OD!SSEY - Epilogue

[D!]

NOW

January 24th, 2006
2:14 AM
Baccarat Casino

D!: So. What more would you like me to say?

(And we find ourselves one more time at the Baccarat Casino hours after Joker's Wild. Rows upon rows of empty, deserted seats orbit around an incongruous wrestling ring in the middle of the hall, surrounded by a worn, cracked, bloodied blue steel cage.

The man inside it is caked in blood, most of it his. His shirt and torso are torn. And with a mic in his hand, he continues to deliver his speech to nobody in sight.)

Well.

(He walks to the centre of the ring, his pain still apparent, but no longer agonizing.)

I could tell you why Moose ran in when he did, but the real truth of it is, I don't know why.

(He picks up the black lucha mask, stares into its face, and then tucks it into his gym bag.)

I could tell you what wrestling under the mask is like, but you'd never listen to a damn word of it, would you?

(He scoops his bag up, and lets it hang off of his shoulder.)

I could tell you how I couldn't believe I'd just knocked out Terry freakin' Brandon!

(He walks up to the cage wall, grips it with one hand, and then peers up to the top of it.)

I could tell you what it was like to walk the top . . .

(He pushes the cage door open, steps out onto the ring apron, and halts.)

I could tell you what I saw before I stepped into the cage . . .

THEN

(D! steps on the steel ring steps and again looks at the crowd, a frightening figure in the mask!

There is a sign in the crowd.

"DANGEROUS D. FEARS CHICO CHEE"

And beneath it is a smiling man, whooing and hollering louder than anyone else.

D! whoos and then steps down, grabs Chris Casino and tosses him in through the cage door!)

NOW

. . . but I won't.

(He walks away from the ring, harshly back-lit, and begins walking to the exit.)

Through it all, through the scar, and the grief, and me losing my centre, with me struggling to remember who I was, what I wanted, what defined me . . . through all that, peanut, I taken some very desperate gambles. Some of them were worth it. Some were not.

(He drops his bag to the floor.)

But in the end, remember, I was working on a big picture.

(He reaches into his gym bag and pulls out the title belt with the American Stars & Stripes proudly displayed on it . . .

The NAPW Title.

He stares at the new faceplate, his bottom lip trembling, but then sighs and slaps the belt onto his shoulder.)

No, it's not the same title I'd lost anymore. But, as the old saying goes--and as ghoulish as it is for me--it's never the same river twice.

Time to move on.

(He picks up the bag, tosses the microphone, and keeps walking towards the exit, opting for simply talking out loud.)

Chris Casino settled out of court. Which means that the Hernandezes can just get on with their life, the Maja Hernandez foundation is going to do some good, and maybe, just maybe, I can get a decent night's sleep.

And no matter what happens next, Chris Casino has a rematch clause. Not against me. Against whoever's champion. So chew on that.

(He gets closer to the exit, through more and more seats, and closer to the gaming tables and paraphernelia that dot the casino's floor.)

But before I leave, I want you to understand something.

(Something shifts, almost imperceptibly, in the shadows near the exit.)

Just when you think you know yourself--

(Not something.)

--you find out how little it is you actually know.

(Some ONE.)

And getting to know someone else? And I mean, really, REALLY understand them?

(The shape of someone, draped under shadows, sitting at a table.)

Well, that's even harder.

(D! closes the distance.)

ISN'T it!

(Slamming his hand down on the table.)

RAVAGER.

(Ravager looks up from his seat, wearing sunglasses even in the darkened casino, holding a cardboard coffee cup.)

Congratulations on your match, lunatic. You beat three people in order to get at me tonight--and you got your winning ways back, didn't you? I'd say that you're ready for this. (Slaps the title.) And believe it or not, I'm happy to see you finally get the chance.

But I saw you out on the ramp after I won the cage match. Really, it's not like I expected you to join my locker room friends in celebrating, but you standing there like you're some criminal mastermind? We're gonna get this straight.

You wanna scout me? You want to get into my head so bad that you move in across the alley from my building? This irritating little "sting" that you've been working on? It's NOT. GOING. To HELP.

'Cause I just gave you the PAST. MONTH. of my LIFE. ALL of it. My pain, my secret shames, my desperation, ALL OF IT. Did you write it down? Record it? Memorize it? How much of that do you think you can USE?

YOU'VE! GOT! NOTHING!

All that I've been through, all that I've had to DO just so I can stand here holding THIS (waving the title in front of his face) . . . you can forget about beating Chris Casino. Because I've just given you a preview of how HARD you'll have to work to beat ME.

FURTHERMORE. If your stupid little strategy involves coming after my friends or family, well, you see what happens. Even someone as thick as Casino learned his lesson. For YOU, pal, it's NOT gonna be pretty.

(He leans right into Ravager's face.)

I can drop you. In a heartbeat.

(Ravager slips into a cold smile.)

So keep that in mind when you set the challenge. And I'm looking forward to it. Maybe we can give this title the life it deserves.

But as long as I hold it, the Championship's going to be about one thing again.

Honour.

(He heads to the exit--)

Last one out gets the lights.

(--and is gone.

Ravager sits a his table and takes one last sip of his cold coffee. Ahead of him, at the horizon of the hall, is a wrestling ring, illuminated harshly by spotlight.)

----------

Ravager used with permission.

----------

The OD!SSEY
1/17/06 - 1/24/06