Post by Tommy Victor on Apr 9, 2010 18:34:48 GMT -6
Foreword
Six months ago I learned how to live. Six months later I learn how to die. This is from the beginning to end of that journey. The beginning is short, the middle is long, and the end doesn’t quite tie it all together…but it never really does.
- Tommy Victor
CHAPTER 1
I. One of These Nights
A red blazer passes down the road at 60 MPH. As it zooms by the fall leaves rustle up in to the brisk sky. It is 6 long months ago and 6 months of regret and angst were to follow. Tommy watches the leaves tumble away town the road, and he clutches his gym bag tighter. Out in the distance is nothing but open sky with black clouds closing in. His cellphone rings.
“Hello?”
“Tommy! Where are you at?”
“I’m stuck somewhere in the Midwest. My flight was delayed and Nathin stumbled off somewhere. Now I’m completely lost and…”
“What? What do you mean?”
“I can’t make the show. I won’t make the show tonight.”
“You and Nathin are booked and in-line for a tag title shot! This is your second no-show in a row!”
“There’s nothing I can do…what do you expect me to do?”
“Get back to the ****ing airport!”
“What ****ing airport?! If I knew were the airport was I’d go back!"
Tommy wipes drops of rain off of his forehead.
“Look, I’m sorry man. I’ll look for Nathin and..”
“Don’t bother.”
“What?”
“Take some time off or we’ll force you to. I’m doing my best not to scream right now. This Nathin Doe thing is like a…a, some kind of liability issue for this company right now. This is your second strike out of three, and one more I have to completely fire you.”
“I've got bills to pay and I've got to..”
"I understand that but I've got a wrestling company to run not a daycare. Come back when you've got your life under control, Tommy."
"..."
Tommy hangs up the phone in disgust and looks around to take all of this in. The silence is deafening and the splatter of the rain picking up is like music to ears. Tommy walks off the side of the road into the forest for some cover. He takes shelter under a redwood tree and sits down. There is nobody to call for help because of Nathin Doe, and there’s no Nathin to call because of Nathin Doe.
“I’m out of a work in the middle of nowhere without money for a plane ticket or even a map. I’m alone, alienated from my family and friends…and were the **** is Nathin Doe? I supported you buddy. I was your only friend in the world and because of that nobody wanted to come around. Now I’ve lost hold of the leash. Good ****ing luck and good riddance.”
Tommy lays his head down angrily on the duffel bag full of clothes and equipment. His mind wanders to far off places to meet far off faces. A wife to be and family to be had all thrown away for a crazy career of wrestling, and the ties severed because of loyalty to a friend. He looks at them now with rose-colored glasses. She’s a lot prettier in a dream he thinks. His family are much softer and warm looking back on them now…but suddenly their memories begin peeling. Their flesh melts from their bones and the houses around them catch alight. Nathin Doe’s face is left in an abyss only lit by the tragic fire. He looks much worse than before, almost a zombie you could say.
"A demon" Tommy mutters to himself.
At this moment a great pressure building in the back of Tommy’s head is released. Stress leaves the body through the memories of the mind. These memories of a nightmare are just that – memories. There is no more Nathin Doe when it comes to Tommy Victor. Atlas can finally drop the world. Life can begin anew.