter how much that might tear you apart, and gnaw at you, and hurt, you still have the world. You still have your beautiful wife, and your baby on the way. You still have your Sin City Wrestling Global Championship…
…
You still have Sin City.
And I know that if it comes down it, you’ll do worse to me than I’ve ever done to you. You’re trying to be this hero to these people, and to your wife… and to yourself, and I know how long it’s been since you’ve REALLY had the glimmer of gold in your eyes. You’ve been on the mountaintop for so long that, like I said last week, you forgot what losing is.
You forgot how it feels to really, really lose something, Terry Marvin, and I don’t know if you quite experienced that on October 6th in Singapore. You lose the most prestigious thing in this industry, the Undisputed Title, but-- ha. But Terry, you still have your life. You still have people you can fight for. And I… hahaha… I’m turning into this fucking PR nightmare, and this national fucking headline because Sarah decided to pull a gun on herself right in front of me in a hotel lobby. I’m… ha… sometimes, when I try to go to sleep, it’s all I see. I just see it over, and over again in my head, and it’s just one of those things that no matter how much you try to drink it away, or smack it out of your fucking skull, it’s just-- it’s THERE, and it’s VIVID, but…
…
But when I was in Boise, and Sarah came into that building, and I-- and I thought we were just gonna fight, and I was holding that Undisputed Title like a weapon, and she pulled that gun out of her jacket, I remember thinking the weirdest things.
I could’ve thought about how I was about to get shot. I could’ve thought about how coming off of the most prominent moment of my life, I was about to get gunned down in the lobby of some cheap hotel.
But no. I was thinking about you, and how I didn’t want to die before I had the chance to prove that my win at Asylum wasn’t some fluke. I was thinking about how you’d react, finding out that some psycho bitch just put a bullet in my head. I wanted to know if you’d miss me. I wanted to know if you’d just be happy that I was out of your life forever. And I thought about the Elimination Chamber, and not making it there. It was like some sort of fucked up tragedy.
And then she killed herself.
Hm.
And I felt this… inexplicable feeling. I just saw your face, and I just saw red. I was ALIVE like some sort of SIGN from above, haha… and I know that it’s been a long time since you’ve been on the outside looking in. It’s been a long time since you’ve really, truly had to fight for something here on Asylum, and I’m giving it to you. I’m giving you the one thing that I know you’ll kill for. This Undisputed Title, Terry? This company? You fucking bleed it. You are it, and it was the only thing I could take from you to bring you to my level.
I had to take a part of you away, and after I beat you this Sunday, you’ll wither away into nothing. You’ll cease to exist in APW and I’ve accepted it; that's what I have to do. I have to remove you from the equation in order to survive. No matter how badly I may beat you on Sunday, in the end, all I can hope to do is survive.
You are the only acceptable loss.”
so let’s go where we wanted
oct.9.thirteen11:41am
Still whistling, now moving onto the Brady Bunch theme song, Clare Richards backed out Room 213. She closed the door behind her, securing it, and giving the knob a gentle twist, confirming that the door wouldn’t budge open. With the duffel bag slung over one shoulder and the championship belt slung over the other, Clare dropped the key into her apron and turned-- gasping.
I stared into her eyes, and mine were likely glossed, bloodshot from hours of crying, depriving myself of sleep. I didn’t care how I looked. I didn’t care how I appeared to this stranger… I glanced at the nametag attached to her apron, which simply read “CLARE.”
I glanced at my championship belt, wrapped around her left shoulder like she owned it or something. I looked at the bloody handprint slapped over the nameplate which still read ”TERRY MARVIN”-- the very sight, sending this wave of heat washing over me. Anger.
I reached out, and I gently took the Undisputed Championship off of Clare’s shoulder, moving it onto mine, never taking my eyes off of her… never breaking my gaze.
”I-- I-- I’m sorry.”
She gently handed me my duffel bag, shaking. Trembling. Still, glaring into her eyes, seeing nothing but red… seeing nothing but hate… I reached out, blindly accepting it into my hand. I watched as she scrambled past me, making her way toward the cart sitting in the hallway, pushing it, gently carting herself away from me. Away from the room. Out of my life.
And I hugged the belt against my chest.
The one thing I had left.
fin.
