OOC - Edited as I forgot to number the RP.

RING RING

I awoke from the small and uncomfortable hospital bed to the sound of my phone ringing loudly. I fumbled around attempting to reach the bedside table where my cell phone rested. When I grabbed it into my hand I immediately checked the screen.

-COLIN CALLING-

“Hello” I struggled to get out, pain coursing through my body.

“Ethan, its Colin. I heard about your accident, I hope you’re alright…. But I wanted to let you know, I met with the real estate agent for you last night and I bought that place you and Sarah were looking at for you guys. I put it in her name just like you asked.”

“That’s great Colin, thanks.” I can’t remember a time in my life where it physically hurt me to speak, aside from this. My head was spinning and pounding at the same time. The light creeping in from the window was causing my eyes to shut and causing a migraine to develop almost instantly in my head.

“Yeah no problem man, listen, I am just pulling into work. I’m going to talk to my boss and get the day off. I’ll come to the hospital and we’ll hang out. I got some old wrestling DVD’s and I’ll bring my Dell. Just like old times alright man?”

“Alright Colin, I’ll see you in a bit” I hung up the phone and placed it back on the end table. As I placed it down, I noticed it had been sitting atop a newspaper. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the story on the front page of New York Times was about me, about the injury from last night. I struggled to focus my eyes enough to read through the entire article. Skimming it over “disastrous accident”, “neck damage” and “concussion” jumped off the page at me. That explained the difficulty and pain caused by my movements. The headaches now made more sense to me.

Neck injury, I thought to myself, that’s just my luck. To be honest it scared me a little. I was never the type of man to be scared of much. Reading the words “neck injury” scared me. Immediately I thought about Sarah, our life together, our future. How could I provide for her, protect her, even love her if I was paralyzed. Was it fair to make her sit by my bedside, crying as I went through surgery after surgery. I didn’t want that image in her head, haunting her. What if she left me? My life is over…

My mind was flustered, for the first time in my life I felt anxiety. Thoughts filling my head faster than I could reconcile them in my mind. My chest felt heavy, my breathing pattern was changing, suddenly it was getting difficult to breathe. The sun still coming in through the window was causing me to squint, I moved my head to the side to avoid the light. It alleviated the pain only momentarily before he migraine returned.

Laying there felt like an eternity, all these wild thoughts crossing my mind. I started focusing on slowing down my breathing, slowly but surely bringing it under control and back to normal. I focused my mind, trying to remove all the illogical thoughts crowding it. Suddenly, I had come to a realization, I hadn’t even attempted to stand.

Without hesitation I attempted to move my legs, they both moved, easily. I placed both feet and the ground, sitting on the edge of the hospital bed. Rubbed my face and stood up. I remember how cold the floor was on my barefeet as I walked over to the window. I pulled the blind shut, finally putting an end to the light that was creeping in. I laid back down on the bed, comfortable in the dark.

In retrospect, that was likely the beginning of the change that occurred in me. When I pulled those blinds fully closed, sealing out that little light that was creeping in, I was foreshadowing what the next years would bring me in my life.

My life over the next four years would change drastically, laying in that hospital bed, cold, alone and in the dark was how it started.

JUNE 30TH 2015

The rain still pouring down from the darkened skies, puddles together in the alleys of New York City. Ethan is seated in one of these alleys, cold and dark. He sits atop his throne, a torn and battered old office chair. Sitting around him, a group of his followers, ever growing in numbers. He speaks softly to them as they listen intently.

“As I sit back and think about my opponents for this week, sadly only one word comes to my mind. Inadequate.”

“This is a disease, a disease that the common man and the XWF suffers from. My three opponents this week, are certainly no different. Fontanna, Thunderbolt X and Cain, they suffer this same disease, their skills are inadequate.”

“You see, this problem, this epidemic, is something they are likely unaware of. Like the average man, who spends his life punching a clock, unaware that his failures, inadequacies keep him on the brink of unemployment. This is the life, these three men lead. All three of them, ‘contenders’ in their own minds. All three of them ‘believing’ they have a chance against me tomorrow. Yet tomorrow, the only things their simple minds will realize is defeat.”

“This feeling, is not something that is new to them. In fact, it’s a feeling they’ve been living with their entire lives. These three men were the kids growing up that were picked last sports. The kids, you would cringe at the thought of having to play with, the kids everyone felt sorry for. Undoubtedly, this continued for them into their older years, as their life struggles continued to members of the opposite sex. They settled, only being able to date and fornicate with the women no one else wanted. These same failures, these same inadequacies carry with them now to XWF, you listen to their frustration, their disappointment in their results. It’s ironic, after a lifetime of failure and inadequacy, one would think they have become accustom to it.”


“Each of their characters, their words and messages are confusing. Perhaps, after the defeat they suffer this week, it will force them to retrace their steps. Find out where they went wrong and attempt to correct it. But likely not, these are the type of men who find excuses, they look for reasons and rationale, rather than admitting being bested. A promise I can make to you, all of my followers, is this, none of those three men, Fontanna, Thunderbolt or Cain, will be enough of a man to admit they were beaten by a better man.”

“These common men, they know not what they are about to face. Ask the mighty, Eli James what my wrath feels like. He took it upon himself, to show me hatred and distain upon my arrival. He spoke to me like a pastor, preaching to his followers but it when came time for him to act upon those words, he was left lying in the middle of the ring having lost to his pathetic opponent. Since then, like the coward he truly is, he’s been silent. He is silent, because he was first one to be left lying in my wake. Eli James now understands, Ethan Bird is not hype, I am the cold, harsh, reality and I have arrived.”