"Look at him. What a moron. He'll never be anything in life. He's always been and will always be a loser."

"Wake up, Branden. It's 6:00."

Branden Harvey sits up. He sighs. Memories. Always painful, just like his life.

"Thanks, Uncle Nick. I have work to do, if I want to be a wrestler."

It's May 31, 2015. It's Branden Harvey's eighteenth birthday. This is the day he's been waiting for for years. All his life, he's wanted to be a pro wrestler, like his parents were before they died.

Branden Harvey hurries down the stairs and heads for the door.

"Wait a minute, young man. You'd better eat before you head out that door. I made pancakes."

"Do what your aunt says, boy. You're going to need your strength, if you want to wrestle as well as you parents. They always made sure to eat a good breakfast, no matter how busy they were."

Branden was raised by his Aunt Becky and Uncle Nick his entire life. They were always good to him and they loved him more than anything else in the world. He sat down and ate his pancakes. He had done well in school too, graduating an entire year early. His teachers loved him. The other students, however...

"Look at him. What a moron. He'll never be anything in life. He's always been and will always be a loser."

Branden was clumsy and, to add even more difficulty to life, he was afraid to talk to girls. He was eighteen and had never had a girlfriend. But he was sure he'd make a good wrestler. In fact, he was positive. Just like his parents were.

After breakfast, he headed straight to APW University to become a pro wrestler. He had already paid tuition but they told him he had to be eighteen before he could train. Here he was, on his eighteenth birthday, having his first day of training.

Training lasted a grueling four hours. His parents were technical wrestlers and that's the style he wanted to learn. His clumsiness proved too much for him to handle and technical wrestling seemed impossible for him. He was distraught. His sadness turned to anger and, when he unleashed his anger, he learned a style of wrestling he might be able to succeed with: hardcore wrestling.

On July 27, 2015, Branden had his first match. His opponent was a man named Johnny Knuckles.

Branden lost. He was devastated. He thought he could be a success in wrestling. After the match, President Jeff fired Branden, saying he was talentless and would never do anything in wrestling.

All Branden had ever wanted to do was wrestle and it was now over. Branden dropped out of APW University. Branden Harvey was done with wrestling after a single match.

Over the next several months, Branden began looking for a job. However, there were few jobs to be found and the ones he did find didn't want to hire a loser like Branden Harvey. His aunt and uncle were devastated. They loved him so much and couldn't stand this depression. On March 2, 2016, Uncle Nick decided to act.

Branden had spent the day looking for a job, as usual. When he didn't find any, he went into an alley to cry, as usual, when his phone rang.

BRRING

BRRING

Branden looked at the caller ID. It was Uncle Nick. Branden pressed ignore and finished his cry. A few minutes later, he saw he had a voicemail. He'll check it later.

A few hours later, Branden got home. He wasn't the only person to cry that night. Aunt Becky was crying HARD!

"What's wrong, Aunt Becky?"

Your Uncle tried to call you. When you didn't answer, he went to look for you. He had news for you. News he was excited to tell you. I just got a phone call from the morgue. He got into a car crash. He's dead.

Branden was horrified. This was his fault. He ran to his room and sat on his bed, contemplating suicide. He was terrible at everything. And now people were dying because of him. If he killed himself, at east no one else would be hurt because of his carelessness.

He wrapped a noose around his neck. He had his phone in his hand. He wanted to listen to Uncle Nick's final words to him before he died. He went to voicemail and pressed play.

"Hey, son. I couldn't stand by and watch you kill yourself, little by little. I'm still in contact with a few people your parents knew. Some of them have become important. I called a friend and he agreed to give you a job with the Xtreme Wrestling Federation. Take the job, son. It's what you want. I love you."

After listening to the message, Branden couldn't do it. He couldn't kill himself. Uncle Nick wouldn't have wanted that. The only thing Uncle Nick wanted was for him to wrestle. He was going to do it but he couldn't guarantee he was going to be any good. He went downstairs to comfort his aunt.

-------------------------------

I've just discovered I'll be wrestling Travis McCoy in my first match in the XWF. I had no problems with Travis McCoy. He has more experience than me. He's better than me. Being honest, he's probably going to win.

But here's the thing: when Travis McCoy suggested my father raped me, he pissed me off. And when he supplemented that by pissing on my parents grave, he awoke an angry and vengeful man.

I wasn't lying earlier, Travis. You ARE a better wrestler than me and you're probably going to win the match. But trust me when I say you're going to have to earn that win.

You see, I have issues with staying down. I also have problems with violence. When I get angry, I become very violent. You will earn your win and you're going to have to earn it with blood.

Do you want to become blood brothers, Travis? That's what I'm offering you.

Branden takes the chair he's sitting on and hits himself in the head with it several times. Eventually, he starts to bleed.

As you can see, Travis, I have no problem bleeding. My father may not have raped me but trust me when I say this win will feel bittersweet to you because you will feel like you've been raped. I've had a very, VERY bad week. I loath myself for what I've done an I'm going to take my self-loathing and use it to make you suffer and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it. Have a nice day.