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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2017 20:03:37 GMT -5
OOC: I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL NEVER FLOOD THIS BOARD AGAIN.
4.4 // NEW DISEASE: HEIGHT OF CALLOUSNESS
•••••
♫: “Height of Callousness” - Spineshank July 21st, 2017 Four Seasons Hotel - Denver, Colorado -- 9:37 PM.
“I don’t know what her fucking problem is.” Finn muttered, sitting in front of his laptop on his hotel bed.
He’d been having a rough go of it since the plane landed, what with Aaron continuing her cunt-ery. He was supposed to catch a flight to San Diego so he could appear at his other wrestling show, but that flight had been cancelled due to some pretty aggressive storm work. So here he was, sitting in yet another hotel room for another night. One day, he’d be able to go home, right? But where was home? Right now, the little guest house in the back of the Mansion was looking better and better. His things were there. He had family around him that actually gave a shit. It was nice. Better than the bullshit he was currently going under.
The sun had just set an hour before, leaving the room dark around him. Hotel rooms were notorious for not giving enough lighting. The yellow lights cast a hazy glow, while the television and the computer were much brighter.
He stabbed his chopsticks into his take-out box of Chow Mein, his nose scrunching as he thought about it. Try as he might, all he wanted to do was think about his upcoming matches, but he couldn’t even do that. His mind was absorbed by the stupid blue-haired woman who still was tied to him emotionally, and contractually. “She’s completely lost it. Between her and Kei, I’m pretty sure I’m gonna be done for.”
The video feed on his computer fritzed for a moment, due to the hotel’s shitty internet. He dug around in his food, looking for something in particular as he waited. Elena DeDraca’s face glitched slightly.
••••• The night sky appears dotted with sparkling lights, a welcome sight to those trying to escape the big city. The sound of crackling leaves enter the fray, a normal sound within the forests of the Rocky Mountains when the wind blows. But in this case, they are accompanied by out-of-breath pants. A converse-adorned foot enters the screen, planting itself hard into the ground, followed by the other, and exits as quickly as it arrives. The camera follows the figure as it dashes through the forest, weaving in and out of trees, narrowly escaping being checked by branches.
The rushing sound behind them signals that they’re not alone.
••••• The picture showed she was waiting for the connection to settle once again, leaning back in her comfortable leather chair. Well Christian’s chair to speak the truth. The picture in front of her was Finn who half-heartedly shoveled food into his mouth. Moments later they connection was standing again, and she tried a small smile. “What did you say?”
“I said she’s being a fucking tool and I honestly don’t know what to do with her shit right now.” Finn growled, stabbing the box one more time. “It’s like she’s changed into this entirely different person and I can’t figure out what the fuck her problem is.”
“I could say it's my fault, but I highly doubt that.” Elena sipped from her iced tea. “But tell me, what's happened now? I thought things between you two have been… whatever they have been.”
Finn didn’t need to look up to hear the tone in Elena’s voice. She was trying to be supportive, he knew, but it didn’t mean her neutral distaste for his wife went unheard. He sighed. It was probably a stupid decision to even bring this shit up, but he knew his sister, and he knew that she could separate career from personal crisis. For now. “I mean, they were getting better. I know you think the whole thing is ridiculous, Elena, but . . . I can’t not at least try it, you know? We were together for four years.”
“I know.”
“I know you know but it’s like . . .” he looked up at her, staring at her face through the screen. “It’s like the pregnancy made her into one of those cuntastic bitches like the Kardashians. I can’t believe that’s the girl I married.”
Elena let him speak without another interruption, putting her legs on the massive, mahogany table. For a split second, he saw her Harry Potter socks on the screen. The expression on her face was by no means a new one for him, although it usually wasn’t directed at him. She seemed frustrated.
“Well, a little thing about pregnancy, not it doesn’t change who you are. I may have to remind you of a little thing or two. One: your wife never really was a fan of you hanging with other people -- unless they were part of her cuntastic friends. Number two: what you expect me to say?” She shrugged her shoulders. “I hardly know her, so I can’t judge who she was before all of that. I don’t know any of your lovey-dovey stories and what you have experienced together. Remember?”
He sighed. “I know. And I get it. But I didn’t tell you them because, honestly, what’s the point? I’m not one to get hooked on that shit. We just fit before. And I swear to God, she wasn’t like this. She dropped those friends, too. I get people change, but . . . you don’t think she was actually jealous that I wanted to spend time with my family though, do you?” His voice was incredulous. Almost as if he couldn’t believe it, but it’d finally clicked on in his head.
Finn’s a slow one.
••••• The figure leaps over the side of an embankment, arms and legs flailing as they do. As if in slow motion, they get some hangtime, staying in the air for longer than needed. They land hard on the other side, stumbling forward and hitting their hands into the rocky ground. But they don’t dare stop. Their hair flows vertically as whomever it is keeps up their pace. A beanie sits on their head, visible in the lights of a town in the distance, and the figure wears a large hoodie. Nothing else is discernible.
They whip their head around, looking behind them, only to see their pursuer still close on their heels, just coming over the embankment themselves. Their curse is unheard by the sound of a semi-truck honking nearby. They try to pick up their pace, looking behind them again, only to find themselves missing their footing and tumbling down a side of a steep hill.
••••• “You still don’t get it Finn, do you?” Bitter laughter escaped her. “To her, I am not your family. I am just a girl you once knew. A girl you maybe had something going with. A girl you maybe had feelings for. All that kind of emotional bullshit.” She almost spit out the next word. “And that makes me a threat. I ain’t your sister in those eyes, I am threat to her 'throne'.”
Finn stared at the screen for a few seconds, mulling the information over in his head. And she let him. In order, however, to not make it look like he was actually thinking about it, he stuffed an enormous bite of the chow mein into his mouth.
“I know it is not easy to understand . . . but females are really that complicated underneath the glamour that we put ourselves through. I have always expected it, to be honest.” She rolled her eyes. “Why do you think I always invited her to tag along when you visited? When you better than anyone knows, I don’t like strangers. Leave alone invite them in my house. Doesn’t make a difference if they are your wife or not.”
“Girls are stupid.” He said, still chewing on his food.
“What?”
He swallowed, painfully. “Girls are stupid. This whole thing would be a lot easier if she opened her mouth ten months ago. Like, remarkably easier. I probably wouldn't feel like I'm completely confused. I thought she liked you, to be honest. She never said anything against you. Never was nasty. Not until, like, we had that fight. But this week . . . she went with me to Japan to see that show, and we kind of just hung out. Saw the sights. Did stuff that we would have done when we were together.” He glanced upwards and saw the twinkle in Elena’s eye, the small little mischievous spark, and he knew where her brain went. “Out of the gutter, El. Trying to not do that shit.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’re trying . . .”
“Don’t even.” He snorted; had she been sitting there, he would have thrown his chopstick at her. “It was going fine. Great even. But you know how I always bring Izzi back something? Always? Doesn’t matter if it’s a piece of candy, or a magnet, I always bring her back something. She’s got that Pikachu collection I started, right? Look . . .” he leaned over, reaching into his suitcase on the floor, and pulled out the Luchachu. “I got her this thing. And when she questioned me because she already had it, and I told her it was for Izzi, she blew the fuck up.”
Elena’s expression changed in less than a second. A light hint of red coloured her cheeks, and she slammed the iced tea down a little too heavy.
“See, and that is what I am trying to tell you. It is one thing to pull tantrums because of me, but what has Isabella ever done? A two year old that loves her uncle and is excited to spend time.” Her voice was ice cold, all emotions gone -- apart from one. Anger. “I have not opened my mouth once. I didn’t say shit to you about how easy you let her back in. I've said nothing about how she whispers in your ear, causing you to lose focus. Not one fucking word, Callien. But I'll tell you one thing now: if she even gets jealous about a little girl, she probably needs more help than a good beating can give her. Not that this will stop me in the slightest.”
“You think letting her back in was easy, El?” He snapped back too. “I’ve gone back and forth for two months on this, trying to figure out how to make it all work. My family. All of it.” He wasn’t mad at Elena, not whatsoever. But at least this time, he had an insight. “Addisyn told me that she doesn’t like me spending time with Izzi because it’s there, in New York. Away from her. I know you’re mama bear about Isabella, and I’m not defending her--”
“You are completely defending her right now!”
“No. I’m not. I’m telling you what Addi told me. She doesn’t want me there. That’s it. It has to be. There’s no way she can be jealous about a two-year-old.” He rubbed his temples. “If you guys would just talk . . .”
“Callien, you know that isn’t happening. That ship left its dock months ago.”
“It’d fix a whole hell of a lot of things right now, though. I can sit there and tell her a million times that there’s nothing going on between us at all, but she’s not going to listen.” When Elena’s eyebrow raised, he pointed his chopsticks at her. “Don’t. We know that’s done and over.”
“I swear to God. if anyone else tells me today, ‘Don’t’, I will hang you all by your balls. I ain’t living in the past and maybe that is what you must tell her. I don’t know if you have noticed Finn, a lot of things are going wrong currently. And your Smurfette is really not my number one problem.” She looked directly at him. “I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that a person broke into the house, threatened my daughter. Not sure that has any relevance here, but it for sure is my biggest problem. Or did you forget?”
••••• The crunching of bone is heard as their body lands hard at the bottom of the hill on their arm. The beanie lay forgotten feet away, having fallen off in the slide. Adrenaline still rushing through them, though, they crawl painfully to their feet, and look up at the hill. The assailant stands at the top, but isn’t paused for long. They begin running again, hoping, praying, that they can escape.
••••• In truth, Finn had forgotten all about his sister’s problems. He winced as she spoke, her words growing darker and darker. He could talk about his emotional instabilities as much as anyone in the world, but he should have remembered So-Cal’s resident murderer being in Elena’s house. He was there for it, after all. “What’s the news on that?”
“Oh, and now you care?”
“I always care. I’m sorry, El.” He set down the chopsticks and the food and leaned forward. “I get caught up in my own shit and forget everything. I guess it comes down to the fact that I already know Christian’s got it covered for the most part. Who got their ass fired now?”
“Do you think it is done with firing people? I know you get caught up with your own stuff, lets face it -- that's never been different. And through every bit of this shit, I tagged along; no matter how absurd and dangerous it was. How often did I leave my husband and my kid at home to come for your ass? And no, I don’t expect anything back. But this was about your niece.” At this point she had gotten louder. “Not about anyone wanting petty treatment. Not about a female that is so blinded by her irrational jealousy. Not about me defending myself week after week. No Callien, this was about an innocent that got drawn into adults' business.”
“I said I was sorry, but what would you like me to do? Hunt down Rumble? Kick him in the teeth? You and I both know that he’s walking into hell on the twenty-fifth and he might not make it out alive. I don’t know what else you want me to say. You made choices too, El. You chose to come over here. Don’t sit there and blame me for not being there for Christian and Izzi. You’re starting to sound like Reece Crosslin -- blaming me for Kei plunking Sam through a table when I had nothing to do with it.”
“The problem, Callien, is that you’re not giving a shit about things that are happening under your own roof too. You live here too, do you not?"
“I was totally under the impression that you guys were going to beef up security at the house, fire people, and change the locks and keys. It was a mistake that was made that let Reyes in, especially when all of us were in the house. You have this impression that I don’t care. I do. But I also know that you’re a hellcat when it comes to Izzi, and I knew it whatever breach of security was going to be fixed. I also know that you’re going to have Reyes in a match when you get the chance. So please, just because I’m focused on my own problems, Elena, doesn’t mean I don’t completely and utterly let things flow from my mind. We all have our issues. It’s there. It’s ever-present. But I also know that you guys aren’t going to let that shit slide.”
She let a good while pass after he finished talking, biting her bottom lip. “Since you know so many things, I am almost surprised that one thing fled your mind.” She leaned forward, speaking more quietly. “No matter the consequences for whoever. Security. Reyes. Whoever. I needed you and not any of them. But I am tired, Finn. So -- let’s not drag this any further. I will see you at the Pay Per View.”
Elena was ready to end the call when the small figure of Isabella appeared behind her. She was way too quick to climb her lap, waving at Finn.
“Unca Finn!!!”
Finn’s face lit up, the dark cloud that’d covered it instantly removed. “Hey little one. Isn’t it way past your bedtime?”
“Only a little, but momma and you were mad… don’t always be mad at each other.” She made a funny face. “We need to slay all the monsters.” Elena laughed without wanting it.
With a smile, Finn glanced up on the screen to look at Elena’s face for a second before looking back at Izzi. “Those monsters are gonna get their ass beaten by your mama and I.”
“Unca Finn!” She admonished, pursing her lips angrily. Just like her mother when she was mad.
“We’re not mad at each other. We’re just arguing, Izzi.” Well, at least on his side, it was more of a defensive snap than anything else. “It happens when I’m not at home as much as I can be.”
“Are you comin’ home soon?”
“Of course. And I’ve got something for you from my last trip that you’re really gonna like.”
“But, he is not gonna show you, because you stretched out your bedtime way too much.” Elena kissed the girls head softly. Once more her eyes went back to Finn, this time a lot softer. “You know I love you, right? Even more when I threaten to kill you, yes?”
“I would be more worried if you didn’t threaten to kill me, El. Then it would mean I actually did something horrendously wrong. I love you too.” He looked at the screen with a grin. “I’ll see you guys when I get home. Not the pay per view, alright? I leave tomorrow morning, should nothing go wrong.”
•••••
Holding their arm in their hands, they come to an area heavily populated with aspen trees. They take this time to pause, trying to catch their breath. It’s still not visible who the person is, but regardless, they run their hands up their face and through their long hair. They look around, and find themselves staring into nothing but darkness, and their is no sound around them at all.
Is that it?
Are they safe?
Letting a sense of security fall over them, the figure turns, hands on their hips, and begins to walk away from the densely-treed area. But they’re stopped in their tracks, a crowbar meeting their stomach in a sickening sound of more bones crunching. They drop to their knees, clutching their waist with both arms, coughing out loudly. The assailant then takes that crowbar, and crashes it across the figure’s head, who promptly falls to the ground, unconscious. They look down, surveying their damage inflicted.
With a smile, the assailant lifts their phone and turns on the flash, checking to make sure their victim was the target acquired.
Blue hair. Small female figure. Tattoos. And a dark bruise forming at her head, blood beginning to spread across her nose.
With the camera, the assailant took a snapshot of the image before them. They thumbed through their contacts a moment, before selecting one and sending them the image. And with the pipe in hand, they disappear, leaving the body of the victim lying there alone.
TEXT MESSAGE // FINN WHELAN'S PHONE
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