„ What the ... ? „ Paul mumbled reaching out for something to hold on . It was pitch black around him, he couldn't see a damn thing, not even his own hands .
" Damn! " He cried out when he ran nose first into something brick-wall like.
" WHAT THE .. " the ten time Champ started to cuss when suddenly the blackness changed into a bright white, and Paul had to shield his eyes from the sudden light. Slowly accustoming to the sudden change of his surroundings Paul opened his eyes and looked around. He was standing in the middle of a room he had never been in before. Everything was white, well, at least the walls. There was nothing else in that room, just four white naked walls, and a small wooden door.
Did Steph redecorate their home overnight ? Paul thought. Crazy woman . Where was she anyway ? I'll take care of her later, he decided, and stepped in front of the door hoping for an exit . Exit ? Na – uh !
He was greeted with ‚ Welcome to Tripsland ‚ on a golden plate hanging on the right side of the door. Tripsland ? What in the blue hell, Paul thought .
" Steph ??" he called, " what in the world..??" but he received no answer. Ah heck, might as well go in . He tried the handle and was relieved to find the door unlocked . You never knew what Stephanie was capable of , crazy McMahons . Paul swung the door open and found blackness on the other side . He slowly stepped into the dark room and jumped when the door closed behind him without him touching it . He turned and pulled on the handle as hard as he could but the door was shut . " Fucking great " Paul groaned, then tried to spot something in the darkness . Slowly the lights went on, not as bright as they had been in the other room but bright enough for him to see . He was not standing in a room but what looked like a hallway. There were several doors on each side of the hallway, and this time the walls weren't naked . Hundreds, if not thousands of images of himself were staring back at him, pictures of him when he started in the company in '95 to the present . And Paul had to admit it was creeping him out .
" Steph ?" he whispered . " Steph ! Aurora ! "
Nothing . It was dead silent around him, and Paul started to worry. He missed the familiar sounds of his home, the laughing of his baby girl, and even the sometimes annoying voice of his wife .
A noise startled him and he pressed his back against the door he had came through . Laughter , it was definitely laughter . But is was neither Steph nor Aurora, it was a male voice , and when Paul realized that this voice sounded oddly familiar it was creeping him out even more .
It was HIS voice .
" The fuck .. " Paul stuttered, but he was getting nosy, and so he started to walk slowly towards the room the sound was coming from . On his way he passed several doors and was shocked to hear his voice coming from all of them . What the heck is going on here ?? Paul thought . By now he wasn't so sure of this to be another cruel joke pulled by Stephanie anymore .
When he reached the door the first sounds were coming from the laughter died down and changed into a painful moan . Paul pressed his ears to the wooden material and jumped back when the person , at least he assumed it was a person, let out an agonized cry .
Where the hell am I ? Paul thought panicked . Are there people being tortured behind these doors ? How did I get here ?
He couldn't answer one of these questions, and how he got where he was only God knew . But Paul knew one thing, he wanted the hell out of this place as fast as possible. But where to go ? While having a mental conflict with himself about what to do and where to go the door opened with a high creaking sound, and Paul clutched his ears at the uncomfortable noise .
Unsure of what to do Paul stared into space , but then he heard it again, the laughter, his laughter . And his curiosity got the better out of him, although he had to admit that he was scared of what was waiting for him on the other side . I'll just take a look, Paul thought, only a second .. So he peeked through the slit , and his jaw dropped .
A man was chained to the wall with a dog collar with long spikes attached around his neck . On my God, Paul thought and pressed his hands to his mouth . He stumbled backwards in shock, by now he was sweating heavily . Get the fuck outta here, a voice screamed in his head, but his body wasn't obeying . I can't just leave him here, Paul screamed back . Somehow he felt responsible for the man, somehow he felt a strong bond to the poor soul who was chained to the wall like some kind of an animal . No, I have to help him, he decided .
Taking one deep breath Paul pushed the door open, stepped into the room, and was surprised at what he was seeing. The walls were silk – clad with red velvet ,the floor was overlayed with a fluffy red carpet and the furniture looked to be very old and very expensive. And on the wall to his left the poor guy stood with all these chains attached to him.
" Hello ?" Paul said softly, not wanting to startle the poor thing . God knows what he had been through…
Slowly the man lifted his head, and Paul cried out in pure shock when he saw his own face looking back at him . Standing before him was he himself . The man before him had the same hazel eyes, the same striking features, the nicely tanned skin . His hair was not its usual dirty blonde but it was dyed pitch black, and it was falling down his back in soft curls, almost reaching his waist . Paul recognized the mans body to look like his back in 2001, and he was a little taller, maybe an inch or two . He was dressed in black leather pants and a long black leather coat .
" WHAT IN THE BLUE HELL … " Paul yelled stumbling backwards, the almost dropped to his knees when the man started laughing at him .
" Hello Paul ." It was his own voice, surprise, surprise .
" What the..what..how..where..you.. " Paul stuttered, unable to release a whole sentence .
" It was about time you visited me. " The man said chuckling .
Get a grip of yourself, Paul thought . This is a dream, I'm dreaming…
" No Paul you're not . It's real, well, at least to a certain point. "
" I..need to sit down." Paul choked.
The man smiled. " Help yourself. "
Paul sat down in a rocking chair a few feet away from the man and stared into space for a few minutes . No, this couldn't be real . No fucking way .
" Who..are you ?" he managed to ask , and the other mans booming laughter cut the silence .
" Who do I look to be, Paul ?" he asked .
" But this is impossible .." Paul stuttered.
" No, brother, nothing's impossible in the world of fiction.
" Fiction ? What do you mean?" Paul was dumbfounded .
" Fiction, or better, fanfiction . People, mostly girls, write down fictional stories about actors, singers, or wrestlers they adore for entertainment purpose to share it with other fans of the same genre . "
" Oh.." Paul had heard of these fiction stories, there were even story boards on the internet with thousands of stories, but he would never go and check them out . Only nerds were writing fiction …But what did that have to do with him ?
" I wouldn't say that, Paul, these 'nerds ' as you call them pay a good amount of their money for tickets and merchandise. They're just fans, Paul, that's all . "
" Are you a mindreader or something ?" Paul asked annoyed. Like everything else in this weird place this man was creeping him out.
" No.. I'm just perfect. "
" You must have an ego of the size of Texas to say that. " Paul stated .
" Maybe, but that's how it is, Paul. I'm perfect, at least… for her. "
" Her ? Who's her ?" Paul asked confused. What the hell was going on here ?
" The girl whose head you're currently in. "
" HUH ? " What did he just say ?? " What… do you mean.. what the.. what girl ? "
" Don't you know where you are Paul ? "
" Nn..no..I…don't even know…how I got here .. I was at home… in my bed… with my wife…and the next second I'm here.. "
The man chuckled . " Maybe someone wanted you to see."
" See ? See what ? "
" How blessed you really are . Maybe you are supposed to see how devoted the fans are to us, how they adore you. "
" I.. I do know.. they..uh..tell me when I meet them. "
" True, but don't you wanna know the things they would never tell you ? They have too much respect for you to tell you how they really see you, Paul. Now you have the chance to see for yourself. "
Paul thought about what the man had said. Sure, fans were always eager to meet him, they told him how much they adored him, that he was their idol, but what would they never tell him to his face ?
" That they devote their lives to you, Paul, you are their whole world, their heart, their soul. "
" Sounds kinda obsessed to me. "
" True, some of them might be obsessed with you, but they would never admit it. What would you say to somebody that tells you that their whole world is turning around somebody they don't even know ? "
" That they need to go get some help, urgently. " Paul said.
The man smiled. " Exactly. "
And it was dawning to Paul. " So..you mean they keep it to themselves because they're..uh..scared ?"
The man nodded. " Kind of, yes. "
Paul fell silent . He had never seen it like that. " So..uhm.. this girl you were talking about … I'm..in..her head right now ?"
The man smiled and nodded.
" Then, what are you doing here ?"
" I'm here because of her. She made me, Paul, I'm her perfect vision of you. I'm the perfect man, I have the perfect look, the perfect personality, everything she'd ever want in a man, everything she'd ever want in you . I'm the creation of her phantasie."
" So..she's..uh..fantasizing..about me ?" Paul asked confused.
The man laughed . " She is, period. "
" Uh.. what..I mean, about what ? "
The man wiggled his brows. " Don't you know ?"
Pauls jaw dropped. " Oh my God. " His twin brother chuckled. " Hey, it's not that bad, really. She knows some pretty good tricks . And she's really cool. One helluva crazy ass girl but cool nontheless. "
" Uh..and..uh..what's with the chains ? Did you try to escape ? "
The man laughed. " No Paul, I'd never try. "
" Why not ?"
" Paul, she MADE me. Her will is my will. Whatever she wants me to do, to say, to feel, I obey . I have no other choice . She wouldn't want me to leave, so I don't . She wants me to feel pain, I feel pain. She wants me to make her laugh, I'll do it .She wants to..erm..get laid, I'll do it . And I feel good about it because she wants me to. "
" So..what you're saying is that you are pretty much at her mercy ?"
" Exactly. " " Oh..okay.. "
Paul couldn't believe what he was hearing . That guy was pretty much a slave to some crazy ass fan and he didn't care . But then again, that girl made him the way she wanted him to be …
" That's not fair.. " Paul stated.
" Why not ? Look, she can't have you, she knows that . You belong to Steph, and she's perfectly fine with that fact as long as she can have me, fair enough, isn't it ? Or would you wanna switch ? "
" Hell no !"
" See, me neither. " said the man smiling. " She's very good to me. And with the chains, well, this is part of her little fantasy. If I'd ask her to free me she would. I can go wherever I want as long as I stay with her. "
Paul nodded in understanding . " What's behind all these other doors ?"
" Us. "
" You mean, there are moe like you ?"
" Ya, several. You in the early days of DX, she likes him very much, he's pretty funny to hang out with. Then you as The Game with the shorter hair, only she hated the short hair. She also hates your goatee style. She said it makes you look cheap. "
Paul laughed, he started to feel comfortable in this strange world. Mostly because the man had reassured him that the girl didn't know about his visit. She only sees her own created world.
" Hey, uhm, what's you name anyway ?" Paul asked.
" She calls me by our second name, Michael, or Mike. We have Hunter, too. And Trips, of course. "
" Oh I hate that name. "
" I know, but that's your most popular nickname in the world of fiction. " Michael stated.
" Can't they think of something else ?" Paul said.
" Well, let's see, we also have Lame-Game, Cerebral Assman, Asskisser… I think you should stick with Trips. She thinks it's cute. "
" You like her, don't you ?"
" I sure do. She's cute, she has a great sense of humor, and damn she can cook. " Michael laughed.
Paul was about to say something when a booming female voice cut the air like a knife.
" MICHAEL? ARE YOU TALKING TO STRANGERS AGAIN?"
" Uh-oh." Micheal mumbled.
" Was..that her ? " Paul asked.
" Yup, she's getting suspicious. You better get outta here. When she realizes you are the real deal she might never let you go. Actually, I know she wont. "
" But..how ? How do I get back ?"
" Close your eyes, and think of the place you wanna be at right now. "
Paul obeyed, and after a few seconds he felt a strange tickle in his stomach, soon running through his whole body, then he felt nothing. When he opened his eyes and looked around he breathed the biggest sigh of relief when he realized he was in his bedroom again. Looking to his right there was his wife, his Stephanie, sleeping peacefully. Paul placed a light kiss on her cheek and stared up to the ceiling. Yes, this was where he belonged.
" Mike ?"
" Yes, Jacky ?"
" Who was that ?"
" Nobody, now come here. "
-End-