Pre Match woes

[Cerberus]

Sweat flowed from him like a river. It had been ages since he pushed himself this hard. It hadn’t been the debut that Michael had intended to make. Nothing went according to his plan so far. He never thought he would see anyone recover from the awe inspiration and win the match. He thought of himself as a better breed of opponent. He thought of himself as the one to touch the stars in this business. TNA was proving to be a different breed of wrestling entirely. The matches he had so far were nothing like what he faced before. Where he came from, back in the Indie-Feds… Michael had plowed past his opponents. Sure he had losses, but his win record overshadowed those by a good 10 to 1 ratio. His performance so far was not acceptable. They should all have already known him for his impressive victories in the ring, not for his failures.

 

The only way to remedy the embarrassment that was so far endured, was to train…and train hard. In order to keep himself on track, Michael called upon his childhood friend Jason aide in the discipline of training. “Come on Mike, two more. Push, come on!” he could count on Jason to not cut him any leeway. Michael grunted in effort as he forced out the final two press’s in this set. He had pushed so hard on this one, that Jason had to spot and help the bar get set back into its place. Michael sat up slowly, and stretched his arms. They felt like they weren’t even there after this day of training. “Good job Mike. I’d say that’s it for the day.” Michael couldn’t help but give a small laugh at that statement, the exhausted arms just slumping at his sides for the moment. “you sure about that Jason? Feels like we just started”

 

“Leave it to you to say something like that Mike” Jason would shake his head, and help his friend up from the bench before continuing. “hey, listen bro.. don’t go and take your losses too hard” Michael would regard him for a moment before shrugging it off, and wiping down the machine. “don’t know what you’re talking about Jase.” with the machine cleaned, Michael began to walk toward the gyms locker room. Not even a look back to Jason. His little attempt to cut the conversation off there. Jason wouldn’t have this however, as he followed Michael to the locker. “I mean it Mike.. The last thing you need now, after all this work is to have you loose your cool along with the match.” Michael shrugged off the comments again, and began packing his bag.. But then would pause and look to his friend. “I’m cool allright? It’s not happening again.”

 

Jason knew that if Mike was able to say something like that, while looking right at him that way, then he wasn’t faking. The last time Michael let himself get pushed too far, without taking the time to recover, people were taken to the hospital. Not just wrestlers, staff, referees, bookers, anyone who would stand in *his* way. “Good man, good.” Michael gathered a re-assuring smile for his friend, and hefted his duffel over his shoulder. Nothing more needed to be said between the two. They knew each other well enough by now. Ever since the age of 8 the two boys had played wrestling out in the back, under the watchful eyes of both their fathers.

 

Michael was different away from work. The confidence in himself was still there, always present. However it was dulled when with his friend, or his family. He had reasons for projecting it to the extreme that he did while at the academy.. A reason he felt that none of them would understand. No one at that academy would know the real Michael Lewis. The only man they would ever know was Mr. Amazing. The reason for that was Michael felt there was no one in that place that wouldn’t stab him right between the eyes just to get past him. Jason was his only escape from that persona…from that pressure of performance. That was his only friend on the face of the planet at the moment. Jason was always there.. It never failed.. He was always there to help pick up the pieces of a broken friend.. Always there to help right when Michael needed it the most.. He indeed was the only friend Michael had… but was he the only one Michael needed?

 

The two hugged… yes hugged. A show of their brother like friendship. After, Michael began to walk off. “Good Luck Mic” Jason said with a clear tone of jest in his voice.. Knowing what his friends reaction to the statement would be. “Luck? I’m the best man alive in ‘05...who needs luck?” his voice carried just the jocularity as Jason’s did. To one on the outside of the loop, it was just a joke between friends, an inside joke. To these two men however, it was a close show of respect, a sign of having faith in the other. Simply their code in public for faith in such a proud friendship. With a content smile, Michael went home.

 

 

Darkness. It would seem that there was nothing but darkness in this room. He sat at the edge of his bed, cold… tired. He would look, but nothing could be seen.. Nothing save for a full body length mirror that stood across from the bed. No floor, no walls, no window.. Just the infinite black space… him and the mirror. He would stare then into the mirror, look to see the look in his eyes.. He did this often.. A bit of a check on his end.. He needed to see his own eyes. His effort held no fruit however, as the mirror reflected nothing but black.

 

Michael started to stand, intent on examining the black mirror. Perhaps he was just too far away from it.. Yes.. Surely that’s what the problem is. As he stood a voice spoke from its direction. “That’s two Michael.. Two in a row.” His body froze in place.. No.. not *him*.. He isn’t needed, not this time. “Look what you lost to Michael… some Amazon… and some fool who must use money to cheat you out of what’s yours…. What next? Who will beat you next?” his body began to shake…softly at first.. But soon it was a bit more sever. Not much, just like a small shiver of anger.. He stood and shouted at the mirror “None! None of them will beat me again! It wont ha--” he was cut off by laughter. Not typical laughter…no… dark.. Sinister laughter.. Mocking.. “Please Child.. You’re father was right… worthless.. You can’t make it.. You need *me*”

 

Michael shook his head, trying to get the thoughts out. “No…he was wrong.. so are you.. I will be the best in that place.” Silence came now. A silence that was palpable with the uneasy feeling this voice brought to him. “two weeks… two matches…two times a looser. Will it be three tomorrow? Will this other person just run you over like the rest? You’re efforts didn’t matter *then* and they do not matter now!” his eyes widened at the allusive mention of a time past. Anything but that… to recall that day…no… no it was too much, even for the voice. “Shut up! You know not to mention that day Shadow! Go away and let me handle my matches….I…I need to focus on it.” again it became quiet.. The shadow, as the voice was named, was not gaining any ground in this debate… not this time. “Fine. You will turn to me soon.. Maybe by the time you lost your fifth match in a row you will see to rea---” the voice this time was cut off by Michael. “It won’t get that far… it can’t get that far… I wont let it”

 

Michael waited for a retort.. Waited for the shadow to speak more foul words. Listened for it to spew its wicked venom toward him more. Silence, however would remain. Michael, with a slow, deep breath sat back onto his bed, placing his forehead in his hands. “I am not a failure….I am not a failure…I am *not* a failure….. “ he would continue to repeat this to himself…. Reminding himself of why he presents himself the way he does.. If he does not have confidence for himself, no others would for him. To him it was so very simple, but others would never understand him… or so he thinks. He would sit there.. Thinking… that is.. Until the alarm clock sounds, and his eyes open… Michael wakes up to shut the alarm off.

 

The dream had left him in a slight daze of thought. It was always so real to him, like he wasn’t even dreaming. Despite the daze, Michael moved to his closet, and began collecting his gear… it was time to face the other wrestler now. Time to go out there, and prove why he belongs in this business. To prove to the academy, that 2 will not become three.

Edited January 10, 2006 by Cerberus

[Wyvern]

A nice story so far, Cerberus. :-) I find the pro wrestling subject matter very interesting, and think that you do a good job of detailing Michael's motives and intentions. The pressure of performing that Michael experiences and the anger that results from it were both intriguing, and Jason was a nice means of revealing elements of Michael's dark past. I also liked how you left the story off right before the fight, as it seemed to give me a sense of Michael's pressure and anxiety.

 

In terms of potential things to improve: I think that adding more specificity and detail to the lives of Michael and Jason would make the story much more interesting, as currently most of the elements of Michael's life are told directly to the reader and left a bit vague. I was very curious to learn more details about the violent incident in Michael's past, as well as more details pertaining to wrestling and his appearence as a wrestler. I also thought there was a bit of a tense problem at times, particularly in the third paragraph where the past tense is replaced by passive "would"s. I was also uncertain of what the black mirror in Michael's dream was meant to signify, though I assumed it was some sort of personification of his past.

 

Anyway, thanks for sharing this Cerberus. :-) It's nice to see you writing here again.

[Cerberus]

Thanks for the feedback Wyv. i do need to work on that keeping with the tence of my wording, and will do what i can to fix that. as far as the questions about Michael and his past and all that, i had planned on doing more of these.. following this wrestler through his trials.. and in the corse of the stories one would see a bigger picture, piece by pice untill you either hazard a guess, or its just fully revealed. the black mirror is also somthing key to the story, and as more of these bits come across, it will become verry clear what that shadow is to him.