And into the dreamworld we begin…

The September dusk called upon the darkness to blanket the cold city. The streetlight I stood under was the only illumination near me. I take a long drag on the cigarette hanging out of my mouth while keeping an eye out for my partners’ car. As I peered down the oily black street, I could see headlights in the distance. With all the other streetlights out, the headlights grew quickly. I could hear the familiar sound of that angry muffler on the ‘94 Buick drawing near. I unbuttoned the top two buttons on my long, brown overcoat as the car slowed to a stop next to me.

My partner, Damien, sits behind the wheel of the old car. Even from here I can see the agitation coursing through him. The backseat is littered with empty fast food bags and liquor bottles. The passenger door creaks in protest as I slowly open it. For a moment I wonder when the last time this beast was in for any kind of maintenance. Even a bloody oil change. Damien turns his head in my direction and raises an eyebrow at my slow entry. He isn’t drunk. Yet. The night was still young and I could see the neck of a bottle poking out from his opened jacket.

You gettin’ in or what!? These murders ain’t solving themselves!

The murders. Three grisly and similar deaths in five nights. I crouch down and plop myself into the passenger seat, already noticing the heavy stink of alcohol. My partner and I worked the block where the first two murders took place. Tonight was number three. Perfect way to start a shift.

What do you know?

Not much. Another early twenty something. Ripped to shreds on Green street.

Fuck sakes…

I wait for my partner to say something, anything. Break this awful silence. The Buick’s cracked muffler chugs out a roar as we pull away from the curb and head towards Green street.

Some old broad called it in, came across the body in the park while walking her dog. Said the victim was in pieces.

Fuckin’ pieces…

Yeah. So anyway, that makes three this week.

Fuckin’ three…

You alright? You’re not flaking out on me are ya kid?

No, just didn’t sleep well is all.

That was a lie. I didn’t sleep at all.

We ain’t got time to stop for a coffee so wake the fuck up.

Yeah fuck you too.

We arrive at the north park on Green street several minutes later. There’s already two patrol cars there with the cherries lighting up the pitch black park. I step out of the Buick and can just make out some caution tape in the darkness. My partner goes over to the officers to chat, his specialty. I make my way to the body before it is moved and evidence is tampered with. I wind up startling a woman sitting on a bench.

Sorry ma’am. You should probably head home before it gets too late. Not safe at night.

Oh, the other officer told me to wait here.

I stare down at the attractive woman with the blue hair and realize she’s the witness. Definitely not what I’d call an old broad at all. And there’s no dog either. Typical broken telephone bullshit with our operators. Purple monkey dishwasher.

Oh, so you found the…body?

I did, it was oh so awful. Who would do that to someone?

There’s a lot of sickos out there. Especially at night.

I take a seat next to her. She manages to hide a lot of her face behind that long, blue hair. Despite the tone of her voice, she doesn’t seem as scared as I would expect under these circumstances.

You must be used to this. In your profession I mean. Always seeing the darkest sides of humanity.

You never get used to it. In my opinion anyway. May I ask what you were doing out here alone at night?

She briefly lowers her head, almost in shame.

I had a…disagreement with my partner…it got very heated. I needed to cool off…

She pulls out a cigarette and as she lights it I finally get a better view of her beautiful face. I can see a tear rolling down her cheek. This poor girl, what a night she’s had. A lover’s quarrel followed by stumbling into a murder scene. Yeesh.

Listen, I gotta take a look at the body. Stay here and I’ll come back and my partner and I will drive you home.

I appreciate the kindness but honestly I’m just a few houses down the street. A ride isn’t necessary.

I insist! I won’t be long.

I give her no chance to respond as I get up from the park bench and make my way to the body. Or whatever may be left of it based on early reports. The back end of the park is where I spot the police tape. With just my flashlight, it isn’t easy to see much other than black grass and shadows. I reach the police tape and duck underneath. It’s a fairly large part of the park that has been taped off. As I shine my flashlight around the ground in front of me, I quickly see why.

Fuck sakes…

I barely whisper that as I spot a ravaged corpse a few feet in front of me. Staring down at the body my mind struggles to accept what I see. The contorted body of a young man lies there, left arm completely gone. His throat carved like a pisspoor Halloween pumpkin. His upper body and remaining right arm slashed up like a Freddy Kruger victim. This wasn’t just a regular murder. This poor young man was torn apart even worse than the previous two victims. I crouch down and use my flashlight to carefully check the body for anything suspicious.

The fuck is this?

I pull a pen from my pocket and lean towards the massive pool of blood. As I look closely I can definitely see a few strands of long, blue hair resting on top of the blood. Carefully using my pen I lift it out of the blood but it suddenly seems to disappear before my eyes. I give my head a shake and stand back up. I really did need to get some sleep.

Alright, let’s ask blue some more questions…

My nerves weren’t doing well. I never talk aloud to myself. Trying to shake it off, I turn and make my way back over to the park bench. As I approach I notice the woman with the blue hair is no longer sitting on the bench. She’s in fact nowhere to be seen. I head over to my partner and the others officers. She’s not with them either. I turn and ask one of the officers that arrived on the scene first. His name badge reads officer Nickles. I take notice of his missing ear as I ask.

Did you let the witness go?

The sweet old broad? Yaaa, we got what we needed from er and sent her home in a squad car right before yous got here.

I hear what he says perfectly fine but none of it makes sense. I quietly thank him and go back to the Buick to sit and collect my thoughts. My partner comes back to the car a few minutes later. I try telling him about the woman with the blue hair but he tells me nobody else noticed her and asked if I was seeing things. This whole case has become less cut and dry by the day. My head was swimming with an ocean of questions but no answers. I also really needed to sleep but the night was young…

To be continued…

Sometime after Anarchy…

And here we go once again with everyone’s favorite grouch that ever frowned upon the seven seas, our old pal Marf.

Well it was nice stopping by Anarchy on Thursday night. Got to see my buddy Vinnie Lane in the flesh. Got to teach a few lessons as well. Let’s start with that bottom of the toilet turd known as Jackson “Jax” Hart. The fuck were you thinking bud? I gave you the opportunity to get out of my ring peacefully. My business was clearly with Sonya, not you. But no, you made the unwise choice to insert yourself into my business as well. And look where that got ya hero boy. A bruised throat, smashed nuts and a solid bump on the ole noggin.

Tell me Jax, do you feel good about yourself now? You picked up a win over a lame duck Sonya and immediately got your ass handed to you afterwards for being a stupid fuck. How’s that momentum doing now? I hope you at least learned to mind your own fucking business going forward. The fact you even tried to get in my way leads me to believe you just may be hopeless. I can promise you one thing though, next time you see me I likely won’t take it so easy on you. Best you just hide yourself over there on Anarchy.

Marf sneers and nods, impressed with the advice he’s just given.

As for you Sonya, I won’t take too much time on you since I’m sure everything is still foggy. You played a dangerous game and wound up wasting my damn time. You will never be anything, and you most definitely will never be a half decent wrestler. You are completely untrainable, mostly due to the severe lack of talent. You ran that slutty mouth of yours but when push came to shove you couldn’t even handle shitty little Jax. You are a joke of a competitor and I hope you understand why I ended your career in Xwf.

Perhaps some of you are thinking I’m being far too harsh with that statement. But let’s be honest with ourselves, when I slammed those steel steps onto Sonya’s empty head I was also slamming the book shut on her wrestling career. I felt the crunch and I could also feel all her ambitions and hopes racing out of her body for good. For all I know she hasn’t even woken up from the coma. Sonya Benson will never be the same, and she’ll never be seen in the XWF ever again thanks to yours truly.

Marf leans forward for a moment and smiles.

You’re welcome.

He straightens back up into a regular stance.

And with all that out of the way, it looks like it’s time to talk about the very near future. Just up ahead is Relentless, another huge pay per view, arguably the biggest. And with it comes another huge opportunity. A number one contender’s match for the Hart championship. A one on one matchup against Talia Areano. I’m hoping I didn’t butcher that and pronounced your name correctly…just kidding, I don’t give a fuck! Guess you’ll have to reach down and fight through that adversity too. Poor tales.

He scoffs but continues on.

So, reborn runaway or karate girl or whatever the fuck you’re attempting to be. Are you showing up for Relentless or will you be taking another leave of absence? What’s another four years, it’ll fly by for you while moping through your precious indies. Do the people there actually care when you start talking about your glory days? Or do they give as few fucks about it as myself? Hmm, is that the adversity you actually face, fighting with your own cowardice every god damn day?

One thing is for sure, a handful of wins over a bunch of chumps, chimps and cowards who almost all had a foot out the door already isn’t about to impress the likes of me. But don’t worry, you go right ahead and brag about your most triumphant victories thus far on redemption road. I’ll stand by politely smiling and nodding and pretending it has any kind of meaning. Very soon you’re going to see the difference between facing that tool Calypso or the wonderslut Geri Vayden. You’ll experience a real fight instead of fumbling through a fluke of a match with that worthless cum stain Jessica Tremor.

Marf leans in a bit here.

By the way, I was on that Warfare. That pulley system bullshit match you had was far away from anything worth bragging about. You secured a fluke ass win against a minor leaguer, go line up for your participation award! Oh Christ, I may have a tough time getting through to you but I suppose I need to give it a shot. Just so I can say I tried to give you fair warning for what you’re about to get yourself into. I’m not sure you even realize the giant pile of misery you’re about to step into…

Marf leans back and laughs before continuing on.

You’re going to be stepping into the ring with Marf, the master of macabre and brutality. I’m not just going to face off with you and try to win a title shot. I’m going to come after you and show you why you should stick to Anarchy. I’m going to show you why you have no right to be given an opportunity at a Hart title shot. Tales, Talia, Taka michinoku who fucking cares, you’re about to enter a new world at Relentless. Your precious road to redemption is about to hit a dead end in the form of Marf.

Marf grins sadistically while chuckling now.

Very fitting, this noir theme for Relentless…when I’m all done with you Tales, everything will be dark and black in your world. Now don’t go crying that I didn’t warn you about your next upcoming adversity, bitch. Just be happy if I choose to leave you with all your fucking teeth. Hope to hear from ya!

Marf can’t help himself and bursts out laughing as we fade out.