Post by Jaymz on Mar 26, 2017 0:16:04 GMT -5
Julie and the Cheese Grater
(Bond, Colorado. 3:22am)
Jaymz lay in the bed trying to relax with the remote in one hand, flipping through the channels not finding anything meaningful to watch. His upper body appeared to be chiseled from stone but covered in deep scars – just like his face. The sheet on the bed covered his lower half except for one leg that Julie was hunched over. Her back was blocking the view of what she was doing, but whatever it was, Jaymz didn’t seem to mind. He had just gotten back from his nightly stroll around the countryside followed by a little training for his upcoming match.
(LEAVE)
The word screamed through his mind and made him wince. His body twitched but Julie didn’t seem to notice as she continued with whatever she was doing by Jaymz leg. Something wasn’t right. He wasn’t sure what it was – but deep down he knew that something was wrong. His mind had been unsettled most the night with something that he couldn’t pinpoint. He raced through his mental checklist of things but nothing seemed to be off and he was confident he wasn’t forgetting anything.
(GO NOW)
Again the words screamed through his mind…But what was it!? What was he forgetting? He looked around the room and everything was in place; he forced his mind to look beyond the walls of the cabin – and still – no threat outside. He was here in Colorado, isolated with his Julie in the Rocky Mountains. The bedroom of the cabin was void of all furniture and decorations except for the bed, the nightstand and the TV mounted on the wall. It was a chilly sixty-two degrees in the house, but that’s the way he liked it.
Julie repositioned herself on the one leg Jaymz had exposed from the sheets and her activity came into view. She wore the same light blue nightgown that she had worn since last week with old mustard stains on the front and dirt stains around the bottom. She had a pair of tweezers in hand and a pink razor in the other. She had cleared off a spot of hair on his thigh just above his knee.
(Crazy J would find it ironic that Julie wouldn’t shave her own legs, but shave part of Jaymz’ legs.)
She took the tweezers and pulled a few extra hairs away from the outside area of the cleared flesh, as if it would make a difference. Her eyes got big and she smiled. She was satisfied with her work. Jaymz seemed not to notice as he stared off at the TV, not watching that either, but still trying to contemplate what he was missing….what was wrong? He couldn’t put his mind on it
(GET UP)
That one word raced through his mind as anger and frustration was building inside of him. Was it because he was getting old, he wondered!? No, couldn’t be. He didn’t age like most people or deteriorate like most men after moving beyond the age of forty.
…so what was he forgetting?.....
Julie looked around her on both sides of bed, moving the sheets and looking next to Jaymz. She paused as she found what she was looking for. The gleam of the lights from the ceiling fan shined off the plated metal cheese grater as she ran it across her hand one time before setting it on Jaymz’ leg. She spun it around on his leg with a curious look as she positioned it exactly the way she wanted.
She applied pressure and began to slide it across his leg in the area she cleared of hair. She pulled it back, pressed down again and forced it across his leg once more. Blood started to run down his thigh from underneath the cheese grater as she pulled it back again and forcefully ran it slid it along his leg. This time she got what she was looking for. Thin pieces of Jaymz’ skin pushed through the metal holes as blood pooled in with the flesh, and instantly, the bed was a crimson mess.
Jaymz only glanced down at her one time while all this was going on; not even the pain of flesh being ripped from his body brought him out of thought. Julie pulled a string of the flesh from the grater and waved it around, droplets of blood hitting her in the face and dotting the white bed sheets around her. She tossed it into her mouth and silently chewed while she went back to work pulling another piece of skin off the grater as the blood from his thigh now dripped from she sheets to the wooden floor below.
(LEAVE)
Jaymz shot straight up in the bed…He knew what it was!! It was Claire - and something was wrong. He looked over at Julie who was licking the blood off her fingers, still chewing a piece of his hairless skin, and sent her a message. She froze, and with a disappointed look on her face she slowly nodded “ok” and got off the bed. She dragged her dirty feet across the floor and into the bathroom; a cabinet door slammed closed seconds later and she walked back into the room with a distant, out-of-this-world look on her face. She held a box of bandages and other supplies in her hand as she shuffled back over to the blood soaked bed and started to patch the wound of her love.
He didn’t rush her, she didn’t like that, but he wanted to leave this very second. Something was wrong with Claire, and they had all promised Salem that they would take care of his sister while he was gone – but that was a lot easier said than done. Ever since Salem had gotten locked up Claire had fallen into a deep hole but nobody had the nerve to tell him. He was in prison, ..and from there he couldn’t help her.
Claire Shepard
(Bloomfield Hills, Mich. 5:15am)
I take a lot of blame for Salem. I helped bring him here to ZT along with Cash and J. We saw right away that he had potential….It didn’t take long for the world to see as he quickly made a name for himself in the WCF and came away as a Trios Champion. We knew that he could rise to the top after some work. He was pretty raw when he came in but Cash and J got him up to speed and he was competing with the best. Salem could have been a World Champion around here, and I take some of the blame for him not being here. I was supposed to watch him, I was supposed to keep him out of trouble. But I don’t think Erik realized how difficult that was going to be.
…To be fair, I didn’t either…
The wind howled through the trees that lined the street in Bloomfield Hills. Lights had started to come on in several of the houses around the neighborhood as people were waking up to begin their day. Jaymz looked up the street and things weren’t the same as they had been just months ago in Bloomfield Hills. Archer was kicked out of ZT and his house was demolished. Jason Cash’s trailer sat empty in front of the enormous house that he never used. Salem was in prison and Crazy J was hardly ever home. Drache’s attack on the ZT tower had changed everything along with him also taking Cash and his family.
Bloomfield Hills was no longer the circus that it once was and even the ZT security guys had packed up and left. Jaymz looked father ahead up the street and still couldn’t see Salems house, or the others, in the darkness of the early morning. They were still a few minutes walk ahead but he didn’t mind, as again he felt at ease walking a road at night, even though, deep down, he still had the nagging feeling that something was wrong.
I think I made my point loud and clear at Slam a few nights back. I had to go out and make an example since it was clear that nobody was listening to me. I WILL get that shot at the World Title. I WILL take down anyone who stands in my way of what I desire. I wasn’t going to just be the “alternate” in the Trilogy Tourney and stand on the sideline waiting to get my chance when someone fell out. So I did what I felt needed to be done - and I inserted myself into the fuckin tournament.
Nobody told me “no”….Nobody came to tell me that I don’t get to make the matches around here; because what is Seth going to do about it? Get in my face and tell me I can’t? No, …No, he wouldn’t….because I would just squeeze his neck and lift him into the Silence like everyone else. If other people around here can walk into Seth’s office and demand matches then I’ll do the same damn thing to take what I want. Seth has been trying to keep ZT down and keep us out of the spotlight.
He has tried to get people to forget about Zero Tolerance and erase us from their memory, but we’ve been around longer than the WCF itself and not a damn soul is gonna forget who we are, or forget what Im about to accomplish. I will make people forget about Pantheon and I will make Flash a distant memory as I will overshadow everything that he’s achieved here. Seth can try to hide us on the card all he wants, but Erik gets a Title shot of his choice and Vinnie and I are two wins away from taking on the World Champion - and one of us will bring the WCF’s biggest prize to its best stable.
Explosion is a fitting name for this next Pay Per View because I exploded on the scene here, and though none of you took me seriously - I have a feeling you will now. This whole fucking place will explode when they realize that none of you can hold me back from what I want. People will complain, ...they will lose their minds as I walk into the next round of this Trilogy Tournament and, and eventually, step over the ropes into the ring when I face the World Champion and take the highest honor that the WCF has to offer.
I will use my brute strength to overwhelm them. I will mash their skulls and cave them in with my bare hands. ...and people like Dion, I will pick them up and shake them violently afterward....You'll hear the small, broken pieces of their skulls rattling around inside the soft fleshy exterior.
...and it'll sound something like a fucked up maraca…
I thrive on listening to the screams of my opponents, ...the cries of pain that burst from their lungs and rise from their throats gives me great satisfaction. The dull snapping noise that comes from the femur when I break it in half sounds like firework explosions to me. I enjoy it like kids enjoy the 4th of July visuals and the loud blast of the explosions - one after another.
The explosion of screams from the crowd as I snap Teddy Blazes ribs, one by one, like small tree branches, will give me goosebumps and a feel of accomplishment, ...the feel of a "job well done." I thrive on the biggest stage, I enjoy knowing that the matches have more meaning and the viewing audience is larger than usual, ...but Im larger than the usual wrestler.
I AM the beast of the WCF.
I AM the new monster around these parts.
THE Giant of the WCF.
Everyone here has to look up at me, and when I eventually win that World Title, you all will be looking up to me in a different way. You all will bow down to me just as the Sinners of the Underworld have to. You all WILL recognize me as the best, recognize me as the King of the WCF...The World Champion. And this week, at Explosion, I will take one more giant step to accomplishing something that Zero Tolerance has yet to do here in the WCF.
Seth can’t keep us away from the World Title forever, and that’s the only reason he didn’t want me in the Trilogy Tournament. He was hoping that I would fall out to people like Wade or Ethan King of Excuses...But that didn’t happen and I showed the world, in record time, what happens when you cross my path on the WCF's most prevalent stage...and at Explosion, I aim to repeat my record-time performance at Timebomb.
He passed the empty lot that used to be Adrian Archers house in the brief time that he was a part of Zero Tolerance as Jaymz grunted and rolled his eyes with the thought of Archer. He was never a fan of Adrian Archer and didn’t agree with him being a part of Zero Tolerance. But he had given in to the coaxing of Salem, J, Cash and Erik and agreed to add him to the roster. ZT was a unit, and without a 3-0 vote by the founding three members, they didn’t make a move. So he had agreed, giving them a unanimous vote and Adrian Archer was welcomed into Zero Tolerance. But only for a short while and that pleased Jaymz to see him leave as quickly as he came. He peered ahead, still unable to make out the rest of the ZT houses except for the outside lights that shined in the darkness - and his mind focused back on Claire.
Claire hadn’t done well since her brother was locked away in prison. Crazy J had checked on her often as he had strong feelings for the female Shepard; and for a time she had kept herself in her normal routine and continued down the path she was on. She would get up in the morning and go for a jog, then spend the rest of the day cleaning the house and making improvements to the yard before summer arrived. She had no friends other than Cash's wife as Salem had kept her locked down tight making sure that she didn’t run off and get addicted to drugs again. But Nicole was gone, as was Cash and Salem - and Claire was alone. Jaymz phone buzzed in his pocket and he put it on speaker phone as he answered the call.
Jaymz: Yeah?
Erik Black: Jaymz. Hey, you still in Colorado?
Jaymz: No, Im in Bloomfield Hills. Im checking on Claire.
Erik: Is Julie with you?
Jaymz: I left her in Colorado, ...I'll be back there shortly. I can’t leave her alone for long but I need to see if Claire is here. I have a feeling that something is wrong.
Erik: I went by there last week and she still wasn’t there....
Jaymz: Have you told Salem?
Erik: Not yet, no. We need to get her cleaned up first. He will be pissed if he knows she’s not sober.
Jaymz: That’s not our fault. I know we promised to watch over her, but she’s a grown woman and we can’t follow her around like a small child.
Erik: If you see her, bring her back to Colorado and I'll meet you there. We need to get her help before Salem finds out.
Jaymz: I know. I'll let you know.
He didn’t wait for Erik to reply and he ended the call. He picked up his pace as he passed another house and the feeling inside his gut became stronger as he approached Salems house. He was hoping that Claire was here, but Claire was rarely here anymore. She had been spending most her time in Detroit hanging out with the addicts and getting high and only coming home to sleep occasionally. The last time Jaymz was here he noticed that a lot of Salems art and other possessions were missing. He knew where they had gone, Claire had pawned her brothers stuff so she could buy more dope.
The last time Jaymz had seen here she was incredibly thin, just as she had been when Salem had brought her up from Houston to live with him. The weight that she had gained was gone and her clear complexion had been replaced by sores on her face. That was the last time he had seen Claire and that was several weeks ago. She tried as hard as she could to avoid the ZT members as she knew they would try and help her overcome her addiction. But she didn’t want help. She felt like she had no family, no friends, and nobody that cared about her with Salem being gone. So she turned to heroine and picked up her old habits.
Salems house came into view and he could see several lights on inside. The giant took that as a good sign and hoped that she was home so he could force her back to Colorado and get her some help. He walked up the drive noticing that Claire’s yard work had stopped and the weeds in the lawn hadn’t been pulled in quite some time.
He pressed down on the door latch but it was locked. He looked in the windows next to the door and didn’t see Claire anywhere around. He closed his eyes, focused on the door and moments later the lock clicked, the deadbolt keyhole turned and Jaymz quietly entered the house. The smell was the first thing that he noticed and it took him back to his childhood of living with the Judson’s...He knew that smell. It was the smell of old, dried canned spaghetti.
Claire?
He called out but nobody responded. He looked around the house and noticed that more of Salems strange art and sculptures were gone...She had sold those as well. His heart began to beat faster as he looked around the house and noticed the scraps of food, random holes in the sheetrock and pieces of clothing scattered around the house...it was a mess. That awful feeling in Jaymz gut returned now hitting harder than ever. He walked up the stairs, his massive frame taking three steps at a time as he got to the top and walked down the hallway, peering into each bedroom as he did. More items around the house were missing - but still no sign of Claire.
...She’s here....I know she is....
The giant came to the end of the hall, the pale light of the house made the deep scars on his face look more pronounced than they really were. His eyes scanned both sides of the hallway as he came to the last room. He paused before placing his massive hand on the door and slightly pushed it open. The room was pitch black and he reached into the darkness and flipped on the light switch. Brilliant light filled the room and he pushed the door all the way open and lowered his head at what he saw.
The sinking feeling in his stomach was right.
His instincts were never wrong and he had only wished he had gotten here earlier. But how much earlier, he wondered? Would this be different if he had shown up here an hour ago when he his gut told him something was wrong? He didn’t think so. What was here had been here for at least two days he guessed.
Claire lay on the bed, her body extremely pale and slightly bloated. There was a foul stench in the room of feces and decaying flesh; but decaying flesh was nothing new to Jaymz. He walked over to her body and touched her arm. It was cold as ice and most people would have recoiled after touching the cold, stiff body - but Jaymz didn’t seem to mind.
...Every sinner has a future...
He ran his fingers up her pale arm to her shoulder before dropping his own arm back to his side.
...Your soul will one day walk with me, Claire....
Jaymz walked to the otherside of the bed and looked at the contents lying next to her dead body. Several used needles lay on the bed along with empty baggies - next to his foot was a used condom. The needle that had caused her fatal overdose still protruded from her skin, just below the elbow, surrounded by dried blood. He touched it with his oversized finger and it bounced up and down momentarily, the swollen area releasing yellowish pus around the needle.
He yanked it from her arm and laid it on the bed. Fluids drained from the wound and the stench of her body seemed to magnify. Someone, a male, had been here with her judging from the condom. But whoever it was hadn’t killed her, she had accidently overdosed. Jaymz lowered his head in disappointment knowing that it was his job, and Crazy J's job and Erik's job to make sure that Claire kept on the straight path, ...and they failed. They failed Claire and they failed Salem. Anger began to rise in the giants body, anger directed at himself and his friends.
His eyes seemed to change color, a blackness swirled in from the corners and quickly the whites of his eyes were gone. A blackness soo deep that you could almost see through it, as if you were looking down a dark hallway that stretched on forever. The pressure around the room began to change and Jaymz clinched his fist together trying to push back the rage. Trying to overpower the Thing, the Evil, that consumed his soul. But it was too strong, and it was angry.
Very angry.
The sheetrock of the walls seemed to bow into the room and crack in places; the windows in the room began to crack, slowly at first, before they shattered as if from an explosion. Glass rained down all over the room, small flakes landing in his hair catching the light from the ceiling fixture and made his head shimmer in spots. The rage took over his entire body and he threw a massive left handed punch into the sheetrock, leaving a hole the size of a bowling ball.
He took two massive steps across the room and kicked the dresser, sending it flying into the wall as drawers popped open and Claire’s clean undergarments fell to the floor. The glass mirror broke free from the dresser as it tumbled and shattered as it hit the floor. Jaymz chest heaved up and down; his solid black eyes gave his face a very sinister look.
He almost looked like a different person, he looked like something that didn’t belong on this planet - and he looked like something that was never born on this planet. He pulled his fist back and aimed for the wall again, but something caught his eye. Where the dresser used to be he noticed a small pile of trash. The rage and anger inside of him pulled back, his eyes cleared and he lowered his fist. He kneeled down and took a closer look at the contents of the of the small pile.
...she never took it....
They were small foil packs, some were open and some were still sealed. Mixed among them were small white pills and he put several of them in his hand and studied them. It was the suboxone her doctor had given her. Suboxone was an opiate that was prescribed to addicts to help keep them clean. Even if Claire was to shoot up heroine while on Suboxone, she wouldn’t feel the effects of the heroine and it would all have been a waste.
He looked at the foil packs in his hand and the same thought replayed in his mind: Claire had never taken the suboxone to begin with. The whole time she lived here with Shep, she had gone cold turkey and tried to beat it herself; only pretending to take the Suboxone and hiding it. Jaymz knew that Claire despised him with every fiber in her body, but he knew she was a strong woman and wanted to do things her way. And she had. She had gotten clean off heroine without the help of the Suboxone.
And for the first time in his life - he felt guilt. They had promised Salem they would take care of her and Jaymz was extremely loyal to his friends, and he had let Salem down. In all his years on this planet he had never, not once, let his ZT brothers down. He was as loyal as a person could be and he would do anything for those men and his Julie. He dropped the contents in his hand back to the floor and held his head low. He knew he had to be the one to tell Salem about Claire - the only family member Shep had left. He sighed an enormous sigh and got back to his feet, slowly walked over to the bed and ran his hand over her face, closing her eyes as guilt and anger raged inside his body.
Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville
(Huntsville, Texas. The following day)
Jaymz felt closed in – trapped between the four white concrete walls that made up the small room. It made him feel claustrophobic and his anxiety was starting to build up inside of him as he tapped his large fingers on the small round table in rhythm over and over again. The large steel door had one piece of thick viewing glass and he kept waiting for the guard to return with Salem.
He had seen Salem only once since he was locked away, and the only reason he had gone was because Crazy J had dragged him along for a visit. He hated this place, but he also a deep hatred for cops in general. He didn’t trust them, but outside his ZT family and Julie – he didn’t trust a soul to begin with. He checked his watch on his right hand, which people told him was the incorrect wrist, but he was left handed and left handed people typically wore their watch on their right hand. ..and he waited…
I don’t think Salem is going to take this very well. Hes more emotional and sensitive than he’ll ever let on – but I know who he truly is. It seems like bad news has become the norm around here lately, but it all started with Drache and his attack on the ZT tower. The shooting was the initial Explosion and the shrapnel flew far, piercing us all and it affected our whole company. Were still dealing with the fallout, the protests in Detroit outside the ZT tower, some falling profit margins, longtime associates leaving us for other companies, …and the loss of the Trios and Hardcore Titles.
Drache set it all in motion and although were still standing, he has managed to put a crack in the ZT foundation. But it’s nothing we haven’t seen before, …nothing that we haven’t dealt with in the past. The one thing that Drache knows about me is that he can’t get in my head. He can’t get me to lose focus on the goal ahead. Rookies like Salem got sidetracked, he got too worried about what was going on around him and he lost his in-ring focus. But I’ve walked this road before and I know how to keep my mind on the task.
Jaymz stopped talking as people started to move around the window in the door and seconds later the bolt slid into the door with a *clang* and two officers stepped into the room, followed by a man in an orange jumpsuit. Salem Shepard. There was no facepaint allowed in jail but they had agreed to let him have a substitute for the facepaint. He walked in with his hands in shackles and a pillowcase over his head. His blue eyes stood out from the white pillow case that had a sloppy happy-face drawn on with a black sharpie. A short, pudgy officer with shaggy red hair let Salem free from his shackles and Salem rubbed his wrists as he looked at Jaymz with excitement in his eyes. Even with the pillow case on his head, it was the eyes that defiantly told Jaymz it was the ZT schizophrenic.
Salem: Sup Jaymz!? Sooo..Where’s J?
Jaymz: Hes not here this time. Salem, we have to talk.
The Schizo didn’t catch the seriousness in the big man’s voice as the two officers left the room and closed the door behind them.
Salem: Homie, I got alllllll day to talk. You don’t have a time limit or anything, Im a fuckin celebrity in here man!!! Even in jail I get celebrity privileges!! I guess Andre Holmes would call that “white privilege” but he’s a fuckin moron anyway…and he’s a LIAR!!!!!
Jaymz: Salem, I need to ----
Salem: It’s not like he got blacklisted here or anything, ..he promised that he was going to come see me…and did he!? Fuck no!!
Salem put his arms on the table and Jaymz could see that, even under the orange suit, Salem had put on some good weight.
Jaymz: I see you’ve been working out in here.
Salem: Well, what the fuck else am I going to do!? All I do is work out and train. Check it out though, homie!! I’ve put on about fifteen good pounds since I’ve been here but I still have my speed and quickness…So when I come back to the WCF them niggas won’t know what hit ‘em!!
Jaymz: We need to talk….Something happened the other day.
Salem: I KNOW!!!!! Dawg, you fucked them up on Slam, I seen that shit!! Im glad one of yall just said “fuck it, Im gonna do what I want whether Seth likes it or not!!” It’s about damn time! But you better not lose to Dion!! I never, EVER lost to that guy..so if you do, they’ll put your big ass in here with me – cause losing to fuckin Dion is a crime!
Jaymz: Im not going to lose to Dion. The man has no idea what’s coming for him.
Salem: I beat that fools ass every time we was in the ring together….Do you need some tips?
The giant recoiled and looked at Salem like he was stupid.
Jaymz: Tips? Tips on how to beat Dion? No, I don’t. I’ll break every bone in his body and watch his limbs twitch as his brain tries to comprehend what just happened. Have you seen the guy lately? He got a couple wins under his belt and suddenly he thinks he’s the new Kevin Bishop.
Salem: What the fuck has happened since I left? Dion gets a few wins and fuckin O’Neal is the WORLD CHAMP!?? I always knew that guy had potential, ..but fuckin Dion!? Hes only been successful since I left, ..cause I was in that niggas head. I beat his ass in the ring and trolled his ass on the internet…that dude fuckin hates me. But he know he still fears ZT.
Jaymz: Of course he fears Zero Tolerance - because we’ve been the thorn in his side since the very first match ZT had in the WCF, and you guys wiped your ass with him and tossed him to the side like he didn’t matter. He was the very first guy to see what Zero Tolerance was all about first hand. …And you know it hurt his ego and his pride that you guys didn’t take him seriously and still managed to put him on the canvas every time Seth lined him up against yall. Hes had a boost in confidence since you’ve been gone.
He decided to not tell Salem about Claire yet. He didn’t know why, but every time he tried to bring it up something inside of him told him to “just wait…don’t destroy Salems day yet.”
Jaymz: I’ll remove that little bit of confidence he’s gained in the last two months or so; and he’ll realize that he’s still the same wrestler he was when Zero Tolerance stepped on the WCF scene. Mentally, he’s not the same guy that he used to be. Hes changed, but in a way he needed to alter the way he approached matches…He was overwhelmed and outclassed when he got the WCF, but he stuck with it…He adapted the talent around him. At the same time, I do think it cost him his sanity…
Salem: So we DO have something in common!? Ugghh….I can’t stand that fuckin guy…
A light seemed to come on in Jaymz head and he sat up straight in the chair.
Jaymz: Oh, I forgot! I have something for you, Salem. J told me to bring it to you.
He reached under the table and pulled out a poster tube. Salem readjusted the pillow case around his eyes as he snatched the poster tube from Jaymz and popped the cap out. The poster slid out and Salem started to unroll it across the table. He froze….
Salem: The fuck is this all about?
A smile formed on the big man’s face as he looked at the poster Crazy J had him deliver.
Jaymz: Well, ...Like I said, it’s from J.
Salem: He knows I hate this bastard! Fuck is this shot all about anyway? You know what he looks like, don’t you?
Jaymz: …My next victim…
Salem: …You’re no fun… No, think harder Jaymz. He looks like a gay Willy Wonka. And what’s that stuff behind him!? Is he farting chewed up sweet-tart dust or somethin!?
Jaymz: I don’t know…It’s really not a concern of mine.
Salem: It better be, or he gonna have you covered in a farted out sweet tart dust. It would be like one of those color runs but assholes, like real anuses, aimed at you all farting out different colored sweet-tart dust.
Jaymz: No, Salem…There might be some dust, but not that kind. You know what I aim to do in the ring, Salem…You know I want to leave my opponents nothing more than an unrecognizable broken bag of flesh. But the best things are illegal…See, I would like to take Dion over to the steel steps and curb stomp him – leaving his teeth scattered around the top step. I would step on them while he laid there in a daze, blood pouring from his toothless mouth, and I would crunch those teeth under the weight of my boots on that steel step. Have you ever heard that noise?
It makes people cringe and give them goosebumps; much like nails on a chalk board. …Those teeth grinding on the steel, breaking into small pieces as I turn them into dust under my boot. Ahh, I love that noise.. …That’s the only dust you’ll see this week, Salem. Well, if you do get to watch the Pay Per View…
Salem: I do!!! …Well, most the time I get to watch them. I don’t get to see all the promos though. I have to wait till I can get on the internet and catch up on what I’ve missed. I wouldn’t watch a Dion promo anyway, …nobody wants to see that shit.
Jaymz: Well, like I said a minute ago, he’s losing his mind so you might want to check them out sometime when you can.
Salem: …What? Did he finally realize that he’ll always be Kevin Bishops bitch and he’s rebelling now?
Jaymz: No……See, he’s possessed by an old, ancient God called Dionysus. That’s what he’s telling us these days. I told you, he’s lost his mind since you left.
Salem: So what kind of God is it? Like a T-Rex or something?
Jaymz: Huh?
Salem: The Dionsaurus God….is it like a T-Rex God or like a raptor?
Jaymz: No…Salem…I said Dionysus…
Salem: Oh… Not Dionsaurus? I thought you said Dionsaurus.
Jaymz: No, Dionysus is a Greek God. And our great Dion claims that this sprit, or whatever, takes him over and he’s Dionysus. Now I find this ironic as he was quick to break down the medical conditions that he thinks my ZT brothers and myself suffer from in a previous promo…basically telling us that were all crazy and probably shouldn’t be free of padded rooms.
Yet, here we are, with Dion thinking that an ancient Greek God takes him over and he becomes this powerful being that can dominate the wrestling ring. Do you know how crazy that sounds, Dion? You do realize that, right? You sound an awful lot like my friends Crazy J and Vinnie, ….don’t you? See Dion, the problem here is – you’re not really a Greek God, and you’re not being inhabited by a Greek God. This is something that’s made up in your mind.
Salem: I can direct him to a great doctor.
I know you have issues Dion, that much was clear when you joined Bishop and his merry band of bottom dwellers. You needed someone to look out for you and point you in the right direction. And Bishop did that for you. But in the ring he wasn’t there to save your ass, he wasn’t there to pull you out from the pin or drag you across the ring so you could grab the rope while in a submission.
You had to face these challenges in the WCF alone, …on your own…and it didn’t go very well for you. You fell victim to one WCF star after another – and I know this weighed heavily on your mind, but I didn’t know it was going to send you into full Dissociative Identity Disorder….Even I couldn’t have predicted that. Mentally, you caved in under the pressure of the mountain of losses that you’ve received, …and this is what happened. You cracked.
Salem: He lost his shit….
Jaymz: He did. Im not one of these foolish people that only believe what I see and ignore things that I’ve never seen with my own eyes…I know things exist in this world that people don’t accept as true. I am one of those things. But you, Dion? I have a hard time believing this is anything but a multiple personality disorder. I’ve known Crazy J for over half my life and I k now him better than anyone, and there was a reason that we didn’t tell him about his split personalities…But you?
There’s no reason for you to go along with your life believing what you do; and no reason for your friends not to try and help you out of this. You have legit lost your mind, Dion. ….But wait…..It’s ZT that’s full of crazies and lunatics, right? Dion, what you fail to understand is that you can’t climb Mt. Olympus …because I AM the Mt. Olympus. There is nobody here that’s bigger than me, and to get to the top you have to take me down. But Im built like a mountain, and Im just as difficult to move as a mountain.
Salem: Your face is like all the cracks in the sides of the mountain!
Shut up, Salem…..The road to the World Title shot goes through me, Dion. Someone is going to have to climb this mountain and get down the other side if they want to claim their shot at the World Title….But that isn’t going to happen. Not for you, at least. Yes, you’ve improved over the months in the ring as you adjusted to the speed and talent of the WCF. It got you some wins recently but it came at a cost to your mental health as well. You don’t want my opinion, I know that, but you are getting it anyway.
You’ve hit your ceiling Dion, so enjoy the small success that you’ve had recently because it’s all going to come crashing down at Explosion. There is no spirit or ancient God that’s going to stop me from wrapping my hand around your neck and lifting you in the Silence. But when I do, you’ll briefly get to see the top of Mt. Olympus. You’ll get a glimpse of what it looks like to be on top of the WCF and see things from my level; the level of the next World Champion…I will bring the WCF to its knees as I walk through this Trilogy Tournament and stake my claim as the best in the World …and Zero Tolerance will rule the day.
Salem: Over/Under on Teddy Blazes glasses.
Jaymz: No, Im not doing this….
Salem: Just DO IT!!!! Don’t be a lame old man!! I have nothing else to do anyway, …entertain me! ..monkey!
Jaymz hesitated, still trying to find the right time to tell him about Claire…but he didn’t want to ruin his day yet.
Jaymz: Ok, whatever. Over rated. Why do people make a big deal about his sunglasses? It’s just a pair of glasses…I can give Teddy a real reason to use them and bring even more attention to them. It would also help me test something that I’ve always wondered, but never had the opportunity to test… First, I would have to rip his eyes from his face – and it’s the second eye that’s always the hardest to get out. Because by then, the person is thrashing around like crazy…But wouldn’t you? Knowing that half your vision is gone and the immense pain that’s left? Once I have Teddy’s eyeballs he has a fuckin great excuse to wear the glasses all the time, and it gives the internet another reason to make a big deal out of them.
Salem: What did you want to test?
Jaymz: oh, yeah.. Well, I’ve always wondered if you hit an eyeball with a baseball bat, and I mean really smack the shit out of it, would it fly across the arena? Or would it pop and spray open like a piece of fruit?
Salem: Let me know what you think will happen and I’ll take bets on it with the guys here…But you gotta hook me up!!…WAIT!! Some dude got his eye stabbed in here last week, I bet I can get homeboy to get you an eyeball…You can test it out first and let me know what’s gonna happen!! I’ll clean up on this one!! I’ll be eating good for two weeks!!
Jaymz: Yeah, I don’t know about that, Salem…Teddy though, he’s a man that’s been around the WCF ring for a good while.
Salem: Yeah, too bad he airs one promo every six weeks or some shit. Fuck man, I don’t get to watch a whole lot of promos in here, but it seems I do catch every Teddy Blaze promo…
The giant shrugged, still wondering when to bring up Claire
Jaymz: It doesn’t matter. Promos don’t win the matches for ya. It would be nice to see him promote his matches more, every time he faces Crazy J he fuckin disappears….It just shows me that he’s lazy and shows up for the matches that he wants to. Teddy has done a lot here in the WCF, but imagine what he could do if he took this business more seriously? You’ll always see my ugly mug promoting my match…And like I said, promos don’t decide a winner….But lots of times it helps. Because if you can really say some shit that hits home with your opponent…You can rattle them.
Or if you’re on a roll plowing through the competition – you can intimidate them too. But see, Teddy doesn’t get that. He would rather do whatever he does and not share his thoughts to the world, …but that’s his business. Hes held lots of Titles around here so I can imagine that he laughs at what I have to say, …but let’s see if he’s still laughing after Explosion. Crazy J has faced this man many times and I’ve seen every match between the two, and Teddy really has a hard time with Crazy J. Zero Tolerance hasn’t been too kind to you, Teddy, and I hope you don’t think that Im going to let up on ya.
Jaymz pushed his chair back from the table and kicked his massive boot up for the world to see. On the bottom of the boot around the patterns was “JAYMZ” cut out around the top.
Jaymz: See that right there, Teddy? That’s something I brought out of retirement just for you. I used to wear these bad boys around back in the day so my opponents would wake up and remember me in the morning.
Shep: Dawg….those look twenty years old…
Jaymz: Well, they’re close to it. But I figured I would give the old pair of ass kickers one more day in the spotlight. At some point while Im kicking Teddys ass around the ring, Im gonna toss him in the ropes, and when he comes flying back – Im gonna put this boot right on his forehead. ..Then he’ll get up in the morning and look in the mirror while he’s taking a piss and see JAYMZ right there on his face.
See, Teddy has been a staple around here for a good while and he aint at the end of his career or anything; he still has a lot of good years left in him if I don’t rip his limbs off his body this week….He’ll still be around the WCF for a while, but it won’t be in the same capacity that he was before. With Erik and I here, the established names like Teddy Blaze get pushed to the side for the stronger, more powerful talent. Hes about to find out that Zero Tolerance is his daddy, and sorry Salem, but you and Cash just could get the job done.
Salem: Fuck off…
Jaymz: it’s true. Erik and I had to come in here and knock down the walls that you two couldn’t while Crazy J led the way. You two needed to get higher in the WCF faster than you did, and you both failed and lost the Trios Title in your first defense. I told you the original group would explode like you guys never did – and here we are. Im two wins away from a World Title shot, so is Vinnie, and Erik gets the Title shot of his choice….We made our presence felt with J and Vinnie early and often. People like Teddy Blaze will finally take that backseat to Zero Tolerance and not just to Crazy J, as things had been in the past.
Salem: I think you’ll make a great World Champion
Jaymz: The world won’t think so. Guys like Teddy and Dion will disagree with you vehemently. But a new era of Zero Tolerance is upon the WCF, Salem…You three had the talent with Crazy J leading the way; but now the WCF gets to see the experience of Zero Tolerance and what our foundation was built on. They get to understand now why we ruled in every federation we were in.
It’s been a pleasure to watch people laugh at the spelling of my name or brush me off as another big man from a forgotten era of this sport. The laughing will stop when I pin Dion or Teddy and the world realizes that Im only one more step away from taking the World Title and making sure that Zero Tolerance is etched into the WCF History books holding its highest honor.
Salem: Not to change the subject on you…But have you talked to Claire?
Jaymz suddenly froze and looked straight ahead at Salem.
Salem: You need to make sure she’s doing her laundry. Im worried she’s back on the shit because she didn’t send me a letter this week. And I told you how she was when she’s on the shit…She turns into a complete whore. Like, you could get a pair of her panties and make a human Noah’s Ark with all the DNA in her drawers.
Jaymz didn’t move and Salem could see that something was wrong.
Salem: What? …She’s back on the shit, isn’t she?
He stood up from the chair, the smiley face on the pillow case not currently reflecting the fear that Salem had in his voice.
Jaymz: Salem….Sit down.
Salem: How long? A couple days? We can have her admitted if it’s been longer than that. You can hit her, you know. Fuckin Ray Rice that bitch and knock some sense in her if you have too!!!
Jaymz: No, Salem. It’s not that.
…..She overdosed…She’s gone.
Jaymz couldn’t look Salem in the eyes. Salem ripped the pillowcase off his head and it was extremely odd to see a normal looking man with light brown hair – and the voice of Salem Shepard coming from his mouth. Salem leapt across the table and laid into Jaymz with everything he had. Jaymz barely moved and he allowed Salem to take a second shot, this time busting open the big man’s nose. The blood trickled down to his lips and he could taste it in his mouth. It excited him; it made him want to fight Salem back. But he couldn’t. Salem cried out as he continued to wail on Jaymz. Screams came from outside the room as the cops finally saw what was going on. They ran into the room and tried to pull Salem away, but he overpowered them and managed to get a few more good shots on Jaymz as they finally pried him away.
Salem: YALL WERE SUPPOSED TO WATCH HER! FUCK YOU! FUCK ALL YALL!
He spit at Jaymz as the cops pulled him away and dragged him down the hall. The echoes of his screams carried down the hallway and Jaymz could hear that he had shattered Salems world. He could see Salems face fall apart when he had ripped the pillowcase off his head and looked Jaymz straight in the eye. It was a look he would never forget as he sat there in the room, alone, with his head down. He had disappointed a friend for the first time in his life, and this didn’t sit well with him.