Post by Silver_Highwind_Magician on Apr 22, 2010 0:45:25 GMT -5
[Paranormal - Part 2]
Just to hear the memorable sound of Howard Finkel announcing the next match makes a beam of light glow within this young man’s heart. With hopes and dreams of becoming an established competitor someday, this handsome collegian sits in the centermost row and area of the northern wing. With his loving girlfriend at his side --- a primary education major named Anastasia Wilkes --- their young love shines with grace and dignity within the adrenaline-filled Hartford Civic Center located in Hartford, Connecticut. Being a small number within the attendance of 16, 305 fanatics and sports-lovers is a big honor for the young man named Orlando.
Inside of Orlando’s heart, the lights are already shining upon him --- he sees himself as the greatest there will ever be in wrestling entertainment. Having already earned the title of 4-time All-American amateur wrestler, this handsome brother sees himself as a champion to be imitated and envied by others. Orlando has the skills, the power, the smarts and the know-how to make other fighters fall to their knees… But, there is so much more that this young man has to learn before he can even claim himself as being the greatest to step foot in a ring. He needs a contract first. Where and how will he be discovered? He ponders this in his mind…deeply…as he beholds the beginnings of the soon-to-be famous 1995 match between Shawn Michaels and Diesel. The crowd cheers and goes wild, but Orlando --- he’s in another world…
(“I wonder if I’ll ever be as great as those two. Look at them --- people are going nuts just at the sound of their entrance music! That’s seriously cool! Yeah, I’ve got to find someway --- someway --- to be discovered. I know… I think I’ll see if I can have a chat with one of the wrestlers --- do one of my old high school tricks to get a little prep from someone who’s already made it big. I just wonder --- who would pay me attention long enough to have some kind of face in this backstabbing industry? Huh. Kind of makes you think…”)
“Papi --- Papi, are you okay?”, worriedly asks Anastasia, as she nudges her boyfriend. Orlando looks at her with wander-minded eyes, as if he’s trapped in another era. Anastasia giggles and asks within her excitement, “Why are you sitting down like that? Aren’t you excited --- Shawn Michaels, man… Shawn Michaels just came out with Jenny McCarthy? This is so awesome!”
Reading the program book for the match thoroughly, Orlando says, “They’re fighting for the WWF Championship --- Michaels is the challenger. I hope he wins, but…I have a bad feeling about this match up, Ana. Something just…doesn’t feel right.”
Sitting down at the same time as some of the other fans, Anastasia confusedly asks her boyfriend, “What do you mean, papi? Are you having an itchy feeling?”
“Yes, I’d bet money that Diesel will try anything to keep that title --- that being one of the reasons why I admire that man‘s style.”
“You always go for the villain --- you’re such a bad boy sometimes, I tell you.”, giggles Anastasia.
With very cocky expression, holding onto his girlfriend, Orlando says, “Being bad is what makes me oh so good, baby… Unless you’ve forgotten about last night, mama.”
Anastasia giggles as Orlando kisses her left cheek with love. To think that this would be the last kiss shared between the two of them.
Meanwhile, backstage, Paul walks to his rental car to take a quick trip around Hartford. It’s been a little while since he’s sight-seen this area located several miles from Greenwich, his hometown. A few minutes later, Paul has driven to a place where he never expected to visit --- The Cathedral of St. Joseph. In one of the small chapels is where he takes refuge to pray upon a kneeler arranged for visitors.
He kneels upon the centermost kneeler and begins to silently pray. Paul has done a lot of things in his life, and perhaps a little grace will set him apart from the things that he’s done in the past. Some of these things, he rejoices knowing that he’s done that all by himself. The other things --- Paul falls upon his knees in great shame knowing that he’s done these things that he can never take back. Tears come to his eyes, as he looks upon the image of Christ in all of His sacred glory. Paul begins to speak out loud and convey his heartfelt message to Christ with a man’s words…
“Hello Father, it’s me…again. I’ve come a long, long way from that day back then --- I’m pretty sure that you know what I’m talking about. I never meant to…do that to that man. He was doing something wrong, but I almost…I almost… I want to put that day behind me and move on with my life.”
It is Paul’s deepest, darkest secret --- the day that he nearly killed a man…
Paul was 14 years old and always walked home with his closest friend, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, from football practice. Hunter and Paul were like brothers. Before the incident, Hunter was the star player of the Greenwich Cardinals and has led the school to many victories within their football career. Hunter and Paul were the "It Boys" of GHS, but Paul was never as popular as Hunter. Hunter was on a different level of popularity, which led Paul to sometimes hate Hunter. There were even times where Paul wished that Hunter was dead --- his heart never allowed him to act on those thoughts. Paul may have been envious, but he was not a murderer by any means.
But, that all changed those life-changing 11 years ago. On this walk, a drunken man named George Harlan stepped in front of the two boys and began harassing them. George kept referring to the boys as Marion--- the name of his unfaithful wife of 20 years. George decided to revert to a binge drinking habit that he recently took rehabilitation classes to overcome. Those 30-minutes sessions were all for naught, for the mental setback from his wife’s unfaithfulness led him to pick up those bottles of Jack Daniels once again. The end result --- the physical assault of two 14-year-old high school boys.
On several occasions, Harlan tracked the boys down and began abusing them in some form or manner. It went from stealing, to hitting, to accounts of indecent sexual acts. But, Paul got fed up with being abused --- he took action and found Harlan with a hidden weapon at his disposal. Harlan was at a local nightclub drinking with some of his on-the-job associates. Being an established businessman, Harlan shouldn’t be wasting his life away with liquor. Young Paul approached the sex offender with an intense stare on his face…and played mind-games with him.
“So, Daddy... are you ready?”
“You back for some more, Marion?”, questions Harlan in his drunken stupor. “You just can’t get enough, can you, bitch?”
“No, Daddy --- I want you inside me, right now! Let‘s go to our usual spot…you can do anything you want to me from there.”
With a perverted grin, Harlan said to the young footballer, “Sure, Marion. You lead the way, just like you use to back in high school.”
And so, at approximately 8:30 PM at night, the two arrived at their usual spot --- a secreted outhouse that has a good view of Calf Island in the distance on the second floor. Paul stripped himself of his jacket, just as Hunter entered the area just in time. Harlan began groping the fashionably late footballer and landing drunken kisses upon his upper body. Paul, patiently hiding his rage, stripped himself of his shirt to show off his already well-developed upper body. And then, the birth of the dreaded sledgehammer comes into play as he draws the deadly weapon from his jacket‘s inner pockets… Harlan looks at Paul and sees the anger in the young man’s eyes. This brings the drunken 40-something to laughter…
“What are you going to do with that, Marion?”, laughs the drunken businessman in his stupor.
“Paul, isn’t that the hammer from your dad’s tool shed?”, questions the stunned Hunter of his bestfriend.
“No, it’s the hammer that I’m about to shove up this bastard’s ass --- just like he does to us every day! I‘m going to free us from this pervert‘s grasp for good, Hunter!”
“You won’t do shit but lay on your back, Marion!”, says Harlan as he pushes Hunter to the ground. Hunter hurts his arm that’s been injured during their recent football game --- Paul becomes furious! Harlan rushes towards Paul with demonic hunger for the teen’s body yelling, “Come here and let daddy take care of you, Marion!”
Paul looks up in his anger and yells to Harlan, “The name’s not Marion! It’s Paul Levesque, and you’ll remember my name after this, you drunk piece of perverted rat shit!”
Paul charges forward and butts Harlan in the forehead with the steel of the sledgehammer! Harlan falls forward, while holding onto his punctured forehead, and lands on his chest in great pain. Hunter sits up on both of his knees and watches as Paul bludgeons the fallen Harlan with the sledgehammer! Blow by bloody blow, Paul strikes Harlan for all the times the 40-something has molested him and his bestfriend! Tears fall from Paul’s eyes with every strike he makes! Hunter runs up to Paul just in time to grab the sledgehammer while it is still reared in the air --- Paul’s momentum is halted and he turns around with an animal’s angered eyes, as if he were attempting to kill Harlan! Hunter, although he’s in pain, speaks to Paul with the best of his knowledge…
“Don’t kill him! You’ll be as much of a monster as he is, Paul --- that’s not like you!”
“Bullshit! This jackass has done enough damage without being punished for it!”, angrily roars the furious footballer.
“So, you’re going to go to jail with him?!?”, shockingly questions the outraged Hunter. Paul freezes in his fury. Hunter seriously asks in an angry manner, “Think about it, man? Would you want to be caught in the same facility as this bastard for the rest of your life because you were too angry to control yourself? Are you so angry that you‘d throw you entire life away over one lifeless piece of shit like George Harlan?”
Harlan, in a spark of angered energy, fiercely rises up from the ground like a raging tiger! Hunter gasps at the sight of Harlan’s sudden burst of fury! Paul turns around and whacks Harlan in the jaw with the steel of the sledgehammer --- this act permanently disfigures the facial structure of Harlan, and sends him plummeting to the ground with blood spilling from his oral cavity! Paul huffs and puffs with anxiety, not believing that he’s just done something like this… He almost killed Harlan out of an act of self-defense, but his heart just can’t take the fact that he’s reverted himself to being such an animal. Hunter holds onto his footballer brother --- both in tears --- as he dials the number to the police department on his cellphone.
Paul was tried in court for assault with a deadly weapon, but was let go with two years of community service as punishment. His act of self-defense saved two lives that evening, and ruined another. Harlan, on several accounts, has brutally molested minors under the age of 18. Several former victims came forth and testified for Young Paul --- Sarah Jamison, Donald Williams, Adriana Gonzalez, Ryan Lewis, Drake Cruse, Amber Harris, Lucas Barrutia, and Wyatt Summers. All were the age of 14 during their victimization, which was said by Harlan’s testifying wife to be the age when they first fell in love. By this time, the testifying former victims were all the age of 21, and opened themselves up to save the lives of two victims and the possibility of many more to come if Harlan were freed.
Marion Baxter-Harlan, George Harlan’s wife, found out that the victims were all addressed by her name during the acts in a hated and despised manner by her husband. Because of her infidelities, she caused her mentally unstable husband --- according to a few psychiatric tests --- to take out his pent up anger on these minors. Marion was the sole reason for Harlan’s acts, but it was Harlan himself that committed them. She was approached by her husband several times in order to work something out in the relationship. Although she was not indicted, Marion must now visit her husband in the local penitentiary. For his insipid acts, Harlan still serves a count of 35 years to Life in prison.
That event changed Paul’s life forever, but he managed to come back and become something so much more than that little boy from back then…
Hunter Helmsley died earlier this year, right after attending Paul’s final event on WCW. Paul took upon the role of the rich sophisticate, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, in honor of Hunter’s untimely death at the hands of --- you won’t believe it --- an angered and sexually deprived Mrs. Harlan. Paul read the other day that Mrs. Harlan killed Hunter for this sole reason --- “Those boys took my husband away from me…it was only fair in my situation!” George Harlan, recently ice-picked and killed in prison during a fatal gang fight, expired just two days before Hunter’s death. In an act of anger, Mrs. Harlan looked for the two boys in order to kill them for their “crimes”. Paul, fortunately, was not in the area…he survived the killing spree due to his remote distance from his hometown at the time. It is a domino effect that took over a decade to come to a tearful conclusion. On his knees in the St. Joseph chapel, Paul continues his informal prayer after an emotional reflection…
“Father, what must I do to move on from this point? With Hunter gone…what must I do now? I’ve somehow escaped from the terror. Harlan is dead, his wife is to be sentenced in a few days, so why am I feeling so down like this? Why am I not happy, Father? Please, give me an answer? Please?”
All of a sudden, a bright golden light shines from above in the form of a large rectangle! Paul is stunned! The bright, golden pillar loosens from the ceiling and begins slowly descending to the ground… Paul stands to his feet and sees that the pillar looks more flat than expected. The pillar of golden light lands upward on its longest side, and the image of one of the Greater Arcana appears upon the flat part of the pillar before Paul’s very eyes. It is the Greater Arcana known as Fortitude. The shining card of light suddenly develops into a smaller figure --- a ghostly man that appears as an ancient Roman soldier with golden armor, skin, and an extra long mane that hangs from its helmet. The ghostly man speaks to Paul with a strong voice that sounds much like his own…
“Still crying about what you’ve done in the past, Paul?”, asks the ghostly man of the emotional wrestler. Paul is stunned of all words. The ghostly man giggles and says, “You will never become a champion at this rate, human. You have to fight your way through this anger and sadness…and continue on to make better life decisions --- otherwise, you’ll be like this for the rest of your life, Paul. Being pathetic won’t take care of the great task you must endure in the future… Know what I mean?”
“Wh-wh-wh…who are you?”, asks the frightened and petrified young wrestler.
“Who am I?”, giggles the ghostly man. “You’re looking at yourself in a sense, Paul. It‘s up to you to give me a name.”
“You’re…me --- but, how?”, shockingly questions Paul.
“I can see that you’re not ready to accept your fate, young warrior. When the prophesied one comes, your mind will change. Until then, keep on fighting…the future depends on your strength.”
The message is conveyed, ending the duties of the ghostly Arcana. The ghostly man fades away and the chapel is reverted back to its previous form of lighting. Paul is left in silence. He turns around and begins pondering on what kind of ghost that was…and what its cryptic message meant. This is something that he must consult Oscar about, since the little luchadore was the first one to experience another ghost like this one with him. The idea is stuck within Paul’s head…
(“Is Hartford under paranormal watch or something? Two ghosts in a matter of two hours --- that’s far too much poltergeist for me to take. I have to get to the bottom of this, or the state capital will be haunted in no time! Think, Paul --- what can you do to put an end to this before it gets out of hand? Besides that, what did that ghost mean by the future depends on my strength? And…who is this prophesied one? What the hell is going on here?!?”)