Post by lostmindx on Aug 24, 2014 7:40:04 GMT
We open up on the buzz of excitement. The clamor of anticipation. The almighty “squee” of ultimate fandom. A crowd of people had to be almost three hundred people all crammed into the center of a huge auditorium set up like a wrestler convention. They were all in line to get to the stage to get to the table to actually meet and get an autograph from Cliff The Crusher Clinton! Kids and there parents alike were in this line and they were all excited. The people in the front of the line, the people who got here early, they were already having fun seeing there hero. The little boys and girls look up to him in awe and the parents behind them seem a bit inspired by him as well.
“Wow, Crusher you look like you could lift a boat!”
One wide-eyed little boy would say.
“Exercise and proper diet my friend. You could be as strong as me one day if you stick too it!”
The inspired boy ran off with his new Crusher autograph and ran back to his mom.
“I betcha you could beat up any badguy in the whole world!”
Says a little girl holding her Teddy Bear.
“If any badguy wants to step in the ring with The Crusher.....I'll send him back to the closet crying!”
The little girl sighed in relief and and hugged her Teddy.
“Thank you for inspiring our children. And even my husband!”
Said a sassy housewife with a bumbling husband in a Crusher shirt.
“No problem miss. I just do what I think is right. And keep working on it buddy.”
Cliff gives the husband a thumbs up who realizes he got caught letting nacho cheese sauce glob off his chip and on his big gut. He smiles sheepishly and everyone laughs as the line moves forward. After one fan is satisfied the next fan takes there place and Cliff loved it all. He loved to hear there stories and anecdotes, how he's affected there lives for the better.
But of course that's just a memory.
Just a vivid glimpse into a life that never happened. We find Cliff miserably bored holding up his head with his arm at a table. A stack of pictures sit next to him and a big display with a shot of him in a wrestling pose surrounds him at the desk. Its the same set up from before in his day dream but this is reality. In reality people couldnt care less about Cliff Clinton. He doesn't inspire people. He doesn't draw long lines, in fact he draws no lines. Not a one person showed up for an autograph. Cliff just sighs.
“This was a stupid idea....”
Cliff starts to get up when he notices Nikki Michael's running up to him.
“Cliff! Cliff!”
Cliff turns to look at her as she quickly approaches. He thought it was a strange site to see somebody running toward him for once.
“I was hoping to see you here.”
Nikki says as she finally closes the gap. That was another statement he hadn't heard in quite awhile.
“They had to cancel the autograph signing today. They didn't generate enough ticket sales.”
Cliff nods his head.
“That explains why nobody showed up today.”
Nikki looks at Cliff and his matted down hair and creepy demeanor.
“Yeah...that's the reason....anyway I tried calling you with the number on file...but it seems like it was out of service. Should get that paid up so things like this can be avoided.”
Something seemed strange about that. Cliff didn't have a cell phone, let alone a number assigned to it. But if there is a number on file maybe there was a-
“What about an address? Was that on file?”
Nikki raises an eyebrow.
“You don't know your own address?”
Nikki still didnt know about Cliff's past. She probably wouldn’t believe him if she did. So he just came up with a little white lie.
“Just making sure it doesn’t need to be updated too.”
Nikki nods her head.
“That makes sense. I'll look it up on my lap top for you. It's in my car.”
She motioned for Cliff to follow her and inside Cliff wanted to pick her up and sprint to the car. But he didn't want to look to eager. He played it cool but his heart was going a million miles a second. Could it be? Could it actually be after all these years?
An answer?
“A title shot eh?”
We open up to find Cliff Clinton standing in front of the camera. His large busy beard and his crazy tangled black hair sandwiched his lost eyes in the frame.
“I was a champion once.”
He strokes his beard.
“I remember it like it was yesterday. The roar of the crowd. The sense of pride. Fifteen pounds of metal and leather more respected then most. The feeling of dominance as I raise it over my head after a title defense. There isn't anything like that in the whole world. I get goose bumps just thinking about it.”
He shows the camera. It picks out the tiny bumps on his skin.
“You see? Actual goose bumps. I know what it feels like to be a champion. I've been to the top of the mountain, I know I have! I don't care what people say you can't just create those feelings man, you had to live it, damn it!”
He lowers his head and sighs as his lower lip quivers a bit but he contains himself.
“I thought I would never be able to have that feeling again. In fact I knew I would never be a champion again. I knew I'd never have the opportunity to try and prove that I wasn't just making things up. That I wasn’t just a crazy bastard. If you would have asked me a year ago if I'd ever be champion I would have laughed in your face. But then again.....if you were to ask me two months ago if I'd ever work for a wrestling company I would have laughed too and look at me now....
He takes a few steps forward with a smile on his face.
“Wrestling for a major promotion with a chance to face the Invictus Champion at some point literally hanging in the balance.”
Cliff smiles even brighter as he nods his head.
“See it's moments like these were I start to think that maybe things are looking up! Maybe the dawn was finally here and the darkness was finally over. Some good luck and fortune were finally going to come my way.”
The smile quickly fades away.
“Then the old cynical side comes into play. Then I start to remember the five years I spent alone, often times struggling to survive. All the times people went out of there way to be mean to me, to try and bring me down just a bit more. I start to think that if I was ever truly meant to be happy, if I was truly meant to have something worth cherishing fate wouldnt have ripped my life out of my hands the way it did. It wouldn't leave me clueless, crushed beneath the mysteries that remain unsolved.”
He stares into the camera. The lines of stress apparent on his face.
“That part of me knows that I won't win this opportunity to face the Invictus Champion. Because I know I'm not supposed to. My dawn never comes because somebody has to be with the darkness. May as well be poor old Cliff Clinton.”
He hangs his head low. As if he was trying to drown himself in the pool of depression surrounding him.
“But then.....”
His head shoots back up.
“...another side comes out. The side of me that's stupid. The side of me that always ends up getting me into trouble yet I always end up listening too anyway. The side of me that always likes to hope. Even when things seemed there darkest I always seem to find a way to convince myself that dawn is around the corner. That someday I'd find an answer or a clue or something. It's what has helped me to survive for so long. And that's why this Sunday at Legacy I'm lacing up the old boots with the desire to climb that ladder and roll on to face The Invictus Champion, to one day prove to the world what I really am!
He pounds his fist into his palm.
“Kevin Evel.....who seems to only care about John Tulley, Alioth Starre....who...I dont even know what the hell that guy is saying! He seems like a pretentious Dr. Seuss but without the ability to make any sense. I do know one thing though-”
He reaches out and grabs the camera and pulls it forward so that he has a direct close up.
“I. Am not. A. LOG!”
Cliff nods his head.
“Oh yeah.....your going to pay for that.....
He nods again for good measure.
...and of course John Tolley who hasn't said anything yet. I just want all four of you to know that whatever happens, Cliff Clinton is coming this sunday with a champions ire. Win, lose, or draw is fine.....but me tossing you over my head is a sure fire guarantee! With all that said...I only got one question....
He grins.
“How you gonna feel man?”
Nikki Michaels handed him the address that was on file with no problems. He took that address and he followed it to a strange part of the city. There were few buildings and most of them were abandoned with windows busted out. The ones that weren't abandoned were dark and sealed. Cliff walked slowly down the street of this ghost town and he looked for the number written on the paper he got from Nikki.
“This is weird.”
Cliff said out loud to break the silence. After the noise dissipated there was silence again. But the eerie still silence. It didn't even seem like the wind blew or the birds chirped. He walks past a few abandoned cars and thats when he sees it. The address he had been looking for. A building about fifty feet away in the middle of nothing else. It still seemed well kept for being around such debris. And what was even better there was a light on.
“This is it.”
Cliff said to himself as he picked up the pace on his way there. He started thinking about all the time he's spent living this life of mystery. He started thinking about all the people he had lost. Before he knew it he was running. He ran faster then he had in awhile and as his hand reached for the door a smile crept onto his face. He nearly ripped the door off as he walked inside and he was nearly left speechless and what he found.
“Herrooooo.....you want crothes wash?”
It was a laundry mat!? Complete with washers and dryers and one of those little soap dispensers. A short Asian man sits at the front desk.
“What the hell is this?”
Cliff said, his heart currently starting to break into pieces.
“Dis raundry mat. We have bad rocation but have great qaurity! You need wash now! You smer rike Buddha asshore!”
Cliff looks around at the place. He just couldn’t believe that this was another dead end.
“Do you know anything about IWF? Do you know anything about me!?”
The Asian man doesn’t say anything as if he draws a blank.
“I just know crothes wash. You buy or no?”
Cliff just hung his head. His heart effectively shattering all the way in his chest. The address was obviously a fake just like the phone number was. Again Cliff allowed himself to get all worked up for nothing.
“This will teach me to have hope....”
“Wow, Crusher you look like you could lift a boat!”
One wide-eyed little boy would say.
“Exercise and proper diet my friend. You could be as strong as me one day if you stick too it!”
The inspired boy ran off with his new Crusher autograph and ran back to his mom.
“I betcha you could beat up any badguy in the whole world!”
Says a little girl holding her Teddy Bear.
“If any badguy wants to step in the ring with The Crusher.....I'll send him back to the closet crying!”
The little girl sighed in relief and and hugged her Teddy.
“Thank you for inspiring our children. And even my husband!”
Said a sassy housewife with a bumbling husband in a Crusher shirt.
“No problem miss. I just do what I think is right. And keep working on it buddy.”
Cliff gives the husband a thumbs up who realizes he got caught letting nacho cheese sauce glob off his chip and on his big gut. He smiles sheepishly and everyone laughs as the line moves forward. After one fan is satisfied the next fan takes there place and Cliff loved it all. He loved to hear there stories and anecdotes, how he's affected there lives for the better.
But of course that's just a memory.
Just a vivid glimpse into a life that never happened. We find Cliff miserably bored holding up his head with his arm at a table. A stack of pictures sit next to him and a big display with a shot of him in a wrestling pose surrounds him at the desk. Its the same set up from before in his day dream but this is reality. In reality people couldnt care less about Cliff Clinton. He doesn't inspire people. He doesn't draw long lines, in fact he draws no lines. Not a one person showed up for an autograph. Cliff just sighs.
“This was a stupid idea....”
Cliff starts to get up when he notices Nikki Michael's running up to him.
“Cliff! Cliff!”
Cliff turns to look at her as she quickly approaches. He thought it was a strange site to see somebody running toward him for once.
“I was hoping to see you here.”
Nikki says as she finally closes the gap. That was another statement he hadn't heard in quite awhile.
“They had to cancel the autograph signing today. They didn't generate enough ticket sales.”
Cliff nods his head.
“That explains why nobody showed up today.”
Nikki looks at Cliff and his matted down hair and creepy demeanor.
“Yeah...that's the reason....anyway I tried calling you with the number on file...but it seems like it was out of service. Should get that paid up so things like this can be avoided.”
Something seemed strange about that. Cliff didn't have a cell phone, let alone a number assigned to it. But if there is a number on file maybe there was a-
“What about an address? Was that on file?”
Nikki raises an eyebrow.
“You don't know your own address?”
Nikki still didnt know about Cliff's past. She probably wouldn’t believe him if she did. So he just came up with a little white lie.
“Just making sure it doesn’t need to be updated too.”
Nikki nods her head.
“That makes sense. I'll look it up on my lap top for you. It's in my car.”
She motioned for Cliff to follow her and inside Cliff wanted to pick her up and sprint to the car. But he didn't want to look to eager. He played it cool but his heart was going a million miles a second. Could it be? Could it actually be after all these years?
An answer?
“A title shot eh?”
We open up to find Cliff Clinton standing in front of the camera. His large busy beard and his crazy tangled black hair sandwiched his lost eyes in the frame.
“I was a champion once.”
He strokes his beard.
“I remember it like it was yesterday. The roar of the crowd. The sense of pride. Fifteen pounds of metal and leather more respected then most. The feeling of dominance as I raise it over my head after a title defense. There isn't anything like that in the whole world. I get goose bumps just thinking about it.”
He shows the camera. It picks out the tiny bumps on his skin.
“You see? Actual goose bumps. I know what it feels like to be a champion. I've been to the top of the mountain, I know I have! I don't care what people say you can't just create those feelings man, you had to live it, damn it!”
He lowers his head and sighs as his lower lip quivers a bit but he contains himself.
“I thought I would never be able to have that feeling again. In fact I knew I would never be a champion again. I knew I'd never have the opportunity to try and prove that I wasn't just making things up. That I wasn’t just a crazy bastard. If you would have asked me a year ago if I'd ever be champion I would have laughed in your face. But then again.....if you were to ask me two months ago if I'd ever work for a wrestling company I would have laughed too and look at me now....
He takes a few steps forward with a smile on his face.
“Wrestling for a major promotion with a chance to face the Invictus Champion at some point literally hanging in the balance.”
Cliff smiles even brighter as he nods his head.
“See it's moments like these were I start to think that maybe things are looking up! Maybe the dawn was finally here and the darkness was finally over. Some good luck and fortune were finally going to come my way.”
The smile quickly fades away.
“Then the old cynical side comes into play. Then I start to remember the five years I spent alone, often times struggling to survive. All the times people went out of there way to be mean to me, to try and bring me down just a bit more. I start to think that if I was ever truly meant to be happy, if I was truly meant to have something worth cherishing fate wouldnt have ripped my life out of my hands the way it did. It wouldn't leave me clueless, crushed beneath the mysteries that remain unsolved.”
He stares into the camera. The lines of stress apparent on his face.
“That part of me knows that I won't win this opportunity to face the Invictus Champion. Because I know I'm not supposed to. My dawn never comes because somebody has to be with the darkness. May as well be poor old Cliff Clinton.”
He hangs his head low. As if he was trying to drown himself in the pool of depression surrounding him.
“But then.....”
His head shoots back up.
“...another side comes out. The side of me that's stupid. The side of me that always ends up getting me into trouble yet I always end up listening too anyway. The side of me that always likes to hope. Even when things seemed there darkest I always seem to find a way to convince myself that dawn is around the corner. That someday I'd find an answer or a clue or something. It's what has helped me to survive for so long. And that's why this Sunday at Legacy I'm lacing up the old boots with the desire to climb that ladder and roll on to face The Invictus Champion, to one day prove to the world what I really am!
He pounds his fist into his palm.
“Kevin Evel.....who seems to only care about John Tulley, Alioth Starre....who...I dont even know what the hell that guy is saying! He seems like a pretentious Dr. Seuss but without the ability to make any sense. I do know one thing though-”
He reaches out and grabs the camera and pulls it forward so that he has a direct close up.
“I. Am not. A. LOG!”
Cliff nods his head.
“Oh yeah.....your going to pay for that.....
He nods again for good measure.
...and of course John Tolley who hasn't said anything yet. I just want all four of you to know that whatever happens, Cliff Clinton is coming this sunday with a champions ire. Win, lose, or draw is fine.....but me tossing you over my head is a sure fire guarantee! With all that said...I only got one question....
He grins.
“How you gonna feel man?”
Nikki Michaels handed him the address that was on file with no problems. He took that address and he followed it to a strange part of the city. There were few buildings and most of them were abandoned with windows busted out. The ones that weren't abandoned were dark and sealed. Cliff walked slowly down the street of this ghost town and he looked for the number written on the paper he got from Nikki.
“This is weird.”
Cliff said out loud to break the silence. After the noise dissipated there was silence again. But the eerie still silence. It didn't even seem like the wind blew or the birds chirped. He walks past a few abandoned cars and thats when he sees it. The address he had been looking for. A building about fifty feet away in the middle of nothing else. It still seemed well kept for being around such debris. And what was even better there was a light on.
“This is it.”
Cliff said to himself as he picked up the pace on his way there. He started thinking about all the time he's spent living this life of mystery. He started thinking about all the people he had lost. Before he knew it he was running. He ran faster then he had in awhile and as his hand reached for the door a smile crept onto his face. He nearly ripped the door off as he walked inside and he was nearly left speechless and what he found.
“Herrooooo.....you want crothes wash?”
It was a laundry mat!? Complete with washers and dryers and one of those little soap dispensers. A short Asian man sits at the front desk.
“What the hell is this?”
Cliff said, his heart currently starting to break into pieces.
“Dis raundry mat. We have bad rocation but have great qaurity! You need wash now! You smer rike Buddha asshore!”
Cliff looks around at the place. He just couldn’t believe that this was another dead end.
“Do you know anything about IWF? Do you know anything about me!?”
The Asian man doesn’t say anything as if he draws a blank.
“I just know crothes wash. You buy or no?”
Cliff just hung his head. His heart effectively shattering all the way in his chest. The address was obviously a fake just like the phone number was. Again Cliff allowed himself to get all worked up for nothing.
“This will teach me to have hope....”
Well howdy there pardner.