"...A Psychopath"

[King Incredible]

October 26th, 1995 

It was a chilly early morning in Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia, Canada; it was one of those days that if you were directly in the sun’s path you’d be warm but anywhere else and you’d be cold to the bone. Brown and red leaves were falling from the trees as rays of light broke from the barrier of the brick laid Gertrude Parker Elementary School as kids rushed into their classrooms returning from the Thanksgiving Day break. It was after the first recess of the day as a particular group of kids rushed to the back of the school, where the older kids lined up to go in. The group had about twenty kids in it, half boys and the other half girls, as most were telling stories about how good the food was from their turkey feast. One girl in particular turned to her left and glanced at a small boy in a new orange and black rain coat and the newest style of jeans and brand new red sneakers.



“Did you have a good day off, Ian?”



I turned to see Kim, the cutest girl in our fourth grade class. She was smiling at me with her very white teeth and pig tails flying around in the air as I ran my eyes down to her purple coat and the ends of her blue dress with black stockings and her very shiny black flats. I gave her an innocent smiles because I was very happy she was speaking to me.



“I had a great day off,” I lied, “I am wearing my new stuff I got from my grandpa.”



“They look so cool!” She giggled, playing with one of her two pig tails, “I got this dress from my mommy, do you like it?”



“Yes,” I said, this time not lying, “you look very pretty in it.”



It took a lot of courage for me say that to the girl I had a crush on for almost a year and a half. She let out a gigantic smile as she snickered and went off to gossip with her friends Jennifer and Katie. The bell rang once again as our teachers filed us upstairs to the top floor of the four storey school and we got to our lockers. I took my coat off as my best pal Adam walked up beside me and began to take his big boots off.



“Why did you bring big boots?” I laughed at him, “it isn’t even raining out.”



“Oh, you know,” Adam said slowly, “my mother…”



We shared a laugh as we finished hanging our coats up but I was intercepted by the “coolest boy” in the class, well, to me, the class bully, Drew. I tried to move around him but he wouldn’t let me budge.



“Hey!” Drew yelled at me, “Did I see you talking to Kim in the line up?”



“Yes,” I said hesitantly, “but she talked to me first.”



“That’s a lie!” Drew laughed, “she would never talk to you first. She thinks you’re a stupid butt head!”



“No she doesn’t!” I yelled back, getting a little upset, “stop being an idiot Drew!”



“What did you call me?” Drew said seriously.



Drew punched me in my arm as I held it and cried a little. He and his friends John and Joe laughed along with him as they headed into the class room across the hall. I glared at him as I stared in the direction of Kim and her friends; Jen and Katie were laughing but Kim had a disappointed look as they headed into the class room. Adam stood beside me and rubbed my back.



“Don’t worry about Drew,” Adam smiled, “lets tell Ms. Barkhouse!”



“No!” I exclaimed, “if we tell her, we’ll be tattle tales, and we can’t be that! I’ll just take it like a man!”



Adam and I entered the classroom to see everyone sitting at their desks. My other friends Jordan and Bryan were sitting in their usual seats and waved at us to come over. We passed Cara and Robin singing the song “Waterfalls” by TLC as Nick Cormier was digging out his homework in his backpack frantically as usual. Just before we got to our seats we passed Kim, Jen and Katie, and the latter two were still laughing. For some reason this lit a fire in me that made me lose my temper.



“Hey!” I yelled at Jen and Katie, “what seems to be so funny?”



They immediately stopped laughing as they rolled their eyes and turned around to their school work. Ms. Barkhouse quieted the class down as she began to talk about the math homework we had on the weekend, which I forgot to do. A piece of paper flew onto my desk that had a heart on it. I looked to my right and Kim give me an innocent smile as she quickly looked down at her paper, nervously. I felt great as I took my hands and opened the piece of paper under my desk.



Hey Ian,



I am so sorry about Drew, he can be such a pig head sometimes! I wanted to thank you for saying you liked my dress, it is very nice and I am glad you like it. You are a nice person and you shouldn’t change and I like being your friend… and that’s where I want it to be. I know you have a crush on me, I just wanted you to know that I don’t have a crush on you. I like Drew. I told him to talk to you politely cause you are nice but he didn’t listen… and don’t worry about Jen and Katie, they are just jealous that so many boys like me, hah! I hope you are ok with this Ian. Have a good day .



Kim.

Xoxo.



I tried to hold back a tear as I crumbled back my piece of paper and threw it into my desk. I jerked my head toward Kim who looked sad but wasn’t staring at me, she must have saw what I did to the paper. This made me more angry that I made her sad, she was so pretty and smart, she didn’t deserve to be sad. I thought for a moment as I raised my hand up. Ms. Barkhouse stopped for a moment.



“Yes, Ian?” Ms. Barkhouse asked.



“Can I go to the washroom?”



“We just started class Ian…”



“I know,” I pleaded, “but I didn’t have to go before.”



She pointed to the door as I hesitated getting up for a moment as I got up and made it look like I ran into Kim on accident but I think I failed as it became apparent my shoulder went into her and she fell out of her desk and her desk fell on top of her. The rest of the class gasped as they all got up from their seats. I immediately regretted this as I stuttered and picked the desk up all by myself and damn was it heavy. I tried to help Kim up but she slapped my hand away.



“Now Kim,” Ms. Barkhouse began, apparently she didn’t think it was on purpose, “it was an accident and Ian was just trying to—“



Our teacher was cut off by the echo of me slapping Kim across the face that brought everyone to open jaws, including Ms. Barkhouse.



“MR. BISHOP! PRINCIPALS OFFICE WITH ME NOW!”



I looked at my palm, that was bright red, as Kim sat on the ground crying heavily. Jen and Katie helped her up as they glared at me and so did Drew from across the room. Ms. Barkhouse stormed across the room as she grabbed me by my hand and forcefully made me walk with her as we exited the room and downstairs to the principal’s office.

April 16th, 2014 (Almost Midnight) 

A street lamp flickered off in the distance as I walked out of the Hot Springs Inn I was staying at because the Monday Night Massacre event was being held in a gymnasium, no wait, I remember now, a fucking hangar at the Truth or Consequences Municipal Airport in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. There was a gas station across the highway as well as a McDonalds just down the road in the direction I was going on the same side I was on. I don’t understand why we couldn’t have just gone to Albuquerque instead of this damn bore of a fucking town; at least I could have gone and visited sets from where Breaking Bad was filmed so I could draw inspiration, I am becoming a drug lord.



I looked up in the sky as the moon was full as I began to get excited about my plans for tonight, I was going to walk about forty minutes to get some exercise for the day and then hit the Riverbend Hot Springs near the Rio Grande River on Austin Street… or was it Austin Avenue? I looked at the stupid map as the road was Austin Street until the road curves north and turns into Austin Avenue… and of course the hot springs was right on the corner. Why can’t it be just one fucking street name and that’s it? Stop fucking confusing the shit out of people like me… incredible people.



I passed the Ben Archer Health Centre and saw the New School Road on the other side of the road not far off from my point as I walked with a quick pace. I crumpled the map brochure up and stuck it in my jean pocket as I rolled my sleeves up, I was happy that we were finally some place warm, like sixty-eight degree warm, not forty degree like Pocatello, Idaho, where the last Monday Night Massacre was. I rubbed the healing scab on my face from the barbed wire that hit my face by the Lost Soul just yesterday and made me bleed in front of everyone in that hick fucking state of Idaho, who of course lost their fucking minds like they all won the lottery.



That’s what happened to TLS too… he won the fucking lottery when he smashed me in the face with that baseball bat. If it wasn’t for Madeline June… I would’ve been on my way for the winning streak. I made my way by Oasis Motel, a mere ten minutes away from my destination as I thought about my interaction with Kenshin and his fucking nerve to not allow me to speak again. I almost killed the man where he stood the minute he touched the collar of my shirt but I allowed the stupid zipper head to speak; biggest mistake of my fucking life. Should’ve just knocked him one between his squinty eyes when I had the chance.



I made it to Our Lady-Perpetual Help Catholic church as I past a big black van with large muscular men inside it talking on cell phones and staring across the street. I stopped for a moment to catch my breath and glanced over the side of the street to see a few women in scant clothing talking to parked cars across the street. I put two and two together, grinned, and started my way across the street as I dodged a car and it honked its horn at me. I flipped the car the bird as I made it to the other side of North Date Street and sat down at one of the benches. A few women were leaning into car windows and doing their small talk as I looked near the steps of the church and saw one of them lighting a cigarette. I got up from the bench and headed in her direction.



The closer I got to the woman I realized she wasn’t really a woman at all. A young teenager, looking fresh from high school, gave me a wink as she fixed her ripped fishnet stockings. She got up and fixed her skirt, I was able to notice bruises near her hips as I smiled and winked at the young one. She came up to me and began to run her finger up my arm as she reached my neck and tickled me under my chin.



“Look at you…” she said with a whisper as her eyes travelled from my feet to my blue eyes, “you looking for a good time?”



“You could say that,” I winked, “how far are you allowed to go?”



“What do you mean, baby?” She smiled, scratching her fingernails on my chest, “I’ll go as far as you want to go.”



I shook my head and pointed towards the van. The van didn’t make any sudden movements and neither did the guys inside it. I glanced back over at the prostitute who looked at me funny.



“How far will your pimps let you leave this property?” I asked, not wanting to stay, “the reason I ask is because I am heading off the Riverbend Hot Springs, figured a nice warm wet fuck would be nice.”



“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she smiled innocently but nervously looked over to the van.



“Listen,” I said, “don’t play dumb with me. You’re new to this, so I’ll cut you some slack. I’ve been doing this for awhile. Can you come or not? The hot springs would be excellent.”



“I totally agree,” she said, biting her lip, “as long as I’m back here in two hours, I’m fine… and you’re fine.”



“Great,” I smirked, “let’s go.”



The girl quickly ran over in her heels towards the van as the window rolled down automatically without an labor and she briefly spoke with the men. They nodded, the signal for approval, as the window rolled back up and she came back over to me. I curved my arm out to her as she gladly accepted to hook arms together as we began our journey to the hot springs. Two times during our quiet but touchy journey we passed by two buildings crawling with police, the Sierra County Detention Facility, and the Sierra County Probate Court. Not to my surprise though they weren’t doing anything about the prostitution up the street or about the obvious one wrapped around my arm whispering naughty language into my ear.



“You want me to taste that big, hard, stallion of yours, don’t you?”



I had to admit, for a young girl, she knew how to get me going. We turned the corner of North Broadway Street and Mims Street, going past Black Cat Books & Coffee before finally hitting Austin Street and to my complete astonishment, didn’t even think to look at the hours of operation.



“Are you fucking kidding me?” I roared, walking up to the gate to see it locked.



“What’s wrong darlin’?” the girl pouted.



“I’m sorry I dragged you out here,” I apologized, “but I guess they closed at ten o’clock.”



The girl laughed as she walked a little ways from the entrance and curled her finger for me to follow. Intrigued, I obviously follow the skinny yet curvy brunette as she goes to a part of the fence that is ripped apart and she slides into the premises as I play follow the leader. She leads me about thirty yards away from the entrance and into a very nice area right next to the Rio Grande River. We walk down the wooden stairs onto the marble stone walkway. The pool is completely made of rock and stone and is decorated with greeneries and exotic flowers. None of the lights are on in the area but because we are away from the street lights, the full moon gives a nice erotic glow and the stars are all out for us to see.



Before I have the chance to take any of my clothes off she gets completely naked to reveal a very petite figure. Her breasts weren’t too big but had a nice perk to them and her nether regions had a small light brown bush but not enough to bother. She smiled and winked at me as she dipped into the pool, her perfect round bun illuminated by the moon showing the great curve to it as its shadow casts on her thin legs. I take off my shirt to reveal a slightly fuzzy chest with a fade and a clean shaven package that is well hung as the girls attention leaves the warm water to my manly area. I get into the pool as well and moan from the sensations of the hot springs. The girl doesn’t hesitate for a second to swim over and press her cherry up against my knee, rubbing it ever so gently.



“So,” she moaned, “what do you do for a living, big boy?”



“I’m a wrestler,” I said with a commanding tone, “so, I know how to play rough.”



“Oh yeah?” she questioned with a giggle, “does this wrestler have a name?”



“Yes,” I nodded, “my name is Ian… what’s your name sweet heart?”



“I’ve been called many things,” she laughed, continuing her rubbing against my leg as her leg rubbed up against my member, “but I prefer Roxie.”



“Roxie, eh?” I said, “so, Roxie, how much are you going to charge me? Are you expensive?”



“Hmm, let me think,” she said teasingly, putting her index finger on her chin, “I am a young, hot, white, American, at the prime of her life… what do you think, Ian?”



“I am going to go with expensive,” I said, as I reached up and nibbled on her ear lobe, “tell you what…. I am not a cheap man, let’s just do this and at the end, you charge what seems fair.”



“Deal.”



The way she said deal made me whistle with excitement as I brought myself up on the edge of the pool and she began to use her mouth in that way I enjoyed the most on my member. Her tongue was warm and moist as my eyes rolled in the back of my head and I gripped the side of the pool firmly with my hands. I closed my eyes as every nerve in my tingled from toe to scalp. She deep throated me as my one of my legs shook, causing some water to splash and she gagged from laughing, which caused me to laugh out loud too. She composed herself and went back to her duty as I gently moved her hair away from her so I could see the action, but, moving her hair revealed a tattoo from behind her left ear that had the number ninety-four. She kept going at it but I immediately stopped enjoying the pleasure of what was happening. I moaned in displeasure and then pushed her off of me.



“What’s wrong?” A confused Roxie said to me, coming over to rub my back, “did I grind you with my teeth by accident? It’s only the tenth time I’ve given—“



“I don’t need to know how many times you’ve given head,” I shook my head, emerging myself back into the nice hot spring, “that number… behind your ear… what does it mean?”



“Um,” she hesitated, trying to come up with a solid reason quickly, “it was my father’s number in high school for football.”



“Bullshit,” I said right away, “you look like you haven’t seen your parents in years.”



She fell silent for a moment as she slipped to the other side of the pool. I sighed knowing I had fucked up any chance of getting any tonight… but it just felt wrong. I grabbed my pants and in the pocket was a flask I had brought with me that was full of Appleton’s rum and I took a long swig. I offered it to Roxie to but she silently declined with a shake of her head. I threw the flask on my pants as I relaxed a bit.



“Listen,” I said softly, “I planned to fuck you and pay you… but I was going to pay you more to just have a conversation with you.”



She looked at me in confusion.



“A conversation?” she barked, “about what?”



“My life right now,” I began, “all the shit that’s going on it… but first, besides the drink, I need a hit.”



I went into my other pants pocket and pulled out a little bag of cocaine with a two mirrors, one for the cocaine to sit on and the other to chop lines, and a straw for the snort. Again I offered it to the girl who looked like she wanted it badly but again declined. I shrugged my shoulders as I chopped a bit up into two lines and quickly snorted them. My neck jerked back as I let out a loud wail but covered my mouth so no one could hear me. We shared a quiet laugh as I splashed some water on my face.



“That feels a lot better,” I said, shaking my head, “now, I need to ask you a question, and I need you to answer honestly, can you do that?”



“How much are you paying me?” She grinned.



“Enough,” I said coldly, “how old are you?”



Her expression went from playful to calm and collected.



“Enough,” she mocked me, not talking to me for a moment, “so… shit is going on in your life?”



“Yes,” I answered.



“What, exactly?”



I let out a big sigh and swigged back some more rum before continuing on what may be a rather lengthy rant of everything going on.



“Where the fuck do I begin, Roxie?” I asked her, staring up at the stars, “first off, one of my good friends, one I would say was probably the closest person I was with in my work place fucking disappeared on me. He got kidnapped, or something. I have no clue. He just vanished out of thin air. So our group, the Family, was down to three. We got Jason Xavier as our forth man but Roach has been dickin’ around lately and cost us the match for the advantage at our PPV War Games match soon… I don’t think I even care he got dosed in piss two nights ago. Then, if that wasn’t bad enough, my insurance policy backed out on me. He didn’t give me a weeks’ notice… he didn’t give me a days notice… he didn’t give me hours notice! At the top of the fucking show he pulls in the limo I paid for and basically tells me to go fuck myself, screw you guys, and thanks for the free liquor in the fucking limo.”



“That’s a load of crap,” she agreed, swimming over and decided to finally take a drink, “did you find a replacement?”



“More like I found a sack of meat,” I huffed, “the guys name is B-Minus, he hasn’t won a damn match since joining this place and he was the first person I ran into and my only option. I hate to admit this… I’ve been fighting this urge to think this out loud ever since Maurako up and left… but I think the Family is dead.”



“Dead?” she questioned.



“Dead as a door nail,” I sighed, “like I said before, Maurako’s gone, Roach doesn’t have the heart anymore, Xavier is new… B-Minus is a joke, and then you got Sean Fuller.”



“What about Fuller?” she wondered.



“Fuller in one word,” I thought, “weird. Not insane like Casablancas… but a little off. He has these moments where we’ll be talking about shit we’re going to do the night of and he’ll be in the corner just staring into the wall, like he’s got these fucking voices in his head. Sometimes he stares at us and just gives this wicked grin. I wonder…”



“You wonder what?”



“Don’t worry about it,” I laughed, “he couldn’t be involved. And then… there’s this girl.”



“Why am I surprised?” she snorted, “in any shit storm of a story there seems to always be a girl involved. What’s her name?”



“Madeline June Bell,” I said quickly, gazing up at Roxie, “and she doesn’t deserve me. I mean, we aren’t together. When I was Central Champion, she came and congratulated me when no one else would… and that stuck with me. I tried to kiss her but then this ass hat from Japan showed up, her friend Kenshin. They are supposedly only friends but I don’t believe that bull shit for a second. Play-fighting in the pool, they go to bars all the time, drive to our shows together, I think sometimes they share the same hotel rooms. If that doesn’t spell out relationship, I don’t know what does… but then she got hurt, by Fuller no less. I visited her in the hospital, and I did cost her a match, but it was a meaningful talk between the two of us. I did get to kiss her too… it was a good kiss too, one I would do over and over again if I had the chance. Then I got a little physical with her on two occasions, one when I forced her to kiss me again and I grabbed her hips… people thought I was trying to rape her… no. I just wanted her legs around my waist… I wanted to have some passion but apparently she didn’t. And then I grabbed a chunk of her hair and threw her around in the ring…”



I stopped for a moment to collect my thoughts, it started to get a bit cloudy as I started to tear up a bit.



“Like, what the fuck is wrong with me? I told this woman I was obsessed with her… I went on a drunken rant on our radio show telling her I loved her and demanded for her to love me. I then told everyone I was going fuck her around in bed. Of course I also thought her seeing me destroy my opponent into a bloody mess would help my cause but it obviously didn’t and her presence distracted me enough for me to be the bloody mess… and when I left I couldn’t control my anger and attacked her fans. Left one individual in a worse a state I was in.”



“Didn’t you have a father to show you how to treat woman?” Roxie said puzzled, “have you been in any serious relations or do you just fuck people like me?”



“My father?” I laughed, “my father had no idea how to treat a woman right… that’s why my mom is an on-and-off again alcoholic battling depression and prescription drug abuse. He certainly didn’t treat me right. That’s why I’m a racist, sexist, women abuser, prostitute fucking, cocaine snorting, cocaine financing…”



“Idiot?” she smirked.



I glanced back over to her with a serious tone.



“…A psychopath.”



We both fell silent for a moment. I grunted as I grabbed a nearby solar lamp and chucked it into the Rio Grande River. She sighed and swam a bit over to me and put her arm around my shoulders.



“Calm down man,” she said softly, “you’re probably not a psychopath…”



“I did kidnap someone personal to Casablancas before.”



“Kidnapping?” she squealed, “you did that?”



“Guess what?” I said raising my eyebrows, “that makes me a psychopath. I just wish I could replicate that hospital night…”



“What did you do?”



“Well,” I thought, “we were both honest with us. We had a down to earth, true to the heart conversation. And some things she said I didn’t like but it was from her heart and I respected that. She was at her worst being locked up in a hospital and she still held her ground against me… but I wasn’t mean then. I complimented her… I brought her flowers… I was gentle and kind. I just get… so fucking angry over the smallest thing…”



“Like your jealousy to this Kenshin guy?”



I stopped cold and glared at her.



“The fuck?” I barked, “jealous? What did you smoke? I’m not jealous of that zipperhead hear-em-screama from Japan.”



“Then why did you get so defensive?” she said cocking an eyebrow.



“I… uh…”



“Exactly,” she laughed, “whether those two are together or not isn’t the problem, Ian. You think because she is friends with this Kenshin guy that he is automatically enemy number one and you have to eliminate him in order to get what you want. You won’t get what you want. You’ll drive her farther away is what you’ll do, actually, let me correct myself, it is what you’re doing already! If she says nothing is going on with Kenshin then believe her! If she then lies to you that’s on her, not you. You’re digging yourself a bigger hole by fighting this girl over a friend when you don’t have to. Don’t abuse her, don’t force her to kiss you when she doesn’t want it. Do things like bring her flowers, compliment her, surprise her. Women go nuts for over-the-top bullshit, even me. Then maybe she’ll accept you for who you are. You sound like a kind man but with a lot of trouble, confusion and inner conflict.”



“You could say that…” I said and then moments later laughed. I reached into my pants pocket and grabbed a ---, which I lit and began to puff, “thanks Roxie. I bet you MJ has said that to me five hundred times but sometimes I need someone outside of the big picture to help explain things.”



“No problem big guy,” she said faking a punch and then faking like it hurt, which made me roar in laughter, “so, is your show here this week?”



“Yes,” I beamed, “at the, and I quote, largest hangar at the airport.”



“That’s different,” she said, “sounds cool. Can I come watch you? Are you wrestling?”



“I am wrestling…” I began, but had another thought, “let’s split this place.”



“What?” She hesitated, “why?”



“Just follow me.”



We got out of the hot springs, dried off, got into our clothes and snuck back onto Austin Street. We waited for a moment as Roxie looked confused as I hailed a cab. We got in as I gave the taxi driver two hundred dollars.



“Take us to Hot Springs Inn, and avoid the main road and the church.”



“You got it man!”



The Hispanic driver sped off into the night as I rolled the window down to catch the warm breeze travel through my hair and prickle my beard. Roxie still looked confused.



“Yes,” I said again, “I am wrestling, but it’s not a worthy match. My boss, once again, has fucked me over in my right to the main event that he has me in the opening matches against this blonde named The Siren. She lost last week to a midget and a near eighty-year-old man who isn’t very big on technology, though I do appreciate his values. The only reason I would have an issue wrestling her is the fact she is hot as fuck. I may not want to hurt that carefully crafted body... but I am going to. For the sake of my sanity and for my love to MJ. I will unleash all my frustrations and anger towards this fragile woman and make her wish she didn’t sign up for a contract into this company. She hasn’t even gotten around backstage and try to make friends, no one knows who she is. She’ll come out into that ring as this psychopath right here gets into the ring and takes her small figured body and crushes it like the Barbie doll she is. And when I’m done winning, will I stop there? No. I will smash her in the face with a steel chair over… and over… once for Maurako vanishing, twice for Roach fucking us up, three times for my insurance policy ditching us, and then, a shit load of times for being a disappointment to Madeline-June. I want people to know you do not fuck with this incredible person right here. And that example is going to be The Siren.”



My little spiel of a speech took the whole ride as the cab driver took some side streets and parked in front of the Hot Springs Inn. He tried to give me some money back but I insisted as we got out of the car and made it for my room. I turned back to the taxi.



“Don’t leave yet.”



The taxi went into park as we got to my room. I opened the door to show a cheap looking room with crappy flower wallpaper and a standard TV with six channels. I grabbed a duffle bag and unzipped it for a moment before throwing it on the bed.



“Why are we here?” Roxie asked, “are we going to do what I’m supposed to do with you?”



“No,” I said calmly, “I poured my heart out to you just now and I want you to be a little honest with me… how old are you?”



She hesitated for a moment but sighed and answered.



“Sixteen.”



“Jesus Christ,” I shook my head, “why the hell are you doing this at such a young age?”



“My parents died when I was thirteen,” she said with a tear, “and I’ve been doing this since I was fifteen. I couldn’t handle my parents dying so I got into drugs and met who I thought was a kind man but he tricked me and now I’m a slut for these pimps, the ones I talked to in that van.”



“So my assumption was right,” I nodded, “you’re trapped? And that number behind your ear is a brand?”



She nodded quietly as she buried her face into the palms of her hands. She cried heavily as I stepped over and hesitantly gave her a hug. She latched on and dug her nails into me as her tears began to wet my shirt and I sighed. We stayed in a hugging pose for a while before I finally released it. I grabbed the duffle bag and threw it to her feet. She stared down and looked back up puzzled.



“What’s this?”



“Your new life,” I said, “the taxi outside should take you out of New Mexico, or at least Truth or Consequences… inside the bag is fifteen thousand dollars. Don’t worry, I still have some. Get the fuck out of New Mexico before your pimps figure it out and go looking for you, or me. I am only here for another few days so I should be fine. I’ll just work out at the hangar, they won’t find me there. Go get rid of your name and start a new life. Find a guy, or a girl, whatever floats your boat… but don’t waste your life sucking dicks and sticking fingers up weird men’s asses because they have that gay-ass fetish. Someone like yourself doesn’t deserve it.”



“I…” she stood there, shocked, “I… I… I can’t accept this.”



“Yes you can!” I said, coming over and grabbing her upper arms, “you’ve helped me a great deal tonight to see things from a different point of view and that was worth fifteen thousand dollars to me because it’s going to help me get MJ. And this is my thanks to you, getting you out of this predicament. Now let’s go.”



I grab Roxie by the arm and bring her back to the cab. I put her in the back with the duffle bag and give the cab driver another five hundred dollars.



“Take this girl anywhere she wants, but first drive north out of the state.”



“You got it!”



The driver begins to start his engine back up and I walk away but Roxie yells back out to me. I turn around and she rolls her window down and hangs her head out of the window.



“My name is Kelly…” she smiled, a smile I bet you she hasn’t donned on her face in ages, “and thank you… I will never forget this.”



The car speeds off into the distance as I sigh and re-enter my room. I grabbed a cigarette and turn to my music player and turn on Pink Floyd’s ‘the Great Gig in the Sky’ as I place it on a bedside table and open the window to my room. I take a puff out of the window and look at the stars as Mars is visible in the night sky.



“You’re welcome Kelly.”