While I was learning to live, we all were living a lie
I guess you got what you wanted
So I will settle for a slaughterhouse soaked in blood and betrayal
It's always somebody else, somebody else was me
You want the real smile?
Or the one I used to practice not to feel like a failure?
Scene One-Gone too soon
Off Camera
Dallas Texas
10 Years Ago
Her voice was frantic on the end of the line. My sister Charlie, she was upset and panicking. I could hear it in her voice as she tried to explain what was in front of her. I could barely make out anything she was able to get out. “D-Dylan he’s not moving, Alex he’s not moving or breathing, what do I do?” I could tell she was crying as each word seemed more like a scream or a breathless squeak. I kept the phone close to my ear as I steered, my car speeding down the highway.
“You need to hang up on me and call an ambulance Charlie, you need to get someone there but keep him on his side. I’m almost home.” I swerved in and out of traffic trying to keep myself calm and my sister calm all while not crashing my car. I heard the beeps and the yelling of people as I passed them and cut them off. My heart started racing as I hung up. What had Dylan taken?. Was he going to be alright?. How would Charlie recover from seeing our younger brother motionless on the floor?.
I turned the corner into our street, the brakes screeching to a halt as I kicked the door open slamming it behind me, I made it inside before any medical personnel, I stormed into the bathroom and found them. Dylan was pale, clammy and not moving, Charlie was shaking, her hands cradling his head as she looked up at me, her eyes pleading for my help. I stood there for a few moments taking it all in, I swallowed hard and everything went to a blur.
I didn’t even hear their voices as the paramedics pushes passed me. They asked all sorts of questions, ones neither myself or Charlie had the answers too. I couldn’t move, I was like stone, no emotions, no sounds. Just me staring at the floor watching them try and work on my brother’s limp, lifeless body. Charlie was the opposite, she was loud, she was screaming. She was a ball of energy begging them to help him, to stop him from leaving us. She got up and stood in front of me, her eyes filled with tears as she clung to my shirt. It was instinct that I put my arms around her, I pulled her out of the bathroom into the hall where we waited. It seemed like an eternity but in reality, it had only been minutes. But it was too late...he was gone.
The days seemed to move fast, in and out as we planned for his funeral. It rained that day. Dylan loved the rain. I remember standing on the lush green grass of the cemetery, staring at the dark brown box that my baby brother's body was in. I hadn’t been able to cry. My mother, my sister, Dylan's friends. They all wept. I stood at the side, my hand on my mother's shoulder as she sobbed and wailed. I stood like stone, my jaw clenched together.
They lowered him down to the ground, I watched as it disappeared six feet down, the priest said a few words, my sister read a poem. And it was over. He was gone and I felt nothing. I wanted to, I needed to. But nothing came. Everyone left. Everyone but Charlie. She had waited till the very end with me. I wondered why. Why hadn’t she gone home with our mother?. Why had she stayed with me?. Then it all became clear as she walked up behind me.
“You should have done something.” Her voice was shaky and unsure. Her eyes were hidden under a pair of black sunglasses. I stayed facing his grave. “He looked up to you, he was in trouble Alex.” She didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know. Dylan was closest to Dad, he only knew the dying alcoholic who wanted to make things right with his kids. Dylan never remembered the cruel asshole that terrorized Charlie and me.
“When Dad died he needed you, and even though you stayed….you were never really here.” She was right. Of course. I had decided to stay after our father had passed but I never really accepted it. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t cry, why I couldn’t just let go. Because deep down I didn’t deserve it. I didn’t earn the closure. I turned my head to Charlie as she stepped around to face me. Before I could open my mouth I felt it, a slap, her huge hand connecting with the side of my face.
Charlie was only a little shorter than me and almost as strong. She had trained hard in the last few years, we all did. But I never kept an eye on Dylan as she did. But he never listened to mom, or her. “It was your fault….you didn’t see it, or you did and you just didn’t care…” She brushed past me and said nothing else. I didn’t argue, I couldn’t. In my heart, I knew she was right.
Promo: Not a real challenger.
On Camera
New York, New York.
Present Day.
”I’m going to make this as perfectly clear as possible…”
Alex shoves a chair to the side and quickly grabs the top of it spinning it around backward before sitting on it and folding his arms over the back of the chair leaning in.
”I have never been okay with being “second best”. I have never been ok with anyone being ahead of me on the pecking order. But the only reason why I haven’t gone after Austin, why I haven’t tried to stake a claim at it despite being one of the most successful performers in this company this year, is because I’m also loyal. Austin is a great champion and I know he would face me in that ring and put the title on the line and it would be a great match and whoever won the title would still stay in the family. I have been all over the US in the last few months wrestling for various companies as well as taking part in Sin City’s European tour and I have done everything that has been asked of me and I will continue to do so as I9 am a professional…”
“But something you all need to realize, something you need to accept, is that while Austin is the champion, and while he may be at the top of the mountain, I’m a step down waiting for anyone to walk up so I can knock them back down.”
“I look at the SCW title scene and there are some great names. Fenris and Ty are constants, they’re talented, this is all things we know and accept. Lachlan Kane could get a shot and he wouldn’t look out of place despite his failures against Griffin Hawkins, another guy who could challenge Austin for the SCW title. There are names, there are opportunities and there are new names and old legends coming into SCW to try and make an impact.”
“Ben Jordan, Jack Asher, Redron Williams, Ace Hart. A mix of old names that are new to SCW and new names in general or people like Ben Jordan who I believe have been overlooked...but there are two names, two names in this company that just linger around...sniffing and begging for title opportunities…”
Alex scrunches his nose up and shakes his head.
”One of them, is Jake Raab. A loud-mouthed backward piece of shit who talked a big game and got taken down with ease. But he still gets handed shots and opportunities. The other is my opponent at Climax Control, everyone's favorite six foot eight 280 pound singing monster, Senor Vinnie.”
“Now, Vinnie is different from Jake in that he earned his shot. He didn’t just whine and get a lucky win before being handed one. He has an opportunity and will be taking it against Austin. But, is he really going to be that challenge that you all desperately want to see?. Is he going to worry the man who beat Fenris?, a guy who Vinnie failed against to the point where some people were tired of seeing it happen?. Vinnie is a great wrestler, he’s big, strong, tough and can fight. But he’s never really been the guy here. Ground Zero?..yeah maybe. We’ve watched him dominate there, but then again Amanda Cortez was a “legit” star there so what does that say?”
“And I know, I get it, some people are probably sitting there thinking “oh god Alex no, Vinnie might kill you”. First off, that’s rude but thank you for your concern. Second off, Vinnie is physically intimidating, but this is a case of a guy with a million-dollar body and a ten-cent brain,”
“The question people shouldn’t be asking is how can Alex beat a monster like Vinnie, it’s how can Vinnie beat a man who is a bonafide legend. See, Austin is a successful kid, on the verge of a career that could become legendary with title reigns and the right look and a scary skill set for a guy his size. But me?. I am the hype…”
Alex stands up kicking the chair to the side pacing back and forth with a small smirk on his face.
”But you Vinnie?, what are you? Are you a threat?, Are you one of the best?. Are you a wrestler?, a musician?, A cactus growing aficionado?. Or are you an inconsistent weirdo?. Someone who let himself fall and fail to Jake Raab. You put yourself over as a threat beating people like Malachi, but then you step into the ring with anyone who could be the real deal in SCW like Fenris, you fall. You end up in a situation where you earn shots as long as no one credible is near you. And for a while Vinnie...that was fine. You beat people like Malachi, Travis Levitt etc, but now? That loss to Jake has exposed you. The aura you had around you had faded and it’s an aura I never cared about. People lose in this business, but the fact is you are judged by your losses over wins and those losses Vinnie, they just show you are painfully average.”
“Your personality is out there and unique and special, and that’s great man, really. You’re a different cat and people flock to you because of that charisma. But charisma doesn’t win matches, charisma doesn’t win you championships, something I thought you knew.”
“But now you’re not facing the current champion, you’re not facing a former one like Fenris, you’re not facing a curtain jerking wannabe either. You’re facing a dangerous veteran. You’re facing someone who could be a future SCW world champion, you’re facing someone who is quite frankly...better than you. I have been all around the world and I have been on top of the wrestling world for years Vinnie. Flat out years. Not a month here and a month there, I have had title reigns and runs in top company’s as “the guy” even without the title.”
“And now it’s my job to step in the ring with you, assess you and see if you are the guy to possibly take the title off Aus...but from what I’ve already seen?....I ain’t holding my breath…”
