Whoever said that Halloween is a holiday for children only?
After all, who says that only kids can have fun on this spooky holiday? Believe it or not, adults have as much fun on Halloween as children do, and perhaps even more so. This is a time like no other when the adults of the world can feely dress up in scary and outlandish costumes. With the possible exception of Christmas, has there ever been an annual holiday where everyone can participate, man, woman and child alike? Perhaps even more so than Christmas, adults can be on an even scale with children and have as much fun, and perhaps even more so, than those younger than they are.
Halloween is one of the most profitable of holidays, earning upwards of four billion dollars per year. And if you looked at the shared home of Synn and Despayre, you'd begin to think you knew who was responsible for a chief fraction of that cost.
The two-story luxury estate had been gloriously transformed into a ghoulish nightmare, both inside and out. On the outside, one could see the entire front yard now resembled an old graveyard, with multiple gravestone markers set up strategically all over the yard. Behind each one, a small bowl filled with dry ice and water sat so that the effect of fog would make the scene even more appreciative to the senses of those who happened by.
From the tree branches hung stretched spider webs that reached from one branch to another and clear down to the ground. Three of those same branches had nooses swaying in the wind, and plastic, fully articulated skeletons hanging in the ends.
Further up the walkway toward the house, right at the front porch, a zombie guard dog animatronic statue sat at the base of the porch steps. As the guests approached the doors, the "guard dog" turned its head toward that person and its eyes glowed red. It snarled and barked and lunged forward but never touched a living soul -- or anyone else.
The windows glowed an ominous red as all of the lights inside of the house had been changed to red prop light bulbs. This gave off an ominous glow to the outside and inside...
Gabriel stood at the doorstep and smiled, shaking his head. It would appear that Synn really went all out for Halloween, like many people did for Christmas. He felt it was painfully obvious that the big man was doing it all for Despayre's benefit. He reached forward and pushed the doorbell and was about to follow with an immediate rap on the door when the doorbell, a shrieking cry for help, cut across him. He chuckled.
"Jesus..."
He caught movement from out of the corner of his eye and only a split moment later did a skeleton pop up from the bushes toward him. It slithered back down, making a hissing noise as it descended. He rubbed his palm along his face and whispered to himself, "Wow" when the door opened with a loud creak. Standing before him was an elaborately dressed with, complete with the full-length black dress, pointed hat and shaggy, long hair.
"Oh, hello Gabriel. Joshua was worried you'd be late."
Her makeup was astounding and it was only by her accent when she greeted him that he finally recognized her. He frowned, looking closely.
"Teresa?"
"Si, it's me." The live in housekeeper to Synn and Despayre's home nodded and she held the door wide open for him to set foot inside of the house. Gabriel could not take his eyes off of her and he found himself laughing.
"You look great, madam!"
"Never mind your romantic talk." Teresa replied as she shut the door behind him. "You Frenchman are all alike."
Gabriel had to admit, he liked this older woman. She had sass, and she seemed a perfect foil for the pair of Synn and Despayre, whim he had come to know as his own family. Synn told him once that she was in charge of one of the homes he sold in Louisiana in order to purchase this one. That made it clear he had respect enough for her to want her to move along with, instead of becoming out of work as a result.
“Is everyone else here?” Gabriel asked and he turned around as Teresa set to lead him on to the party itself and he stopped short, his eyes wide.
“Wow!”
If he thought the outside of the house bore testament to the holiday, it paled in comparison to the interior. The red lights were everywhere, as were tall, pillar candles set in candelabras and spaced throughout the house wherever he looked. This caused the candle’s light to dance against the red backgrounds of the interior. Spider webs were strewn about and pinned up in every corner and around the furnishings. Judging by the way the entire floor of the house was hidden by a thick mask of fog, there had to be even more dry ice hidden about strategically. It was a cool effect. He liked it.
He glanced up and there was what appeared to be a severed head caught in the webbing overhead and a giant spider feasting upon it.
“Oo, charming.” Gabriel observed. “I give you credit Teresa. I love what you did with the place.”
“It’s home.” Quipped the Hispanic woman. “But I can’t take credit. Joshua handled most of the designs.”
“Really?” Gabriel questioned in a surprised tone, looking around again. This was some seriously creative displays everywhere he looked. He didn’t think the kid had it in him. “Well, good on him.” And he followed Teresa inside where the music was blaring and he could hear several people talking.
“He did good work.” Teresa nodded, agreeing with his surprised assessment. “But I find it hard to be too enthusiastic when I know I’ll end up being the one to clean that peeing devil punch bowl.” She pointed to the side and Gabriel passed what appeared to be a statue of a fierce looking demon with wings spread wide, and standing before a punch bowl where the demon was relieving itself. Gabriel had to wonder if he’d ever be thirsty enough to want to drink from that particular display.
He passed several more displays on the way inside, and the one that caught his attention the most was what he initially thought was another window to the house. He glanced at it and stopped, and leaned in at what he now saw was an animated window prop. He stood there watching a zombie “outside” devouring a deceased victim. The undead figure then looked up and at “him”. The figure left its meal and it appeared as if it started lumbering right in Gabriel’s direction and as it reached the window when a ”shot” rang out and its skull exploded in a shower of gore.
Gabriel turned to Teresa with a smile and jetted a thumb at the picture. “That was sweet.”
Teresa just rolled her eyes when the voice cried out from inside;
“He’s here! Gabriel’s here!”
Gabriel knew immediately he could connect that voice to Despayre who came charging out of the main living room that was filled with people in costume and his friend and “brother” promptly tripped over a chair and was sent sprawling at his and Teresa’s feet.
“Despy!” Gabriel choked back a laugh as he grabbed him under the arms and hauled him to his feet. “You okay buddy?”
Despayre dusted off his costume, a Harlequin clown outfit. He seemed embarrassed mightily from his tumble, his pride hurt far worse than his body. He just nodded and held out his hands as Teresa handed him Angel, who also went flying but she had managed to catch the teddy bear.
“I’m okay.” He mumbled. “Tripped.”
“Happens to the best of us.” Gabriel replied as he wrapped an arm around Despayre’s shoulder in a placating gesture between them, and then noted something of interest. The bear was ‘dressed up’ as well, with a shaggy black wig, leather vest and matching mini pants. “Who’s Angel supposed to be?”
“Who?” Despayre blinked, looking down at the teddy bear then back up to Gabriel. He narrowed his eyes and asked, “You mean, you can’t tell?”
Gabriel could only bite his lower lip and shrug as he shook his head in the negative.
Despayre just rolled his eyes, “Uh, hello! He’s you!”
Gabriel looked back down at the plush figure and blinked back his surprise, unsure what to say, or how to feel. Should he be flattered that Despayre took such precious time to fashion a “Gabriel costume” for the bear, or should he be insulted that ‘he’ was relegated to being a scary costume?
Gabriel was about to respond as best he knew how when he found his friend’s embarrassed look had changed into bewilderment as he stared intensely at Gabriel, sizing him up.
“Something wrong?”
Despayre sighed, “Angel told me you’d wear something that showed off your legs.”
Gabriel looked down at his own costume, a Roman soldier outfit with full armor, sword and everything in between. He hefted the helmet under his arm and looked back up at Despayre who was watching him.
Gabriel said, “Lemme tell you something Despy, you know what my legs have that other men’s don’t?”
“Angel says Nair burns.” Came the quick-witted reply.
Gabriel stood there for a moment, caught off guard and then he set his hands on his hips, “You tell that bear of yours that I do NOT wax my legs!”
Of course the timing of the statement was grand as it was said as the current song playing came to an end and everyone within hearing range turned their heads and stared out into the hall, and thus at the three standing there. Gabriel closed his eyes and cleared his throat.
“Despy…” Gabriel started to say. “You are going to have to tell me what is all this about my legs.”
Despayre cuddled his bear closer against him and started to speak, and then promptly shut his mouth and shrugged before turning around and heading back to the party. Gabriel then turned to Teresa.
“Okay, is there something wrong with my legs that I should know about?”
Teresa smiled and replied in Spanish, “Solamente que usted está demostrando demasiado de ellos y no bastante de lo que conducen.” Smiling and she gifted him with a coy wink.
Teresa then went on into the kitchen, leaving a baffled Gabriel standing there for several seconds before he shrugged and he headed on into the party.
The party had more people than at first conceived. Gabriel knew that Synn had originally just intended for a small gathering of those they knew best. In other words, each other. But now there were many others present, namely the public staff members of the SCW, everyone from Mark Ward and Christian Underwood with his husband Scotty, to Justin Decent and Belinda Simone (and everyone in between). All were in costumes, and there was a suspicion amongst the friends that Synn had opted to invite the rest as a means to let Despayre get closer to people when the normally shy and introverted young man would prefer not.
He wasn’t doing too badly. As others tried chatting him up, Despayre was not overtly receptive towards the overtures and he found himself regularly gravitating back toward either Gabriel or Synn. For the moment, he had found himself separated from the both of them and was instead engrossed in another animatronic figure of a zombie fortune-teller. Despayre was seated opposite the figure with Angel on his lap, and the spectacle was greeted with curious glances from the various guests as they moved about socializing.
“So what’s he up to now?” Shane mused to Synn, both men holding drinks in hand as they stood against the far wall of the foyer. They watched in amused interest as Despayre was tossing playing cards at the mobile statue across from him and dropped some in front of himself.
Synn frowned and answered, “If I didn’t know any better, I would dare guess he was trying to teach that thing how to play poker.”
Shane choked back a laugh and coughed, as he had taken a drink of his beer before Synn had answered his question. He patted himself on the chest and looked to the man beside him and smiled. “That kid never fails to raise someone’s spirits, does he?”
“No, he certainly manages to accomplish that.” Synn agreed. “I sometimes wonder if he was truly meant to be one of us.”
“How do you mean?”
“When I first brought him into our fold, I saw him as the Cardinal Sin of Sloth, which you’re well aware.”
Shane nodded, but remained silent so as Synn would continue.
Synn said, “But it doesn’t fit, no matter what logistics of the word you might try to center around him. Then I try and think of all the other sins that are out there and I just wonder which suits him most.”
Shane turned away from Despayre who was now ‘arguing’ with the animatronic gypsy over how badly she played a hand and looked at Synn with a hard stare.
“After all this time, you’re wondering if his place is warranted with us?” He asked with an accusing tone. “What exactly are you…?”
“Nothing.” Synn interrupted. “Joshua is one of us. Even if he does not befit a sin in particular, he is a member of our little family never the less. My only point was, is that I have always felt each human soul is prey to at least one of the Cardinal Sins.”
Shane said, “And you find yourself struggling to find the sin in Despayre’s soul.”
Synn said nothing. He only nodded. Shane turned back to watch Despayre who now had positioned Angel’s one paw in the gypsy’s hand and the other in his own. Surprisingly, Teresa was now seated at the table and she was holding the zombie gypsy’s other hand and Despayre’s free one.
Shane looked at Synn who was betrayed of his emotions by the corner of his lip turned upward. Shane asked, “Séance?”
“So it would appear.” Synn smiled genuinely. “Tonight Teresa is not a house keeper. She is a guest as much as anyone else here. So I imagine she is just amusing the boy.”
“And herself from the looks of it.” Shane said as he and Synn could see the smile on the Latin woman’s face as she played along with whatever manner of play was going through Despayre’s child-like mind. Shane then scratched the side of his head and decided to bring something up that he felt necessary.
“Look, I had a chat with Gabriel earlier today.”
“Oh?”
Shane nodded, “He expressed … concerns. About his position on the show.”
Synn tore his eyes away from the others and then looked at Shane. “Let me guess, Shane. He’s torn whether he should focus more on his pairing with Despayre, or fight his hardest to walk out as the SCW champion.”
Shane said, “Pretty much. That and he’s concerned what affect it will have on Despayre if the partnership will be put on the back burner if he does win the title.”
Synn could only shake his head. He finished off his drink and sat the glass down on the table at his side and leaned back against the wall. His eyes turned across the spacious room where Gabriel was showing Pussy Willow and Miss Rocky Mountains some form of card trick.
“I would have thought he’d understand Despayre far better than that.” Synn observed. “If Gabriel were to win the title, I strongly suspect the first person to congratulate him would be the very man he’s fretting over.”
“I agree.” Shane said.
“What’s more…” Synn continued. “I feel Joshua would be a lot more excited for Gabriel were he to win than Gabriel himself would be.”
“I tried to tell him that.” Shane said as he drained his beer and then looked around, seeking to replenish it. Finding no obvious source at the immediate time, he went on with his train of thought. “But it hasn’t stopped him from being concerned. Those two bonded more than I think either of us believed possible.”
Synn nodded his agreement. “Indeed.” He said. “I’ll talk to Gabriel if need be. As the Sin of Greed I would be sorely disappointed if the biggest championship were not in his sights. But for now I would rather let things proceed on their own. The chips will fall, where they must and Gabriel will come to understand. I talked with Joshua over lunch. I asked him if he were interested in that same title.”
“And?” Shane prodded.
“No.” Synn answered. “He gave me a simple, flat out ‘no’ for an answer. It’s the same as when they were together in the AWA. Despayre was unhappy when booked in singles matches. I’m sure you remember, he fought fiercely to better himself and make us proud of him, but that path was not what he desired. His only goal there is the same as it is here; the pinnacle of the tag team division.”
“That won’t be easy if Gabriel wins the title.”
“No it won’t, but their matches together as a team won’t be stopped entirely even then. Once they move past this tandem they’re up against, it’ll be only too obvious to Christian and Mark that as a team, they draw interest from those watching. Joshua will be happy for Gabriel so long as he gets to team with him once in awhile.”
Shane nodded, then folded his arms on his chest and sat back against the edge of the hard wood table. “It’s not going to be easy.” He said. “Casey and Ryan have over two hundred pounds on them.”
“Size is of little matter in this instance.” Synn interrupted, “Ryan King is an unproven commodity. He wrestled one match and emerged victorious, but against a team that had no chemistry and one member turned on the other. That one match showed me nothing really. He is strong but he can also be conquered. People talk about Joshua but Ryan’s mind will be his weak point. I can see the anger festering inside of him. Unlike Joshua, he does not know how to use that anger as a focal point, as a weapon. Ryan wants to be the best but so long as he is saddled with Casey, it will not happen.”
Shane smiled, “And here I thought I had the monopoly on confidence around here.” He stood upright from where he had been leaning and uncrossed his arms. “I have to admit, I’m looking forward to what’s going to happen when Casey gets caught in there with our boys.”
Synn said nothing at first. They heard a small outburst and looked over into the dining room where the aforementioned séance had been under way. The same playing cards were scattered and Despayre had jumped up from his seat and stalked away with Angel, leaving Teresa behind.
Shane chuckled, “I guess she beat him at Go Fish again.”
“Mm.” Synn murmured. “I’m fairly certain that Casey remembers what has happened when he stepped inside of the ring with Gabriel and Joshua in times past. The simple fact is, he was defeated. Big Bad Casey, giant of the ring, bested by men a third his size. I always said size matters but in this man’s case, it means little. He hurt Joshua once.”
Shane sighed, “I remember. Laid the little guy out.”
“But he was never able to actually defeat him.” Synn stressed. “I have little interest in what Casey believes. All that matters are the facts. Casey is not as dominant as he likes to believe himself to be. He is slow and plodding. Vicious, yes, but strength and power will only take you so far. Even the mightiest oaks can be brought down by things a fraction of their size. Casey is no different.”
“Does Despy remember him?” Shane asked, the question appearing in his mind out of nowhere.
Synn paused his line of thought for a moment or two before he answered, “I’m not certain. I’m sure he does but whether he acknowledges it or not is an entirely different matter altogether. As much as I flatter myself in being a wondrous judge of character, I never really know what is going through his mind. Though between us…” Synn leaned over with a smile that Shane knew too well. It was one of malice he had grown accustomed to over the number of years he had gotten to know this man. Synn went on, “I overheard him having a strategy session with Angel, and Casey’s name did pop up. I don’t think things will be going as well for Casey as he thinks it will.”
Before they could continue with the small talk, Gabriel approached, looking rather pleased with himself.
“What’s with you?” Shane asked. “You look like you just picked the Pope’s pocket with that smile.”
Gabriel sauntered up and shrugged with his arms held out proudly. “Maybe later. But damn! This outfit must be hotter than I thought! I been felt up fifteen times!”
Synn nodded, “Yes. Despayre’s been selling those ‘gropes’ for Snickers bars all night.”
Gabriel frowned and turned around to look for Despayre who was seated on the floor in the corner of the living room, digging through a large bag filled with Snickers.
“Well, shit.”
