Sliding Doors: (close) | Part II
Jun 8, 2022 9:52:24 GMT -5
Spencer Adams, CJ Phoenix, and 7 more like this
Post by The Swallowing on Jun 8, 2022 9:52:24 GMT -5
“Wat’s wrong? Why ‘ya cryin’?” I couldn’t get a word out - my body trembled, and I panted like a hyperventilating dog. Addy pulled me into her body, attempting to console and comfort me. She moved the ice-cream from my lap so it wouldn’t spill on the bedsheets. Her fingers on my arm felt like electricity. “You’re sweatin’, babe. Gonna open up a window.” She slid the door open and I felt the wave of air rush in. I closed my eyes and settled myself, hitting pause on the Roku. “I don’t know what happened,” I said, my cheeks reddening. I blew into another tissue. "I couldn't breathe." “It’s just a show -” she said, observing me shaking my head. “Besides, it ain’t even the same thing.” Our eyes met and she squeezed my hand. “McDreamy is married.” I loved how she knew exactly why this particular scene had affected me this way. “An' y’know He ain’t eva’ gon’ marry that little girl.” “I don’t want to be like Meredith.” I started crying again as Addy pulled me up by the hand, leading me out to the patio. “C’mon, I don’t wanna watch a show about people dyin’. Too much of that in tha’ world.” She fell silent. And she didn’t explain why. |
EARLIER TODAYThere’s And there’s everyone revolving around This is what happens when you’re the baddest dogs in the fight - with the sharpest teeth, and foam drippin’ from each one. A rumble in the belly - a hunger for fuckin’ days - it’s chow-time, bitches, and we’re ready to eat. This is what happens when you come back swingin’ that big dick dynasty. Vanguard can extol their virtues, pat themselves on the back for carryin’ the torch when nobody else was ‘round to challenge ‘em, but no one believes you’ve been battle-tested. You won those belts on my turf - Uprising - against a team that didn’t want to be there. It took a month to even team up again - non-titled. And since, after Downfall cemented himself as a singles star, and Dionysus did what he’s always done best - carrying luggage - you had slapfights with a revolving door of dipshits like GRINDHOUSE and Bentley Unlimited. Four months. Four months of this record-breaking reign highlighted by two-title defenses against the Dangerous Gentlemen. And you have the fuckin’ nerve to downplay us winning ours against actual dangerous motherfuckers like Crow and Spencer, like Twin Gods, like Odin and Kemp, like Corey and Graham? You have the audacity to claim you brought this belt main-event relevance, when all six of your defenses were bathroom breaks until the Swallowing barreled through the division you cultivated and decided we’ve had enough of your shit? The biggest tag-team match ever isn’t on account of you, Downfall, and especially you, Dion. Get a dose of fuckin’ reality. I know you’re chompin’ at the bit, a scared mutt shittin’ himself in the corner, snappin’ at the hand that’s invited you here, but your impending character assassination of me ain’t anythin’ I ain’t already heard. I know I’m flawed. I know I’m human. But you sit on this perch of pompous moral superiority when everyone you’re preachin’ to would rather slit their wrists than listen to anythin’ espoused from your fat-ass lips. I mean way more to you than you ever will to me, and that’s why you’ve set your sights on discrediting me. Interrupting me. Faking a fuckin’ partnership with me when you thought it would fuckin’ get you somewhere, and ditchin’ me when shit.got.too.real. You aren’t a good person, or a good partner, and when you do lose these titles - and this phony legacy you’ve tried convincing anyone who’ll listen that it means somethin’ - Downfall is goin’ to give you a taste of your own fuckin’ medicine. He’s goin’ to unshackle the anchor that’s kept him from rising back to the top of the company, and you’re gonna resort to Leveling Up in a fuckin’ trash heap. That’s where you’re comfortable, Dion. You might’a got the long title reign that’s eluded you. And the cover-boy superstar partner that placates you. Hell, you’ve probably gotten laid for the first time in, like - ever - but this is Action Wrestling. This ain’t supposed to be comfortable. |
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me. It’s just - everything.” “Cypher still fuckin’ around?” “Yes-” “An’ all those limp-dick Daemon fans makin’ fun of ‘ya?” “...” “The Bacchycat rumors?” “Addy?” I fell into realization, the gravity of her knowledge about what happened on that rooftop sent shivers down my spine. “How did ‘ya know?” “L-V ain’t that big a town, an’ word gets ‘round quickly.” “I’m so embarrassed–” “Why?” I shook my head, gazing out of the patio of the hotel room Johnny had canceled his reservation from. At that moment, I realized just how obsessive it was that I actually was sleeping in the same bed that he had. “This is gonna change everything.” “It don’t have ‘ta. ‘Ya know what we settin’ out to do. An’ if he decides ‘ta go -” But I stopped listening. |
Action Wrestling finally gets it's tag-team match of the century. After two years of utter futility that began when next-gen Following sat unopposed on the throne, AW - and everyone watchin’ at home - couldn’t hide their fuckin’ boners when word got out that the Swallowing had. They’ve invested time and promotion into this division, and they finally got the top dogs when they’ve been servin’ up nothin’ but hot dogs. Does that trigger you, Regan? You want, so desperately, to step out from under the shadow I cast over you. You need my validation for those victories - because you know that I was here long before you, and your biggest fear is that I’ll be here long after. The whole time I was manipulated into playin’ third-fiddle in Philidor, you were the one they were tryin’ to make a star. They poured the money into you, the main events onto you - they put your face on the posters, and justified your diseased mind and apologized for your obsessive psychosis and all it landed you was pushing with my sister and a lecherous hanger-on who’s managed to do even less with more. It’s funny, Jill - that you once tried this same shit with me. Followin’ me around like a sad puppy desperate for attention, and when I didn’t give it to ‘ya, you started ankle-bitin’ another. What is your purpose here, Jill? What are you tryin’ to prove? You’ve got a cauldron in your room, and you’re stirrin’ that shit up, just waitin’ for the moment to strike. But you’re transparent; your methods are futile. I honestly wish more people approach the biggest moments and the biggest matches the way you do, Jill. You think you’re moving the chess pieces, thinkin’ you’re one step-ahead. But if everyone took your strategy and followed your blueprint, I’d win one-hundred-percent of the fuckin’ time. You’re a perpetual loser, Jill. Always have been. Always will be. There’s comfort in failure. And you’ve mastered the fuckin’ art. |
“Do you still have the ring he gave you?” “Robbie?” I nodded my head and I watched her look up at the stars. “It ain’t ‘eva ‘gon leave my pocket.” “Can I see it?” Addy’s body froze. It was obvious by her hesitation that this was something she was uncomfortable sharing - even with me. “I get it.” I stood up from my chair and felt empty as I paced back into the hotel room, sliding the patio door shut behind me. And as if I was a big catch hooked on the line, I felt like I was being reeled towards the mini-fridge. I opened it - the mini-shot bottles that I’d managed to keep my hands off? They were gone. TRANSFORMATION | You've never felt grief ('til you felt it sober) |
I let myself get comfortable. Twice now, I allowed myself to get snakebit when I already had someone I could depend on waiting for me to slide open the door. I let you sit at my bedside, Ash, and I believed that you were offering me salvation. I didn’t have the courage to stand up on my own, and I thought you were offering me your shoulder to lean on. I was once that wounded dog in the kennel, refusing to eat. And you got closer until I ate the scraps from the palm of your hand. You poisoned me. You nearly destroyed me. I promised myself that I wouldn’t let you con anyone else. And I failed. Why her, Johnny? I’ve never asked you this. You asked me to believe in you, to trust in you, and I was willingly blinded by you even if I know who she is, and what she will always be. Why her? Nothing you answer will ever satisfy me. Not anymore. It’s your most endearing quality - and also your most foolish: you want to save the blackened soul. You did it for Action Wrestling. You’ve done it for me. And you’re tryin’, in vain, to do it for her. But you want honesty? This is a business relationship, Johnny. You’re not friends, you’re not blood - you’re not kindred spirits and you’re not irrevocably bonded, even if she’s convinced you otherwise. She’s a tumor attached to your hip that you’re too chickenshit to excise. Why her? The rumors are swirling now - we both know the power of one - and it's on you to answer them. Nobody knows if these belts mean anything to you, so what's your end-game? I’ll always care for you, but you’re a creature of comfort, Johnny. That’s why your hair now matches the hoodies you still wear when it’s 90 out. You don’t want to be seen - you want to exist in the shadows like all the serpents you say you despise. Coward. Hypocrite. Does Action Wrestling mean anything to you? Do I? I thought I did. You made me believe I did. But you’re not a benevolent martyr, J. You’re not innocent. You’ve got blood on your hands, too. I left the door open so you could turn my black heart red. I wanted you to help me feel again. But even if it breaks me? I’ll slam it shut if I have to. |
I didn’t tell Addy I was going to the Top of the World. I took a seat alone at the skydeck bar, dressed in a t-shirt and leggings. Everyone there were on dates, or business meetings, but I didn’t care. I needed to see it one more time. But I didn’t want to feel everything anymore. I tried to change my life 163 days ago. But I was destined to end up here. |
WHY HER? |
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The heart is a mystifying organ. And my heart belongs to you, Addy. I haven’t been the greatest teammate lately. And I haven’t been the greatest friend. I know I’ve been distant, and self-absorbed, and selfish - and I haven’t been the sister you need, and the sister you deserve. But we’re eternally tethered together, bonded forever by the love of our lives. He’s irreplaceable. Someone we have to grieve all over again, every time we come to this fucking city. This is a graveyard of our broken hearts. It's also a pantheon of our greatest victories. Evolution 5 won’t be any different. There’s seeds of distrust sowing in every team we’re facing. Jill and Regan despise each other. Downfall and Dionysus resent each other. Ash and Johnny ████ each other. But we can spend two years apart, and still pick up right where we left off. We’ve done more for this division in our absence than Vanguard ever did. We’re the trailblazers of spittin’ our shit together, an’ everyone since has been swallowin’ our fuckin’ style - but we can go back-to-basics now. We ain’t need to overcompensate. We ain’t need to prove our unity - it just is. Forever. I will always be the girl in your corner - I will always pick you up when you fall - I’m going to ensure that we’ll reach the top of the ladder and pull down those straps. Together. We’ve been waiting for this. We’ve been fighting for this. There’s us. And there’s everyone revolving around us. ‘Cause we’re the tag-team of the fucking century. |
