|12:59|
[Gaines woke up and immediately looked at the clock. The feeling that perhaps there was going to be something happening felt strong enough to keep Gaines on edge for now. As he looked groggily around the room expecting something different to pop up, but nothing happening. Marcus raised his head to all the way above the covers, letting his hair muss up even more than it already was. Feeling satisfied again, Marcus settled back down into his bed feeling the faint relief that what Angela said was only a dream.]
[As his head hit the pillow, the sound of high-heeled footsteps tracing across the floor in the hallway echoed through his room. Marcus perked his ears up to listen closer, trying to make sure his mind wasn't playing tricks on him. Again the sound of footsteps, coming down the hall towards his room. The heels loudly clacking against the wooden floors of the hotel room. Marcus ducked slightly under the covers to make it seem as though he were asleep to fool a potential burglar. He watched the doorknob slowly turn, open up to reveal nothing but the empty hallway. Marcus blinked repeatedly, hoping his eyes deceived him. Startled he got up to close the door, after doing so he stumbled to floor as he saw what lay on his bed.]
[She was magnificent and beautiful all at once, like beauty incarnate. Marcus breathed heavily as he stood up and beheld a sight he had long since been without. It was Debra, reminding him exactly of how she used to look. Her perfume only caused him to remember what she smelled like each and every day.]
Debra: [Seductively.] Hello, Marcus. Miss me?
[Disarmed, Marcus took on a look of horror more or less. He had been trying so hard to let go of a fictional person when all of the sudden he's confronted with her in the flesh.]
Gaines: Debra? You're not... you're not real.
Debra: Like fun I'm not, sweetheart.
[Her gaze trailed off through Marcus while she alluringly ran a finger down her leg.]
Debra: I'm the first spirit you were told were coming. I'm the ghost of your past, Marcus.
Gaines: [Marcus chuckled under his breath.] This getting a little lame. Not the ghost of Christmas past or anything? I know you're not real, Debra. This is all a figment of my imagination.
[Marcus closed his eyes tightly to avoid seeing anymore of this.]
Debra: Like it or not, hon', this if for real.
[Marcus could suddenly feel the cold night air surrounding him, freezing him. He opened his eyes to find he was no longer in his hotel room, but floating out in the air, with Debra, still reclined, floating next to him.]
Gaines: Sweet, heavenly f*cking, god damn!?
Debra: Calm down, Marcus. We're just going to take a little trip into your past.
[The wind picked up as they began floating up, and forward. It didn't seem as if they were going fast, but the wind became bitterly cold as it swept past them through the starry night. Marcus let out occasional howls of disapproval at being hoisted through the air, but soon he found himself in a place all too familiar to him, yet way too forgettable to remember.]
[He found trees surrounding him in every direction. Everywhere he looked the top of an evergreen tree could be clearly seen whizzing past him, occasionally nudging him on the leg or ankle as he floated by. He tried to locate himself, where was he? This place seemed so familiar to him.]
Gaines: Debra, Debra, where are we?
Debra: You don't remember? Oh that's right... of course you wouldn't. You don't think there's anything to learn in looking at the past, hmmm? We're about a year ago, Marcus. The time when you needed me the most, remember yet? Big chances abound at the Gladiator Wrestling Association, you sign up and we're both mixed up in it?
Gaines: [Nodding.] Yeah... yeah I remember.
Debra: [Looking away, offhandedly.] Good...
[Steadily they floated to the ground, Marcus, who had been floating underneath Debra the whole time, landed into a pile of thick snow, while Debra landed quite comfortably laying across a park bench. Marcus took his head out and looked around.]
Debra: [Pointing in the opposite direction.] Look.
[Marcus turned his head to see himself walking clumsily down the street, alone, but talking to something beside him. Marcus stood up to get a better look.]
Gaines: That's... that's me. What am I doing?
Debra: [Raising her eyebrows.] I don't know... counting?
[The younger Marcus turned a corner onto a street. Marcus watched eagerly then glanced back at Debra.]
Gaines: Let's follow him.
[Without anything else, Marcus set off after his youthful self, while Debra followed somewhat closely behind. As they turned down the corner they could easily overhear the younger Gaines as he continued talking with whatever it was beside him.]
Gaines: Can he see me?
Younger Gaines:I already told you, Debra. I can't think of all this stuff now. If I just go into this Reina match without having to worry about it, I'll do fine. But you keep burdening me with all this talk about focus and concentration and I feel like I'm in a Karate Kid film or something.
Debra: Nope. We're completely invisible to everyone who exists here... we have the whole place to ourselves.
[Marcus glared at Debra.]
Younger Gaines: Don't tell me what I should or shouldn't be doing here, Debra. I'm the one that knows what's best for me, not you. Got that?
[Marcus and Debra watched as the younger Gaines just stared in one direction for what seemed like forever until he again moved his lips.]
Younger Gaines: Why the hell do you always have to put these obstacles in front of me? Can't you just let me keep an open mind until it comes time to bloody well fill it?
[Marcus looked back at Debra wearily, ignoring anything more the young Gaines had to say.]
Gaines: I guess I got so confused I acted things out for real, in broad daylight, no less.
Debra: You were so damn well unoccupied, I think it ruined us.
Gaines: What the hell are you talking about? There was no "us" to speak of, you were, are an imaginary girl in my head. I don't believe that this is what you're here to show me.
Debra: [Shaking her head.] No, it isn't. I was just saying was all. Come on.
[She turned around, leading him away, through a wall, and into a room not very recognizable to Marcus. A locker room like any other in the GWA. Except this one housed Reina Saiaki, herself.
Gaines: What... what is she doing?
[Debra stared at her for a second.]
Debra: I don't think she's doing much of anything, Marcus.
Gaines: Yeah, but... isn't this taking place just a few days before our match together?
[She nodded, putting her hand on his shoulder, and gently caressing his arm through the fabric of his shirt.]
Gaines: Shouldn't she be, like, consumed about this match? I mean I thought I had pissed her off enough to get at least a little rise out of her.
Debra: Why should she? You were insignificant. She already knew you'd be just another notch in the old ring post for her.
[Gaines furled his brow trying too hard to connect with whatever it was he was missing... maybe just a way he hadn't thought before that his mind wasn't used to.]
Debra: Face it, Marcus. This match just wasn't such a big deal to her. At least not as big a deal as you made it to be. You saw someone you couldn't beat. And choked because of it. It probably consumed you so much that you HAD to disappear from the wrestling world. Someone that showed you where your limits were.
[Marcus stood and breathed heavily for a moment, crossing his arms across his chest.]
Gaines: No. I refuse to believe that.
Debra: How else do you explain that, Marcus? Need I show you more? Come on.
[Debra walked through the wall and disappeared. Marcus gave one last look at Reina, then made his way through the wall as well. As he took in his new surroundings he realized he was in a jail cell. His younger self laying on a bunk, etching his name into the wall with a screw taken from his bed.]
Debra: Look familiar?
Gaines: I remember this... My jail cell.
Debra: Remember how you got here?
[Marcus stopped a moment, and stroked his chin. He sat down on the edge of the bunk.]
Gaines: I was put in here by you when I murdered your...
[Debra smiled widely at Marcus causing him to lose his train of thought for just a brief second before refocusing on it.]
Gaines: But you're not real.
Debra: [Smiling sardonically.] And?
Gaines: I was in jail because of myself? How did I put myself in jail?
Debra: I don't know. You probably reported yourself as a suspect in a killing and they locked you up, and after finding out that you weren't, they just let you go. Conveniently AFTER the tournament finals had been held for the Gladiator title.
Gaines: I did it to myself?
Debra: Just like the song says.
[Marcus could only scratch his forehead until Debra finally reached down to pick him up.]
Debra: Come on, tiger. Let's get you home before it gets too late, eh?
[Marcus, allowing himself to be led upward, could only sit and stare; At the dirty cement on the prison floor, to the tops of the trees as he floated overhead. The realization still not setting in, no matter how many times it ran through his head he just wouldn't allow himself to let go of those thoughts and cling on to new ones. The ideas formed in his head even as he finally felt the soft mattress underneath him recoil under his weight, and his cushiony blankets lap him up giving him a last glimpse of comfort before he could feel himself back to sleep in his bed.