"You look worse than usual." Janet chuckled and pointed at Carrie as the diva reunited with her friends. She looked haggard, her nose still swollen, she continued to rub her sore shoulders. To add to her look her hair was disheveled, clothes wrinkled and her eyes were red, due to continued fatigue.
"Your concern for my well being is astounding as always." Carrie scoffed, followed by a groan as she lifted and dropped her shoulder's. 'What a grip on that guy.'
"Well what happened?" Lizzie scanned her friend over, assessing the superficial damage.
"Oh don't tell me you got your ass beat in the ring for the first time and I missed it." Janet's voice had a hint of genuine disappointment.
"Words of wisdom: If a three hundred twenty six pound wrestler ever wants you to be afraid of him . . . do it." Carrie let out an exhausted breath. 'This night is not going how I expected it to.' She looked up at the ceiling staring at the tiles. 'When does it ever Carrie? When does it ever?' She did her best to replace discomfort with an aloof smile when her eyes drifted from the ceiling back to her friends. There in front of her stood her three best friends, they had all gone out of there way, traveled miles with her to give their own brand of support however snarky and sarcastic it may have seemed. 'Just to see me sent packing. How am I going to break it to them, that all this had been for little to nothing?' She opened her mouth to speak but her friend Sidney beat her to the chase.
"Afraid of him? Carrie I got to say I'm afraid of this guy for you." Sidney chimed in with his two cents. Sidney was less worried about Carrie's tenure so much as her safety. Sidney was more so a brother than a friend to her, they lived under the same roof since middle school, so that big brother mentality Sidney felt was ingrained into him. He, Janet and Lizzie had expected Carrie to get bruised up in the ring, she wasn't foreign to taking on as much pain as she delivered during matches; Carrie had hobbled home looking tens of times worse then she did at the current moment but this seemed different. This was not in the spirit of competition this was her getting bullied around. 'Freak thinks he's so tough.' Sidney made up his mind then and there that Kane was just another muscle headed tyrant trying to strong arm his way through life. 'Waste of space.' Sidney rolled his eyes.
"It's not his fault. If I was stuck in a room with me I'd push and claw my way out of there too." Carrie pulled at her collar trying to get a better look at her shoulder. 'That's going to bruise for sure.' For someone in a full contact profession Carrie was not exactly built for it, the poor girl bruised like a peach. What she lacked in physical prowess she made up for in tenacity, every inch of her delicate skin could be bruised but she would stand back up all the same. That attribute was both her major strength and her biggest fault.
"Cheese and Crackers!" Lizzie's eyes widened she reached out and touched the mark on Carrie's skin.
"Damn Carrie, he really wanted you to get the hell out of there." Janet stated with an empty chuckle, scratching her head. 'The hell did you do woman?'
"But of course you didn't listen." Sidney sighed. He could tell Carrie wasn't really all that hurt or all that upset, but still he'd be keeping an eye on that big red machine. It made Sidney uncomfortable that they had gotten in a fight the very first night. It made him even more uncomfortable that he was all but helpless to defend his friend. "Carrie maybe you're in over your head. I mean what if he snaps like this again and it's worse. This guy could seriously-"
"I'll take my chances. Plus it's only two months . . . or one month more than likely." Carrie rationalized bitterly. "But…" She stuck a finger in the air. "First thing first, I need some rest!" Carrie stated with authority, and punctuated with a yawn, it had been a long and exhausting day. 'Tomorrow will be better.' She propped a lax arm over Sidney's shoulder and plastered a lazy smile across her face.
"We'll drop you off at your hotel before-" Sidney hoped Carrie wouldn't snap at him for this change in plans but he knew Carrie too well, his hopes were denied.
"Drop me off?! You guys aren't staying with me?! You come all this way and-" Carrie's voice rose, it couldn't be a better tomorrow if today never ended.
"No… We were going to surprise you but . . . Janet 'Entertained' her way into jobs for us, something to do with sound boards. We're 'Interns' or some shit. Making sure mics work and prerecorded stuff plays, shit like that. And it's all hours before any of the real fun starts so we can hang with you while you're working. The crew is staying in a dumpy hotel a little ways away from where the talent stays." Sidney quickly filled Carrie in on all she had missed.
"Oh" Carrie replied softly. 'They've been busy little beavers behind my back.' She grinned at the prospect at having her three musketeers at her side. 'I suppose there is an upside to being young and carefree after all.'
"Hey I don't like the tone of your voice Sidney! I never said I slept with anyone to get our jobs!"
"Internships" Lizzie pointed out.
"Whatever! You are all just jealous because I am a people person and you three are socially inept!" Janet folded her arms, mockingly insulted by the accusation.
"Aw sweetie you don't have to 'say' you slept around to get your job. Just know that we know, that you know, what 'people person' is code for." Carrie joked.
"Still jealous." Janet mumbled with a smirk as they made their way to Sidney's car.
"Um . . . can I help you?" The petite woman behind the front desk asked nervously.
"Kane." The large man casting a shadow over her grunted. He was boiling mad, he had to get away from the root of his anger, away from people. As he looked down at the frightened woman, again he saw her. 'Katie' His mind was playing tricks on him, every girl he saw sent a reminder his way. 'What's going on?' He gave his head a light shake. Looking again at the clerk all similarities seemed to have melted away.
"Yes here we are room 497. Sir should we expect Ms. Lories soon or-"
"What?!" He croaked, slamming his palms onto the countertop.
"I'll double check but I have your reservation here: Kane, Caroline Lories. one bed, two nights." She read what she had on file, glancing up from the screen she hoped anything she said was what he wanted to hear.
"I'm sure that weasel is having a big laugh at me! I bet we have reservations for the next two months. He won't be laughing when I snap his head straight from his body." Kane spat, imagining choking the very life out of Edge.
"Sir is there something wrong?" The woman asked the pointless question with caution. Kane grabbed both keys from her shaky hand.
"I don't like being laughed at." With that sorted he stormed off muttering curses to himself.
Carrie and her group walked over to the front desk, a far less threatening sight to the still rattled attendant. "Hello" Carrie gave a trademarked wave. "My name is Caroline Lories I should have a room here." She waited patiently for her key, letting a yawn slip by as a long minute passed. The woman behind the desk let out a gasp. "What?" Carrie's eyes read defeat all over them. 'I just want to go to sleep! Is that too much to ask?'
"What she mess up this time?" Sidney leaned over the counter craning his neck to try and see the computer screen.
"Oh no everything is in order. Your friend has already checked in but he took your key as well. I don't exactly think he was expecting-"
"wait wait wait. Friend?" She gulped, she knew exactly where this was going. 'SHIT!'
"So I'm guessing you didn't make these arrangements either? How odd. Well a mister . . . Kane checked in." She got no reaction from Carrie who stood there blinking stupefied. Thinking maybe there was a mix up the clerk tried to describe the man. "Very tall . . . pale . . . angry-" She was going to continue but she couldn't be heard over the wave of laughter.
"Shut up!" Carrie snapped at her oh so supportive friends.
"Ha! Carrie you're about to get your freak on with your very own freak!" Janet squealed at Carrie's visible discomfort.
"He's not a freak! And I am not tonight nor any night anytime soon having sex . . . with anyone!" Carrie informed the inhabitants of the lobby.
"Alright, no need to get all testy about it." Sidney put his hands up in surrender. "You can stay with-"
"Never have sex? Ever? With anyone? Seems a bit melodramatic don't you think?" Janet stated flatly. Carrie ignored the statement and turned her attention back to the desk.
"What room?" She sighed drained, completely forgetting the offer Sidney hadn't fully gotten out.
"497 miss. Have a nice stay." The woman stated hesitantly, everyone knew this was going to be no 'nice stay'.
"Thank you." She dragged her luggage with the last of her energy to the elevator. " Good night lovelies I must bid you adieu." She gave a bow as she passed through the doors. Her friends waved as if she was leaving on a cruise.
"I don't have a good feeling about this." Sidney turned to his companions.
"She'll be fine I'm sure. Now lets go . . . buy me food!" Janet tugged on Sidney's sleeve and with that they left, Sidney still staring at the elevator doors with every step. Janet had not quelled his worries.
'She'll call if she needs help.' He tried to reassure himself. 'Freak better know his place.' He finally left the building.
He just sat there weighing down the edge of the bed, head resting in his hands, his eyes clenched shut. 'Women equal pain.' He tried to block images of Carrie and Katie from his whirling mind. His mantra was interrupted by a knock on the door. He hoped if he just ignored it she would just go away but he had no such luck. The knocking grew increasingly louder and persistent.
"Kane? I know you're in there! You can have the bed to yourself I just want a god damn room to sleep in! Hallways and dark alleys are beneath me." There was a hint of pleading in her voice as she pressed her face against the door. Kane stood but remained stationary next to the bed.
"Leave me alone!" He shouted at the closed door. 'What do I care what she does? Where she sleeps' But a twinge inside of him felt for her, a part of him beckoned to let her in.
"Kane I am really tired, I'm over being nice I'm about to burn this door down if I have to. The towering Inferno ain't got nothing on me! Now I'll ask- " The knocking did not subside, but the sound stopped as Kane whipped open the door.
"Don't joke about that!" He sneered, venom in his eyes as he blocked the entrance, she was no closer to getting inside than when there was a physical door in front of her.
"I've got five lighters and a deck of Ethanol soaked playing cards that says I was serious as a heart attack." Carrie nodded with confident smile. Kane looked at her with confusion, perplexed by the statement Carrie had so haphazardly thrown out. "Parlor trick . . . and a black hole of a purse, keep loosing my lighter. Let me just find em in my bag I . . . Do you ever wear a shirt?" Carrie snickered noticing just as in the arena Kane was currently shirtless.
"Do I disturb you?" He was used to his appearance making people uneasy even physically ill.
"You distract me that's for sure." She put out a hand and placed it on his pectoral. She could feel beneath her palm his heart rate rising, she pulled her hand back. "Sorry I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable." She felt embarrassed. Kane just blinked puzzled, it had been a while since anyone had touched him without the intention to inflict damage.
'Distract her?' He was baffled by what she meant by that. "Parlor trick? Are you some kind of magician? I HATE magicians. Or are you some bratty arsonist?" He snorted stepping back returning to his perch on the bed, relenting, letting the tired girl in the space. 'I got no room to talk . . . what haven't I set on fire?' He tried to rack his brain for something too taboo for him to ignite.
'Success!' Carried grinned as she entered, slumping in a chair in the corner. "Er not really either. I had wanted to . . . to be in a circus for a while, in my high school years, I have odd career aspirations I know. I mean I was good at what I did! I used to be able to do all that fancy fire eating stuff. Probably still could, haven't in a while. My schtick was killer though, downright beautiful. I was trying to be a badass be creative and unique . . . I was dumb and stupid but it was fun you know? " She nodded to point out she was done her winded statement, she was happy they were having a real conversation.
'Is that why they picked her? Did they think we had something in common? Fire?' Kane just stared at her blankly for a moment. "Fun?! All fire does is destroy everything in it's path causing destruction and pain! Pain isn't creative, scars aren't beautiful-"
"They can be! Fire is exactly what you said it's dangerous it's unstoppable, wild, colorful mesmerizing." Carrie grew nostalgic, she hadn't really done much with the element since back then in high school. Her dream for circus life had been short lived, a fickle phase, and she had lost interest for quite some time, only holding on to the easiest of pyrotechnical skills. Kane's frown deepened, repulsed at the way she talked about fire so whimsically.
'Flames. They ruined my life, took away everything!" Nostalgia was not as kind to him, he could feel the physical and emotional pain from years ago. "It can't be real, that dumb 'shtick' of yours?" He scoffed. 'She doesn't seem dense enough to play with fire like that. I don't see any scars" He scanned what part of her skin he could see, looking for burn marks. Only then he realized how invested in this conversation he had gotten, he tried to suppress it, he crashed backwards into the bed which squeaked beneath him looking up at the ceiling hoping Carrie would take the hint.
"How much of it do you think is real? No matter your answer you'd be right." Carrie would not allow herself to be brushed off so easily.
"What?" He lifted his head just a bit to look at her with confused eyes. Carrie walked over and sat next to him on the bed, cementing the fact that the conversation was not over.
"Everything around us is perception you know? Whatever you think is real, bam it's real. Whatever you think is bullshit is so … well to you at least." Carrie had read one too many philosophy books and it was showing. She also had a habit of not knowing when to stop talking, this was also becoming clear.
"Idiot. Then as far as I'm concerned you're not real." He scoffed at her backwards logic, but he had to admit listening to her nonsensical bullshit was a change to the dry silence he was accustomed to, her enthusiasm and confidence was endearing even to a monster like Kane.
"Yeah I guess." Carrie pouted feeling taking the jab personally. "But to me I think I'm real. I think therefore I am you know?" She would not so easily be deterred. 'We're getting somewhere. At least he's talking to me . . . sort of.' She was really trying to put her best foot forward. 'I'm no sucker! Can't fool me Kane! There's more to this guy then they give him credit for. I've only got a month or two to figure you out Kane. Challenge accepted!' Before she could get lost in her ideal illusions of the upcoming weeks Kane cut her down a peg.
"If everything is perception then why has my life been hell? Who would want to perceive my life!" Kane flared up for a moment.
"Can't answer that. I mean you can't change what other people do with their reality, but how it effects you, that's where the perception comes in. Maybe you hold onto this pain because you feel that you should? That you deserve it? I mean I think that you're being a-"
"Don't try to act like you know me! You know nothing about me, about my life about what I've gone through!" Kane sat up. 'What does she know about what I deserve? How does she know what my pain is like?'
"I don't know a lot about you but I mean from what I do. . . like when you had your panic attack earlier-"
"Panic attack?" Kane had nothing to panic about, he was seven feet of muscle, he was top of the food chain.
"Today in the locker room when you went and got all dark and spooky, I could see veins pulsing. your adrenaline was on high, kind of seemed like a panic attack to me. To me that seems like you-"
"You think I'm crazy." Kane snorted. "Talking to me like some kind of head doctor."
"I didn't mean for it to come out that way. Plus like waiting for Godot says : We're all born mad, whose to say it doesn't stay with all of us one way or another." Carrie shrugged as though it was a compliment.
"Godot?" Kane shook his head. 'Weird girl' "I wanted to scare you." He admitted, trying to prove he was in control of himself not a nutcase having panic attacks. 'Who am I fooling.' Kane's head began to hurt between the riddles Carrie was speaking in and how hard he was trying to ignore the conversation as a whole with no luck, caused his mind to work in overdrive.
"It worked. I'm scared." Carrie nodded. 'If it makes these months easier on him I guess I can be afraid. It's not like I've made any progress, he really wants nothing to do with me. Challenge still stands, I just have to do it from a distance . . . a distance someone whose scared would be.' "Well goodnight." Carrie got off the bed and laid down on the floor resting her head on her luggage.
'What just happened?' Kane leaned over the edge of the bed looking down at the girl curled in a fetal position. 'She didn't let me finish. I wanted to scare her but I . . . I didn't mean to hurt her. And now she's angry with me? How is this happening? Have I become a pushover? Have I become soft? She's still not scared she was lying through her teeth. . . she's . . . I don't know what she is.' Kane groaned in frustration. 'Women equal pain. This is what I want, I want her to leave me alone.' He laid back down stiff as a board, not soon after his overworked ears perked to a new sound, snoring. 'She really was tired.' Kane on the other hand couldn't get to sleep, he tossed and turned, the day's events scrambling his thoughts. Finally he got out of the bed and stood over Carrie. 'Ugh so vulnerable, idiot.' He thought she looked so fragile caccooned under a peacoat she had pulled over her. He felt compelled to aid the compliant girl. 'Why?' He clenched his fists and let out a sigh he knew it would just bother him leaving her there, he wouldn't be able to get any rest. 'I can't sleep with her laying out on the floor like that . . . I'll step on her in the morning.' He let out a hearty yawn. Bending down he lifted her cradling her in his big arms, careful not to wake her he placed her on the bed. Not sure what to do next he paced the floor. He was tired too and wanted to sleep on the bed but so close to her? 'Not going to let her inconvenience me.' He moved around to the other side of the bed, it creaked as he laid down as far away from Carrie as he could. 'She can't hurt me in her sleep' He rationalized. Closing his eyes exhausted, a very much established headache. sleep quickly came over him, but rest was nowhere to be found as he saw Katie yet again.