The End of the Story, Pt 1
Sept 5, 2024 17:28:20 GMT -5
Derek Mobley, Alice Knight, and 1 more like this
Post by Theodore Bryan Benson on Sept 5, 2024 17:28:20 GMT -5
This post follows the events of Bifford’s final Triad promotional materials.
The screen flashes from darkness to a moment of static to video recapping The Big Bifford’s promotional materials for The Triad. We see the Second Chance Ranch, Bifford’s cult where hundreds upon hundreds of former inmates, wanted criminals, and the degenerates of society built a new country in West Virginia. We see Bifford scheming with highly paid scientists in a $50,000,000 lab under the property, developing super bugs that would wipe out the trees of the earth. Then we see Kenny standing up to Bifford and being taken to prison. Finally, we see Kenny being freed from prison by Buffy the Demon, confronting the scientist and shooting him. Bifford, standing on a stage in front of his followers is knocked from his feet by the explosion in the lab below the earth the stage was built on. We see Bifford and Boris the cannibal running back to the town hall and Bifford watching the footage of Kenny the Intern, one of his longest running followers, killing himself and all of the scientists and murderous insects below the earth in a blazing explosion. Bifford just stands staring at the blank monitor as Boris the Cannibal slips out the door behind him. Bifford just stares in silence as time passes. The sun begins to go down, causing the windows behind Bifford to darken - though that is temporary as slowly the fires being started around the building begin to get higher and hotter.
All of the followers Bifford had amassed panicked when the explosion knocked them off their feet. Hundreds of convicts began ransacking the cult, setting fire to buildings, murdering one another, grabbing what they could and running back to American soil and West Virginia.
The scene fades to darkness and commentary begins..
April 18, 2024 - West Virginia
The scene fades to darkness suddenly and then illuminates. Bifford is still standing and staring in silence at the monitor, not saying a word or reacting. The world is burning outside his windows and things don’t look good for him at the moment, but his office door swung open and Earl the Popcorn Salesman walked in.
Earl: Man, everything has gone to hell.. we’ve gotta get out of here.
Bifford (shaking his head): Go, Earl.. There’s nothing left for me.. this was all of it.. all of the money, all of the political influence.. if I messed this one up, I knew I was out of chances.
Earl: What the hell are you talking about? You’re rich as fuck. You were married to Martha Stewart.
Bifford (shaking his head): I spent it all on the bugs to destroy the trees.. and this whole thing is going to be a mess, my political allies won’t come to my aid this time. This is how it ends.
Earl walked up to Bifford and looked at him with apprehension.
Earl: You’re out of money? What the fuck am I supposed to do? I’m broke too.
Bifford: I’ve been paying you six figures for the last 24 years to make fucking popcorn and be my manager.. what the hell did you do with it?
Earl: Well..
Bifford: Hookers and blow?
Earl: Hookers and blow.
One of the windows breaks due to the heat of the fire outside of it.
Earl: Biff, we gotta go… Kenny’s aunt is outside. Let’s save her and figure this out..
Bifford shook his head and just stared into the blank security monitor.
Earl: Bifford.. you remember when you turned Babyface back in 2022? You told the fans it wasn’t the redemption story they wanted.. it was the redemption story they deserved.. Well, maybe this is the redemption story you deserve, you son of a bitch.
Bifford turned and looked at Earl. He nodded and the two men walked out of the building together. In front of the building, surrounded by burning cars and random fires, they find Kenny’s murderous Aunt Bella, who doesn’t look so murderous now.
Bella: Kenny’s.. Kenny’s dead, isn’t he?
Bifford nodded. “Sorry,” he said under his breath.
Bella (nodding): I don’t really want to kill anyone anymore..
Bifford nodded and grabbed Bella by the arm, walking her away from the many fires she was standing near. The three of them, Kenny, Bifford, and Aunt Bella walked through the burning streets of the Second Chance Ranch. They passed by corpses, destroyed buildings, ruined vehicles. As they came to the entrance, Bifford saw a man on top of a corpse in the distance. Boris the Cannibal was eating one of the dead cult members. Bifford reached into his MAGICAL FLEECE and pulled out a gun.
Bifford: Hey Boris!
Boris looked up from eating the corpse’s neck and saw Bifford. Bifford promptly shot the cannibal in the head, killing him. They walked out of the main gate of the cult where an undamaged and recently watched SUV seemed to be waiting too conveniently. They climbed into it and drove into the night. They drove to Niagara Falls for the last Triad event where Bifford unsurprisingly lost.
Sometime later in Niagara Falls.
After the event, Bifford walked out back to the SUV and climbed in it, seeing Earl and Aunt Bella waiting for him.
Bella: So what’s the plan?
Earl: Bifford’s out of money.. so am I.. you got any life insurance from when you murdered your husband, Bella?
Bella shook her head negatively.
Earl: Biff.. you got any ideas?
Bifford: Well.. first of all… We’re done with the whole wrestling thing now. No more fame, no more fortune. We’re going to live like normal people.
Earl: Normal people? Dude, I lived like a normal person before. IT SUCKS. I sold popcorn for a living.
Bifford: And maybe you’ll do that again, but for minimum wage.. anyway, everything that was under that corporation is going to be confiscated by the government once they figured out what happened.. I’ll make it look like it was Kenny’s fault again, and he’s dead so there’s nobody to send to jail again..
Bella gives Bifford a dirty look.
Bifford: Anyway, I own one business that wasn’t tied to the Second Chance Ranch corporation.. it’s a pool bar in Ohio. There’s some living quarters attached to it.. we’ll go start a new life there.. as boring, normal, unmurderous people.
Sighing in disappointment, Earl nodded. Bifford looked to Bella who nodded too.
Bifford: Aight.. buckle up, it’s a long drive..
Sighing, the three of them drove into the night.
Sometime Later in Columbus, Ohio
The SUV pulled up outside a total dive of a bar. A flickering neon sign outside declared it to be Biff’s Sports Bar and Grill and advertised their billiards. The sign was on despite it being the middle of the day. Bifford slid to a stop in front of the bar. Earl and Bella looked up at the flickering sign and then at the dump of a bar and then at each other.
Earl: You put absolutely no money into this place after you bought it, did you?
Bifford: Nah, I kinda forgot about it.. I bought it before I married money.
Bella: We’re going to live here? In this dump?
Bifford: Yes.. and Bella, I know you said you didn’t want to kill anymore.. but.. I kinda need you to kill two more people.. maybe three.
Earl: WHAT!? I thought this was going to be a redemption story..
Bifford: Well, the problem is that I have employees in there.. and they might know things. I hired this jerk of a manager and he hires a bartender to help him.. so, he’ll need to die for sure. We’ll figure out if the bartender/waitress knows too much or not…
Bella shrugged, “sure, whatever I need to do, Bifford… Let’s make this work.”
Bifford sighed, “let’s stop for a second..”
Bifford looked at Earl and Bella.
Bifford: I’m not going back to wrestling. Call me Theodore.. this is a new start guys.. We have to, once the last loose ends are tied up, live legitimate normal legal lives here.. no more murder.. no more Illuminati New World Order stuff.. we’re just three losers who run this bar.. also it’s a jazz bar now. Earl, you need to get on Craigslist or Marketplace and find an old piano.. something close enough that you can physically walk it here, we don’t have money for piano movers.
The three of them nodded and got out of the SUV. They walked across the street in the midday sun and Bifford pushed the door open and looked around. The walls were covered in OCW merchandise, mostly of Bifford. A few televisions on the wall played old OCW PPVs. A man, standing behind the bar along with a female employee, noticed them and walked over.
Manager: Biff! It’s been decades man - how’s it -
The elderly aunt of Kenny ran toward the manager, pulling an ice pick out of her dress. She stabbed him in the throat and blood began spurting everywhere. The waitress behind the bar began screaming, but Earl ran and put his hand over her mouth. “Calm down,” Earl said, and she did as she watched Aunt Bella brutally murder the manager in cold blood. Bifford, or rather Theodore I suppose, walked over to the bar and looked across at the waitress. He signaled for Earl to move his hand.
Theodore: How long have you worked here?
Verna: Just two months.. why did she kill him?
Theodore (shrugging): I knew she needed one last kill and I never trusted that guy..
Verna: Well, he was kind of a perv..
Theodore looked over and saw Aunt Bella still stabbing his lifeless corpse. “That’s enough, Bella,” Theodore said. She slowed and then stopped and looked over at the waitress. “Can I kill her too?” “No, Bella.. he’s the only one who dies today.” With that, Verna the waitress relaxed.
Earl began squinting his eyes and walked over to one of the walls of memorabilia and studied it. “Uh.. Biff..”
Theodore: I told you not to call me that.
Earl: Fine.. Theodore.. you might want to come look at this.
Theodore Bryan Benson, the man formerly known as The Big Bifford, walked over and stood behind his longest lasting friend and manager. He looked over Earl and his mouth dropped.
Earl: They documented all your crimes right here on the wall.. the murders, the cannibalism, Kenny taking the fall, the trial, Kenny’s escape from jail, the forming of your cult.. if we would have shown up in 2 weeks they’d have all the stuff about the cult burning up here too, probably.
Theodore: Okay.. all of this stuff comes down.. take the pool tables out to the parking lot and put sign son them saying they’re free to a good home.. We’ll close down for the week and reopen as a jazz bar next week.. What’s your name?
Theodore turned and looked to the waitress/bartender. She looked at him nervously, unsure if she should give her real name.. but then she just did. “Verna,” she said.
Theodore: Verna, you’re the manager now.. Earl, you’re the regional manager.. Aunt Bella, you’re the hostess.. but we aren’t going to give you anything sharp.
The massive man looked around at the dive bar and his crew.. he sighed. “Well.. this is life now,” he muttered as he headed into the back room, closing the door behind him. Earl shrugged and began removing things from the wall.
A week later - Biff’s Sports Bar and Live Jazz Music
Earl and Aunt Bella are behind the bar polishing the glasses as Verna straightens the chairs at various tables. The bar looks slightly nicer, though it’s still a dive bar. An old beaten up grand piano now sits in a corner where one of the pool tables used to sit. The backroom door opens and Theodore, formerly Bifford, walks out. He looks across the room and nods in approval. “Looking good,” he said in his signature Transatlantic accent. He walked across the room, having a seat at the piano and beginning to play jazz like a professional musician.
Behind the bar, Earl and Bella began whispering to one another. “Did you know he could play the piano?” “Yeah, he’s good.. he also speaks like 6 languages.. It’s all very weird and rain man-ish.” “Think this is really how this story ends?” “I don’t know.. have you noticed that room in the basement that is always locked?” “I mean.. yes. But it’s probably just.. storage?” “Nothing is ever just storage with Bifford.. he’s always up to something.. something is in that room. He’s summoning demons or something.. something evil.. murder.. cannibalism.. something..”. Bella looked at Earl with a bit of concern.
Theodore: Bella, come here..
Theodore stopped playing the piano and signaled for Bella to walk over.
Theodore: I need you to go back to West Virginia and take care of that Mayor we were working with.. he knows too much.. after that, I promise no more..
Bella: You want me to go kill the mayor?
Theodore nodded. Bella nodded.
Bella: I’ll be back in a few days..
Bella went and grabbed a kitchen knife from behind the bar and headed out the front door clutching it like it was a weapon. Because.. well, it was.
Theodore walked back over to the bar.
Theodore: Well, Verna.. the place looks good. Why don’t you take the weekend off? We’ll have a grand opening next week. Get word out via that social media stuff..
Verna nodded and grabbed her coat, heading out the door.
Bifford and Earl were alone.
Earl (smirking): So what’re we going to do to get ready for your match, go to the gym?
Earl had used that line in Bifford promotional materials for many years in the earlier days, with Bifford always turning him down and telling him what crazy dim-witted plot they’d actually do that week. Theodore smiled, recognizing the line.
Theodore: I’ve kept this physique for 24 years because I was a wrestler, Earl.. but I’m not a wrestler anymore. Sure, let’s go to the gym.
Earl: Wait.. what?
Bifford: The gym. Let’s go. Tonight. Or tomorrow. Soon.
Earl looked totally confused.
Earl: For real? We don’t have a gym membership, bruh.. you’ve literally said no for 24 years.
Theodore (smirking): I know. Get us memberships.. there’s no need to hang on to the past. We’re not in the wrestling business anymore. No need to be in ring-shape anymore, I can get a bit more fit.. This is our life now..
The two men looked at one another. Their friendship was genuine and it was clear from that look. “Scotch or gin?” Theodore smirked and motioned toward the scotch. He walked over to the old beat up piano and began playing a jazzy rendition of Gangsta’s Paradise, the song he’d used to walk into arena after arena for years.. He sang out a jazzed up version of the lyrics of the song, but his voice was different. The Transatlantic accent was gone. Earl stopped in his tracks, having heard his boss sing hundreds of times over the years. This was his real voice. He poured the scotch as Bifford performed.
The music abruptly stopped after the phrase “living in a gansta’s paradise,” and the scene went dark.
In a dark room in the basement of that very same bar, a low red light barely allowed the camera to see the contents of the room. On a desk a heart shaped amulet made of rose gold lay still. The sound of a real heartbeat came from it. The camera turned to show the source of the dim red light: a closet door open only an inch. The heart beat continued for a moment and then the scene dimmed to darkness.
The screen flashes from darkness to a moment of static to video recapping The Big Bifford’s promotional materials for The Triad. We see the Second Chance Ranch, Bifford’s cult where hundreds upon hundreds of former inmates, wanted criminals, and the degenerates of society built a new country in West Virginia. We see Bifford scheming with highly paid scientists in a $50,000,000 lab under the property, developing super bugs that would wipe out the trees of the earth. Then we see Kenny standing up to Bifford and being taken to prison. Finally, we see Kenny being freed from prison by Buffy the Demon, confronting the scientist and shooting him. Bifford, standing on a stage in front of his followers is knocked from his feet by the explosion in the lab below the earth the stage was built on. We see Bifford and Boris the cannibal running back to the town hall and Bifford watching the footage of Kenny the Intern, one of his longest running followers, killing himself and all of the scientists and murderous insects below the earth in a blazing explosion. Bifford just stands staring at the blank monitor as Boris the Cannibal slips out the door behind him. Bifford just stares in silence as time passes. The sun begins to go down, causing the windows behind Bifford to darken - though that is temporary as slowly the fires being started around the building begin to get higher and hotter.
All of the followers Bifford had amassed panicked when the explosion knocked them off their feet. Hundreds of convicts began ransacking the cult, setting fire to buildings, murdering one another, grabbing what they could and running back to American soil and West Virginia.
The scene fades to darkness and commentary begins..
April 18, 2024 - West Virginia
The scene fades to darkness suddenly and then illuminates. Bifford is still standing and staring in silence at the monitor, not saying a word or reacting. The world is burning outside his windows and things don’t look good for him at the moment, but his office door swung open and Earl the Popcorn Salesman walked in.
Earl: Man, everything has gone to hell.. we’ve gotta get out of here.
Bifford (shaking his head): Go, Earl.. There’s nothing left for me.. this was all of it.. all of the money, all of the political influence.. if I messed this one up, I knew I was out of chances.
Earl: What the hell are you talking about? You’re rich as fuck. You were married to Martha Stewart.
Bifford (shaking his head): I spent it all on the bugs to destroy the trees.. and this whole thing is going to be a mess, my political allies won’t come to my aid this time. This is how it ends.
Earl walked up to Bifford and looked at him with apprehension.
Earl: You’re out of money? What the fuck am I supposed to do? I’m broke too.
Bifford: I’ve been paying you six figures for the last 24 years to make fucking popcorn and be my manager.. what the hell did you do with it?
Earl: Well..
Bifford: Hookers and blow?
Earl: Hookers and blow.
One of the windows breaks due to the heat of the fire outside of it.
Earl: Biff, we gotta go… Kenny’s aunt is outside. Let’s save her and figure this out..
Bifford shook his head and just stared into the blank security monitor.
Earl: Bifford.. you remember when you turned Babyface back in 2022? You told the fans it wasn’t the redemption story they wanted.. it was the redemption story they deserved.. Well, maybe this is the redemption story you deserve, you son of a bitch.
Bifford turned and looked at Earl. He nodded and the two men walked out of the building together. In front of the building, surrounded by burning cars and random fires, they find Kenny’s murderous Aunt Bella, who doesn’t look so murderous now.
Bella: Kenny’s.. Kenny’s dead, isn’t he?
Bifford nodded. “Sorry,” he said under his breath.
Bella (nodding): I don’t really want to kill anyone anymore..
Bifford nodded and grabbed Bella by the arm, walking her away from the many fires she was standing near. The three of them, Kenny, Bifford, and Aunt Bella walked through the burning streets of the Second Chance Ranch. They passed by corpses, destroyed buildings, ruined vehicles. As they came to the entrance, Bifford saw a man on top of a corpse in the distance. Boris the Cannibal was eating one of the dead cult members. Bifford reached into his MAGICAL FLEECE and pulled out a gun.
Bifford: Hey Boris!
Boris looked up from eating the corpse’s neck and saw Bifford. Bifford promptly shot the cannibal in the head, killing him. They walked out of the main gate of the cult where an undamaged and recently watched SUV seemed to be waiting too conveniently. They climbed into it and drove into the night. They drove to Niagara Falls for the last Triad event where Bifford unsurprisingly lost.
Sometime later in Niagara Falls.
After the event, Bifford walked out back to the SUV and climbed in it, seeing Earl and Aunt Bella waiting for him.
Bella: So what’s the plan?
Earl: Bifford’s out of money.. so am I.. you got any life insurance from when you murdered your husband, Bella?
Bella shook her head negatively.
Earl: Biff.. you got any ideas?
Bifford: Well.. first of all… We’re done with the whole wrestling thing now. No more fame, no more fortune. We’re going to live like normal people.
Earl: Normal people? Dude, I lived like a normal person before. IT SUCKS. I sold popcorn for a living.
Bifford: And maybe you’ll do that again, but for minimum wage.. anyway, everything that was under that corporation is going to be confiscated by the government once they figured out what happened.. I’ll make it look like it was Kenny’s fault again, and he’s dead so there’s nobody to send to jail again..
Bella gives Bifford a dirty look.
Bifford: Anyway, I own one business that wasn’t tied to the Second Chance Ranch corporation.. it’s a pool bar in Ohio. There’s some living quarters attached to it.. we’ll go start a new life there.. as boring, normal, unmurderous people.
Sighing in disappointment, Earl nodded. Bifford looked to Bella who nodded too.
Bifford: Aight.. buckle up, it’s a long drive..
Sighing, the three of them drove into the night.
Sometime Later in Columbus, Ohio
The SUV pulled up outside a total dive of a bar. A flickering neon sign outside declared it to be Biff’s Sports Bar and Grill and advertised their billiards. The sign was on despite it being the middle of the day. Bifford slid to a stop in front of the bar. Earl and Bella looked up at the flickering sign and then at the dump of a bar and then at each other.
Earl: You put absolutely no money into this place after you bought it, did you?
Bifford: Nah, I kinda forgot about it.. I bought it before I married money.
Bella: We’re going to live here? In this dump?
Bifford: Yes.. and Bella, I know you said you didn’t want to kill anymore.. but.. I kinda need you to kill two more people.. maybe three.
Earl: WHAT!? I thought this was going to be a redemption story..
Bifford: Well, the problem is that I have employees in there.. and they might know things. I hired this jerk of a manager and he hires a bartender to help him.. so, he’ll need to die for sure. We’ll figure out if the bartender/waitress knows too much or not…
Bella shrugged, “sure, whatever I need to do, Bifford… Let’s make this work.”
Bifford sighed, “let’s stop for a second..”
Bifford looked at Earl and Bella.
Bifford: I’m not going back to wrestling. Call me Theodore.. this is a new start guys.. We have to, once the last loose ends are tied up, live legitimate normal legal lives here.. no more murder.. no more Illuminati New World Order stuff.. we’re just three losers who run this bar.. also it’s a jazz bar now. Earl, you need to get on Craigslist or Marketplace and find an old piano.. something close enough that you can physically walk it here, we don’t have money for piano movers.
The three of them nodded and got out of the SUV. They walked across the street in the midday sun and Bifford pushed the door open and looked around. The walls were covered in OCW merchandise, mostly of Bifford. A few televisions on the wall played old OCW PPVs. A man, standing behind the bar along with a female employee, noticed them and walked over.
Manager: Biff! It’s been decades man - how’s it -
The elderly aunt of Kenny ran toward the manager, pulling an ice pick out of her dress. She stabbed him in the throat and blood began spurting everywhere. The waitress behind the bar began screaming, but Earl ran and put his hand over her mouth. “Calm down,” Earl said, and she did as she watched Aunt Bella brutally murder the manager in cold blood. Bifford, or rather Theodore I suppose, walked over to the bar and looked across at the waitress. He signaled for Earl to move his hand.
Theodore: How long have you worked here?
Verna: Just two months.. why did she kill him?
Theodore (shrugging): I knew she needed one last kill and I never trusted that guy..
Verna: Well, he was kind of a perv..
Theodore looked over and saw Aunt Bella still stabbing his lifeless corpse. “That’s enough, Bella,” Theodore said. She slowed and then stopped and looked over at the waitress. “Can I kill her too?” “No, Bella.. he’s the only one who dies today.” With that, Verna the waitress relaxed.
Earl began squinting his eyes and walked over to one of the walls of memorabilia and studied it. “Uh.. Biff..”
Theodore: I told you not to call me that.
Earl: Fine.. Theodore.. you might want to come look at this.
Theodore Bryan Benson, the man formerly known as The Big Bifford, walked over and stood behind his longest lasting friend and manager. He looked over Earl and his mouth dropped.
Earl: They documented all your crimes right here on the wall.. the murders, the cannibalism, Kenny taking the fall, the trial, Kenny’s escape from jail, the forming of your cult.. if we would have shown up in 2 weeks they’d have all the stuff about the cult burning up here too, probably.
Theodore: Okay.. all of this stuff comes down.. take the pool tables out to the parking lot and put sign son them saying they’re free to a good home.. We’ll close down for the week and reopen as a jazz bar next week.. What’s your name?
Theodore turned and looked to the waitress/bartender. She looked at him nervously, unsure if she should give her real name.. but then she just did. “Verna,” she said.
Theodore: Verna, you’re the manager now.. Earl, you’re the regional manager.. Aunt Bella, you’re the hostess.. but we aren’t going to give you anything sharp.
The massive man looked around at the dive bar and his crew.. he sighed. “Well.. this is life now,” he muttered as he headed into the back room, closing the door behind him. Earl shrugged and began removing things from the wall.
A week later - Biff’s Sports Bar and Live Jazz Music
Earl and Aunt Bella are behind the bar polishing the glasses as Verna straightens the chairs at various tables. The bar looks slightly nicer, though it’s still a dive bar. An old beaten up grand piano now sits in a corner where one of the pool tables used to sit. The backroom door opens and Theodore, formerly Bifford, walks out. He looks across the room and nods in approval. “Looking good,” he said in his signature Transatlantic accent. He walked across the room, having a seat at the piano and beginning to play jazz like a professional musician.
Behind the bar, Earl and Bella began whispering to one another. “Did you know he could play the piano?” “Yeah, he’s good.. he also speaks like 6 languages.. It’s all very weird and rain man-ish.” “Think this is really how this story ends?” “I don’t know.. have you noticed that room in the basement that is always locked?” “I mean.. yes. But it’s probably just.. storage?” “Nothing is ever just storage with Bifford.. he’s always up to something.. something is in that room. He’s summoning demons or something.. something evil.. murder.. cannibalism.. something..”. Bella looked at Earl with a bit of concern.
Theodore: Bella, come here..
Theodore stopped playing the piano and signaled for Bella to walk over.
Theodore: I need you to go back to West Virginia and take care of that Mayor we were working with.. he knows too much.. after that, I promise no more..
Bella: You want me to go kill the mayor?
Theodore nodded. Bella nodded.
Bella: I’ll be back in a few days..
Bella went and grabbed a kitchen knife from behind the bar and headed out the front door clutching it like it was a weapon. Because.. well, it was.
Theodore walked back over to the bar.
Theodore: Well, Verna.. the place looks good. Why don’t you take the weekend off? We’ll have a grand opening next week. Get word out via that social media stuff..
Verna nodded and grabbed her coat, heading out the door.
Bifford and Earl were alone.
Earl (smirking): So what’re we going to do to get ready for your match, go to the gym?
Earl had used that line in Bifford promotional materials for many years in the earlier days, with Bifford always turning him down and telling him what crazy dim-witted plot they’d actually do that week. Theodore smiled, recognizing the line.
Theodore: I’ve kept this physique for 24 years because I was a wrestler, Earl.. but I’m not a wrestler anymore. Sure, let’s go to the gym.
Earl: Wait.. what?
Bifford: The gym. Let’s go. Tonight. Or tomorrow. Soon.
Earl looked totally confused.
Earl: For real? We don’t have a gym membership, bruh.. you’ve literally said no for 24 years.
Theodore (smirking): I know. Get us memberships.. there’s no need to hang on to the past. We’re not in the wrestling business anymore. No need to be in ring-shape anymore, I can get a bit more fit.. This is our life now..
The two men looked at one another. Their friendship was genuine and it was clear from that look. “Scotch or gin?” Theodore smirked and motioned toward the scotch. He walked over to the old beat up piano and began playing a jazzy rendition of Gangsta’s Paradise, the song he’d used to walk into arena after arena for years.. He sang out a jazzed up version of the lyrics of the song, but his voice was different. The Transatlantic accent was gone. Earl stopped in his tracks, having heard his boss sing hundreds of times over the years. This was his real voice. He poured the scotch as Bifford performed.
The music abruptly stopped after the phrase “living in a gansta’s paradise,” and the scene went dark.
In a dark room in the basement of that very same bar, a low red light barely allowed the camera to see the contents of the room. On a desk a heart shaped amulet made of rose gold lay still. The sound of a real heartbeat came from it. The camera turned to show the source of the dim red light: a closet door open only an inch. The heart beat continued for a moment and then the scene dimmed to darkness.