Post by Alex Jones on Apr 21, 2009 19:12:53 GMT -6
Chapter Two-A fall from grace and a fall from the heart (a shattered nightmare...)
5 Days ago.........
“Sir, it’s time to wake up....”
A sweet angelic voice cuts through the darkness in my mind, my eyes slowly open, the visions are fuzzy at first as they come into focus, I raise my head off the hard desk and stretch my neck, standing in front of me is a nurse, she smiles sweetly, her slightly aged face tells a story of many shattered dreams and many lives lost while in her care. I shoot her a warm smile and look around, my gaze turns right to Shelly who still lays motionless in the bed. My heart sinks, for one moment I thought maybe it was her voice that arose me from my slumber, but instead it was just my overactive imagination.
“Sir can I get you something to drink?, you’ve been here all night”
“No, no thank you....I’ll be fine...”
“But I really think you should....dehydration is not a good thing in a place filled with sick people...”
I laugh to myself a little. How funny would it be, for me to lose in a week from Sunday in a huge match, possibly the biggest of my career and not have it be because of Angel, Falcon, Harold or Burns, but you it to be a virus that beat me, how hilarious.
“Sure..I could use a drink....”
I stand up and follow the nurse out into the hallway, I walk over to an old looking dispensing machine, I pull out my wallet and slip an old one dollar note in, it rejects it, my eyes narrow, I don’t like being jipped by machines. I put it in again, and again the machine rejects it, I look CALMLY at the note and smooth it out before GENTLY placing it back into the EFFING machine. After a few moments a smile crosses my lips as a feeling of success rushes over me, but it proves to be futile as the machine again rejects the note. That’s it..I reached my boiling point.....
“YOU PIECE OF ****, YOU RAT BASTARD ASS LICKING COCKSUCKING MOTHER ****ER”
I breathe deep and notice I’m being watched, I look up one side of the hallway, many people who are either waiting for treatment or seeing relatives stare at me with confusion, I look down the other way and again, more people with confused and even..scared looks in their eyes. I back away slowly and end up back in Shelly’s room, I sit down next to her bed and sigh deeply cracking open my can of soda, I down it in almost one gulp and throw the can away, my eyes trail up toward the television, but I don’t actually watch it, my mind drifts off to other things, to thoughts, to wishes, to hopes and dreams. Then I feel a hand on mine...my eyes slowly move down and I notice Shelly’s hand is on top of mine, but how.....
“AJ..where are we?...”
She’s awake!, my heart thumps inside my chest, sweat pours from my forehead, she looks confused but still, she looks so beautiful.
“Shelly?.....”
“Yes?..AJ..where are we?...”
“We’re in the hospital..you got into a car accident..you’ve been in a coma for almost two weeks....”
She turns pale, I can’t believe I just blurted that out, she looks like she’s about to be ill, she breathes deep trying not to throw up.
“Shelly?...are you ok?.....”
I turn and get the attention from one of the nurses.
“Hey nurse..we need a doctor in here!...”
Shelly looks at me with tears in her eyes.
“Where’s Hayleigh?...is she ok?...”
“She was with Chris..now she’s with Angel....he’s taking good care of her...”
Shells breathes deep trying to calm herself down, she looks away from AJ and then back at him, she seems to be much calmer now
“What...what are you doing here?...”
“I never left your side except when I had to........I wanted to wait until you woke up”
Shelly smiles warmly at me, how I’ve missed that look, I smile back as she squeezes my hand, the doctor walks in and pushes me aside.
“I’m sorry but we have to do some tests”
I nod and smile and Shelly giving her a nod walking out into the hall, I pull out my cell and walk outside to make some calls.....
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“So, what exactly are we AJ?”
I snap out of it catching myself staring into Shelly’s eyes, the question sinks into my mind as I find a way best to answer it, I slip the piece of steak that was on my fork in my mouth and buy some time over chewing as Shelly shakes her head knowing that I’m stalling.
“Well I don’t really know..we’re friends...”
Shelly scoffs and sighs.
“Friends?...that’s all we are?...friends don’t wait by every day for two weeks waiting for someone who may never wake up, friends don’t almost kill themselves over the thought of losing one another...so I’ll ask you a simply question..do you love me..”
I almost spit a carrot from my mouth but manage to hold it in, the question was unexpected.
“Um..I....I...”
“No games AJ....”
“...Yes...I do Shelly...I love you...”
I sit with my head down waiting for the rejection, the pain. After a short time I look up, Shelly smiles warmly at me again.
“I love you too...”
I swallow hard, my heart beats faster again...did she just say what I thought she did?. Shelly gets up and moves towards me , I instinctively stand up, she reaches out grabbing my face as we kiss for the first time.....everything is perfect. We pull away from the kiss and I smile, happy for the first time in a long time. I look at Shelly who stares back at me.
“Sir...it’s time to wake up...”
No......
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My eyes spring open and I look around, same old hospital room, Shelly is again lying on the bed motionless, tubes and monitors hooked up to her body, I get to my feet before the nurse has a chance to say anything else and grab my jacket walking out of the room, my heart sits broken in my chest. The pain being sent out all over my body. I walk out into the parking lot pulling the keys out of my pocket, I get into the car and sit down in the driver’s seat slamming the door, I go to start the car and stop, I drip the steering wheel hard, the dream was so real, so vivid, but it wasn’t real, it was all fake....all a lie....
The anger fills me, I feel myself sink lower into my seat, my face becoming twisted and distorted, my arms start to shake as I try and contain the pain, I kick the engine over and take off, speeding out of the parking lot......speeding away......running away...
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4 Days ago
Sometime later AJ is sitting alone next to a lake, the water is beautiful, clear, the air is clean and pure, the trees sway with the breeze. AJ leans down and puts his hand in the water before bringing it to his face, he slowly turns toward us and shakes his head.
“I thought I could make this about NCW. I thought I could make this about the war, about Falcon, About Harold, About Burns, but I can’t. This match is about two men. You and me. Angel and AJ. When I first stepped foot here you and Xavier were in the middle of your awe inspiring feud. You beat the hell out of each other all around the country. I watched in amazement at what you two did to one another, and then I slowly became involved with you and your life, I slowly learnt about who you are, who you were and who you could be.”
“Then as we faced one another time and time again and the losses piled up I questioned if I deserved to be here. I beat some big names but you always found a way to beat me, you always knew my weaknesses. But two weeks ago, we were scheduled to be in a match again, this felt different from the start, I’d beaten Falcon one on one before that, your right hand man fell to me and realised that he wasn’t on your level...OUR level. I saw it in his eyes, he knew that you’d be in trouble, he knew that there was something different about me, something you felt first hand when I finally, FINALLY beat you.”
“You want to know what it was?, you want to know the factor that allowed me to become better?. Shelly. She made me a better man and made everything in my life clear, it allowed me to focus, to be who I needed to be. “
AJ smiles, his mind wanders...
“She had a similar effect on you. But it’s strange, you were so desperate to see Shelly. You acted as if you still actually cared for her and for a moment I believed you until I remembered the comments you made just before I rang you to tell you about the accident. Do you need reminding Angel?...here...”
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“You want my wife AJ? Take her, take the filthy little tramp that abandoned me when I needed her most, just like my good for nothing sister, just like my worthless friends, just like the damn fans, just like New Championship Wrestling. Take her, **** her, marry her, do whatever it is your black little heart desires.”-Awakening and prayers-April 6 2009----------------------------------------------------------
“Amazing how quickly your tune changed Angel. Amazing how quickly you snapped from being a foul mouthed jerk to a concerned husband and father. And isn’t it funny how you had no problems leaving your daughter behind until I stepped in. And don’t make excuses that Shelly wouldn’t let you see her because you and I both know she isn’t that type of person. You just walked out, YOU left, YOU are the reason why everyone around you had changed and why you have no true friends left. Hell a few weeks ago you and Falcon could have come to blows, but you didn’t and now here you are all buddy buddy again, apparently he has your back with whatever side you’re on, cause he “trusts” you.”
“That’s funny..trust.....a trait you never really had. You walk around complaining that I’m trying to replace you. You used Hayleigh as an excuse, that I’m trying to replace you are her father. Come on Angel, you are her father, we all know that, but she needed someone to make her smile and although you would have done it..you weren’t there. You were to busy licking Adam Knite’s boots. But this isn’t about me replacing you in Hayleighs eyes, this is about you thinking I’m going to replace you in NCW. And that is something you can’t handle, oh sure, you could handle me being with Shelly, but you can’t handle me taking your spot here in NCW. You’ve heard all the talk, you’ve heard how everyone considers me a threat to Adam, I’m fighting the fight that you should have, you should have been the savior of NCW but you made the wrong choice and now it’s all up to me....”
“A punk who’s life is ruled by his ego....whodathunkit?”
AJ laughs to himself, a deep laugh, one we haven’t heard in a long time.
“And what really amuses me is that your tag team partners are three of the most dominant men in NCW. Harold a man who has had wars with Kristoff Liam Bates, Philip Burns who was the Xtreme Champ and one half of the tag champs with you, and Falcon a man who held the national title for what seemed to be an eternity. All impressive men, but if they get in my way when I’m trying to get to you, then all their accomplishments will mean nothing. You know I’m not someone who you take lightly Angel. You know what I can do and you know finally, after all this time that I am your equal....”
AJ’s phone rings. He picks it up with an eyebrow raised.
“Hello?...what?..she is!”
AJ hangs up the phone and quickly turns around heading back towards his car.
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Present day
“He has some good in him AJ..I know he has....”
My hands clench in fists, Shelly is awake now and she knows all of what’s happened. She knows he had the chance to end me, to destroy me, but he didn’t. She’s seen his last promo, she’s heard what he’s had to say and now I sit here listening to her, but still I can’t believe it, my heart sinks into the pits of my stomach to be eroded by the degenerative acids.
“Please....don’t make this into something it isn’t, don’t blame him, he’s stopped blaming you....”
I sigh and turn my head, I smile at Shelly and nod.
“Look, he and I have alot of history.....it’ll get pretty intense no matter what....but I wont go out of my way to kill him....”
I walk outside to get some fresh air, the mixed emotions churn in my head, a few days ago I wanted to destroy Angel, but now, all my work to get him to realise what he’s done is happening, he’s changing, he’s almost winning back his wife....but....do I want him to?. Do I want to give that up?....what have I done?......