“A Victim No More”
Ten years ago“FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!”
Come on now, I think we all know that tell-tale sound of that mocking chant that any and all kids would cheer, anytime anything physical broke out on school grounds - whether it be out on the playgrounds or in the actual school’s hallways itself. Not a single one of us has ever not experienced the thrill and excitement of a fight between two boys or two girls, forcing the faculty to step in and pry them away by force.
Of course, to call what was happening now in the hallways of West Seattle High a fight would be something of a gross overstatement. In order for it to qualify as being called a fight, it would require both sides of the offending parties to be on somewhat equal standing. This was anything BUT…
Patrick Kelly - aged sixteen - was surrounded by a crazed crowd of his peers as he pinned the other boy down onto the tiled floor of their school’s hallway, pinning him beneath his weight. It didn’t take much effort for him to do so as Patrick was a healthy sized boy, a member of the football team and stocky from a physical standpoint. Boys and girls - ranging from freshmen to a handful of seniors with nothing better to do, formed a ring around the spectacle - not only to gain the best viewpoint for what was amounting to be a physical slaughter but in a way, to form a perimeter and make it more difficult for the faculty to step in and intervene - thus spoiling their fun!
The thing is, only minutes before - Patrick had been in the boy’s locker room only ten feet away from where they were now, making out in a quiet corner and away from prying eyes with his victim in which he was now mauling for lack of a better term. All was well, until that is when another boy had ventured into the locker room to retrieve his gym uniform and caught them in the act.
Patrick, desperate to save his reputation, shoved the boy off of him, shouting “Get off of me!” Before attacking him, throwing him out of the locker room and pouncing on him. Which was where we found them at this very given moment.
The other boy had been caught completely off guard, and even had he not been, chances were likely that the end result would be the same then as it was now. He was half Patrick’s size and weight. The most he could do was try and shield himself from the oncoming blows, which were intensifying under the weight of the spectators and their cheering on of Patrick.
“What’s going on!?” Screamed Missus Beryl - the school librarian - an older woman as she tried to push her way through the throng of kids but as expected, their tight-woven bodies all but prevented her from getting anywhere near the altercation. Not that she could have done much to end things had she been able.
“Move!” She cried aloud. “Step aside!”
As luck would have it, the fight had broken out just outside of the closed gymnasium doors where the current gym class had been taking place. The sound of the melee had attracted more attention - and perhaps by the one that they would least want to get involved - that being Mister Axon, not only the gym teacher for the school but also Patrick’s football coach. And if anyone fit the physical mold of a gym teacher and football coach, it was Mister Axon.
The man was well over six feet tall and nothing but solid muscle. His stern demeanor had all but brow beat the student body into respect - on and off of ‘his’ football field.
“What the hell is going on out here!?” Mister Axon roared, and the sound of his voice was like a crack of booming thunder in the hallway, startling the vast majority of the students present but still not enough to fully quell the thrilling chants. The moment he was over the gathered heads and shoulders and saw what was going on, he practically bulldozed his way through the gathered bodies, forcing apart the boys and girls so that he - as well as the librarian and two other teachers quickly got involved now that the formidable Mister Axon had cleared a path for them.
“Get off of him!” Mister Axon ordered like the most frightening of drill sergeants. “Patrick!” But as the teenager wasn’t listening, Mister Axon and another teacher grabbed him by the arms and upper body and even they struggled to pry Patrick up off of his victim. “Patrick! Stop this right NOW!”
He and his fellow teacher managed to drag Patrick off of the boy as Missus Beryl and a third teacher quickly knelt down at the boy’s side who remained on the floor. The teacher slowly helped the boy sit up, his nose and lips bloody and the bruising already evident on his youthful face.
It was Carter McKinney.
Seattle, Washington -
Ten years ago“We have to do something!” The voice of Cillian Macguire, husband to Joanna and father to Carter, emanated from the two-story home that this once happy family called home. But that happy family had been quickly replaced with a strained and seemingly antagonistic air, replacing what had once been a joyful and blithe home environment.
What had followed after his thrashing at the hands of Patrick, his once “in the closet” boyfriend, was even more of a nightmare than his getting beat up in front of the entirety of the student body. (Or at least that’s what it felt like at the time.) The school nurse had insisted Carter needed medical attention, and to make matters worse, the Principal had called the parents of both he and Patrick in for an emergency meeting for what had happened on school grounds.
Fighting was against the rules, no matter the circumstances. And in a gross act of injustice, Carter had received the same punishment of a week-long suspension that Patrick was given. The fact that he had been unable to fight back was of no concern to the faculty. He was involved in a fight. That was enough. But what was worse was when asked by the parents what had prompted this physical altercation, the teachers had no other alternative but to tell them.
That their sons were caught kissing in the boys locker room. Patrick spun a beautiful web of lies that painted Carter as being the aggressor and how he had long been crushing on Patrick, and the fact his own friend Glenn - a fellow member of the same football team - had caught them and bought Patrick’s well woven story, Carter had been outed thoroughly against his will while Patrick remained in the proverbial closet.
Not that the boy got away completely unscathed. Mister Axon was so angry that he had suspended Patrick from the rest of the season, effectively ending his freshman football ‘career’. But what Carter suffered was far, far worse…
Carter sat at the top of the house’s steps, his arms wrapped around his bent knees and trying to huddle as closely against the wall as he was capable so as not to be seen or noticed by his parents who were in a tense debate just below. No, they were doing more than engaging in a simple debate. They were fighting.
And it was all because of him.
“What exactly is it you propose we do, Cillian?” The voice of Carter’s Mom, Joanna, shot back in an open challenge, daring her husband to pick up the proverbial gauntlet. “Send him back to where he came from? Hit his reset switch and hope it overrides his gay setting!?”
Carter snorted back a laugh and clamped a hand over his mouth and nose so as not to alert his parents that they had an audience.
Joanna followed through with her tirade, stating, “As his mother, all I have to do is love him! I would think that as his father you would want the same!”
“Of course I love him!” Cillian demanded. “He’s my son!”
“Well you sure as hell have a funny way of showing it!” Joanna shot back. “You’ve been absolutely cold to him ever since he told us that he prefers boys!”
“I’m afraid for him Joanna, not of him!” Cillian called back, his voice pleading for understanding. “Aren’t you afraid?”
“Of course I am!” Joanna answered with heat behind her voice. “But obviously for different reasons than you! But the world is changing, Cillian! It’s not perfect for boys like him - not yet - but it sure as hell is a lot more open minded than when you and I were his age!”
“Not enough, Joanna.” Cillian’s voice now was filled with sadness and worry. Even someone of Carter’s tender and young years could recognize. “Didn’t you read that news report of that poor kid that took his own life because of the bullying he was getting at school for being gay? I don’t want that happening to my boy! He’s been through enough as it is!”
“It won’t.” Joanna stated softly, and Carter could just hear the steel-edged tone to his Mom’s voice, and it was a wonder that his Dad was still standing. He recognized that ‘mom tone’. She went on to say, “I am well aware he’s going to face some hardships out there in the world! I just never thought he’d be experiencing this in his own home with his father!”
Carter sat and waited, listening to the air of dead silence that followed that scathing remark. And at the sound of their home’s front door slamming shut, he jumped and then slowly lowered his head and mourned for what he had brought upon his family.
Seattle, Washington - West Seattle High
Ten years ago“It’s all your fault!”
Carter all but tried to ignore the chastising accusations coming from Patrick who had been following him across the school property, flanked by his friends who were all smiling and egging him on, staring down Carter with that open disdain all teenage boys had seemed to perfect. School had let out only minutes ago and it was both boys’ first day back following their collective suspension.
“You’re the reason why I can’t play football, you little gay ass bitch!”
“Get him Patrick!”
“It’s your fucking fault I got suspended and grounded by my parents!”
Classic deflection, if you’re familiar. Anything but accepting his own role in what had happened between the two, and doing all to further convince his throng of followers he had nothing to do with his sharing of that make out session he and Carter had been caught in!
“Your Dad is probably going to leave your Mom, you bitch!” Patrick taunted him, not realizing or even caring that his words were hitting poor Carter to the core. Things had not been the same between his ordinarily loving parents since last week. There had been arguments a plenty, and more often than not, his Dad slept in the spare room while Carter had caught his Mom crying to herself, deep into the night.
But Patrick was not done. Not by a long shot. “Not that it matters! I bet that bitch you call your Mom is going to die from shame!” Patrick taunted openly and loudly, and it was that scathing and uncalled for statement that brought Carter to a sudden stop. His face frozen from all emotion. He stopped so suddenly and unexpectedly that Patrick almost walked right into him before he could stop.
“Careful Patrick!” One friend laughed. “You almost walked into his ass! He probably would have got excited and tried to jump you again!”
Patrick’s crew howled in laughter - including Patrick himself who sneered with a cold and cruel smile. Patrick then reached out and grabbed a handful of Carter’s jacket, ready to finish what he had started over a week ago. He spun Carter around – only to have Carter swing his own school bag around and right into Patrick’s face! Carter’s school books were in that bag and the contact with Patrick’s face made the boy’s nose explode on impact! Blood sprayed everywhere and the kids shouted out in shock and horror as at least two teeth went flying in the air!
Patrick clutched his nose in sheer agony and fell back, stumbling over his own feet and crashing on his back on the pavement! And no sooner did he land than Carter dove right on top of him!
“FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!”
“Six years.”The reigning SCW Internet Champion, Helluva Bottom Carter, sat stoically, deep in thought, on the patio of his and his husband’s home in Las Vegas. Night had fallen and the city lights from the nearby famed Vegas Strip reigned in all of their glory, their dancing lights reflected in the eyes that Miles once said had him dazzled from the moment he had laid eyes on them.
“It’s hard to believe that this year, it’ll be six years. Six years since I made my debut, fulfilling a lifelong dream and ignoring every single critic and bigot that told me a ‘twink’ … that ‘an effeminate gay guy’ would never amount to much in such a hardcore sport as professional wrestling. And to think that just about a year ago I was completely ready to just throw it all away.”Carter scoffed, shaking his head.
“Not my career itself, mind you. I never would have even dignified giving that up. I mean, if my Mom and Grandmother couldn’t convince me to give up the sport that they considered barbaric, then nothing and nobody had a hope. No, I was more so convinced that the dreams I had of being a singles champion in SCW were just that; a dream. I did well for myself - amazingly well - down in SCU, but SCW was something else entirely and if I can be perfectly blunt and joke about myself? That particular dream was at a standstill with no hopes of moving forward. Every title opportunity I had been given, I felt like I wasted just because I lost. My aspirations were going nowhere and I was ready to just give up every title shot the higher ups wanted to give me and just coast along as card filler.”Carter cast a glance down and chuckled low, beneath his breath.
“Luckily I had supportive friends and an extremely stubborn fiance at the time who refused to let me do just that. Because I proved I could do it, and the evidence is right there.”He turned his head just enough to cast a sidelong glance at the championship belt that was perched on the small, oval table crafted of glass, the golden porch light casting a radiant glow from above down onto it. Carter turned away from his trophy to look back out at the city where Inception VII would be held in a matter of days.
“Ever since I won this title - hell, long before I ever had that belt around my waist, I was involved in some seriously grueling encounters. Everything from the hell I went through with Peter Vaughn to win the title, and right up at the very top would be everything Austin James Mercer put me through, just to send a message to my fiance at the time. Yeah, I rank Austin as my toughest opponent!”Carter gave the camera a knowing look and held a finger up to his lips.
“But don’t anyone out there tell him. I’d hate for him to get a swollen head. My point is, that for all the hell some of those men put me through inside of the ring and in some cases, outside of it, in nearly six years, I have never had a single man in that locker room target me the way that Kevin Carter targeted me late last year. Now don’t get me wrong. I’ve been involved in my fair share of fights. I mean, these days you pretty much have to be even if you’re not a member of the LGBTQ community. If you’ve got even the smallest of pieces of a spotlight shining down on you in such a cut throat business where jealousy breeds contempt, then you have a target firmly on your back. Now was Kevin Carter actually jealous of me?”Carter closed his eyes and shook his head in the negative.
“The man is a former two-time World Heavyweight Champion. He’s not going to look at a rookie like myself and be jealous of anything. Which begs the question… Why did he do it? Why did he do what no other opponent I’ve had and attack me not once, but twice, as violently as he did? Well, to answer that question you’d probably have to be either a mind reader or a licensed therapist, neither of which I am. But…”He shook his forefinger with a smile.
“I do have my theories, so indulge me for a few moments, won’t you? Now, before anything else, I don’t want any of these armchair critics and so-called experts getting the wrong idea. Not for a moment do I think Kevin’s attacking me has anything to do with the fact that I’m gay or married to a man. Kevin might be a prick of the largest order, but he’s shockingly one of the most open minded men in the dressing room. No, where these idiots who might assume he targeted me for a reason like this, I firmly believe Kevin would be more inclined to wipe the walls with anyone who even suggested such a thing or who displayed that type of behavior against anyone in front of him.”
“No, the real reason why Kevin jumped me in that parking garage one week and in the hallway the next, breaking my nose, can be summed up in one simple over estimation of his personality; the man’s a prick.”He shrugged casually.
“Kevin Carter is the sort of man who thrives in the spotlight, whether it’s positive or negative. He doesn’t give a damn about how people talk about him, just so long as whatever they’re saying is interesting. If you’re hating on him from the rafters, he’s laughing his ass off. If you’re posting the worst insults imaginable about him from the relative safety of the troll forums, all you’re doing is feeding that ego of his. He doesn’t give a damn about what you’re saying; it all just rolls off of his back. So long as his name is on your lips, he knows he’s done his job and the proverbial joke is all on you! But it’s about a little bit more than just that. I mean, that’s too simple, too easy.”
“Kevin wants to be acknowledged. He all but demands to be revered … respected! I mean, that would be the main reason why he aligned himself so easily with J2H, the greatest Superstar in SCW history! J2H is a legend in the six-sided ring, and wherever he goes, people talk. Simply put, the man commands respect. I mean, the man is a colossal douche but he's the most popular douche in the history of this promotion because he's known for getting things done despite the odds. Respect. And like J2H, Kevin is an opportunist.”
“Kevin wants to once again be the man he was just over a decade ago, when he won his first World Championship from our own Hall of Famer, Goth. Now ‘why’ he would want to be that man again is beyond me because he was an overly entitled asshole who walked out on his contracts not once but twice, and all because he suffered the one curse that all current champions would be inflicted with; that one day they would become a former champion. But now the man wants to be a champion once again, so he looked around and chose who he assumed was the most vulnerable champion in the company.”Carter held his hands toward himself.
“Moi. Yours truly. Kevin Carter looked at my size, experience level and perhaps even the way I carry myself as an out and proud gay man. He made the same mistake in judgement that so many others had made over the last five plus years, assuming that just because I look soft, that must also mean I fight that way as well. Not paying attention or doing his homework. He thought his success at jumping me from behind not once but twice … breaking my nose and making me bleed … was all the evidence he needed that his assumptions about me were correct. Until, that is, he chose to screw with someone other than myself. When he chose to try and wreck my husband, the man that I love more than life itself! That is when he discovered first hand I am not the soft touch he called me out for being! That was when he found out just how capable I am of not just defending myself but defending those that I love! That was the exact moment that Kevin Carter learned that I am only too willing to fight fire with fire when all else fails! And that is a lesson that I am going to be only too happy to give him extra credit for this weekend when I kick his boney ass from one side of the building to the next! So Kevin, if you want to gouge my eyes or kick me low again, if you want to pick up a steel chair or whatever else you can cook up in that sick and twisted mindset of yours… bring it! Because I would just love to gaze deeply into your eyes and see the shock show itself when you find out just how much an out of control bitch I can actually be when pushed to my limit!”Carter closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath, forcing a sense of calm to himself. He reached over blindly and picked up the small goblet from the small accent table, filled with an amazing red. He took a sip and set it back down before continuing.
“But everything that I just said, that’s not the whole story, is it Kevin? The Internet Championship isn’t the sole reason why you targeted me. This runs deeper and stretches back further than the moment when I won the gold from Vaughn. This is about a grudge, not a championship. This is because I did the one thing that you never wanted or expected me to be capable of.”Carter leaned closely into the camera and whispered.
“I beat the Entity right in the middle of the ring, one. Two. Three!”Carter leaned back in his chair.
“That’s what this is all really about. When you showed up under that mask, you had the entire SCW Universe in the palm of your hand. You had everyone believing that you were unbeatable - and I showed the world that you were anything but! In a single night - in a mere three seconds - I ended that aura of fear that was your single greatest weapon and you never got over it. You are one of those sorts who are incapable of letting a grudge go. It stews inside of you for however long it takes until you spot an opening for revenge and you take it! Now, I might have even surprised myself a bit that night, but history speaks for itself. Entity was not unbeatable, and neither are you.”
“Now, unlike you, I am not the delusional sort of champion that walks about the ring and backstage, thinking the sense of self is never going to end. I don’t make the assumption that my reign is being played on some endless loop. I know the day is going to come where I'm no longer going to be able to call myself the Internet champion. But that day is not going to be this Sunday. And it sure as hell is not going to be brought to an end by an asshole by the name of Kevin Carter!”Carter stood up from his chair and leaned over, staring hard into the camera one final time.
“When all is said and done and I'm through with you, Kevin? You're going to want to slip that old mask of yours back on to hide your face in shame and embarrassment because you're not going to want to show your face after I hand your ass to you. You’ve got this one coming.”Carter gives the camera and thus Kevin a mock salute before turning his back and taking his leave, the last shot being shown the skyline of Las Vegas and with it, all the potential that it holds.
