[Flashback January 13th]
He hears a knock on the door, at first it was light, but probably at his lack of response, and building frustration, it because heavier when he doesn't answer. It startles him out of his slumber on the couch in his living room. Almost immediately panic sets in. Nobody was supposed to be here today. There was nothing to be delivered. There were no bills past payment. He looks around and sees no emergency that would require an angry neighbor to beat down his door. His first thought is to let Ava get it. It only comes to mind after listening to more pounding on the door that Ava was gone visiting family. He turned to look out the large bay windows behind him, it was still early morning. How long had he been asleep? How had he fallen asleep for that matter? The answer for the latter came to him in the form of his whole arm being asleep. He shook his head and pulled the rubber band tie the rest of the way off.
Kris Halich: Oh.. rookie mistake Kris..
He mutters under his breath. Again there was a thunderous knock on the door.
Kris Halich: YEAH! I'M COMING! FUCK!
He shakes his head brushing all of his kit off of the coffee table top and into a drawer. He hears something break when he quickly shuts the drawer. The look of anger on his face is starting to grow. At the moment, he couldn’t think of a more hostile way of being woken up in the morning. He looks back at the door, muttering.
Kris Halich: ..I don’t know who you are, but I am going to fucking kill you...
He looks around for a shirt, not seeing one in the immediate vicinity, and choosing to forego it. It was only going to take a second to brush off whoever it was at his door. It’s not like he really needed to be presentable. He puts the shoulder of his still sleeping arm against the frame of the door and pulls the door open far enough to look out, squeezing the hand in his dead arm to try and get some blood flowing through it.
Kris Halich: What do you wa--
He sees who is standing at the door and it takes the words out of him. Elena stands there. As always, she looks all polite and smelling all pretty for a woman of her age. No, that isn’t right. She hasn’t looked her age in more than a decade. Even with the most hostile of judgments, she looks 35, maybe 36 on a bad day. He is reminded of that fact when she offers Kris a smile.
Elena Halich: How are you doing after you beat up my husband, stole his car, vandalized it and tweeted the pictures?
She asks while still smiling. It was very clear to Kris where Amari got her demeanor from, however - Amari was colder about it. With Elena, that coldness was thinly veiled under her polite exterior. Elena Halich at least smiles at you. It’s probably why she is hard to stay mad at, even when she is clearly cutting you down.
Elena Halich: May I come in?
He sighs heavily and looks down to see that the color has returned to his arm. The sharp needle pain of his hand waking up is a reassurance of that fact. He pushes the door open and steps away so she can walk past him.
Kris Halich: Suit yourself.
As he moves away from the door he raises his left arm to cover his right. Namely the thin mark from the tie and a small bruise on his bicep where he probably missed his mark, though he can really remember the reasoning. She steps through the door, and he pushes it closed with his heel.
Kris Halich: I guess if you're staying I should put on some clothes.
It was probably smart to get himself covered up immediately. Elena wasn’t stupid, by any means. He heads towards the bedroom and emerges a moment later, throwing on a red hooded sweatshirt. As he puts his arms through the holes and brings it over his head, he sighs, his annoyance starting to subside.
Kris Halich: What can I do for you?
Elena Halich: I honestly was concerned and came to check on you, all snideness and bitchiness aside. How are you doing Kris?
He holds his arms out to his sides, motioning around the near spotless apartment and shrugs.
Kris Halich: Everything is just peachy here. I mean I have the place to myself. Ava is gone for a few days. Its been.. relaxing.
She nods, looking around. He could tell that she knew something was off. Then again, there was probably that inkling in her mind when she decided to make the trip over. She turns her eyes to him, and they narrow. He suddenly realizes there was likely something about his eyes that would give her all the proof she needed about her suspicions. She looks him over, stepping closer to him. She locks eyes with him.
Elena Halich: Relaxing, huh? How are your hands?
She gestures towards them, surely they got messed up with hitting Jason. He holds them out, turning them over so she can see can see both the back of his hands, and then his palms.
Kris Halich: Some scratches. It’s nothing to worry about. They are mostly healed already. How's his face? Or his ribs for that matter?
His words don’t sound like they have any remorse in them but they aren't cold either. They just, are. She smirks some at Kris, rolling her eyes at the younger Halich.
Elena Halich: I doubt you care, Kris. Honestly. I get why you did it. Honestly.
He shakes his head, denying to himself that she had any idea what she was talking about. Legally, they might be family, but that didn’t give her any right to think that she knows anything about him. She was going to try to dissect him after having only a few conversations with him in the past three months? Or maybe she thought she knew enough about him because of his brother’s stories. Either way, he is only half listening when she starts to speak again.
Elena Halich: He's not replacing you or anyone. So you need to swallow that bitter pill and shut up with that all that shit. You had it rough growing up. I get that. No, I don't know the details not just yet, some day I will but you are not the only person in the world who had it rough. You are not the only victim out there Kris Halich. You are not the only person who has survived. You are not the only person who wakes up to nightmares. You are not the only person who delves into less than legal remedies to try and make it all go away, so you need to stop blaming Jason. None of that is his fault. He didn’t do anything to you. You know what the sick thing is, Kris? I have tried to tell him that, and he doesn’t believe me any more than you look like you do.
He laughs, blowing her off. She had gotten her self-righteous rant in. As far as he was concerned, she had delivered her message, and she was more than welcome to leave. He walks past her, speaking as he goes.
Kris Halich: ...so I used to get beaten up and abused after Jason was too bloodied to do anything about it. So, our dad was an asshole. So, our mom was too imprisoned to do anything about it, though she wouldn’t have. She was so wrapped around his finger. Dad couldn’t ever do anything wrong. So, Lindsay didn’t make it to her third birthday, and that got put on me and Jason. What could I do about it? I was seven.
He shrugs his shoulders and laughs. It sounded genuine. Maybe in his current state none of those nightmares bothered him. Maybe it was just that he was cutting into Elena and using his own experiences as a knife aimed at her, and that fact alone took the sting out of them for himself.
Kris Halich: Shit happens. Shit happened for years. It became the everyday routine. I mean, I didn't move out until 18. Jason? He was more or less gone from the time I was 13.
He continues walking until he reaches the kitchen, swinging open the refrigerator and staring inside.
Kris Halich: So what? Jason could have adopted me and spared me five of those years. Granted I was getting a little difficult for our dad to beat me into not fighting back in those later years. On the other hand, I wasn’t a pretty teenage girl inside a gated in house.
His face twists into a scowl at the thought of Gabby. To think, he actually liked the brat at some point. Maybe he just couldn’t stand the thought of her now because she was getting what he had deserved more than a decade ago. He turns from the fridge and grabs a glass out of the cabinet. He hears her sigh, almost like she was starting to realize that he wasn’t going to be budged on the issue.
Kris Halich: What kind of host would I be if I didn’t at least offer you a drink? I have tea, water, and more tea.
Elena Halich: Water is fine. I haven't been feeling well.
He grabs a bottle of water from the fridge, and holds it up to her before putting it down on the island in the middle of the kitchen and then pushing it towards her.
Kris Halich: If I am honest, I don't blame Jason for it. I was bitter for a while that he is adopting your daughter for practically no reason, but never thought to take me out of that situation. Then I realized how hard he failed at being a father the last time he tried, or even the time before that. I mean he ran from Haley when she got pregnant and well… we both know how his actual daughter ended up after just a month.
He pauses, shaking his head as he pours himself a glass of tea. He couldn’t imagine what was going through her mind upon hearing him talk about his deceased niece like she meant nothing. He had pushed through her attempted guilt trip, laid his own, and now he was just trying to dig under her skin until she was irritated enough to throw herself out.
Kris Halich: Now? Eh, fuck it. Spilt milk. Water under the bridge.
She walks over and spins the cap off of the bottle, placing it down on the island. She shakes her head, probably trying to shake off his words, or at least the majority of them.
Elena Halich: Gabriella asked him to adopt her. That's why he is doing it. She approached him about it. It wasn't something he cooked up. Her father, Hector…
She puts a hand over her mouth, nearly throwing up when she says that name. It’s like at the mention of it, the memories of all of the sick things that man did to her and her daughters flooded back. She swallows hard and takes a sip of water.
Elena Halich: He signed over his parental rights to her before he went back to Columbia with his father.
He was in the middle of taking a drink of his own drink when she gets to the end of her statement. He starts to laugh, restraining his body’s natural reaction to spit the tea from his mouth. He raises his hand to cover his mouth, finally able to get it down before shaking his head, still having a good laugh. Elena looks at him, not quite understanding the reaction.
Kris Halich: Columbia? Yeah... that's where he went.
He walks around the kitchen and past her, headed back the to the couch. She smirks at her brother in law.
Elena Halich: I have my suspicions, but I'm not saying a word. I learned to keep my mouth shut growing up.
He laughs some at her.
Kris Halich: I wasn't implying suspicions. I'm sayin homie got chopped up by the mob and fed to pigs as penance for his last month of bad decisions. Then again..
He turns to her with a condescending smirk towards the oldest of the Gonzalez women.
Kris Halich: You probably already knew that but you’re just in denial. They are your family after all. You know what they are capable of.
He shivers and has another laugh.
Kris Halich: They are some sick fucks, I will tell you that much.
She sits down on the couch, crossing her legs as she lets out a soft sigh. He was successfully turning the conversation away from himself. If he kept this up, she was a lot like a ticking time bomb at this point. He was curious how hard he was going to have to push her to get her out the door.
Elena Halich: I am not going to argue with that, but I was mostly kept away from all of that.
He lays his head back onto the couch, looking up at the ceiling. He still wore a smile on his face and laying on the condescension pretty thickly.
Kris Halich: ...but you're not stupid, Elena.
He raises his head so that he can look at her with absolute sarcasm.
Kris Halich: ...or are you?
Elena Halich: Maybe just oblivious.
She stops and seems to think over her choice of words. Oblivious was clearly not the word that she was looking for. Her eyes mirror her brain trying to search for the right word.
Elena Halich: No, I'm not stupid nor oblivious. I'm well aware. I am just hoping to god they didn't bring Amari into it.
She her eyes say that she is pretty sure that they did. Of course, Kris was probably closer to her middle daughter than she knew. He got the full story from her just days after it happened. They swapped stories, and had a lovely conversation on the beach in San Diego when she showed up more or less uninvited with her new entourage.
Elena Halich: Amari is more like that side of that family than my brothers are, and they live for it.
She glances at him. The smile starts to fade off of his face. His little ploy had gone as far as she was going to allow it. It was quite obvious to him that she had remembered the reason that she had made the trip across Los Angeles this morning.
Elena Halich: So what did you take? I can tell you took something. Afterall, we already agreed I am not stupid, Kris Halich.
He smiles and plays innocent, attempting to deflect again.
Kris Halich: … I don’t remember agreeing to that at all.
Her eyes tell him that she in unimpressed, and not just that, but unamused. Getting a rise out of her was more difficult than he thought it would be. Apparently that thin veil of politeness that she drapes over even the harshest of words was thicker than he thought it was. He sighs and finally answers her question.
Kris Halich: No idea what you're talking about, sister of mine.
Elena Halich: Your eyes say otherwise. I bet if I check your arms, they'll say the same.
It was like she knew what he was going to say. She was on top of what she was going to say almost before he was able to finish his denial. Still, she wasn’t necessarily going to jump on top of him to find out.
Kris Halich: Well then I guess I should be happy I am all covered up.
He puts his feet up on the coffee table, mentally protecting the drawer in the side of it from her eyes. Any feeling of exposure he was feeling started to fade immediately.
Kris Halich: That is indeed bold of you though, coming over unannounced with your accusations.
She smirks some, probably noticing that now she had him on the ropes. He was trying so hard to get a rise out of her moments ago, and now she was being more successful doing the same to him.
Elena Halich: Really? Kris, I was a nurse for twenty-five years. My first husband was an addict. I know the signs... brother of mine.
He shrugs with a smile. The look on his face is less than innocent now. There was no use in actively denying it now. The game now would be separating what she knew, and what she could prove. From where he was sitting, she knew everything, but she wasn’t able to prove a thing to anyone, probably not even his brother.
Kris Halich: That's cute, but my eyes are hardly conclusive evidence of anything. If they look strange it is just because you woke me up from the deadest of sleeps. I was out like a light when you knocked. Right here actually. If you hadn’t been trying to beat in the door, I would probably still be sleeping.
He sizes her up as she digests that information. Either she was going to buy it enough to throw that veil of politeness back up, or she was going to disregard it and try and push him further towards snapping. What she didn’t know was that he was still loaded enough to be incapable of becoming that agitated.
Elena Halich: Then pardon me for assuming the worst of you. I'll ignore the other subtle signs that someone untrained would not be able to pick up.
She takes a sip of her water. The gambit seemed to have paid off. Her words sound like a retreat more than anything else. She sighs and puts her water down.
Elena Halich: As long as you are still alive and all that. Seriously though, is there anything you need?
He smirks, it's a slight agitation in it. She was starting to backpedal away, so he should be calm. Instead, he finds himself to be irritated that she isn’t going to press him. She made it into a game of chess, and now her words are like she is turning over her king and quitting just when the game gets interesting. He was going to force her to play if he had to.
Kris Halich: What is it you think you know?
He searches her eyes. She was going to play, because he knows that he can’t lose.
Elena Halich: Considering it's not that far of a walk from the door to the couch. I heard you carrying on before you came to the door. You tell me, Kris.
He nods. If that was all the ammunition she had no wonder she was backing away from the conversation.
Kris Halich: Carrying on? I said I was going to kill whomever was waking me up.
She rolls her eyes, and sits up. He thinks that she is going to get up and leave without another word, but instead she goes back to her original point.
Elena Halich: Yeah. Anyway. Do you need anything? I'm being sincere here.
He crosses his arms across his chest. This wasn’t entertaining. There was no joy in this conversation. At this point she was just wasting his time.
Kris Halich: No, but I am interested in what you think you know. Come on. Out with it.
Elena Halich: I think you're still using. Or using again. I don't know what happened when Jason got here Christmas Eve. Honestly, none of that is my business. He talked to all the doctors in the hospital and kept the rest of us in the dark mostly.
He opens his mouth to cut her off right there but she holds up a hand so that he will let her finish.
Elena Halich: I just know he was very upset that he almost lost his brother. You're all the family he has left. He was very clear about that when you were in the hospital.
Was she trying to appeal to his morality now? Show him that there are people that care about him and hope to sway him away from the hostility that he has showed them in the past month? That wasn’t going to happen.
Kris Halich: Heh. If I was, using, and he knew, I'd be back in a rehab facility like right now.
He makes sure to restate himself after replaying his words.
Kris Halich: IF I was using.
He makes sure to put emphasis on his first word, driving home his point that he was completely sober, not that it was actually any of her business.
Elena Halich: You want my opinion?
Kris Halich: Sure. I'm a big fan of fiction.
Elena Halich: You can't force anyone to do anything they don't want to do and you shouldn't.
She shrugs some, but he nods in agreement. Maybe that was why he always failed when he had gotten out of rehab before. He never wanted to go in the first place. It wasn’t a decision that he had made for himself any of the times he went. It was always Jason trying to save him from ending up on the street dead. At least that is what Jason told him when the topic was brought up.
Elena Halich: Probably why I'd never take any of my family members to rehab or AA, or therapy of any kind. That is something you have to do on your own.
He laughs. It almost sounded like she was set on being an enabler for the rest of her life. In the matter of minutes she went from accusing to nearly condoning.
Kris Halich: I think that he has it in his mind that he owes me.
Elena Halich: Gee, I wonder why.
She says dryly and gets to her feet. He raises her bottle of water and takes another drink, the annoyance visible in her face is growing now. He wasn’t going to just let her walk away without digging in a little more though.
Kris Halich: Shit happens….
Elena Halich: Yeah it does. Well, since you are fine and don't need anything. I'll be going.
She goes around the back of the couch instead of walking in front of him. He can’t help but think that maybe she doesn’t want him looking in her eyes for fear of what he might see. All of the talk about what symptoms he was showing, and she won’t give him the chance to see her real emotions in hers.
Kris Halich: You know, I am not inside his head. I couldn’t tell you what he is thinking. Then again, maybe he doesn’t even know what he is thinking. He isn’t necessarily stable, but you probably know that already too.
She makes her way to the door. Not bothering to look back at him. She raises her free hand up and give him a wave.
Elena Halich: Have a good one, Kris.
Kris Halich: Thanks for stopping by. Don't be a stranger.
It was sarcasm and it was incredibly easy to pick up on. As she steps out she knows he didn't mean a word of it. She closes the door carefully and quietly behind her, like any polite person would do. Just like that she was gone.
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CAMERA: ON
2.13.2015
Jon Dough?
Kris is seen walking down the sidewalk of a mostly deserted alleyway. The lights overhead cut through the pitch black night. They are spaced so that just as Kris’ features start to fade, the next light brightens them back up. The pace he is walking is slow, the camera just in front of him. He clasps his hands together and exhales into them, trying to warm them. As he pulls them away fans can see his breath hanging in the air. He looks directly at the camera and smiles, with a salutary nod.
”Last I saw you guys I was about to stand in the ring for the first time in six months. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to say to you guys. Old Skool? I had nothing on the guy. I hadn’t seen him before. I hadn’t heard of him before. That, by no means, is me insulting the guy. It is my own fault. I knew nothing about him because while I am away from the ring, I don’t pay attention. That isn’t just a reflection of SCW, but of every company. If I am not inside their ring, or backstage at their show, I don’t watch. It isn’t because I am not a fan of this business. If I wasn’t a fan, I wouldn’t have chosen this career path. However, now that I know what it is like to be in the ring, I can’t just sit at home and watch other people do it. It changes once you have been on the other side of the television screen.”
The camera stops backing up in front of him, and allows him to walk past. Fans can see why the camera stopped, as in front of them is a four-way intersection. Kris steps right in the middle of the roads, and just stares off in each direction. Each road ahead seems to get equal attention, almost as if he is indifferent about his direction. Maybe he is just lost in Norway. When he starts talking again, his back is to the camera.
”So, I went into a match blind, and managed to knock the guy out in the middle of the ring. I have seen the replay. I heard what the announce team had to say about the finish of that match. I completely agree with them when they said things in that match were uncharacteristic of me. I sat down and tried to go through it in my head, and it all seems like a blur. Then a funny thing happened. As I watched, for what had to be the thirtieth time, the pieces of the puzzle came together for me. Nothing in that match was characteristic of me because nothing about me inside that ring can be characterized. I have always been told that me being inside that ring, and the things that I do, is madness. The people I have trained with over the years, when I have been able to train, get frustrated because there isn’t a pattern, or any distinct flow. If I can be put into any category, it is reckless. If anyone wants to try and read me like I book I apologize. This kind of book has pages reading left to right, right to left, inverted, and mirrored. I am not saying I am impossible to fight. I am damn sure not unbeatable. However, I can say with relative certainty, that the key to beating me is something that people are going to have to find when they are standing opposite of me, not sitting and watching tape.”
He spins around to face the camera and holds his arms out to his sides with a smile. He shrugs with his arms out, seeming completely carefree.
”I figured out a lot watching that match. Actually, I don’t think “figuring out” is the right way to put it. I think that a better way to put it would be to say that I was reminded of something. See, I expected people to watch that match and be impressed. I expected that the roster was going to step up and say I did something impressive. I thought I would be given some kind of recognition for my effort. That was clearly not the case. Whether it was some chick that gets paid but can’t remember her own name or fans that took the opportunity to hit the bathroom while the match was on. Nobody paid it any attention. One guy lurking around the back even told me he didn’t watch the undercard of the show. I watched that match from two weeks ago more times than anyone else in this world, At first I was pretty pissed that nobody was paying any attention. Then I realized that it only works to my benefit. People in SCW don’t know who I am? People that at least know my name, only know so because it was my brother’s before it was mine. Nobody wants to watch the matches that I am in? That’s fine. I will move up the roster in everyone’s blind spot. I realized I don’t need recognition to get in the ring. All I need from SCW is a paycheck and I can get one of those just by showing up and stepping in the ring. I don’t need anything from any of you people.”
He shakes his head, the smile not coming off of it as he turns left of the direction that he had been going. The camera quickly comes around his side, and then continues to focus on him from the front. He buries his hands in the pockets of his hoodie and sinks his head down into his shoulders as the wind picks up.
”Now I don’t want you people to feel like you are wasting your precious time watching me. You want me to talk about Jon Dough, right? I really don’t know what you people want me to say. Am I supposed to demean a guy that I have never met? When I saw the card, it said this guy knows what it is like to be a champion. Personally, I have never had any kind of gold around my waist. The closest that I have gotten was right here in SCW and I came just a hair short of taking the Roulette Championship off of Equinox. That was as far up the mountain as I got before falling all the way down to the bottom. This guy seems like he has been there just like me. This guy was pretty much dead for six months. I have been there. This guy is missing chunks out of his life. I have been there too. That is about as far as similarities go. From what I have collected the guy likes to live on his two feet when he is inside that ring. He likes to get his hands on people and take them to the mat. On the other hand, I like being in the air. I enjoy catching people by surprise. I pick my spots. That means that this match is going to be pretty easy to call. If I get in the air, things are going to be bad for Jon. If he grounds me, then I am going to be out of luck. I can say this much, it doesn’t appear that I will be knocking anyone out this time around. Maybe that is a good thing, maybe not. I guess we will see when the lights go on in Norway.”
The camera stops and Kris starts to move past it. He raises his hand to cover the lens.
”Now get out of my face…”
The camera bobbles around a bit when he lets go and the scene fades to black as he walks away.
