Gone away
It was 5 am. Alex Jones had arrived at the gym, turning on the lights, cleaning the mats, and getting all of the computers turned on and ready to go. Going through paperwork, making sure everything was in its place. He closed his eyes and shook his head, his heart sinking as he looked over at one of the rings inside the main room. His fingertips stand still on the canvas, His other hand moved up and slides across the bottom rope.
He pulled himself up onto the apron, stepping into the ring. He leaned on the ropes, he had an urgent inside himself to start running across the ring, to run the ropes, to hit them like he used to, but as he took a step he felt his knee click. His body popped a few times in different places. He shook his head sliding from the ring to the floor and walking over to the large metal roller door, leaning down to unlock it he slid it straight up in the air waiting for everyone else to arrive. He moved back to the office. Sitting down with the pile of paperwork in front of him, he went about his day.
As everyone arrived, he looked up through the window, giving them a small nod of acknowledgment. From students, to professionals, to members of the gym who were in his inner circle. They all received the same greeting. From Finn Whelan to Austin James Mercer and Alicia Lukas, they all got the same small head knot. Even his wife Sonja.
Alex just went about doing paperwork sitting at his desk sipping a coffee and showing no emotion even as he heard the sounds that always emanated from the gym. The sound of talking, laughter, weights hitting each other and being lifted as well as small competitions being run on the grappling mats and in the ring. It was a sound that Alex loved, a sound that used to fill him with so much happiness and something he would usually partake in. But right now? He couldn’t bring himself to even look outside, he couldn’t bring himself to look at any of the wrestling rings that he had set up all the grappling mats. He couldn’t even bring himself to talk to anyone.
And there were only two people who knew about his injuries. Two people who knew that it was the end. Finn and Sonja.
But, it wouldn’t be long before everyone else realized the truth. It wouldn’t be long till the whispers started and the rumors filled the gym. Things like this do not go unnoticed. People would see that Alex was not out there, that he was not getting in the ring, that he was not being physical and active. Even though he would work out while no one else was around, it was all cardio and weight work. He hadn’t stepped inside a professional wrestling ring in weeks.
He signed a piece of paper moving it across his desk before hearing the click of the door and locking up. Sonja stepped in slowly smiling and moving across to her desk. She looked down realising that all the paperwork that had been sitting on her side of the office was now on his side and was done. She shook her head and folded her arms over her chest. Her long blonde hair tied back in a bun. ”I appreciate that you have done so much paperwork and made my life easier. But, isn’t there anything else better that you could do with your time?”
”Like what?” his answer back was short and sharp. There was almost no emotion in it.
Sonja sighed and shook her head stepping to his desk, she placed her hands flat on the top of it and leaned forward ”Oh, I don’t know, maybe go out there and help some of these talented youngsters that we have under our roof? Give them some of that knowledge that you’ve accumulated over the last 20 years?” Her voice oozed with authority and a hint of sarcasm. Alex shook his head continuing to sign more papers and read through them. Sonja, clearly frustrated, slammed her hands on the desk a little harder trying to get his attention.
Alex took a deep breath and sat back ”What?….” his voice was still flat and emotionless. Almost cold in its delivery matching Alex‘s demeanour
Sonja shook her head and folded her arms over her chest ”Really? We’re going through this again?” This isn’t the first time you’ve been told that you can’t wrestle and every single other time you’ve gotten up got in the ring and at least helped these kids. You even returned last time.”
Alex took a deep breath and sat back ”It’s not the same. Every single other time it’s been an advisement that I should retire. But at the end of the day, I’ve had a medical release and I’ve been able to go back to work. Every other time it has been a suggestion. But not this time. My doctor wouldn’t even entertain the thought of signing a medical release to allow me to go back to work. It’s over Sonja. I’m done.” Alex got to his feet, moving to the filing cabinet to put away some of the papers. Standing and turning his back on his wife.
Sonja ground her teeth together and took a long deep breath. ”Yeah. I get it. Every other time you’ve been told you shouldn’t be doing something. It was just a suggestion. This time, there’s a finality to it. Being told you shouldn’t do something and being told you can’t do something are two completely different things. But does that mean that you’re going to hide in here for the rest of your life? That you’re not going to go out there and actually help these kids?”
Alex’s breath hitched in his throat, his life and problems being laid out like that right in front of him by the woman who was supposed to love him and support him hit him in the chest. He slammed the filing cabinet door shut and turned. ”Help them? How? By sitting on the ring apron or on the top rope and telling them all these different stories about the good old days when I could do what I’m trying to teach them to do? They need to be shown, physically shown. And it’s way better if someone like Austin or Finn does that. Or Alicia. Help look at what Finn has been able to do with Miles. What Austin has been doing with Aiden. Or Alicia and Aaron have with Kallie….” Alex trailed off and took a breath calming himself down
Sonja stepped closest reaching out and taking Alex’s hands in hers ”And you can’t contribute? You can’t go out there and tell them anything about your career or what you’ve accomplished?”
”And what would that accomplish?” He raised his voice and stepped closer ”Forcing me to be around all of them, around a ring and around the business. What would it accomplish aside from making me miserable?” He looks to the window and places his hands on his hips ”What do you want me to say? What do you want to hear? That I’m scared? That I’m depressed?….well….I am…ok?…I am… and I have no idea what to do about it”
Sonja, caught off guard by Alex and his passionate confession took a deep breath, stepped forward, and just wrapped her arms around him. The two of them stand in silence unsure of what to say to each other.
Pitiful.
”Well, what a return that was. One filled with a chance to win and go after whoever the winner was going to be in the world championship match. I said "whoever" the winner was going to be, but I called it then and I knew I was going to be right. There was no way in hell Miles was going to be able to beat them. Meanwhile, I had to come back after a lengthy layoff and get thrown right into an over-the-top-rope battle royale to try and earn a shot at whatever championship I wanted”
Alex can’t help it chuckle, his long dark hair tied back in a bun as his trimmed beard sits close to his skin only showing a few glimpses of the small streaks of silver that had formed since we last saw him.
”And, I wanted a shot at the world championship. A shot at Finn. See, other people have issues with him but he and I have our own history. Something that I’m sure a lot of you are going to end up hearing about about. But the fact remains that my first match back was that Battle Royale. I had the same chance that everyone else did going into that match to win and earn my shot. But I failed. I got my arse dumped out onto the floor and I watched as the chance flew out the window. But, something that you all have to remember is that one on one I’m still the baddest motherfucker on the planet”
“We saw the return of Connor Murphy, we’ve seen the rise of Miles‘s little brother. And we’ve seen as Finn stays on top of the pile and everyone else is too scared to challenge him directly.”
“Let may be very clear here. I’m not here to just have some kind of nostalgia run where everyone gets to see me a few times, applaud me, and watch as I ride off into the sunset. This isn’t a situation where I want to come back and go out in front of a live crowd wave my hand in the air thank everyone for their time and effort in watching Me and then leave. It’s not what I want. It’s not what anyone wants. I’m back and I’m back to take heads and championships. I’m back to have one more run as a world champion in a main event star. A chance to prove why I was put in the Hall of Fame.”
“And a chance to prove that I’m better than Finn. That I’m better than all the other names that have been floating around this company while I’ve been sitting at home.”
“How quickly people forget. But the truth is, I don’t blame people for it. I don’t blame most of you for forgetting the kind of man I am. I don’t blame you for forgetting that I came into this company and led a young Austin James Mercer to the world championship. I don’t even blame people for forgetting that I stepped forward and became a double champion when I beat Mac Bane for the world championship while I was the roulette champion. And while we sit back and see that he along with recent Hall of Famer Mark Cross and a whole host of others never returned to the company or gave a shit about SCW. I’m still here, and I’ve always been here.”
Alex growls and sits forward. He wears a red and black Wolfslair t-shirt and black jeans with black boots. A leather jacket sits on the back of the chair as he sits down and stares forward.
”I love this company. And I have noticed that while a whole bunch of stars have left no one has really stepped up to become the next big name. Finn returned and has done an excellent job as the world champion but where is everyone else? Why hasn’t Fenris come back? Why is J2H happy being Kevin Carter‘s bitch? Why has Alexander Raven disappeared? Why is Ben Jordan only floating around instead of being one of the baddest people on the planet like we all know he can be?”
“And why are we pretending that Miles Kasey is a main event star?”
Alex shakes his head, pushing off the table. He gets to his feet and steps sideways, grabbing a beer and popping it open before taking a sip and placing it back on the kitchen counter in front of him.
”Look, Miles, kid, I have watched you try everything in your power to break through that glass ceiling that seems to be above you. Everything. You came to ask and you wanted to get better. But while everyone else was committed to getting better, you have been committed to doing nothing. Your entire career became an afterthought after you met Carter. Now, I’m not one to speak ill of someone’s love life. And I’m glad you have found someone who loves you. I’m glad you have that relationship. Everyone deserves to have that one person in their life that feels like they complete them.”
“However, when that relationship almost completely derails everything you’ve done all because you couldn’t be bothered to talk to the people around you there is a problem. And you sat there and acted like you were a victim. You walked back into the gym and we all welcomed you with open arms because of thin. Because he went to bat for you because he told us that you deserved another chance because you were just a young dumb kid in love and you wanted to come home.”
“And like a pack of blazing dip shits, we believed him. And we believed you.”
“And then what happened? Just as you were getting accepted back into the fold, just as we looked at you as one of us again and you started to get that Park mentality what did you do? You walked out there you attacked Finn from behind numerous times all to get a shot at his world championship. now, while I admire your determination to become a world champion and while I admire the steps that you were taking the fact that you did it to Finn is the problem.”
Alex shakes his head, clearly disappointed in the steps that Miles took in getting to Finn and trying to become the world champion.
”The worst part about all this is that you just didn’t get it. Finn and myself and everyone else in that gym weren’t pissed off at you because you wanted a world championship match. We all want to be the champion that is why we do this. We were pissed off because you decided to go about it in a way that dishonored him and dishonored you. And when confronted with this fact, when presented with the idea that you were wrong instead of realizing it and apologizing you double down and then try to act like the victim.”
“The victim…”
“Acting like we all didn’t have your back from day one”
“Acting like none of us would have been there for you if you had asked. Acting like Finn would have said no if you asked for a shot. You stopped around like a child talking about how everyone thought you were a joke and how you needed to prove us all wrong. Miles, I never thought you were a joke. The years every single one of us has been talking about your potential. Talking about how you could rise up and be a world champion. Talking about how all you needed to do was believe in yourself.”
“Attacking someone from behind isn’t believing in yourself. Especially when that person is someone who let you into his home, who did everything he could to help you, that isn’t an act of someone living up to their potential that is an act of somebody trying to take a shortcut. And we have never been about taking shortcuts. You come into this company, you come into this business and you earn everything that you get. Earned his shots at that world championship, and I earned my world championships. Hell, even Kayla Richards who you seem so happy with throwing under the bus because she doesn’t like you earned everything that she has. And that’s coming from me and I hate the bitch”
“But you? You whine and cry and act like everything should be handed to you on a silver platter because you have skills. Yes Miles you are an incredible professional wrestler but it means nothing, and I mean nothing, if you can’t string it together and get your head out of your ass. Even Carter, Carter has his head on straight. Carter is someone who could be a world champion just like you but he has way more of an upside because unlike you he doesn’t play the victim card.”
Alex can’t help but laugh to himself as he folds his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall.
”Look at everything you’ve done. Attacking him from behind, deliberately distracting him so he would lose matches. Costing him the mixed tag team championships. And what was it all for? What did it accomplish miles? You got that main event and you had a chance at the world championship but in the end, you failed. You failed. I’ll say it again again just in case it hasn’t drilled into that ignorant skull of yours.”
“You. Failed.”
“And it cost you almost everything. Friends, family, respect. You have Carter, and he loves you, and that’s great. In your mind, you’re probably thinking you don’t need anyone else. And maybe that’s true. But you had brothers and sisters, members of a pack, all of us ready to cheer you on and be behind you.”
“Now, I haven’t kicked you out of the gym and I allow you to train there because part of Me still believes you can be redeemed. Part of Me still believes that you can wake up to yourself and stop being such an arrogant dickhead. And yes, a small part of it is that Finn and others like to see you suffer because you come into the gym and no one wants anything to do with you.”
“And since I know you’re going to bring it up, that’s super kick was for your own good.”
“I wasn’t going to sit back and allow you to constantly get involved in Finn‘s shit and think that you can get away with it. So I kicked you in the head. I didn’t apologize and I don’t plan to. Just like I won’t apologize for giving you the tough love that you sorely need. I’m gonna get in the ring with you Miles and I’m going to beat the hell out of you. And maybe, just maybe you’ll learn something.”
