Chapter Four: One Life Stand
Phoenix Wright
Wright & Co. Law Offices
May 3, 2019, 7:15 AM
It had been two weeks since the fateful day the only life he'd ever known ended. Phoenix had spent them mostly burrowed under his covers and existing mostly on coffee while wallowing in self-pity. He wanted nothing to do with the outside world whatsoever. He'd even stopped reading the paper and watching the newscasts.
While headlines about the 'Forgin' Attorney' no longer were front-page news, there was still the odd mention of it here and there, and he'd even caught it as short headers flashing across the bottom of the news screens on the television set.
He'd spent the last fortnight dodging all phone calls, texts, and emails until they eventually had stopped. He'd let the mail pile up on the counter, unopened, and allowed all calls to go to voicemail. His inbox was flooded, but he didn't care. He didn't even bother answering the door whenever he'd heard the odd knock on it. He just wanted to make everybody go away. Failing that, he simply wanted to disappear.
It's just like Auliq Ice said: In life, we meet many people. Some people remain in touch and some contacts are dumped in the recycle bin of mind. We expect some things from people in our life but sometimes those expectations remain unnoticed and incomplete. Getting depressed in such a condition is natural but if we try, we can minimize this amount of hearty hurt.
Or so he'd tried to believe at first.
But now he didn't.
Two weeks. That had been all it had taken for his so-called friends, some of them life-long, to give up on him and move on. How long it had taken for the famously acclaimed attorney, the great Phoenix Wright, to dissipate into complete obscurity.
It was as if they had never existed. As if he had never existed.
There was only one person whose attempts to contact him hadn't ceased. Maya. She'd been calling and texting non-stop since the day before when she'd obviously gotten back into the country from her Japanese retreat, returned to civilization, and heard about the scandal. But she'd only been trying for one day. If he gave her another few weeks, she'd surely fade away, just like everyone else had. After all, she was now the master of a whole village. And he…was nothing. An absolute nobody, who had nothing to offer her. She'd be better off without him. Let her find somebody more worthy of her. Best she forget all about him and allow that magical night they'd spent in each other's arms to languish away, and eventually remain as naught but a cherished memory from a lifetime ago.
A part of him knew he was being a complete bastard. She deserved more than this. She was worth way more than just being discarded away like trash, to undoubtedly feel that he had 'hit it and quit it' since the night she had given him her innocence and then never heard from him again. What kind of fortune's fool was he that he could be deserving of such a fate? One so cruel that it had allowed the love of his life to become a one-night stand?
As if!
He laughed humorlessly at the ludicrous notion. He'd never had a one-nighter in his entire life. Phoenix just wasn't the hookup type to simply hit it and quit it with random women. He would get too nervous, or want to talk afterward ... or just want to flat out leave.
As it turned out, women kind of hated it when you did that.
Hence, he had only been with maybe three or four women in his entire life, all with whom he'd been in some sort of relationship. Phoenix had never been the "love em' and leave' em" type. That manner of womanizing was more suited to his childhood friend Larry Butz, the one friend who hadn't deserted him. Of course, that was because he was actually away on an art tour in Europe for the next few months and was still not aware of what had happened. But give him time…and no doubt, The Butz, too, would ultimately be gone with the wind, just like a noxious cloud of flatulence that eventually obliterated.
Well, speaking of things that completely stunk, there was no use dragging things out with Maya any longer. Time to nip things in the bud. Rip the Band-Aid off quickly so it would only feel like a quick sting, instead of slowly tearing it, and prolonging the agony. He'd done so many things wrong, at least he could do this right.
He just couldn't stand to hear the hurt in her voice if he were to call her up and tell her. Could never live with himself if he had to witness tears in those beautiful eyes again because he was the cause of them. He was still taking the coward's way out by writing her a Dear John, or rather, Dear Jane style letter. But at least she would know. And it would be one less thing for him to feel guilty about.
Rising out of the bed, he rummaged through his night table and found a notepad and pen. He penned the memo quickly before he lost his nerve.
Dear Maya,
I should have told you this in person, but you've probably figured it out by now—I can't see you anymore. I know this must be hard for you to believe, but I'm no longer the man you once knew. When one phoenix dies, a new phoenix is born from the ashes. That's me, Maya. The old Phoenix is dead. A new Phoenix has risen to take his place. Goodbye, Maya. We won't see each other again, and that's for the best. Take good care of Pearls.
Phoenix Wright
PS. Please take this magatama back. I can't keep it around anymore. It reminds me too much of you, and the man I used to be.
Phoenix blinked furiously as he finished writing, refusing to lose the battle he'd been winning against the dam of tears that had been threatening to erupt from within him for the past fortnight.
He reached back into his drawer for his ever-present magatama, a green rock shaped like a number nine that his former assistant had given to him ages ago. It had been powered by the spirit medium Pearl Fey, Maya's little cousin, whom he'd known and loved like a daughter ever since she was eight years old…
Suddenly, he faltered in his actions and stopped his train of thought right there.
Pearl. Little girl. Daughter…Bloody freakin hell!
He crumpled up the letter and threw it across the room into his wastepaper basket in the corner. It teetered around the rim for a moment before changing direction and bouncing onto the floor.
Negative two points, Wright. At least you know the NBA isn't in your future as a feasible career choice! Aside from the fact that you totally suck bag at anything sports-related…you're also a damn Hobbit!
Well, not exactly Little People worthy. He was 5'9". But definitely nowhere near Lakers' standards.
Good Lord. Here he was, lamenting about his crushed dreams of the failed basketball career he'd never even wanted, and writing breakup letters when there was something even more pressing he needed to attend to first. Something he should have done quite some time ago.
He took a gigantic, deep breath. And then, for the first time in two long weeks, Phoenix Wright picked up the phone.
September 12, 2021: This story is now being uploaded to be more family-friendly as the previous version was removed for being too steamy and setting off the site smoke alarms, and for having song lyrics. No harm, no foul. Seriously, I'm not worried - who the heck only reads a story for song lyrics and like, TEN chapters of canoodling out of 195? That's grossly underestimating my amazing and loyal readers, wouldn't you agree?
In the meantime, as I go through the painstaking task of ensuring my new version complies with regulations per the admin's advising, in the meantime, the full uncut version of Turnabout Everlasting, and Filling The Void (the other far too sexy for this site previous casualty, which I've started reposting in a less risqué format) can be found on THEJORDANPHOENIX dot com
All 195 chapters are now on my personal site and going forward, I will be posting there first when I write new chapters, so make sure to follow me for the latest updates and direct music video links! (I am still taking reader song requests, BTW) 😄
Mood music from this chapter - full video and lyrics on thejordanphoenix dot com:
Longo & Wainwright ft. Craig Smart - One Life Stand
Simple Plan - Welcome To My Life