“What?” asks Suki, her eyes glancing up over the novel in her hands as she puts her bookmark in place and sets it to the side. She’d heard what I said but, as with many things I’ve said before, it doesn’t make much sense to her. “What do you mean, Dominic?”

My eyes drift lazily across the room, resting finally on the window drapes. A bit dusty and unkempt, and the polka dot design is truly an eyesore...it was as though we were renting out the room of a retired hippy, the dots metallic colors glinting in the faint light of the lamp.

“Dominic?”

With a sigh I tilt my head back in her direction, my hair shifting on my shoulders as a few strands fall in my way. I should get it cut soon...nothing screams, “Look, I’m a man!” more then long, flowing brown locks. I’d gotten enough shit with this friendship of mine with Chris, I don’t need people to start calling me He-Man, regardless of the fact that he was blonde.

“Sorry, I guess I’m just thinking out loud. All the shit I’ve been taking from those so-called fans has just been stressing me out is all.” I lied, lowering my gaze to the floor and trying to count the number of food stains there were about the carpet. Losing count at around 13 I opted to look back out the window, feeling a shift of weight on the bed as Suki sat behind me and began to massage my shoulders, trying to help ease my mind.

“Hey, it’s okay Dominic...you’ve still got me, you’ve still got your friends and family...” she whispered, trying to make her voice sound happy despite the strain put on it from her own stress. In a way I knew it wasn’t fair to put her through this with me, but for God knows what reason she often insisted that despite whatever I became she’d stick by my side.

Love is a strange, strange thing.

“Psssh,” I shook my head at her words, trying to relax my shoulders as she continued her massage. “Some friends, no one’s offered me any support in the past several months and, last I checked, my last encounter with Chris wasn’t so friendly either.”

This was our regular routine, I’d bitch about something and she’d comfort me with a massage, and then I’d go on to bitch about something related until finally we both grew weary of it and fell asleep. Yet this time Suki seemed prepared with her own words to counter mine.

Sleep would come late tonight.

“Perhaps if you lightened up a little and stopped acting as though there was a conspiracy to make you fail...”

Images of some rosy-cheeked bald headed bastard in the government laughing at my misery nagged at my mind, causing my eye to twitch as the muscles in my arms tensed. The United States government had somehow convinced themselves that wreaking havoc on wrestler’s lives was the most fun in the world, and you’d be damned to convince me otherwise.

The man was holding me down.

“...you’d be getting a bit more support.” Suki finished her sentence, interrupting my pleasant thoughts of making old baldy’s head explode.

“Look, I know what I’m doing Suki, and it’s the right thing for my career. Bradshaw is the only guy left that can help me; he’s the only one in the company that still believes I have something left for my career. He really thinks I can make it big, Suki! He thinks I can be the world champion! I’ll be damned to give that shot up...”

“And if you lose at war games?” she interrupted, causing me to glare at the wall ahead as the faces of my adversaries turned into wallpaper, sticking tightly to the wall an staring me right back in the eye.

“I won’t,” I scowled, tilting my head to the stained ceiling, “And as far as I’m concerned, Logan and Sanders are fucked over too. That North American title, that’s my title...”

My precious.

“...and I’ll be fucked to let Logan ever get his hands on it!” I said, my mind swirling with memories of our past encounters. “I’ll take that title, I’ll take the Sharp’s heads on a silver platter, and I’ll leave Dark Horizon more victorious then ever before.”

Suki stopped her massage, opting to instead rub at her temples and neglect the muscles in my shoulders. Didn’t she see it? This was my big chance to dynamite that bald guy’s head into oblivion and show them I could be what I wanted to be...the champion I was destined to be.

“Dominic, I don’t understand what’s gotten into you lately. You’ve become obsessed with the world title, to the point of where you’re even willing to risk your friendship with Chris...why, Dominic? What’s come over you?!”

Greed, perhaps...I honestly don’t know and, for that matter, I don’t care.

So long as I get what I want and excel in the ways that I know I’m able to, I honestly don’t give a damn. The heavens could tear open and God’s hand could reach down and smite all my enemies, but unless that title is in my hands...I won’t be satisfied.

“What’s come over me...?” I asked in return, pulling away and turning my body halfway to face her, my eyes narrowing as I let my glare fall on the bed sheets, a slight chuckle escaping my lips.

“Nothings come over me, but something has came to me. The truth, Suki...the truth. And as far as I’m concerned, the truth is FUCKED! Do you hear me?! It’s FUCKED! The whole damn thing, all of the HWF! Fucked, fucked, fucked, fucked, FUCKED!”

I stood up harshly, Suki staring at me with eyes wide like dinner plates, the main course within being a helping of shock and fear, my heart screaming for forgiveness and myself too stubborn to listen.

“I DESERVE that title, I have ever since Born to Bleed! These fans shouldn’t be booing me, not after all I’ve done for them! What right do they have, Suki?! I played their hero! I was what they wanted to see me be, and they threw me away! A paper hero, that’s all I was! Just another toy to feed their amusement! I’M NOT A TOY, SUKI! I’M A HUMAN BEING!”

My sudden outburst had left her set aback with tears in her eyes, as she longed to escape the stress this was putting her through. I myself longed to escape this animalistic nature that had seemingly overcame me, but there was a force calling me to move forward. I shook my head and sighed, my eyes gazing into hers with a mix of frustration and sadness.

“I’m going for a walk.” I simply stated, grabbing my jacket off he nearby countertop and throwing it on. The cool feel of he doorknob contrasted greatly with the warmth emanating through the room, and the icy cold chill of my heart.