Post by Joey Flash on Dec 19, 2014 20:21:21 GMT -5
You cheap lousy faggot...
Alessandra Allegri is stood in her and Joey’s drawing room, her phone held to her ear with her father on the other end, she tried to avoid this conversation as long as possible but with Christmas coming that just wasn’t viable. With an inward sigh she answered.
Alessandra: No, seriously father. I am fine. Yeah he’s fine too, he’s looking forward to seeing you soon, and he asks what presents he’s getting from his grandpa! Huh? I’m okay, really stop worrying, I’ve done everything by the books. Really.
She shakes her head as she paces up and down the room.
Alessandra: What? Joseph? No, he’s fine. Well, actually no, I haven’t heard from him for about a week…. but he’ll be just fine. He’s strong father, no need to worry about him. What, me? No I’m not worried... not worried at all. What do you mean? I can’t hide it from you! ...Okay, okay, I am a bit worried. But I’m sure he’s just around the next corner and looking out for us.
Sure enough, Alessandra walks into the next room, and sitting there in the corner, in the dark, is Joseph Malignaggi... known as the incomparable Joey Flash.
Alessandra: Hang on father... Joey? What on earth are you doing?
Joey was reading a magazine, not even bothering to look at the entrance of Alessandra, week’s worth of stubble on his face.
Alessandra: JOSEPH MALIGNAGGI! Eyes! Here! Now!
Joey held the magazine in between two fingers and looked her way.
Joey: What?
Alessandra: Where the hell have you been?
Hearing a voice, she put the phone back to her ear, before holding it out to Joey.
Alessandra: Father wants to talk to you.
Joey narrows his eyes and lets the magazine fall to the floor. He reaches and tentatively takes the phone from Alessandra.
Joey: Hello?
Bernardo: It’s me, Mr. Allegri. Where exactly have you been? You are supposed to be by my daughters side at all times. I thought me had a deal Mr. Malignaggi? Or are you going to be the disobedient pathetic runt I expect you to be? How’s the ‘wrestling’ working out for you? Enjoying your tights and stockings? You’re pathetic, get a real job.
Joey gripped the phone tighter and Alessandra saw a shot of anger run across Joey’s face, something father said. Joey quickly tempered it.
Joey: Of course sir, I will be there at all times. Forgive me.
Bernardo: Good man. Also, I couldn’t help but see that you’re matched up with that guy who battered you in your debut.
He laughs
Bernardo: Getting beaten up by a novice. Not the kind of fighting spirit I expect Mr. Malignaggi. I trust I will not see a repeat of such... weakness?
Joey closed his eyes and he bit his bottom lip.
Joey: Of course not sir, I will never bring shame in such a way again.
Bernardo: I should hope not. I am starting to think you are not worthy of my daughter’s love. You understand Mr. Malignaggi that I refuse to accept a nobody into my family. I suggest you get a grip, and stop acting like the completely pathetic loser it seems in your nature to act. Do I make myself clear?
Joey: Perfectly. Only...
Joey was about to say something, but quickly halted himself.
Joey: Take care of yourself, I don’t want you upset over my actions, don’t worry I shall watch over your daughter.
Beranrdo: Excellent. You keep an eye on her. Because if she suffers any harm at all…
He pauses for a second, before speaking in a very stern voice.
Bernardo: I shall be inscribing your headstone. And it will not be complimentary. Understand?
Joey: Only the best marble for me Don Allegri please.
A sarcastic laugh comes from the other end of the phone.
Bernardo: Funny. I hope they appreciate that sharp wit in hell. Arrivederci, Mr. Malignaggi.
The phone is hung up. Joey throws the phone across the room and it shatters on the wall.
Joey: Cunt.
Alessandra: Hey! That’s my Father! And…That’s my phone! Cunt yourself.
Joey looks at her again.
Joey: Sorry, was just thinking of funeral arrangements.
Alessandra blinked a little, before nodding.
Alessandra: Ah, I’m with you. Ask you to do a job, did he?
Joey: Nah don’t worry, just thinking out loud. Sorry about the phone.
Alessandra shook her head.
Alessandra: So where the hell have you been?
Joey stands up.
Joey: Don’t worry about me; I told you the other night, I’m good.
A forced smile. Alessandra sighed.
Alessandra: Isn’t this a bit sad that you have to fight a guy you beat before, does he deserve a rematch?
Joey: Fuck a rematch, I don’t care.
Alessandra: But... Joey! You’re the champ! You have to defend your belt, I cannot believe you’re backing out here, is it what I said the other night? If so, I’m sorry.
Joey: Early Christmas present, go for it, I don’t care.
Alessandra: I’ll be damned if I’m marrying a coward like you!
Joey sighs.
Joey: You know how to get me angry Alessandra, keep pushing.
Alessandra: Well why the fuck are you giving in to a little weakling like Occulo then?!
Joey shrugged.
Joey: Good for him, what do I care? Look you seem to want this shit more than I do, what gives?
Alessandra: I want to know I’m marrying a man, not a mouse! And right now you’re not only a mouse, but a mouse whose wife has left him, taking all the cheese, and he’s now feeding on scraps of pigeon shit cos he has no self-respect.
Joey: You’re not going to goad me Alessandra, so I’m going to walk away before I say anything I regret.
Joey brushes past her and goes to leave the room. Alessandra follows him, catching up to him, before smacking him around the back of the head.
Alessandra: COWARD!
She spits in his face as he turns around.
Alessandra: FUCK YOU JOEY! FUCK YOU!
Instantly Joey lashes out with his right hand punching Alessandra in the stomach, she doubles over gasping.
Joey: You ever spit in my face again, no matter who your family is bitch you’re going to be in real trouble.
He thinks about coiling his right hand again but just lets it drop. Alessandra gasps for breath.
Alessandra: You... fucking... cunt...
Joey: I would never spit on my worst enemy.
Joey walks out of the room and slams the door behind him. Alessandra smiles to herself, good, that’s a start. She felt bad about how she spoke to him the other night, she should have kept her thoughts to herself, she knew he was fragile right now but didn’t want to miss this chance to make him actually happy again. The Joey she had fallen in love with was a machine, he got what he wanted, he did what he wanted and he vanquished any enemies within a hundred mile radius. This current incarnation was a poor imitation. She will push, and she will continue to push every little button he had. He will bend, he will break and he will be her Joey once more.
You're a bum, you're a punk...
Joey Flash gazed up at the sky as he watched the first snow of the year fall. He pulled the hood of his thin jacket over his head and slumped down onto the grass. Joey had come to Central Park at the end of a long day of training; the sun had finished its daily arc across the sky and long since set over the famous skyline by the time Joey arrived. He could barely even feel the cold anymore, his phone told him it was minus two but it felt like the middle of spring to him.
He picked the half empty bottle of Jack Daniels from the grass and glugged two gulps of guilt and emptiness down his gullet. He had missed this. The weeks of hard training, of fighting for his life in the wrestling ring, of serenity and calm outside the ring, this was not him. He had been happy, he had been content, and he was finding himself even able to sleep at night. Crazy right? Joey had tried everything these past five years, drugs, booze, even fuckin hypnosis, what a quack that guy was and what an idiot Joey was for paying a grand for the privilege, he just wanted to sleep at night.
Then five weeks ago it happened, Joey went to bed and Joey slept. He slept like a baby. No nightmares and no thoughts gnawing away at his sanity, he slept and he dreamt. He even started keeping a dream diary, in case one night they just stopped and the nightmares began again he could at least have some form of tangible proof there is still this light inside of him somewhere albeit buried behind twenty walls of self-loathing and hate.
He felt his worries slide away and everything bad in his life just seemed to sort itself out, he wasn’t arguing with Alessandra, his business was steady and his son was happy. The only change in Joey’s life had been something so simple, a purpose. He found himself signing a rookie contract with the WCF. In his very first match he was battered and nearly beaten by a man Joey wouldn’t have looked twice at on the street as a threat. His purpose was set and his purpose involved only one thing, the word ‘Occulo’ became his living, walking purpose.
For this past month or so Joey’s head had been filled with childish joy and excitement. He’d come home after a training session and try to put his fiancée in whatever move he had been practicing that day, he’d be showing his son WCF shows and even bought him a ‘Orbit knowz dem Hoez’ T-Shirt. He hadn’t had a drink since and found himself weaning however slowly from any substances. Then with one fell swoop, everything about Joey Flash had changed and his world had come crashing down around him.
He got a text from his fiancée while he was running ‘Watch Occulo’s promo’. No kisses at the end of the text, no loving reassurance. Fine, Joey pulled up YouTube on his phone and watched while stood in the middle of the road. He went from happy, to bemused, to angry, to feeling like had his soul ripped out through his navel. Joey wasn’t running anymore.
He trudged along the road with his thoughts swirling, he knew now that what he feared was the absolute truth. He knew now that the ‘Million sided dice’ was truly nought more than a coin flip; this was not something Joey was truly prepared for. He had pushed and prodded, he had pulled the very essence of the man he knows as Occulo every which way in hopes of some reaction. The reaction was here and it was nuclear. His heart was beating and his pulse racing as he wandered, before he knew what he was doing he already had his brown bag of liquor and was a quarter of the way through.
It was 00:35 as he continued to drink, the snowfall was getting heavier. Joey stood up and trudged through the park, oblivious to the world around him. His aches and pains were worsening because of the cold, he felt his back twinge in areas he didn’t know were hurt and his right knee was shooting pain through his body. He staggered to the closest bench, downside being it already being occupied by a man who was clearly using it as his bed for the night.
Joey slumped on the floor near the bench and plopped a nice outline of his ass in the snow. The homeless man stirred at the noise.
Man: Ugh, good night for it.
Joey looked at the JD and handed it to the man.
Joey: Fuckin A. Have some.
The man obliges.
Man: It’s been a while since I met my friend Jack.
Joey: Well I’m Joey, close enough eh?
Man: Stan.
Joey: The fuckin man Stan. That’s you.
Stan knew the man was clearly drunk, so would have to be careful not to offend him.
Stan: I do my best.
Stan sits up.
Stan: Not seen you before?
Joey: You wouldn’t have. I’m just passing through.
Stan: Strange time to be passing through.
Joey: It’s a strange time for most fuckin things.
Stan: How you mean Joe?
Joey: Can I ask you a question?
Stan: Shoot.
Joey: If you had…If you had told someone you could do a job, and lots of people were depending on you doing this job…no lemme rephrase it. If you had staked your life on being able to perform a certain task, if everything that you are, everything you have ever lived by is on the line.
Stan: Okay…
Joey: Then, yeah, if you started to think that, nah if you started to know that isn’t the case and that maybe you can’t do the things that so many people have been promised you’re capable of. What would you do?
Stan: I’d do it anyway.
Joey: Huh?
Stan: I mean shit, I’ve said it, and so I must have believed it at some point. What changed?
Joey: Nothing I guess.
Stan: Then what’s the problem?
Joey stands up and runs his hands through his hair.
Joey: Stan, you’re a fucking legend.
Stan: Well-
Joey fumbles into his pocket and pulls his wallet out; turning several twenty’s onto the snowy floor.
Joey: You’ve earned it.
Stan: What? Who-
Joey: I’m the fucking WCF Television Champion, and I’m staying that way. Have a beautiful Christmas Stan.
Joey takes his coat off and gives it to Stan as well.
Joey: It’s gonna be beautiful.
Joey strides away from Stan and further through the park. Slapping himself in the face. Sensitive bitch, fuckin man up. Act like what you are champ. He stared skyward once more as the snow cascaded around him, a lone figure of solitude among the peace. Joey found himself again, he knew he would never be without the hurt, never be without the pain and hatred of himself. He would picture Robert Facchetti for the rest of his life, he would hate himself for the two little girls, he would have nightmares, and he would have sleepless nights. That is the cross the man called Joseph Malignaggi would bear, it would torture him, it would beat him, it might even kill him, but these are the things that make him himself. Handle your shit, you are who you are because of what you’ve done and what has been done to you, ain’t nothing that can change that. So, bitch, man up. Your nemesis is right in front of you. Handle…your…shit.
Joey began to laugh to himself.
Joey: Ahh Occy, I got a feeling this year’s for me and you.
King of New York City...
We open in Joey Flash’s locker room where he sits with no shirt and just some baggy shorts, drenched in sweat he has a large pack of ice wrapped round his right hand.
Joey: So it has come to this huh?
Joey sighs and gives a smile toward the camera.
Joey: It worked, it actually worked. My little mongel has finally found his bark. Yap fucking yap. It’s a great day for me, I feel like a proud dad finally my son has done something that I’ve been helping him with for months. It’s been interesting but I’m going to dead everything right now. No bullshit, I’m ending you. Let’s get to it mongrel, yeah motherfucker you mad at what I said? Mad I put you down? You’re my toy, you’re my plaything, want me to put you down? No, mongrel, you are my limping cancer ridden dog, I will put you down.
We doing this shit in PA, it’s only right when I see ya, heart chill as a penguin I’ll retract your roof and turn your melon to the Mellon arena. You talk some interesting shit Occy, let’s get it poppin. Ten stitches, loss of two pints of blood, a hairline fracture, copious vomiting, and rash brought on by petroleum and severe bruising to the forehead and one massively swollen cunt of an ego. Did they give you too much morphine Mr Delusional? This bastard was making love to a sweeping brush and praising it for its lithe figure and bristly tongue.
That beam of light you were following in the darkness did nothing but lead you right where I want you Occy, my mind is bright and clear but it seems you’re the one having some trouble, my family life is no concern of yours, you should be concerned about the beating I’m going to give you yet a fucking gain at ONE, it’s simple, the difference between our light is this: My light is dim and I accept it, yours is dim and yet you fight and struggle for more than you can ever get. Don’t get it yet? How much you getting paid for this match? It’s okay you don’t have to tell me that’s okay, but a decent amount to try and kill me in a wrestling match that’s cool, for that same amount I’ll kill you for real. Your family will be crying at your wake before my son misses a meal.
It’s life in its purist form, survival of the fittest, you will learn the way everyone before you has about the food chain here, you’ve just managed to be the antelope that struggles a little bit more in the jaws of the lion, but I’ve already got them jaws tight around your neck.
I found out some interesting shit Occulo, I mean fuck you should release an autobiography, that motherfucker would be in the New York Times Worstseller list with how mind numbing that shit would be. Sex, Drugs and Rock n Roll becomes Abstinence, Sobriety and Elevator Music with you. You just need to ask and I’ll help you out, I’ll get you a paid for night at La Societa, I’ll find you a nice (blind) woman, and fuck might get you high, that’d loosen your fuckin ridiculous self up.
You speak fucking gibberish man; every other line is some ridiculous metaphor. I’m a pink cloud and you’re a blue cloud, it means that when we meet it will cause a change in the atmosphere that will cloud the future…motherfucker shut up. Speak with your chest; get some bass in your voice and fucking talk to me. You dance about more than Michael Flatley, here’s my neck, go for the fucking jugular.
Joey stands and stretches.
Do I need you? Are you the Batman to my Joker? Am I going to keep doing these things to you and then running off with a look of glee on my face just for the sport of things? Maybe, or maybe you are just something to pass my time and help me deal with my own boredom? If you left now? I would think, ah shucks there goes my current game and I’d go and find a new one. You have a lot of self-importance for someone who claims the opposite. You are no puzzle to me, you are a chew toy, you’ve been chewed up and spit out and the next step is to discard you into the trash.
Joey pulls a candle out of his pocket.
Joey: What’s this? Oh look, a candle!
He smiles and lights the candle.
Joey: Ahh how pretty, look how it flickers! But what happens when…
Joey blows. The candle goes out…then re lights again.
Joey: What the fuck? You fucking candle cunt.
Joey blows again, it goes out then re lights.
Joey: Ohhhh! It’s one of those candles.
Joey laughs.
Joey: Ding ding ding shit metaphor alert. Me Joey Flash, me not know candle that light self. Motherfucker are you stupid?
Joey snaps the candle in half and grinds it underfoot.
Joey: There, problem solved. You seem rather ignorant about how this world works. Did I look powerless? Or did I destroy the problem with ease? You tell me. I lied when I said this was a poor metaphor, you actually explained your own folly quite well. You are the candle that keeps trying to come back to life, begging not to be tampered with any further, just to go on with your happy existence. But I’m that kid who thinks, no candle, you are a cunt, get blown out again. So guess what I’m going to keep doing to you? It would be so much easier if you were just to burn from start to finish with interruptions but I’m going to always be there, and I’m always going to extinguish you and make your existence hell until the day I have had enough and decide to destroy you once and for all.
Before we go any further, I got something to address. Hey Occulo, how’s your father? You have no right to talk down about that shit. You’re sad and you’re complaining because of how what, your father never spent time with you? Motherfucker shut up. You were privileged; you came from everything that someone who came from nothing never had. You had a mother and a father. Your 400k house was a mansion compared to people who’ve actually struggled, your mother hugged you and packed your lunch and you toddled off to private school. When daddy wouldn’t talk to you in the evening that made you this sad vengeful child whereas just a mile away a boy your age isn’t getting fed and getting whipped with a belt by his own drunken father. But I guess in the end your father doesn’t love you, cos he let you be this cunt of a person you are. When you act the way you are that’s disrespectful to him, know your lane. Say thank you to him for what he’s given you, kept you in the best schools, gave you the best clothes, and gave you the best education and what have you done with it?
Joey smiles.
Let me tell you, you’ve become a plaything for that boy down the street who was getting whipped by his drunken father. Funny how life works.
You seem to know a lot about time dilation Occy, are you a physicist? I’m impressed, psyche I lied, you’re a cunt. I don’t know what time dilation is, but I know what pupil dilation is and I see that in your eyes every time you’re in my presence, I fucking love you showing fear. I look in your eyes with a stare so frosty even a polar bear would be like ‘Fuck it’s cold in here!’ and you bitch up and lower your head like the submissive cunt you are.
I’m sick of your metaphors motherfucker; do I have to do it again? Ding Ding Ding, shit metaphor alert. Two works of art in an empty gallery, except ‘Joey Flash’ would be in the ‘Rare Classics’ section and ‘Occulo’ would be in the ‘Refuse’ section. Come on Occy, you’re reaching with this, you’re trying your hardest to put us on even footing and thinking of every little angle you can cover to try and make yourself feel happy you can have a chance at ONE, I’m the artist and you are my paint, it is at my behest how I use you. It is as simple as that.
Joey sits back down.
However…you do make an interesting point. I don’t wrestle like anyone else, I don’t wrestle like you, I don’t wrestle like anyone else in this federation, but I think you’ve got me pinned right on. I’m here to win, I’m here to dominate, you’re content with mediocrity, and you’re content with fighting Taz Taylor and Ryan Blake every night of your life and picking up cheap wins, I’d say it’s commendable cos you know your lane but for someone whose talent I can feel it’s not commendable in the slightest.
You’re better than that and you don’t even know it, that’s the sickening thing with you, fucking joke. You’re happy with being ‘That new guy who seems to be doing well against veterans’. Me? I’m that guy that is going to tear through the federation; no questions asked, no bodies left. Beckman? Cairo? Fly? Orbit? All footnotes. You’re the type of motherfucker to say thank you when given the slightest titbit of scraps from the head table, I’m the guy storming the top table and demanding the main seat. Alpha shit.
It’s a mentality thing Occy, you could be anything you wanted here but guess what, I’m going to be there every step of the way to ensure you fail. I’ll take every belt just that second before you get there, I’ll beat every top tier opponent just that second before you get matched up with them, I’ll sweep every award we’re nominated for next year, I’m going to be one step ahead on the ladder for the rest of our time here. How does that make you feel?
It makes me smile Occulo, you’re as ignorant as you are stupid. You think I’m truly this evil monster you’re painting me as? Do I wander up to people in the street and say ‘Hey you, borrow money from me at an exorbitant rate and pay it back in a fashion too rapid and in too much of a lump sum for my means?’ Remember the man Dewey you spoke about the first time we fought? Wanna know what he borrowed and why? 5k for ‘His daughter’s college fund’ was spent on booze, hookers and a rented Mercedes for a week. You tell me, if you give someone your money in good faith that they are doing the right thing with it and then find out that they are mistreating the boon you have given them, what would you do? If someone literally came into your house and spent your money on themselves? Would you smile and shake their hand? I do what needs to be done. He eventually gave me my money and I would hope he learned a valuable lesson of humility and trust.
But let’s change pace a little bit, I wanna keep this interesting Occy, who is Charlotte? Oh shit, did I just go there? Little virgin heart racing?
He looks toward the camera.
If I were single, Al don’t take this to heart aight? I would fuck the ever loving shit out of her and film it just so your innocence could be brought back into this century with a pump pump squirt. Fuck, I might do it anyway; I’m going to take everything good and happy in your life already so why not finish the job.
Joey smiles….
You’re like a teenager with a crush, rather pass notes than tell someone to their face. Immaturity and pitifulness, that’s you down to a tee Occy. Your innocence will be truly gone by the time I’m through with you, I’m gonna do what your father couldn’t be bothered to do; I’m making a man out of you.
…then Joey gets fully serious again.
You dare dictate to me? I won’t feel superiority? Occy you are sadly mistaken, there will not be a single second of our bout where I am not in control, where it is my decision which way the fight turns. My power is going nowhere and you will be doing absolutely nothing to change that. The single biggest mistake you have made in this entire build up and that you continue to make time and time again is that you actually believe that ‘Joey is nothing special!’
That train of thought intrigues me, why would you think that? I have been nought but imperious my entire career here, no one has come close to doing what you are claiming you are going to. You’re going to ‘destroy’ me? That’s not how it works. This is not the RPG where the minor boss you keep fighting flees time and time again after beating you only to come back as your final villain and be defeated, this is real life where someone is more skilled, more talented, smarter, quicker and stronger than you. He beat you the first time and he will continue to beat you time and time again. There is nothing that can change this reality Occulo.
You say you aren’t afraid of me, your lips quiver when you speak and your body speaks otherwise. You speak peace, but your body preaches fear. Try to be my nightmare Occulo, I’ve begged that of you from day one, you’ve given me a bit of hope, truly some hope. I can go to bed with sweaty palms and happiness knowing that you feel this passionate about fighting me; it’s the biggest compliment I can possibly get from someone like you. You’re like Will Hunting, a genius content to live life as a janitor just because you can’t be bothered. I’m going to drag every inch of your strength, power and talent into that squared circle and I’m going to systematically reduce it to nothing in the face of a superior being.
You will lose, you will cry, you will endure, and you will continue in your career here, you’ll gain minor success, but I’m always going to be there, and I’m always going to be watching down on you and controlling you as I see fit, if you’re doing too badly I’ll interject, if you’re doing too well I’ll interject. You are my marionette. You will be that until I decide. Until I cut your strings you are mine.
For all your stupid little jibes and all your big claims, in the face of a true champion everything you are is just put to shame. I see past the mask of calm you’re showing everyone and into the face of a scared, whining little bastard. All your talk is nothing but bravado and even you know that it’s true, you talk a big game but what do you actually do? You sheltered, weak, self-centred coward, see I’ve watched friends die for nothing, others graduate law school, seen the worst in people and done shit that would haunt you and you’d understand in one second if you knew half the things I’ve gone through, for all the thoughts you have, there’s no number to describe the experience I’ve got on you.
Joey smiles.
Joey: Let’s have at it. Bodybags on deck.
Alessandra Allegri is stood in her and Joey’s drawing room, her phone held to her ear with her father on the other end, she tried to avoid this conversation as long as possible but with Christmas coming that just wasn’t viable. With an inward sigh she answered.
Alessandra: No, seriously father. I am fine. Yeah he’s fine too, he’s looking forward to seeing you soon, and he asks what presents he’s getting from his grandpa! Huh? I’m okay, really stop worrying, I’ve done everything by the books. Really.
She shakes her head as she paces up and down the room.
Alessandra: What? Joseph? No, he’s fine. Well, actually no, I haven’t heard from him for about a week…. but he’ll be just fine. He’s strong father, no need to worry about him. What, me? No I’m not worried... not worried at all. What do you mean? I can’t hide it from you! ...Okay, okay, I am a bit worried. But I’m sure he’s just around the next corner and looking out for us.
Sure enough, Alessandra walks into the next room, and sitting there in the corner, in the dark, is Joseph Malignaggi... known as the incomparable Joey Flash.
Alessandra: Hang on father... Joey? What on earth are you doing?
Joey was reading a magazine, not even bothering to look at the entrance of Alessandra, week’s worth of stubble on his face.
Alessandra: JOSEPH MALIGNAGGI! Eyes! Here! Now!
Joey held the magazine in between two fingers and looked her way.
Joey: What?
Alessandra: Where the hell have you been?
Hearing a voice, she put the phone back to her ear, before holding it out to Joey.
Alessandra: Father wants to talk to you.
Joey narrows his eyes and lets the magazine fall to the floor. He reaches and tentatively takes the phone from Alessandra.
Joey: Hello?
Bernardo: It’s me, Mr. Allegri. Where exactly have you been? You are supposed to be by my daughters side at all times. I thought me had a deal Mr. Malignaggi? Or are you going to be the disobedient pathetic runt I expect you to be? How’s the ‘wrestling’ working out for you? Enjoying your tights and stockings? You’re pathetic, get a real job.
Joey gripped the phone tighter and Alessandra saw a shot of anger run across Joey’s face, something father said. Joey quickly tempered it.
Joey: Of course sir, I will be there at all times. Forgive me.
Bernardo: Good man. Also, I couldn’t help but see that you’re matched up with that guy who battered you in your debut.
He laughs
Bernardo: Getting beaten up by a novice. Not the kind of fighting spirit I expect Mr. Malignaggi. I trust I will not see a repeat of such... weakness?
Joey closed his eyes and he bit his bottom lip.
Joey: Of course not sir, I will never bring shame in such a way again.
Bernardo: I should hope not. I am starting to think you are not worthy of my daughter’s love. You understand Mr. Malignaggi that I refuse to accept a nobody into my family. I suggest you get a grip, and stop acting like the completely pathetic loser it seems in your nature to act. Do I make myself clear?
Joey: Perfectly. Only...
Joey was about to say something, but quickly halted himself.
Joey: Take care of yourself, I don’t want you upset over my actions, don’t worry I shall watch over your daughter.
Beranrdo: Excellent. You keep an eye on her. Because if she suffers any harm at all…
He pauses for a second, before speaking in a very stern voice.
Bernardo: I shall be inscribing your headstone. And it will not be complimentary. Understand?
Joey: Only the best marble for me Don Allegri please.
A sarcastic laugh comes from the other end of the phone.
Bernardo: Funny. I hope they appreciate that sharp wit in hell. Arrivederci, Mr. Malignaggi.
The phone is hung up. Joey throws the phone across the room and it shatters on the wall.
Joey: Cunt.
Alessandra: Hey! That’s my Father! And…That’s my phone! Cunt yourself.
Joey looks at her again.
Joey: Sorry, was just thinking of funeral arrangements.
Alessandra blinked a little, before nodding.
Alessandra: Ah, I’m with you. Ask you to do a job, did he?
Joey: Nah don’t worry, just thinking out loud. Sorry about the phone.
Alessandra shook her head.
Alessandra: So where the hell have you been?
Joey stands up.
Joey: Don’t worry about me; I told you the other night, I’m good.
A forced smile. Alessandra sighed.
Alessandra: Isn’t this a bit sad that you have to fight a guy you beat before, does he deserve a rematch?
Joey: Fuck a rematch, I don’t care.
Alessandra: But... Joey! You’re the champ! You have to defend your belt, I cannot believe you’re backing out here, is it what I said the other night? If so, I’m sorry.
Joey: Early Christmas present, go for it, I don’t care.
Alessandra: I’ll be damned if I’m marrying a coward like you!
Joey sighs.
Joey: You know how to get me angry Alessandra, keep pushing.
Alessandra: Well why the fuck are you giving in to a little weakling like Occulo then?!
Joey shrugged.
Joey: Good for him, what do I care? Look you seem to want this shit more than I do, what gives?
Alessandra: I want to know I’m marrying a man, not a mouse! And right now you’re not only a mouse, but a mouse whose wife has left him, taking all the cheese, and he’s now feeding on scraps of pigeon shit cos he has no self-respect.
Joey: You’re not going to goad me Alessandra, so I’m going to walk away before I say anything I regret.
Joey brushes past her and goes to leave the room. Alessandra follows him, catching up to him, before smacking him around the back of the head.
Alessandra: COWARD!
She spits in his face as he turns around.
Alessandra: FUCK YOU JOEY! FUCK YOU!
Instantly Joey lashes out with his right hand punching Alessandra in the stomach, she doubles over gasping.
Joey: You ever spit in my face again, no matter who your family is bitch you’re going to be in real trouble.
He thinks about coiling his right hand again but just lets it drop. Alessandra gasps for breath.
Alessandra: You... fucking... cunt...
Joey: I would never spit on my worst enemy.
Joey walks out of the room and slams the door behind him. Alessandra smiles to herself, good, that’s a start. She felt bad about how she spoke to him the other night, she should have kept her thoughts to herself, she knew he was fragile right now but didn’t want to miss this chance to make him actually happy again. The Joey she had fallen in love with was a machine, he got what he wanted, he did what he wanted and he vanquished any enemies within a hundred mile radius. This current incarnation was a poor imitation. She will push, and she will continue to push every little button he had. He will bend, he will break and he will be her Joey once more.
You're a bum, you're a punk...
Joey Flash gazed up at the sky as he watched the first snow of the year fall. He pulled the hood of his thin jacket over his head and slumped down onto the grass. Joey had come to Central Park at the end of a long day of training; the sun had finished its daily arc across the sky and long since set over the famous skyline by the time Joey arrived. He could barely even feel the cold anymore, his phone told him it was minus two but it felt like the middle of spring to him.
He picked the half empty bottle of Jack Daniels from the grass and glugged two gulps of guilt and emptiness down his gullet. He had missed this. The weeks of hard training, of fighting for his life in the wrestling ring, of serenity and calm outside the ring, this was not him. He had been happy, he had been content, and he was finding himself even able to sleep at night. Crazy right? Joey had tried everything these past five years, drugs, booze, even fuckin hypnosis, what a quack that guy was and what an idiot Joey was for paying a grand for the privilege, he just wanted to sleep at night.
Then five weeks ago it happened, Joey went to bed and Joey slept. He slept like a baby. No nightmares and no thoughts gnawing away at his sanity, he slept and he dreamt. He even started keeping a dream diary, in case one night they just stopped and the nightmares began again he could at least have some form of tangible proof there is still this light inside of him somewhere albeit buried behind twenty walls of self-loathing and hate.
He felt his worries slide away and everything bad in his life just seemed to sort itself out, he wasn’t arguing with Alessandra, his business was steady and his son was happy. The only change in Joey’s life had been something so simple, a purpose. He found himself signing a rookie contract with the WCF. In his very first match he was battered and nearly beaten by a man Joey wouldn’t have looked twice at on the street as a threat. His purpose was set and his purpose involved only one thing, the word ‘Occulo’ became his living, walking purpose.
For this past month or so Joey’s head had been filled with childish joy and excitement. He’d come home after a training session and try to put his fiancée in whatever move he had been practicing that day, he’d be showing his son WCF shows and even bought him a ‘Orbit knowz dem Hoez’ T-Shirt. He hadn’t had a drink since and found himself weaning however slowly from any substances. Then with one fell swoop, everything about Joey Flash had changed and his world had come crashing down around him.
He got a text from his fiancée while he was running ‘Watch Occulo’s promo’. No kisses at the end of the text, no loving reassurance. Fine, Joey pulled up YouTube on his phone and watched while stood in the middle of the road. He went from happy, to bemused, to angry, to feeling like had his soul ripped out through his navel. Joey wasn’t running anymore.
He trudged along the road with his thoughts swirling, he knew now that what he feared was the absolute truth. He knew now that the ‘Million sided dice’ was truly nought more than a coin flip; this was not something Joey was truly prepared for. He had pushed and prodded, he had pulled the very essence of the man he knows as Occulo every which way in hopes of some reaction. The reaction was here and it was nuclear. His heart was beating and his pulse racing as he wandered, before he knew what he was doing he already had his brown bag of liquor and was a quarter of the way through.
It was 00:35 as he continued to drink, the snowfall was getting heavier. Joey stood up and trudged through the park, oblivious to the world around him. His aches and pains were worsening because of the cold, he felt his back twinge in areas he didn’t know were hurt and his right knee was shooting pain through his body. He staggered to the closest bench, downside being it already being occupied by a man who was clearly using it as his bed for the night.
Joey slumped on the floor near the bench and plopped a nice outline of his ass in the snow. The homeless man stirred at the noise.
Man: Ugh, good night for it.
Joey looked at the JD and handed it to the man.
Joey: Fuckin A. Have some.
The man obliges.
Man: It’s been a while since I met my friend Jack.
Joey: Well I’m Joey, close enough eh?
Man: Stan.
Joey: The fuckin man Stan. That’s you.
Stan knew the man was clearly drunk, so would have to be careful not to offend him.
Stan: I do my best.
Stan sits up.
Stan: Not seen you before?
Joey: You wouldn’t have. I’m just passing through.
Stan: Strange time to be passing through.
Joey: It’s a strange time for most fuckin things.
Stan: How you mean Joe?
Joey: Can I ask you a question?
Stan: Shoot.
Joey: If you had…If you had told someone you could do a job, and lots of people were depending on you doing this job…no lemme rephrase it. If you had staked your life on being able to perform a certain task, if everything that you are, everything you have ever lived by is on the line.
Stan: Okay…
Joey: Then, yeah, if you started to think that, nah if you started to know that isn’t the case and that maybe you can’t do the things that so many people have been promised you’re capable of. What would you do?
Stan: I’d do it anyway.
Joey: Huh?
Stan: I mean shit, I’ve said it, and so I must have believed it at some point. What changed?
Joey: Nothing I guess.
Stan: Then what’s the problem?
Joey stands up and runs his hands through his hair.
Joey: Stan, you’re a fucking legend.
Stan: Well-
Joey fumbles into his pocket and pulls his wallet out; turning several twenty’s onto the snowy floor.
Joey: You’ve earned it.
Stan: What? Who-
Joey: I’m the fucking WCF Television Champion, and I’m staying that way. Have a beautiful Christmas Stan.
Joey takes his coat off and gives it to Stan as well.
Joey: It’s gonna be beautiful.
Joey strides away from Stan and further through the park. Slapping himself in the face. Sensitive bitch, fuckin man up. Act like what you are champ. He stared skyward once more as the snow cascaded around him, a lone figure of solitude among the peace. Joey found himself again, he knew he would never be without the hurt, never be without the pain and hatred of himself. He would picture Robert Facchetti for the rest of his life, he would hate himself for the two little girls, he would have nightmares, and he would have sleepless nights. That is the cross the man called Joseph Malignaggi would bear, it would torture him, it would beat him, it might even kill him, but these are the things that make him himself. Handle your shit, you are who you are because of what you’ve done and what has been done to you, ain’t nothing that can change that. So, bitch, man up. Your nemesis is right in front of you. Handle…your…shit.
Joey began to laugh to himself.
Joey: Ahh Occy, I got a feeling this year’s for me and you.
King of New York City...
We open in Joey Flash’s locker room where he sits with no shirt and just some baggy shorts, drenched in sweat he has a large pack of ice wrapped round his right hand.
Joey: So it has come to this huh?
Joey sighs and gives a smile toward the camera.
Joey: It worked, it actually worked. My little mongel has finally found his bark. Yap fucking yap. It’s a great day for me, I feel like a proud dad finally my son has done something that I’ve been helping him with for months. It’s been interesting but I’m going to dead everything right now. No bullshit, I’m ending you. Let’s get to it mongrel, yeah motherfucker you mad at what I said? Mad I put you down? You’re my toy, you’re my plaything, want me to put you down? No, mongrel, you are my limping cancer ridden dog, I will put you down.
We doing this shit in PA, it’s only right when I see ya, heart chill as a penguin I’ll retract your roof and turn your melon to the Mellon arena. You talk some interesting shit Occy, let’s get it poppin. Ten stitches, loss of two pints of blood, a hairline fracture, copious vomiting, and rash brought on by petroleum and severe bruising to the forehead and one massively swollen cunt of an ego. Did they give you too much morphine Mr Delusional? This bastard was making love to a sweeping brush and praising it for its lithe figure and bristly tongue.
That beam of light you were following in the darkness did nothing but lead you right where I want you Occy, my mind is bright and clear but it seems you’re the one having some trouble, my family life is no concern of yours, you should be concerned about the beating I’m going to give you yet a fucking gain at ONE, it’s simple, the difference between our light is this: My light is dim and I accept it, yours is dim and yet you fight and struggle for more than you can ever get. Don’t get it yet? How much you getting paid for this match? It’s okay you don’t have to tell me that’s okay, but a decent amount to try and kill me in a wrestling match that’s cool, for that same amount I’ll kill you for real. Your family will be crying at your wake before my son misses a meal.
It’s life in its purist form, survival of the fittest, you will learn the way everyone before you has about the food chain here, you’ve just managed to be the antelope that struggles a little bit more in the jaws of the lion, but I’ve already got them jaws tight around your neck.
I found out some interesting shit Occulo, I mean fuck you should release an autobiography, that motherfucker would be in the New York Times Worstseller list with how mind numbing that shit would be. Sex, Drugs and Rock n Roll becomes Abstinence, Sobriety and Elevator Music with you. You just need to ask and I’ll help you out, I’ll get you a paid for night at La Societa, I’ll find you a nice (blind) woman, and fuck might get you high, that’d loosen your fuckin ridiculous self up.
You speak fucking gibberish man; every other line is some ridiculous metaphor. I’m a pink cloud and you’re a blue cloud, it means that when we meet it will cause a change in the atmosphere that will cloud the future…motherfucker shut up. Speak with your chest; get some bass in your voice and fucking talk to me. You dance about more than Michael Flatley, here’s my neck, go for the fucking jugular.
Joey stands and stretches.
Do I need you? Are you the Batman to my Joker? Am I going to keep doing these things to you and then running off with a look of glee on my face just for the sport of things? Maybe, or maybe you are just something to pass my time and help me deal with my own boredom? If you left now? I would think, ah shucks there goes my current game and I’d go and find a new one. You have a lot of self-importance for someone who claims the opposite. You are no puzzle to me, you are a chew toy, you’ve been chewed up and spit out and the next step is to discard you into the trash.
Joey pulls a candle out of his pocket.
Joey: What’s this? Oh look, a candle!
He smiles and lights the candle.
Joey: Ahh how pretty, look how it flickers! But what happens when…
Joey blows. The candle goes out…then re lights again.
Joey: What the fuck? You fucking candle cunt.
Joey blows again, it goes out then re lights.
Joey: Ohhhh! It’s one of those candles.
Joey laughs.
Joey: Ding ding ding shit metaphor alert. Me Joey Flash, me not know candle that light self. Motherfucker are you stupid?
Joey snaps the candle in half and grinds it underfoot.
Joey: There, problem solved. You seem rather ignorant about how this world works. Did I look powerless? Or did I destroy the problem with ease? You tell me. I lied when I said this was a poor metaphor, you actually explained your own folly quite well. You are the candle that keeps trying to come back to life, begging not to be tampered with any further, just to go on with your happy existence. But I’m that kid who thinks, no candle, you are a cunt, get blown out again. So guess what I’m going to keep doing to you? It would be so much easier if you were just to burn from start to finish with interruptions but I’m going to always be there, and I’m always going to extinguish you and make your existence hell until the day I have had enough and decide to destroy you once and for all.
Before we go any further, I got something to address. Hey Occulo, how’s your father? You have no right to talk down about that shit. You’re sad and you’re complaining because of how what, your father never spent time with you? Motherfucker shut up. You were privileged; you came from everything that someone who came from nothing never had. You had a mother and a father. Your 400k house was a mansion compared to people who’ve actually struggled, your mother hugged you and packed your lunch and you toddled off to private school. When daddy wouldn’t talk to you in the evening that made you this sad vengeful child whereas just a mile away a boy your age isn’t getting fed and getting whipped with a belt by his own drunken father. But I guess in the end your father doesn’t love you, cos he let you be this cunt of a person you are. When you act the way you are that’s disrespectful to him, know your lane. Say thank you to him for what he’s given you, kept you in the best schools, gave you the best clothes, and gave you the best education and what have you done with it?
Joey smiles.
Let me tell you, you’ve become a plaything for that boy down the street who was getting whipped by his drunken father. Funny how life works.
You seem to know a lot about time dilation Occy, are you a physicist? I’m impressed, psyche I lied, you’re a cunt. I don’t know what time dilation is, but I know what pupil dilation is and I see that in your eyes every time you’re in my presence, I fucking love you showing fear. I look in your eyes with a stare so frosty even a polar bear would be like ‘Fuck it’s cold in here!’ and you bitch up and lower your head like the submissive cunt you are.
I’m sick of your metaphors motherfucker; do I have to do it again? Ding Ding Ding, shit metaphor alert. Two works of art in an empty gallery, except ‘Joey Flash’ would be in the ‘Rare Classics’ section and ‘Occulo’ would be in the ‘Refuse’ section. Come on Occy, you’re reaching with this, you’re trying your hardest to put us on even footing and thinking of every little angle you can cover to try and make yourself feel happy you can have a chance at ONE, I’m the artist and you are my paint, it is at my behest how I use you. It is as simple as that.
Joey sits back down.
However…you do make an interesting point. I don’t wrestle like anyone else, I don’t wrestle like you, I don’t wrestle like anyone else in this federation, but I think you’ve got me pinned right on. I’m here to win, I’m here to dominate, you’re content with mediocrity, and you’re content with fighting Taz Taylor and Ryan Blake every night of your life and picking up cheap wins, I’d say it’s commendable cos you know your lane but for someone whose talent I can feel it’s not commendable in the slightest.
You’re better than that and you don’t even know it, that’s the sickening thing with you, fucking joke. You’re happy with being ‘That new guy who seems to be doing well against veterans’. Me? I’m that guy that is going to tear through the federation; no questions asked, no bodies left. Beckman? Cairo? Fly? Orbit? All footnotes. You’re the type of motherfucker to say thank you when given the slightest titbit of scraps from the head table, I’m the guy storming the top table and demanding the main seat. Alpha shit.
It’s a mentality thing Occy, you could be anything you wanted here but guess what, I’m going to be there every step of the way to ensure you fail. I’ll take every belt just that second before you get there, I’ll beat every top tier opponent just that second before you get matched up with them, I’ll sweep every award we’re nominated for next year, I’m going to be one step ahead on the ladder for the rest of our time here. How does that make you feel?
It makes me smile Occulo, you’re as ignorant as you are stupid. You think I’m truly this evil monster you’re painting me as? Do I wander up to people in the street and say ‘Hey you, borrow money from me at an exorbitant rate and pay it back in a fashion too rapid and in too much of a lump sum for my means?’ Remember the man Dewey you spoke about the first time we fought? Wanna know what he borrowed and why? 5k for ‘His daughter’s college fund’ was spent on booze, hookers and a rented Mercedes for a week. You tell me, if you give someone your money in good faith that they are doing the right thing with it and then find out that they are mistreating the boon you have given them, what would you do? If someone literally came into your house and spent your money on themselves? Would you smile and shake their hand? I do what needs to be done. He eventually gave me my money and I would hope he learned a valuable lesson of humility and trust.
But let’s change pace a little bit, I wanna keep this interesting Occy, who is Charlotte? Oh shit, did I just go there? Little virgin heart racing?
He looks toward the camera.
If I were single, Al don’t take this to heart aight? I would fuck the ever loving shit out of her and film it just so your innocence could be brought back into this century with a pump pump squirt. Fuck, I might do it anyway; I’m going to take everything good and happy in your life already so why not finish the job.
Joey smiles….
You’re like a teenager with a crush, rather pass notes than tell someone to their face. Immaturity and pitifulness, that’s you down to a tee Occy. Your innocence will be truly gone by the time I’m through with you, I’m gonna do what your father couldn’t be bothered to do; I’m making a man out of you.
…then Joey gets fully serious again.
You dare dictate to me? I won’t feel superiority? Occy you are sadly mistaken, there will not be a single second of our bout where I am not in control, where it is my decision which way the fight turns. My power is going nowhere and you will be doing absolutely nothing to change that. The single biggest mistake you have made in this entire build up and that you continue to make time and time again is that you actually believe that ‘Joey is nothing special!’
That train of thought intrigues me, why would you think that? I have been nought but imperious my entire career here, no one has come close to doing what you are claiming you are going to. You’re going to ‘destroy’ me? That’s not how it works. This is not the RPG where the minor boss you keep fighting flees time and time again after beating you only to come back as your final villain and be defeated, this is real life where someone is more skilled, more talented, smarter, quicker and stronger than you. He beat you the first time and he will continue to beat you time and time again. There is nothing that can change this reality Occulo.
You say you aren’t afraid of me, your lips quiver when you speak and your body speaks otherwise. You speak peace, but your body preaches fear. Try to be my nightmare Occulo, I’ve begged that of you from day one, you’ve given me a bit of hope, truly some hope. I can go to bed with sweaty palms and happiness knowing that you feel this passionate about fighting me; it’s the biggest compliment I can possibly get from someone like you. You’re like Will Hunting, a genius content to live life as a janitor just because you can’t be bothered. I’m going to drag every inch of your strength, power and talent into that squared circle and I’m going to systematically reduce it to nothing in the face of a superior being.
You will lose, you will cry, you will endure, and you will continue in your career here, you’ll gain minor success, but I’m always going to be there, and I’m always going to be watching down on you and controlling you as I see fit, if you’re doing too badly I’ll interject, if you’re doing too well I’ll interject. You are my marionette. You will be that until I decide. Until I cut your strings you are mine.
For all your stupid little jibes and all your big claims, in the face of a true champion everything you are is just put to shame. I see past the mask of calm you’re showing everyone and into the face of a scared, whining little bastard. All your talk is nothing but bravado and even you know that it’s true, you talk a big game but what do you actually do? You sheltered, weak, self-centred coward, see I’ve watched friends die for nothing, others graduate law school, seen the worst in people and done shit that would haunt you and you’d understand in one second if you knew half the things I’ve gone through, for all the thoughts you have, there’s no number to describe the experience I’ve got on you.
Joey smiles.
Joey: Let’s have at it. Bodybags on deck.
