Last Kiss (EoD Week 4 RP 2)
Oct 16, 2020 23:37:31 GMT -5
Mongo the Destroyer, Dave D-Flipz, and 2 more like this
Post by Adrien on Oct 16, 2020 23:37:31 GMT -5
Oh where, oh where, can my baby be?
The Lord took her away from me
She's gone to heaven so I've got to be good,
So I can see my baby when I leave this world
We were out on a date in my daddy's car,
We hadn't driven very far
There in the road straight ahead,
A car was stalled, the engine was dead
Tuesday, October 13th, 2020
Cameras: OFF
“Adrien, I think we’re needed…”
Adam Sanders can see Eddie Walker flailing from the window. Everalda Cochrane steps back as the two wrestlers enter the hospital room of a grieving widower. The sight of Walker’s eyes turning red and dispersing tears rapidly was something that neither the Awkward One nor the Dropkick King has ever seen out of their manager. Adam isn’t sure he’s ever seen Adrien Cochrane in stunned silence before.
“You’re lying to me!! This is all a sick joke!! You can’t be doing this to me! I can’t… I just… I can’t… please, God… no… please…”
There were two nurses who were trying to contain Eddie from falling out of the bed and appear to have him contained. Doctor Boudreaux looks on at Walker with a sullen expression. He knew the reaction of telling Eddie was going to be bad, just like it was when he broke the news to Adam, Adrien, and Adrien’s wife. But this was definitely more than he was expecting.
Eddie: “Tell me he’s lying, Adrien. You’re my best friend of over ten years, and I know you’d never lie to me. TELL ME HE’S LYING!!”
Cochrane doesn’t say a word. Adam sees his mentor’s jaw dropped slightly like this was a lot of information for his own mind to handle at once. It was almost like Adrien’s non-answer was an answer to Eddie, but he had to turn to the other person in the room, Adam himself.
Eddie: “And you? I’ve been with you every step of your career. Every match. Every opponent. Every heart-wrenching loss and every glorious victory. Tell me this is a lie. Please, Adam. I’m begging you. Tell me this is just a cruel prank. She’s talking to Everalda about what we’re doing next week. She’s going to come into this room and tell me she loves me, about how excited she is to go back to her classroom and see all those bright faces, ready to learn…”
While Adam doesn’t say anything, he slowly shakes his head. His eyes begin to well up, ready for tears of his own to begin to trickle through.
Eddie: “No… please…”
Adam is finally able to speak, surprisingly before Adrien can.
Adam: “I’m really sorry, Eddie. I mean it.”
The manager’s jaw quivers for a bit. His eyes shift from Adam to Adrien.
Eddie: “Adrien… please…”
Adrien: “You will always have us, you understand me?”
Cochrane has to swallow hard after finishing his sentence after struggling to get it out. But the words were sincere, even if his voice breaks. Adam feels it is important for him to second that notion.
Adam: “Always. Adrien, Everalda, me, and Tasmin. And so many more.”
Eddie: “And Skye…?”
Sanders and Cochrane give each other a quick glance as answering that will be something extremely delicate.
Adam: “She’ll always be right here.”
Sanders points at his heart. That response didn’t resonate with the Houston native, who looks over at the doctor.
Eddie: “Bring her back. BRING HER BACK!!”
Adrien: “Eddie, he can’t…”
Eddie: “SHUT UP AND TELL HIM TO BRING HER BACK!!”
The nurses are caught off guard, as Eddie swings his body suddenly after being still during the last few minutes of talking. He lands on the hospital room floor, giving a loud groan as the cast around his leg collides with the tile ground. The sound of his demands weakens as the tears resume their flow from the forty-five-year-old’s eyes.
Eddie: “Bring her back, please. I need to see her. I need my wife. I need her. I can’t do this without her. I can’t…”
Adam: “Eddie…”
While the nurses begin to back away following his descent from his hospital bed, the two wrestlers slowly approach their manager. Adrien carefully turns him so that he can face them. His face is red, the most color any of them has seen from Walker’s face in a long time.
Eddie: “I can’t do it, guys. I can’t. I can’t go on. Not anymore. I’m sorry. I was driving that car. I could have taken another route. I could have stopped faster. This is my fault. Please. Leave me. JUST LEAVE ME, PLEASE!!”
It was Adrien’s turn now.
Adrien: “Eddie, look at me.”
Walker shakes his head, barely able to breathe properly from all the crying. He doesn’t want to make eye contact with anyone in the room. This is until Adam positions his head so that Eddie has to face either him or Adrien.
Adam: “If you don’t want to look at him then look at me. January 2019. Do you remember what you did for me back then?”
Walker gives a weak nod. He remembers the situation well. Tasmin Richards was kidnapped backstage while Adam was wrestling, and Adam had a hard time facing even the simplest of tasks such as going back to his house. Eddie helped him walk through his front door, despite all the despair Adam was feeling.
This was Adam’s turn to help him.
Adam: “You told me that I wasn’t a burden. You reminded me that you and so many other people were there to support me. You reminded me of all the options I had to help ease the emotional pain I was going through. Now it’s your turn to be the one given all the love and support that you gave me and so many others. Okay?”
Eddie shakes his head, tears still falling.
Eddie: “I don’t want to live anymore. Please, just leave me. I can’t do this anymore. You two have so much more… just leave me…”
Adrien: “Let’s get him back in the bed.”
Adam begins to lift Eddie up from the shoulders while Adrien focuses on the lower half of his body.
Adam: “Be careful with his leg.”
Eddie: “Please, just leave me to die. I don’t want to live anymore.”
The duo carefully returns Walker to his hospital bed. Adam can faintly hear Dr. Boudreaux giving the order for the nurses to administer a dosage of Ativan, likely to prevent Walker from doing this again. Adam maintains his eye contact with Walker until he begins to doze off.
Adrien: “Okay. These are the cards we’ve drawn. As hard as it will be, we’re going to have to work with what we got.”
Sanders turns to see his mentor standing near the bed, his index finger crossing his chin.
Adam: “What’s next? What do you need me to do?”
Cochrane’s blue eyes glance from the unconscious Walker to the inquisitive Sanders. The Awkward One awaits instruction on what they are going to do next.
Adrien: “Funeral arrangements. We need to make sure everyone gets a chance to say goodbye to Skye. I think Everalda and I can spearhead handling that. What I need you to do… is focus on your inferno match. Once End of Days is over, you can help out more.”
Adam: “Why is my…?”
Adrien: “Because this is an opportunity for you to have the biggest moment of your career and I’ll be damned if I didn’t do my job as your mentor and teacher by making sure you have every opportunity to reach your goals. Others will help. Everalda will help. You focus on your match.”
Cochrane takes a deep breath once more before briefly closing his eyes. It was uncommon for his tone with Adam to become so stern, but there was a lot going through his mind. He still has the process that he also lost a very dear friend of his, someone practically a member of his family. He opens his eyes and looks back at Adam one last time.
Adrien: “We’ll handle the rest.”
I couldn't stop, so I swerved to the right,
I'll never forget the sound that night
The screaming tires, the busting glass,
The painful scream that I heard last
When I woke up, the rain was pouring down,
There were people standing all around
Something warm flowing through my eyes,
But somehow I found my baby that night
Friday, October 16th, 2020
Cameras: ON
“Hey.”
The greeting from Adam Sanders was less pleasant than it normally was. His tone was morose and softer, even by his standards. And for the first time since he joined the XHF Network, there was no wave to the camera. Instead, he was staring dead at the camera that was positioned in the center of the room.
“We’re two days away. A little more than forty-eight hours from stepping into the ring together, and against your wishes, I will be present. I will be in the ring. I will be fighting. Pepe Morales.”
Adam puts a bit of emphasis on the name as he finishes his sentence. Adam is currently seated atop a desk in the front of an empty classroom. Behind him is a whiteboard that has a single six-word sentence written on it.
YOUR OPPONENT’S NAME IS PEPE MORALES
The name was written a bit larger and underlined multiple times.
“You’ll have to forgive me for any sort of errors I may make while the camera rolls, Pepe Morales. I’m not the most refined speaker in the world. I’m prone to make the occasional mistake while speaking. You do that too, right?
“Like assuming the value of a Caterpie to be minuscule. First generation, Caterpie is a Pokémon that benefits the Charmander users at the beginning of the game. The evolution of Metapod at level seven then Butterfree at level ten is one of the quickest evolutions you can get in any generation of the game.
“Catching him at the Caterpie stage allows you to keep the attack ‘Tackle’ on the Metapod stage. Butterfree doesn’t learn its first damaging attack until level twelve, which is ‘Confusion’ so early-game metagame benefits you from catching Caterpie in Viridian Forest, especially if you start the game with Charmander.
“Butterfree is a huge help against Brock and Misty in Red and Blue. And in Sword and Shield, when used with Compound Eyes, Quiver Dance, Sleep Powder, and Hurricane, it has resurged to the competitive metagame as a formidable partner. I might not be the biggest expert on things such as ancient proverbs about four-year-old games, fire puns, astronomy, oceanography, law, embezzlement, Puerto Rican accents, or combustion engines. But Pokémon is MY domain, and you’d be foolish to use it incorrectly against me. Pepe Morales.”
While maintaining eye contact with the camera, he points at the whiteboard behind him.
“Our battle isn’t a Pokémon battle, however. Which, quite honestly, is good news for you. This inferno match is not something caused by Moltres, and we can’t depend on Rawst Berries to help us. This is the two of us, in a wrestling ring, with real fire surrounding us. I’m glad you’re having so much fun with this, honestly, playing pretend. That’s not a luxury I can afford. I just can’t. I’m fighting for my future, and I’m fighting in the name of people that I can’t afford to let down. Pepan Sairailles… NO!!”
Sanders begins to get frustrated with himself before rubbing his temples whilst lowering his head. He speaks softly to himself, but it is just audible enough to be heard.
“You’re better than this, Adam. It’s right there, on the board.”
He points at his writing once more, this time for himself just as much as it was for those watching.
“Your name is Pepe Morales. PEPE MORALES!! You know, you tell me to correct myself when addressing you, but I looked back at the tape and I didn’t get past the ‘r’ on… that other name. But I know, your name is PEPE! P-E-P-E!”
Adam keeps his head lowered for a second longer before looking back up. He takes a deep breath before he stands in front of the desk, with all the empty desks facing him, almost like he was addressing the top of the class.
“I came into AWF, and in turn, the XHF Network, to become my own man. I came here in June, so I know I’ve only really been here for a cup of coffee, but I’m trying to prove myself to a brand new audience. I’m trying to prove myself to all the wrestlers here, and I’m trying to prove myself to the man in the mirror.
“But as a result, I’m still learning about a lot of the non-AWF competitors in the Network. Obviously, I got my hands on everything I can about the people in this tournament. That would be irresponsible for me not to. But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m still learning about the history of the XHF.
“I told you about the fire burning inside of me. I have to keep that fire burning for me to make it through this, pun kinda intended. As long as that fire is still alive in me, I have a chance. As long as I still have the flames in my eyes, I can keep fighting. I might not have done anything of note yet in the four months I’ve been here, but I’m fighting my awkward ass off to make sure that I am part of the future of the Network.
“And that starts at End of Days, PEPE MORALES! It is my duty to make sure that when the bell sounds to signal the end of the match, you understand just what kind of fire I have burning in me.”
Adam nods his head one last time before turning on his heels and exiting the classroom. The camera keeps going for just a few seconds longer after he leaves, just long enough that a nameplate that was on the desk behind Adam is now visible. The camera cuts off with enough time to see the name on the plaque. The name?
Mrs. Skye Walker
I lifted her head, she looked at me and said,
"Hold me, darling, just a little while"
I held her close, I kissed her our last kiss,
I found the love that I knew I had missed
Well now she's gone even though I hold her tight,
I lost my love, my life that night
Oh where, oh where, can my baby be?
The Lord took her away from me
She's gone to heaven so I've got to be good,
So I can see my baby when I leave this world
