==========
Off Camera
==========
It’s
thundering and lightning outside in a New York City apartment. An auburn haired beauty sits up in bed reading
a copy of the Godfather by Mario Puzo.
The way this bedroom is halfway in tatters with clothes and other
belongings scattered all over, and yet also halfway decently arranged and
organized might tell you that this young lady does not have this bedroom all to
herself. And you would be correct in
that assumption. And looking at the way
this young lady is dressed, in lovely, sexy black stockings, black skimpy lace
panties, and a black lace bra, you would realize that whoever is going to come
home to this pretty woman is going to be one lucky man.
This woman
is none other than Helen Martin, the main squeeze of IWC superstar known as “The
Show Stealer” Matthew Bowden. Normally
Helen is quite used to Matthew putting his own life and well being on the line
for a cheap thrill. She has gotten used
to it and, in a weird, sick way, actually has found it to be an endearing
quality about him. Nothing he does
surprises her anymore, especially not after his last Riot promo aired, the one
that was shot while he was having sex with Helen herself.
Something
about tonight is different. Helen finds
herself worrying about Matthew Bowden.
For the man who has spat in the face of authority figures, spat in the
face of the most dangerous athletes to
ever grace a wrestling ring, all for the ratings, after having done all
that and Helen never once batted an eye, yet now she does, it must be something
pretty dangerous, something pretty deadly.
The look on
her face tells the story of a woman who is extremely nervous and worried for
her man. Nothing can change that and, no
matter how much she tries to take her mind off of it by reading this novel, she
cannot hide her emotion. The only thing
that will truly help her is to see Matthew Bowden and, even then, that might
not help…
“Honey, I’m home!”
The loud
masculine voice comes from outside the bedroom door. She hears a door slam and realizes it is the
front door. Helen immediately puts her
book down on the nightstand. She swings
her legs over to the edge of the bed and then hops up off of the bed and stands
there, waiting for the arrival of her man.
Footsteps coming down the hall tell her that he is on his way. It isn’t long until the doorknob turns and
then the door itself swings wide open.
Standing there in the doorway in nothing but red boxer shorts with a
wide, cheesy grin etched across his face is Matthew Bowden.
“Did ya miss me?”
Helen doesn’t
utter a word. Instead she rushes up and
greets him with a tight embrace. Bowden
chuckles lightly under his breath.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
After a few
more moments of hugging Helen breaks the embrace and then, in a move that is
shocking to Matthew, she rears back and slaps him across his face. He rubs his cheek, which now stings in pain,
as she glares at him angrily with tears beginning to form in her eyes.
“Don’t you dare scare me like that again!”
Matthew
stares at her as he rubs his cheek, trying to ease the stinging pain. He frowns and shrugs his shoulders.
“Ok, now I’m confused, are you happy to see
me or not?”
“Of course I’m happy to see you.” Helen
walks over to the bed and lies back down on it. “But I’m NOT happy that you stayed out so late.”
Matthew
shrugs his shoulders again. “It’s two in
the morning. So?”
“Yeah, that’s the point, Matty.” She
holds up two fingers. “It’s two in the freaking
morning!”
“Ummm, yeah, and that’s why I’m confused. I’ve been out that late before and you never
once seemed to care.”
Helen folds
her arms over her chest. “This is
different.”
Matthew
smirks as he walks over to the bed and hops up onto it, sliding next to Helen. He tries to look into her eyes but she turns
her head away from him. Bowden leans
back and frowns.
“Ok, fine, I’ll humor you. Tell me what’s different?”
“IWC is what’s different.”
“My career?”
Matthew
blinks a few times, as he is honestly shocked by this answer. He laughs a few times lightly before finally
speaking out.
“What is it about IWC that makes this any
different?”
“I may not be a wrestling expert, Matt, but
I am smart enough to do my research and I have noticed a disturbing trend.”
“Like what?” He asks.
Helen turns
to face him. “Unlike other companies you’ve
wrestled for, where your business stays in the ring, IWC business seems to
follow people home into their private lives.”
Again Bowden
chuckles. “Yeah, that’s what I find so
bloody great about it!”
“No, it’s NOT great!” Helen shakes her
head vehemently. “It isn’t great because your
business on Riot consists of New Eden!
You have to deal with Cindy Todd and Serenity!”
“I’m not dealing with them alone. I got that Ricky Holt dude.”
“That doesn’t matter!” She shakes her
head. “I have seen what New Eden does
and, damn it Matty, I do not want that kind of violent crap following you home.”
Matthew
Bowden is known for being a wild and crazy guy, the kind of guy who just wants
to have fun and doesn’t take anything or anyone seriously. But seeing his girl in this temperament, in
this emotional state, is enough to sober him up. The normally crazy Bowden nods his head and
sighs deeply, speaking in a grave voice.
“Ok, ok, I get it, you’re worried. You’re nervous.”
He runs a hand
through her long auburn hair. “But you
have to trust me, babe. I know what I’m
doing out there. My parents didn’t raise
an idiot.”
He taps his
head with his index finger. “I always
have a plan, even for the Addams Family.”
Helen
frowns. “Addams Family?”
“Oh nothing!” Matthew says, feigning
innocence.
“Look, Matty,” Helen begins “you may have to wrestle this match because
you were booked in it, but don’t do anything stupid.”
“Hey, it’s me!”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
==========
On Camera
==========
We open in
what appears to be a large, old, beaten up and battered house that, to even the
most scientific mind, would have to be haunted.
The camera slowly begins to move its way to the front door and then to
the inside of this large house and finally to the living room area that looks
just as old, battered, and dead as the outside.
It is then that the melodic tones and singing voices are heard,
seemingly from out of nowhere…
…but we know
that they’re really coming from loudspeakers positioned in the appropriate
places.
“They’re creepy and they’re kooky,”
“Mysterious and spooky,”
“They’re altogether ooky,”
“The Addams Family!”
Matthew Bowden
steps into the scene from stage right.
But he looks rather strange. Then
again, any man would look strange dressed as a woman. Bowden is wearing a long flowing black dress that
resembles a death shroud more than anything else. His face is painted white and he has a black
wig on his head with hair extensions that go to about mid-back. He steps to the center of the room and snaps
his fingers twice.
“You know, I racked my brain days on end
trying to think of a good way to top the last promo I did. Granted, it’s going to be hard to top live
sex, but I will do my best. One
disadvantage I have in my attempt to top my last promo is that my beautiful
lady Helen is not with me this time. She
wants to stay out of this one and I respect that. So you’ll have to deal with just me.”
He winks at
the camera. “There’s plenty of The Show
Stealer to go around, ladies, but I’ll save a special viewing for Cindy Todd and
her pet hamster Serenity.”
“Anyway, I thought long and hard about what
I could do, and knowing I was going to stand side by side with Ricky Holt to
face New Eden made me think of other violent psychopaths that they could
sympathize with. Jason Voorhees, Michael
Myers, Freddy Kruger, all sociopathic killers who did not give a damn about
human life, and thus they all reminded me of the New Eden ladies. And is that not the way many in IWC treat
them? Fair or unfair, they are looked at
almost as a real life horror film, only they are all too real.”
“But then I got to thinking, while that may
be good for most people, I am NOT most people.
I am The Show Stealer. I fear
nothing. I fear nobody. I look fear in its eye and then spit in its
face…that or I do the Macarena with it, one or the other.”
Out of
nowhere the familiar tune to the Macarena plays over those hidden
loudspeakers. Bowden proceeds to do the
Macarena dance once, twice, and even three times before the music finally comes
to an end. He turns and looks back into
the camera, smirking.
“What do you say, ladies? After our match is over, we can go out for
dancing, no hard feelings right? As evil
as you claim to be, I bet even you Cindy can cut a rug when you want to.”
Again the smug Show Stealer winks at the camera.
“As I continued to think about what New Eden
meant to me, I came to realize that I had been in this situation before. No, not this specific one where I am teaming
with a guy named Ricky to fight a lady with no eyeballs and her pet hamster,
but a scenario very similar where I am facing an opponent that everyone is
seemingly intimidated by and thus I am supposed to be intimidated as well.”
He shakes
his head. “Not me, not The Show
Stealer. No matter who it is, no matter
what the odds are, even if it is painfully clear I cannot win, whenever I am up
against an opponent that intimidating, I just view that opponent as Addams
Family.”
“What is the Addams Family? It is a parody of horror and fear. It is a parody of monster movies. Now don’t get me wrong, I recognize New Eden’s
talent, but Cindy, you need to understand that there is absolutely nothing you
or Serenity can do to strike fear into my heart. I’m not walking away from this. I’m coming right at you, head on.”
He holds up
one finger. “There’s one other thing you
ladies need to know about me that makes me different, very different from quite
possibly any other opponent you’ve faced.”
“My motivation is not victory. I have said it time and time again, I really
don’t care about winning and losing.
Clearly I’m not here to escape New Eden’s wrath, because as I said
earlier, I don’t fear you and I am coming at you no matter what. And unlike certain individuals such as fuck
fuckity fucking fuck Riddick, I am not motivated by simply hurting people
either.”
“My motivation is to be The Show Stealer. My motivation is to make damn sure my name is
the name on everyone’s lips when all is said and done. I am willing to go to great lengths to
accomplish that goal and, lucky for you girls, you will get to witness first
hand just who crazy, just how much of an extreme maniac I can be inside that
ring in order to make each and every person in that arena remember me.”
He points a
finger at the camera. “Especially you
two. By the end of the night, New Eden
will remember me. I promise you that.”
And just
then, without any warning, those hidden loudspeakers begin to play the familiar
Addams Family theme music once again.
This time, instead of the melodic voice of our singers, we hear Matthew
Bowden singing…
“So get a witch’s shawl on,”
“A broomstick you can crawl on,”
“We’re gonna pay a call on,”
“The Addams Family!”
Bowden snaps
his fingers twice and then the camera fades to black.
