|4:59|
[He slowly awoke with her words still stinging his brain, attempting to take hold. He just didn't want to allow them to. As he slowly sat up in bed, his eye caught the clock yet again. In a span of seven or eight hours, Marcus felt like he had already lived through a lifetime and then some. He felt weak, and he felt cold enough to be an iceberg. He lifted the sheets from his oddly enough sweaty body and went and got a glass of water from the sink. It was a strange feeling, but everywhere he went, he not only felt a cold draft slowly following him along, but the strange sound of a fan turning in super-slow motion.]
[As he moved around to get the glass and water, he would feel himself being watched, or rather gazed upon. He would occasionally turn to look, but always find nothing there. He walked back to his bed, sipping the water as he went, still feeling that strange draft thrusting itself after. Passing it off as nothing, he lay in his bed and covered himself underneath the blankets; Only to feel the cold down there as well. He slowly rose above the covers, having that eerie feeling like something was about to happen that could very well scar him for life.]
[And there it was.]
[It merely floated, causing what seemed like everything to lurch under a weight it couldn't possibly provide to the world. An eye that blinked every few minutes, just sitting there, a skull the only reflection in it's glossy surface; Reflecting true back at Marcus. He had faced Debra with quiet reserve, he knew how to handle Angie; But this seemed different, more ominous, more all seeing.]
Gaines: Are... are you the third spirit that was foretold to me earlier?
[The eye seemed to lean forward a small ways ands blink lightly.]
Gaines: You're here to show me the future?
[Again it leaned forward, it's eye blinking, but never truly losing it's contact with him. Gaines wearily slipped from the covers and onto the floor, as the eye slowly turned, or rather pivoted in mid air, and took off through his hotel wall and out into the night. Gaines couldn't help but follow it, but as soon as he was outside he found his feet on cold ground, surrounded by trickling rain, and only the eye to keep him company.]
Gaines: Uh, eye... I've been paid a visit by three ghosts tonight... and you are the one I fear the most. Please, for the sake of my nerves, tell me why it is you've brought me to this god forsaken place?
[His words seemed to have no affect on the eye. It merely pivoted, and pointed towards the crest of a small hill a short ways away from where he now stood. Marcus followed the eye's gaze, and walked towards it.]
[As he neared it, he could make out four men, all fighting each other heatedly. One man grabbed another and threw him down the hill, Marcus approached to see the man tumble down beside him. When recognized, the fallen Dark Tiger lay in a heap of mud with rain drizzling lightly upon him. Marcus pressed on up the hill, watching as the three men struggled with each other in a three-way grapple that didn't let any of them loose. Struggling under the rain, a man fell away from the group and dropped to one side; Gaines couldn't make him out. The two men continued to struggle, pushing and pulling at one another trying to gain an edge in some way on the other, until finally one man overpowered the other, sending him to down the side of the hill.]
[The victor's hands held high, with the outline of the Gladiator title belt grasped in his muddy hands, walked off down the hill before Marcus could identify him. Marcus walked slowly up the rest of the hill, suddenly seeing his own body laying lifeless in the mud, slowly sinking in.]
[Marcus looked around desperately, looking at the Eye for help, but it only approached him ominously up the hill, with that chilling feeling marching up the hill after it. Marcus pleaded with the Eye, with only a look, but he could tell the Eye neither cared, nor did it matter what Marcus said to it. Marcus slowly stood up as his body slunk into the mud, gradually disappearing from site, along with the other fighter's bodies.]
Gaines: I guess that means I didn't win, eh?
[Marcus stifled a laugh even as he sniffled slightly, trying to hide his sadness.]
Gaines: Is he dead?
[Marcus looked to the Eye, but it had already begun floating off in another direction. He looked down one last time at where his body once lay in the mud, now only a puddle slowly being dug into a grave, perhaps; Then walked on after the Eye.]
[The Eye seemed to stop in a room, indescribable to Marcus, he just couldn't make out much of what was in it. Rows of empty chairs, with a part in the middle where a bright red carpet streaked up to the center where a casket lay in wait. A television screen hovered above the casket, with only blue on the screen. Marcus slowly walked forward.]
Gaines: Spirit... is that my casket?
[He looked back at the Eye, but the only thing it did was blink slowly. He continued moving towards the casket, until he was stopped by the abrupt clicking on of the television set. A sports reporter stood in front of the screen, a solemn look upon his face.]
Reporter: In lighter news. A GWA semi-superstar fell into death's waiting arms today in Natural causes.
[A picture of Marcus graced across the set, as the reporter continued with a voice-over.]
Reporter: Marcus Gaines was never the brightest star the GWA had to offer. He never held any titles of note, never made any grand impact on the sport of professional wrestling as we know it. In fact, Marcus seemed almost content in keeping himself out of the limelight by finding someway to avoid winning a title here or there that could really give him a push into stardom.
Matches with Reina Saiaki, Ryken, Johnny Storm, all chances for him to show his talent and he seemed to blow them. His most recent chance was in a fourway match for the most coveted trophy in GWA, the Gladiator title trophy saw an unheroic end to our anti-hero, as he fell in the ring to what can only be described as heart failure, as soon as he missed the cover, losing his chance to claim Gladiator gold.
His mind never truly focusing, always trying to make hismelf out to be much more than he was, Marcus never realized his full potential, and therefore, though he will be missed, gets our induction, to the Hall of Shame this week. On Sports Center.
[Marcus' jaw left hanging, the T.V. set turned itself off. He turned back to the Eye, which seemed to be getting only a bit farther away from him than it originally was.]
Gaines: It can't end like that. That's not a bang... that's a whimper...
[He turned desperately toward the Eye.]
Gaines: Spirit... Spirit please tell me. Was that the future that is set in stone? Or is it only one of the many possible events that could happen?
[The Eye turned, and began leaving just as the casket began lowering into the ground. Marcus started to chase after the Eye, but reversed course and charged at the casket.]
Gaines: NOOOO! This isn't right.
[His fingers greedily scratched and clawed at the casket, trying to open it, stop it, do something to stop it's trek into the Earth. Marcus screamed louder as he eventually jumped onto the top of the casket. Falling through onto his own, shriveled corpse.]
Gaines: GOD NO. Please I know I can make this different... PLEASEEEE!