Post by oldprydeaccountdoesnotwork on Feb 27, 2014 14:50:11 GMT -5
“The countdown has begun.
The walls are falling down.
My life is on the line.
The fear is mine…”
Fear can control even the strongest of men.
When I first got into this business, I felt fear. It wasn’t the fear of bodily injury, although I would feel that sometimes before matches, as any young wrestler would. It was more fear of failure. Whether I won or lost, I never wanted to be seen as a failure in someone’s eyes. For a time I was able to avoid that. But not forever. And never again.
I worked hard. I trained. I made myself better and it showed every time I competed. But did it matter? Did it make a difference? Even when I won, I felt like I failed because of the reaction I got from the crowd for what I had done in the past. Nothing could change until I hit the reset button. Until I became a new man.
Jeremy, you say that nobody has ever heard of me. That was the point. I don’t want to be known. If people knew who I was, everything would change. It would destroy my fresh start and restore the burden of expectations on my back. Expectations of success and expectations of failure. I want neither. My Pryde is now my life.
You are now the first rung of my new journey, my re-writing of my history. You may have something to prove this week after your loss in the battle royal. But you have more chances ahead of you once Massacre is over. You have a long way to go in your career. But this is my last chance. I don’t have something to prove. I have everything to lose.
You may give me a great fight, and we might steal the show. But I will not lose. I will not fail. Not again.
~At the Lubbock airport, the plane comes down quick with a clean landing on the runway. It taxies up to the gate and parks, getting the door locked on. The people on board start to deplane. One of them is Grant. The other is a man in a hooded sweatshirt with the hood up. The way the clothes are arranged, you cannot see the man’s face. It is Pryde. The two go and get their bags from the claim and Pryde pulls out his mask. He puts it on~
Grant: You don’t want to enjoy the air on your face longer?
Pryde: There are people here who might be at the show. I do not want them to see me.
Grant: I know, I heard you argue with the airline people about your mask. But no one will recognize you here.
Pryde: It only takes one.
~The two carry their bags outside and look for a cab~
Grant: Do they have cab service here?
Pryde: I don’t know. We might have to call someone.
~A car pulls up in front of them and the horn honks. Grant and Pryde look at each other and walk towards the car~
Grant: Did Dean spring for a car for us? I didn’t know you told him we were coming in early.
Pryde: I don’t think Dean has the money to get cars for us.
~The door to the car opens and a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes looks out. She does not look happy~
Pryde: Crystal? What are you doing here?
Crystal: I’m here to talk to my brother. I guess I can’t leave you behind if I want to talk to him. Get in the back.
~Pryde looks at Grant and decides to get in. Grant gets in the front~
Grant: I didn’t know you would be in Lubbock, Crys. You didn’t have to pick us up. Pryde and I could get ourselves to the hotel.
Crystal: Pryde. What a stupid name.
~The car pulls away and gets on the road to go to the hotel where they are staying. Pryde is quiet in the back. He did not expect to see Crystal anytime soon~
Crystal: So what will it take, Grant, to get you to leave this fucking excuse for an former husband and give up this idiotic plan?
Grant: It’s not an idiotic plan. It’s a good idea and he needed my help with it.
Crystal: To be a different person? He couldn’t do that when we were married, how can he do it now? Sooner or later, his old self will come out, and it won’t be pretty. You’ve seen it yourself. Do you really want to be there when it happens?
Grant: He has promised me that this time will be different.
Crystal: He promised me that too. I no longer believe him.
~Pryde has nothing to say to the woman he once gave his heart to. It wasn’t that long ago that he would have done anything for her. Now she hates him. The only good thing left is the friendship with her brother~
Grant: He’s changed, Crys. You haven’t seen it but I have. He’s got a real chance of making this run work, and OCW is the best place for him to do it.
Crystal: I will believe it when I see it.
Pryde: Did you come to Lubbock to see me fail? Or to see if I had changed?
~Crystal has no response. She frowns and keeps driving. Pryde is quiet again~
Grant: It is a good question. Have you been following OCW? Are you coming to the show?
Crystal: If I am there you will never see me.
Grant: It is not a big arena.
Crystal: It is big enough.
Grant: You could always join us at ringside.
~Crystal almost loses control of the vehicle. Grant and Pryde hold on until they are going straight again~
Crystal: Ringside? You think I would put myself into this mess? Plus wouldn’t that reveal his big “secret”?
~That part is true. Somewhere there is documentation about Crystal’s former husband~
Crystal: No I won’t be there. I won’t be part of his self-destruction.
Grant: It’s not self-destruction, it is self-reconstruction. He is rebuilding himself and he needs our help. I know he fell apart and I know you hate him for it, but a win this week will do a lot to show how much he has improved.
~Crystal starts to say something else, but stops. She looks at Pryde in the mirror again and looks back at the road~
Crystal: When we get to the hotel, you and I need to really talk about this, away from, him.
~Crystal looks in the mirror at Pryde who is looking out the window. He has no words for his ex-wife. Grant can tell it is going to be a long ride so he looks out his window as well. All three are quiet as they head to the hotel. The pressure in the car is great~
I have made many mistakes in my life but Crystal would be the biggest. Not for marrying her, that was one of the better moves I’ve made. I loved her and her family. My mistake was ruining what we had with broken promises.
I admit that my obsessions broke us apart. She is one of the reasons that I was wanting to move on with a new persona, a new view of life. What are the odds that she would show up now? I am still getting used to my new life and now my old mistakes return to haunt me.
They say life is a highway. Mine has always been filled with speed-bumps and back roads. I should not be surprised that it threw another one at me with my ex-wife.
That does not matter. She won’t change this, even if she does talk Grant out of working with me. Alone or with help, I will be rebuilt and repaired.
Even if it kills me.