Cramp spanned his limbs like a spider web of agony as he kneeled before the bowl, eyes half closed, hair flecking his sweat veiled face. Time swam around him in an endless void of loneliness.
He felt the cold air clutch at him through his thin shirt not caring that it made him shiver.
Maybe it's not the cold making you do that.
"Shurrup" muttered Shawn softly
You're the one inflicting yourself with Soma Shakes
"Not Soma Shakes" mumbled Shawn wincing as he stood. He gasped as the cramp sent a fire of hurt from his knees to his back.
See and that's why the doctor said take care of yourself. He didn't say 'Hey Shawn, go out and party like it's 1989' did he? No because you're thirty five not twenty one.
"Shut up" snarled Shawn wincing as he gingerly stumbled from the bathroom on trembling limbs. He sucked air sharply between his teeth as the pain continued to flare up his lower back.
He made his way slowly back into the living room, slumped on the sofa his back burning in agony as he lay there shivering, his eyes roaming the vast blank ceiling above him seeing flickers of life passed. Shadows of kliqs and championship belts danced and weaved across the canvas intermingling rapidly with flashes of fragmented family life. He shut his eyes to the dim images, whimpered in frustration as they remained imprinted albeit now tinted rouge beneath his eyelids.
"Shawn, you suck" he mumbled drowsily
Couldn't have put it better myself
He raised a quivering hand and tried to swat the voice away.
Shawn-
"Go away"
"Open your fucking eyes!"
Shawn startled at the voice so loud and clear near his ear; definitely not inside his head this time. The world blurred at the edges as the contorted face of Kevin Nash swam into view.
He glared, his flaming eyes narrowed to slits.
"What the hell are you playing at?!" Kevin growled dismissing pleasantries and jumping straight into his intervention.
"I was sleeping" muttered Shawn
"Sleeping or passing out?" snapped Kevin
"Sleeping" retorted Shawn
"Yeah, you normally get soma shakes when you're asleep Shawn?"
"Don't get soma shakes" denied the smaller man strongly
"Bullshit!" roared Kev yanking him upright
"Ow… Back! Watch the back!" gasped Shawn becoming more alert as his spine screamed in protest at such rough treatment.
"Sorry" said Kevin quietly. He meant to talk straight to Shawn and give him a huge wake up call but he didn't intend to cause him pain. Not physically anyway.
"What are you even doing here? I told you not to come" complained Shawn
"You also left me talking to thin air on the phone" snapped Kev, "What the hell are you even doing Shawn?"
"I'm-"
"Fucking up?"
"No!" spat Shawn
Not much anyway?
Kev sighed, his brow crinkled with frustration. How could he hope to achieve something he hadn't been able to so far in the span of their seven year friendship? Uprooting Shawn from a bed of denial had always been difficult. This was the same man who had refused to see that Sunny was stringing him along for eleven months.
"Shawn you're a mess" he snapped
"Thank you designated saviour of the Kliq" muttered Shawn sarcastically.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Was getting kid and Scott in rehab not enough now you gotta come save me too? What you gonna do with Paul, fix him up with a plastic surgeon?"
"Since when did you call Hunter Paul?" asked Kevin letting the cheap jibe slide for now.
"Since he turned into a backstabbing bastard" seethed Shawn
"You or him?" questioned Kev quietly.
" I never did anything to him!" yelled Shawn, " I took care of him and looked out for him and all he did was burn me"
Kevin peered into azure slits of fury; Shawn's breathing dipped and dived with anger as he sat trembling.
"Do you honestly believe that?"
"Yes" snarled Shawn swiftly
"And in your world did you like Bret Hart? Did you end up with Sunny in a beach house in California? Did you time a bump right off the top of a casket? Just what colour is the sky in your alternative universe Shawn?!" barked Kevin agitatedly.
"What are you on about?"
"Hunter was the one taking care of you. He was the one looking out for Shawn Hickenbottom, You burned him and if you don't see that then the pills have seriously screwed you up!"
"Why is everything always my fault?!" cried Shawn sharply, "Other people fuck up too you know Kevin!"
"Did I say it was all you?"
"Yes!"
Kevin sighed, smeared his face with his palm in frustration.
"Ok, would you just listen? I know what you're doing Shawn. We all do. Well Hunter might not since you know he never downed a bottle of somas but me, kid and Scott we get it ok? You're trying to make life a never ending party, you wanna be the heartbreak kid 24/7 which is pretty funny cause I seem to recall a certain blonde squirt bashing a certain Hitman for doing the exact same thing –"
"Don't you dare compare me to him!" snapped Shawn, "I don't wanna be Shawn Michaels 24/7. God help me if I was, I'd be a –"
"Raving lunatic?" suggested Kevin a small grin on his face
"Yeah and I'm-"
"Just an average lunatic" finished Kev
"I'm not a lunatic"
"Oh no? Shawn, you're lying on a sofa shaking like a leaf in the breeze covered in sick, wearing knee braces and elbow pads. Your living room is topsy turvey and your wife and kid are hiding out at your parents' house. You. Have. Issues."
Shawn looked at Kevin, for once stunned to silence. He sat there he piercing blue eyes weighted with confusion as he tried to form the words of denial, to spit the lies from his acid tongue once more.
"I was playing shoot outs with Cam"
The child like honesty splurged forth and Shawn mentally kicked himself for sounding so stupid.
"You and Cam were what now? Please tell me you haven't bought your near two year old son a rifle to go hunting with his crazy daddy"
"I'm not stupid Kev"
"Well you are kind of stupid"
"Cam wanted to play shoot outs. He hit me in the face with a water pistol" explained Shawn disregarding Kev's dig.
"Smart kid, obviously takes after Becky"
"Becks doesn't hit me"
"No but she should"
"Why am I friends with you again?"
"Because I saved you from getting your ass kicked in the locker room"
Shawn sighed as memories of the locker room flared. He pressed knuckles against weary eyes before blinking at his best friend.
"What should I do?"
The forlorn whisper tore at Kevin's heartstrings, any sardonic response he was thinking died on his lips.
"Get help" he answered finally.