It started with a whisper..

“Hello!”

And for anyone who doesn't already know. A whispered ‘Hello’ was a whole vibe for me that sent an itch down to my big toe on my left foot. It reminded me of my ‘Fan’ from months back. The last chapter in my personal life that ended about the same time that my Marriage did. Coincidence? I wondered at times.

Turning to the voice that spoke heat into my ear, I found an enchanting smile on a woman that was a bright spot in an otherwise dim room.

“Hello..” I responded as she took the empty seat next to me.

Over the next twenty minutes or so we talked, laughed and flirted. She kept a smile on her face and found every reason to touch my arm as we conversated.

“So what do you do for a living?” She asked. As I went to answer, I noticed a man off in the distance and he seemed to be watching us. Probably a coincidence so I pushed my eyes to look back at her.

“I wrestle.” Pausing to take a sip from my glass. Topping off the drink with a can of root beer, I preferred it to coke with my Jack Daniels. “Like Professional Wrestling? You ever watch?”

“My brother loved it when he was a kid. It was never really my thing. Do you enjoy it? Make good money?”

“I have been doing it since before I turned 18.”

“Oh yeah? So you're successful at it then?” She continued to show interest.

“Yeah.. I mean, everyone has their ups and downs. As of late though? Up is where I’ve been. At least inside the ring. Outside? That's another story in itself.”

“I can tell you take good care of yourself..” She says as her hand slides up over my bicep and onto my right shoulder.

Leaning my head, I look past her and again see the same guy eyeing us. He was closer now. As we made eye contact, he cut away. It wasn't just my imagination and I was highly suspicious of my surroundings as it is.

“What's wrong?” Her voice carried a tone of concern. I’m sure my expression went from casual to a touch grrrr. She glanced over her shoulder to see what I was seeing.

“That guy..” Nodding to show her the direction where he was sitting. “He’s mean mugging and about to cause a stir..”

“Ohh don't mind him!” She says with a flip of her hand, waving off any concern. “That's Bryce, my boyfriend.”

“Say huh?” I shot a glance at her. “Boyfriend?”

“Yeah.. Don't worry, he doesn't do well with conflict.”

“Yeah, I can see that..” The guy was scrawny but he had a Larry Leisure look to him. Short, a bit on the dumpy side. “What are we doing here?”

“We’re getting to know each other!” She said as if that covered the weird situation. Her hand slides over mine. “He just likes to watch..”

I pull my hand away. “Watch what?” Looking from her to him, the guy moves closer. “I don't know what ya’ll into but I’m not the guy.”

“How do you know?”

I was taken by surprise at her response. She didn't try to sugarcoat anything anymore.

“We have a few drinks. Enjoy each other's company. You come back to our place and we fool around. Things get.. Fun!”

Her hand came off the table as she scooted close and I felt her hand grip on my thigh, taking steps with her fingers. Crawling closer to where she does NOT belong.

“Not my kind of fun..” I reached down and moved her hand.

“Oh no? Would you prefer if Bryce joined us?” As she offered it, he stepped up to the table with a greeting smile. “He’s a very giving lover!”

“Nice to meet you, you're a handsome man!” His arm reached across the table. I didn't take the offer to shake it.

Looking at her, she was giving me those ‘fuck me’ eyes and it was awkward with her boyfriend standing next to her. “So you want me to fuck your girlfriend while you watch?”

Both of them shook their heads up and down. The smiles on their faces couldn't be any bigger.

“So what's the game here?” I used my hands a lot when I got to talking. Like a game of charades or my attempt at broken Sign Language.

“What do you mean?” Bryce shoots a question back at me.

“Do you take turns finding someone to fuck each other? What's the mindset with this?”

“Ohhh that's easy!” The woman who I can't remember the name of, waves a hand at me as she starts to explain. “We’re an open relationship.” Leaning into her boyfriend, Bryce. She grins. “Sometimes we flirt with other people until we just can't take it anymore!”

Bryce followed up after she got done speaking.

“And sometimes, like now, we find someone off on their own. Someone who looks like they can satisfy some cravings. We enjoy watching or making it a Three's Company Party!”

Bryce seemed excited by the idea of that. “That's wild..” I knew people had their own lanes to travel and everyone had a journey of choice and this was theirs. Nothing wrong with it but it sure wasn't for me.

“Soooo…?” She moaned as she bit down on her bottom lip and slid over closer to me again. Her hand on my chest, she begins to nibble on my earlobe. Her boyfriend, Bryce, watched with a smile.

“Nope.” I pushed her away. Shaking my head from right to left, I wasn't into it.

“What's wrong?” Bryce asked.

“This is how you get herpes. Not this fool!” Again my head shakes not in a simple ‘no’ but in a ‘hell no’ left to right sway. Getting up from the table, I finish my drink in a long single gulp. “You can get the bill, thanks!”

I left. I had absolutely no interest in trying to hook up with anyone right now, I was still carrying a lingering connection to a failed marriage that I had no say in its ending. I just wanted to put back a few drinks. Unwind. Try to forget. I needed that but this shit wasn't it. That wasn't how I was going to go about it.

As I dragged feet across the parking lot outside. I felt the chill of the night breeze spill around my face. My beard flustered a bit as I pulled the rental key from my pocket. Should I even be driving? I had.. Two, maybe three drinks? Oh and two doubles. I think I am just tired and the idea of sleeping made me drowsy. I could have been a bit tipsy as well..

Getting in the driver seat of my rental, I yanked the door, slamming it shut. Hands on the wheel, I was trying to determine if I was capable of driving in my current condition. Had I had too many and was I responsible enough not to drink and drive?


“Adam Garcia. A young pup on the frontlines wanting to make his name in the XWF where he has apparently done so in every other promotion he has stepped foot in before now..

Claims people ‘hate’ him.

That they are ‘jealous’ of him and the things he has been able to accomplish in the short span of his career.

Hate? Jealousy? You’ll find none of those with me. Not for you anyway. I hate plenty and am jealous of very little..

See Garcia, you may have been a top seed in some four letter abbreviated company. You might have had a solid run in some Projects promotion but here isn't there. Nobody cares what you have done elsewhere! That's not how this works. Do you know HOW many people with high profiled backgrounds have come through XWF, shouted about their well endowment only to find out that what is ‘big’ somewhere else is micro small when it comes to THIS roster?

How many of those places you like to wave around and brag about are even still open?

I have been in this business for a long time! I have been inside many, many different rings and competed for just as many different companies and I haven't barely heard or kept knowledge of any of the ones you have mentioned since you’ve signed your new contract here.

That doesn't mean you haven't earned your shot. You came with a hunger to compete? XWF will provide that, HAS provided that for you already! You're what, 1-1 in the win/loss so far?

Will you stick around after that drops to 1-2? To your credit, you caught the attention of Thad Duke but I wouldn't brag too much about that. A nice ass and a smile will also grab his attention so I begin to wonder if it was talent he saw in you or a potential bend over he wants from you?

Nevertheless, Welcome to the part of your young journey where you get educated on the true grind of Professional Wrestling.

X

W

F

And I’m here to show you how to turn the volume up on the television because on the 19th you will be swarmed by too much to handle and not enough credibility and experience to manage it on your own. I’m THE Television provider around these parts and you’re just a new subscriber that has a guest appearance on one of the episodes of Warfare!”


I decided to walk. It was late, early morning at this hour and the hotel I was staying at wasn't that far from the bar. I could come back and pick up the rental later. Plus, it was nice outside. No clouds and a sky sprinkled in stars both lit brightly and dull in its shine. Tripping over a crack in the sidewalk makes you rethink looking up while walking tipsy.

Trying not to greet anyone as I got to the Hotel. I get to the elevator and take it to the floor I was on. The key card came from my pocket and I was inside my room in no time. When I started the walk, I told myself I would sleep once I got here but now that I have arrived? I am wide awake.

“Fuck..” I muttered not even feeling the effects of the drinks I had gulped down. I was clear minded and awake like I had a good night's sleep.

I needed some sleep. Having had twenty minutes in the last few days now, it was like I was a meth head but I’ve never been the type to do those kinds of drugs. I’m a fool but I’m far from that stupid. Sitting on the side edge of the hotel bed, it was a cheap single bed room. Nothing fancy, it didn't even have a mini fridge. The thought crossed my mind to turn on the TV. Find some late night Evangelist to laugh at.

“The bracelet!”

I wasn't sure why I hadn't tried it yet. I couldn't tell you why I was even carrying it around but I knew that I had it. Leaving Houston, I made sure to toss it in my bag because I felt someone would eventually come after me for having it. Popping up from my seated position on the bed, I race across the room and open the closet next to the front door. My bag was where I left it.

“We bout to get some of that GOOD sleep!”

I had my fingers crossed that it would work. That the magic that the man in Italy, the man who claimed to be working for the Church had said the bracelet had. I desperately needed that magic to be real.. Returning to the bed, I sit down and bring the bag onto my lap. I dug into a search.


“You want to send people to the hospital? Tear limbs on your opponents? Show me where any of that has happened at your hands. See, Little Garcia, people like to talk. They like to yap like dogs wanting their bark to vibrate the walls and place fear in anyone who is trying to approach their yard. The problem is, far too many of those same people run off at the mouth talking noise that they cannot or have not EVER backed up!

You won't hear me telling you that I am the best thing fighting. You won't see me telling you that I’m going to break you because if I hate you THAT much then I don't need to wait for bell time. I find where you sleep, where you feel safe and I come see you. I have DONE these things, they aren't just shit I say to sound tough. I’m not tough, I’m feral and I am thick skinned and tooth sharpened. You want to shine like the star you THINK you are? You better reevaluate your investment and maybe see about trying to replace Sean Parker as that guy who at best is the little engine that could but probably won't be.

You want to rise but I’m not Centurion. My knees are fine and I WISH you would come into this talking about age gaps because I’ll put a gap in your smile after making you bite the steel stairs and stomping on the back of your fucking head.

I’m not a hateful person, Lil Garcia, I just don't like too many. With you? You're just another name. A competitor that provides a challenge but you are NOT a mountain to climb but rather a speed bump in the road that forces you to slow down a bit.

You want to know what it's like to be in the big league as you, yourself called this company? Surely it wasn't where you came from, otherwise the upgrade in your surroundings wouldn't have happened. In XWF, you will find big, bigger and better than what you have seen in the ten months you have even had a career..

You want to rise.. I want to see you fall. Trip over yourself because of the reflection you see of yourself has been a lie. This isn't where you ascend, this is where your wings are plucked from your back. It won't take a sun burning them but a DiOGee chewing them off as I feed on the body I leave laying inside that ring..

Am I talking noise like you did? Like others do? Exaggerate the things I say that I could never truly accomplish? Maybe I am. You surely don't have wings so at least, in that aspect, it's just noise being spoken but me feeding off you like a feast laid out before me? That's quite likely!”


Was I asleep? I felt awake, I felt quite amazing to be honest but something was different.

Something was.. Off..

I wasn't sure how I ended up in a hallway. Reaching out, I touch the wall because I recall them being yellow and while they still had a yellow to them, it was far more faded in color than I remembered. Everything was. The shorthaired carpet that had been a blood red before was now a smokey red like time had passed and faded the colors all around me.

“What's going on?” I felt myself whisper but the words never left my mouth. They never hit the airwaves but sang in my head only. I tried again. “Hello?” I called out but once more, I didn't feel the words escape with any vocal reach outside of my inner thoughts. It was weird and hard to explain but the area around me felt like time had taken pause and I was moving around in that pause.

Turning to look down both ends of the hallway I was in. I was having trouble remembering little details. Where I was? Was this a Hotel? It looked like one but I couldn't remember being here even though I could remember the color of the walls and floor. What was worse is that as I tried, I couldn't remember who I was..

“My name is…” I questioned myself in my head. The only place I could say anything but an answer to my identity came with a blank response.

Was I dead? Did I slip into a coma? I had questions that were piling into a pile of things I could not answer. Every thought that came felt like it came with a delay. As if it were traveling a distance before entering my reach of thinking.

Unsure of what to do, I palm my face with my hand. That's when I noticed I didn't feel my own touch. Pulling my hand from my face, I tried to give myself a high five. No feeling. No skin to skin touch. I slapped myself and only in my mind did I feel that I did so. I felt nothing. 

I wanted to panic. I wanted to scream but surprisingly, I felt a calm that I couldn't quite describe. I was at peace even if my inner voice was asking questions that had no answers. Thinking I had to find a clue, I tried to open a nearby door. I couldn't grab the handle and fell forward, spilling THROUGH the door and stumbling into the room.

“Am I a ghost?!” I blurted out but again, the voice of it was limited to my own head. Scanning the room, I didn't recognize any of it. Was this my room? I moved into the room more and found a lump underneath the blankets on the bed. “Shit..” I whispered trying not to wake them and remembered that I was a fucking mute all of a sudden. I approach the bed, the need to see who it was is driving my step forward.

I reach for the blanket at its corner..


“You said that you were different from the rest. That most don't care about their win/loss but you, that shit eats at you. Funny thing about that is that you are a dime a dozen..

You wear masks to hide your pain. You lay in bed dwelling over losses just like everyone else does! What makes you different from the rest? Because you're from Spain? Because you aren't even old enough to purchase Alcohol in the US? You think that this is a young man’s sport? Take my position for example. Who else is booked every show defending their Title each and every time I step out to that ring?

You look to be the cream that rises but you are looking at what is on the PPV posters and who sits in the Main Event for the Big Shows but who is setting the bar for those events and those leading up to those events? Me.

The Television Champion and you are getting inside MY ring when I defend MY crown yet again!

This isn't a prediction or a hope that I want to grab onto and pray that it happens. I don't pray but maybe you should.. Pray that you can get the crowd behind you. Pray that they sing cheers as you get a move or two in because most of the people watching and those sitting in the back, don't much like me.

I have the red belt in this company and it's rightfully so because I am the red flag that most people stay away from!

Look at my history. Just in XWF. I have been in failed groups and failed relationships and a lot of losing. I failed on Anarchy. I won and lost the Extreme Title as soon as I won it. I was Tag Champion with a pompous ass that I ended up walking out on and that cost us the Tag Titles.

Championships don't mean SHIT if the person holding them doesn't place value in the fight to keep them. I have the belt I want in XWF.. Some say I should be vying for the Universal but I don't see that belt as being on my level. It's a part time Title. Big fights are fun but I can do what that division does every single match I am booked in because I defend MY Title just as often as I am inside that ring.

You told Lauren that she had nothing that concerned you in her abilities. I say the same to you. The difference will be that I will live to be accurate in my assumption of you and you sat laid up questioning your purpose in this sport after you lost.

Now that you beat Centurion, I’m sure that mindset and stance will change yet again. You’ll be perky, lifted in confidence just as you were when you strolled into your first match. One on one, you are one of one. Maybe this is your moment to grab hold of but what's more likely?

You beating me or me doing what I did with Misty-Dolly, what I have done against Cypher. I went to the limit with a Prince named King and he hasn't been right since then! I went to a no contest with Dionysus but with you? There won't be any distance found. We won't see the time limit come into play.

I put you away not because you are Latoya Hixx trash but because you have found yourself out in a new neighborhood and here, we got dogs on the loose. We fight, we bite and we go for the fucking jugular..

Hold your head up, chin high and I will lock jaw until you stop twitching. You’d think that was exaggerating but give me your neck and let's test my theory..”


She was in pain. Scared even. I felt everything she was feeling. Her deepest secrets bounced around so loudly as if they were being broadcasted in my own thoughts. A dream not of my own playing like a theater film. She was trying to hide, heart racing. Peeking out as an evil was felt approaching from somewhere.

“Hello! Can you hear me?” I tried to call out to her but I was only seeing her in a dreamstate. This wasn't real. She was sleeping on a bed in a Hotel where I found her. Her head turned to me and for a moment, I thought she was making eye contact.

I felt a dreadful emotion of sadness pass through me. It was angry, evil, hateful and in the form of a man I could only see from behind as he marched towards her. Snatching her by the hair, he lifts her out of her hiding place. She screams, jolts and fights.

I felt a tugging. A pull that grew stronger before I was yanked and carried. I couldn't stop myself as I flew through the space of the hotel room, flying from the bed, I drifted through the door where I had entered and glided down the hallway. Everything passed in a blur to indicate how fast I was being dragged.

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't focus. I had no inner thoughts, I was exclusively in the moment trying to figure out what was going on. I had no answers. Into another room, I was flung onto another bed and felt a tremendous thud as I landed.

“AGGGGHHH!”

Sitting up in bed. I was covered in sweat. The headache that pounded made it hard to keep my eyes open as I tried to look around. “Jason. Jason Cashe..” I said remembering who I was. The color in the room was properly placed again, unlike before. Was it just a dream?

Grabbing my phone, I had to stare at the time and didn't believe it. “I slept for 7 hours?!” The phone falls back onto the bed, I look to my right arm and find the bracelet. “The fuck is this thing?”