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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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 Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:49 pm
Fading in from the confessional, the program joined Matthias, Luke, and Paulie still sitting at ringside with the match well underway and Athena still notably absent. Matthias’ crop of red curls would shift back and forth every so often, glinting beneath the house lights each opportunity he stole a glance through the crowd to the vestibule. She had moved from view once Caliber and Plex entered the lockup, each vying for control over the other before Caliber worked the lesser talent into a German suplex but the rest escaped Matthias’ attention between his brother and cousin and trying to keep tabs on his mom as she moved between pacing across the lobby, disappearing into the parking lot, and then starting the cycle all over again. Watching his mother’s frustration and embarrassment play out kept his attention torn between her and wrapping his head around how in the Hell he was going to run damage control on this, what he was going to do once he got his hands on Machiavel in the back but Luke’s sharp jabs on his shoulder drew him back to the match, just in time for Plex to eat a uppercut so stiff it rocked the whole damn gym. Matthias shook his head clear for a moment, knowing the boys deserved as much of his attention as he could muster right now to live up to his aunt’s plea to show them both a good time- revenge would have to wait.
The match passed the next few moments spot by spot, hold by hold, and even a change in tag partners once or twice before a part in the crowd drew Matthias’ attention away from the ring toward his mom walking toward him now as Plex tagged in Smackage and Machiavel tagged in Caliber, a soda from the concession stand in one hand and the other drawn across the length of her face as she tried to regain some composure before joining the boys again. Athena sat down and did her best to avoid looking at her son but Matthias could still read the embarrassment in her cheeks, dimming but still present as she smiled and tried to hide it from the boys and their questions about the match that was going on before them. There was no sense in asking if she was alright; she’d probably go off on him much as she had earlier when he caught her making a phone call when he had gone to talk to her about Grams. Perhaps he was making a big deal of things but peace was something rare in their household that became all the more scarce when anything Clepsydra was brought up, especially Invidia- it only made sense to head this off at the pass before Grams made a mess of things. Seems to be a family trait, Matthias thought to himself before he tossed a handful of popcorn into his mouth and took an idle sip of what was left of his drink. That phone call had left him with questions, too. When Matthias had been approaching the room Grams had given to Mom for the week, the door was cracked enough to keep the cameras out but not enough to keep sound in. His mother was normally more animated, loud, herself whenever she was on the phone with Dad but this? It was like she was trying to hide something. He could’ve sworn the voice he heard, it was too deep, too familiar…
Matthias felt a jolt of excitement ripple through the crowd draw his attention back to the center of the ring where Smackage found himself on the flat of his back after he took a dropkick square to the chest from Caliber. Caliber lumbered over him before kneeling to go to work on that leg of Paul’s when Smackage found his second wind to the surprise of the crew and crowd, reaching out and directly for Caliber’s package. Smackage’s hand could almost grip Caliber’s jeans but at the last moment, the South Texas Stallion swatted his opponent’s hand away to a giant oooh! from the crowd before wagging his finger in disapproval at the near grab of the low hanging fruit then bringing his palm down hard across Smackage’s face, eliciting another pop from the crowd. The tension began to mount as J.W. wrapped his fingers in Paul’s hair and began to pull the man to his feet before shoving him until he stumbled back and onto one knee. Caliber let go and did a small strut toward a point not too far away from his opponent before swiveling back into a sprint and making Smackage eat that .44 Caliber like a champ, the crowd now roaring and on their feat as Paul tumbled onto the mat on his back again.
1…
Once this celebration was over and the crowd began to thin, Matthias knew he had to use his connections to get in the back.
2…
Matthias would have to find a way to keep his mom and the boys busy long enough for him to pay Machiavel visit and…
3!
The ring of the bell to declare the match through snapped Matthias back to reality again, his brother and cousin jumping from their seats to bounce around in excitement. Matthias watched as Caliber slipped under the bottom rope and past his tag partner to dart up the ramp, leaning just behind the curtain to grab something before returning with… a guitar. Matthias knew Caliber was one for a good rib every now and then and after having been witness to the display of affection that had damn near stole the show earlier? He should’ve seen it coming. Caliber strode back down the ramp as he drew the strap over his head to drape it over one shoulder, stealing the pick from the headstock before nestling it in between his fingers and beginning to strum away a tune.
“Well, I guess I was wrong…”
Matthias’ eyes widened in surprise as he realized the song and began to stitch together clues about what was going to happen, shaking his head in disbelief before planting his forehead in his palm. Of course Caliber would find a way to get a subtle dig in using a Garth song- “because who doesn’t love Garth, Matty?”- about his mom storming out after Machiavel’s little display. Athena had furrowed her brow in confusion, looking back to Matthias for answers, finding her son shrugging to show how he was just as out of the loop as she was.
“We just don't belong… but then, we've been there before. And everything's alright; we'll just say goodnight and we'll show ourselves to the door…”
Caliber drew his fingers across the fretboard in an entirely unnecessary riff before crooning out the next lines.
“Hey he didn't mean to cause a big scene, just wait 'til he's finished this glass…”
Matthias watched as Caliber drew a cup from the hand of a fan behind the barrier, taking a swill of his drink before grimacing in disgust and handing it back to the fan.
“Then sweet little 'Thena, he'll head back to the bar…”
Caliber grabbed his tag partner by the arm to pull him toward the row Athena and the boys sat on before he waved for the crowd to join in on the next verse as he pointed to Machiavel, his face now split in twain with a grin.
“AND YOU CAN KISS HIS ASSSSSSSSS!”
Athena’s face became tinted with red in embarrassment again as she fought the urge to storm off as she had earlier with a gym full of people now watching her every reaction. She swallowed her pride and stayed glued to her chair, turning her face from Caliber and to the boys, just in time to catch Matthias’ face sour, neither too pleased with his mother being humiliated again. Caliber turned back down the aisle toward the ramp as he kept the verse going, strumming away until the camera cut the scene with him exiting between the curtains to the back with Machiavel in tow.
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:10 am
“Matthias?”
“Yeah, Mom?”
The camera opened on the front row where the viewers left the Augustine bunch, the card having carried on with or without them. Now they were greeted by visions of crew beginning to break down the ring in front of them with fans filing out of the gym behind them and wrestlers packing up their merch and tables, ready to follow suit. Paulie and Luke had taken to playing with a lucha mask and a couple of action figures someone had left behind in their haste to beat the rush to get out ahead of everyone else, paying no mind to the conversation going on next to them but stopping every moment or two to make sure they kept out of the crew’s way. It wasn’t long before the pair opted to squeeze between the folded chairs and floor littered with popcorn and hot dog wrappers and spilled drinks to the row behind Matthias and Athena, not skipping a beat in the high stakes match they were playing out between their figures. Athena exhaled sharply before she drew her eyes up from the floor to track the men who were unlacing the pads from their turnbuckles before loosening the ropes from their holds, pausing a moment before she swiveled her neck to face her son.
“What just happened?”
Matthias threw his head back a little with a nervous chuckle as his mother’s question hit him, furrowing his brow in amusement as he glanced sideways before he realized.. s**t, she’s not joking.
“You tell me, Mom.”
Moments passed between the two in uneventful silence before Matthias drew his cup to his mouth to take a sip from the dregs of soda and tossing the cup in a trash can that had been dragged out to the ring, waiting for crew to pick up what the public had left behind. The cup sailed a couple feet through the air before making contact with the rim of the container, flipping over and falling to the bottom with a thud, Matthias punching the air with his fist before looking over his shoulder to be met with his mother’s unimpressed glare. Athena shook her head before she pressed her palms on her lap and stood to her feet, making a mental note of where the boys had taken their match before turning back to her eldest.
“Well, if you want to run ahead and see the guys in the back, I’ll swing by the merch tables one last time with Paul and Luke, make some small talk… should give you some time.”
Matthias shrugged nonchalantly before he hopped to his feet, eyes scanning the gym before he caught a couple guys slipping behind a pair of doors just behind the curtain. He waited until his mom was out of range before he jogged toward the ramp and up to the stage before swinging the curtain aside with a flourish. Matthias surveyed the hallway that he could see behind the doors, watching through the panels of glass how people came and went from a couple doors at the far end. He was a heartbeat away from opening the door when he caught the glint of red ring attire through the locker room door as it cracked open to reveal the man who had made a mockery of his mother earlier in the card, backing through the door glued to his cell phone as he chattered away in his tongue with whoever was on the other end of the line. By the time Machiavel had ended the call and drawn the phone away from his face to shove in the waistband of his tights, Matthias had blown through the double doors and grabbed a fistful of his red leather vest before shoving him with some modicum of force, hand clamped over the Italian’s mouth before he began to growl his warning through grit teeth.
“So you think the s**t you pulled back there was funny, huh, Valentino?”
Matthias removed his hand from Valentino’s face to let him sputter out excuse after excuse, his Italian bleeding through his English in phrases and clipped tones before Matthias had had enough of it, clamping his hand around his throat just underneath his chin and squeezing.
“You’re lucky my dad wasn’t here to see the s**t you pulled because he’d bounce your head off this concrete until the wall was as red as your tights. But you get me instead. So let me make two things clear, ******** style="color: indigo">Matthias released his grasp on Machiavel, leaving him trembling against the wall as he stepped away to collect himself. He combed the curls that had worked themselves loose back behind his ears before he turned back around, holding a finger up for emphasis as he spoke again.
“1. I’m bringing my mom back here to catch up with old friends. You find a corner on the far end of the room and you <********> stay there. Don’t speak, don’t look, don’t breathe in my mom’s direction.”
Matthias held up two fingers for emphasis this time.
“2. My mom is out there with my brother and my cousin. They’re little kids and I’m not as pissed off that you pulled that s**t in front of them but I’m still pretty ******** hot. You do not speak unless they speak to you and you put on a smile and act like this…”
Matthias waved a pointed finger in a circle around the floor in between them before he spoke again.
"Didn't happen."
Matthias' nostrils flared in anger as he closed the distance between the two by grabbing him by the collar of his vest and brought him in close.
“Or I swear to God, I will kill you, make it look like a ******** accident, and throw your a** in a shallow grave once the ground thaws. Capiche?”
Matthias waited until Valentino had nervously nodded his acknowledgment before shoving both hands against Valentino’s trembling shoulders, bouncing him off the wall and watching him scurry back to the locker room before he took his leave. He burst through the double doors again and paused a moment in the gorilla position, taking deep breaths to calm himself after the confrontation and dragging his hands across his face to clear his expression of any hints of what had just happened. He couldn’t let his mom know he’d just threatened her old protege once he went back out the curtains to get her and the boys; it was just too much of a risk and Matthias didn’t feel like getting scolded again. Slipping through the curtain, he strolled onto the stage and down the ramp toward the lone merch table left, its wrestler packing around conversation with his mother and the boys. The wrestler shoved the last piece of merch into their bag before rolling their envoy of swag around the table to be greeted with high fives from the boys and exchanging a brief hug with his mom then rolling away.
“Who was that, Mom? Old buddy from the indies?”
“Yeah. Ran into each other in the first real fed that I did business with, started swapping rides to shows and merch tips, trading training tips because we came out of training about the same time it turned out until I decided to go big and he decided he was fine where he was at. Mack’s a great guy, always kept an eye out for me when I was home. Like I was his little sister or something.”
Matthias read a curious nostalgia in his mother’s face that vanished almost as quickly as it appeared.
“Are the guys in the back ready for us?/”
“Ehhh, yeah… yeah, they are. This way, lady and gentlemen.”
Matthias playfully waved his mother, his brother, and cousin past him and across the gym toward the stage then into the back. They walked that same lone hallway where Matthias had issued his warning only moments before until they came to a pair of locker rooms at the end. The door to one stood propped open and ready for housekeeping to come in behind them to clean but the other remained closed and voices could be heard on the other side of the door. Pausing a moment to hold a finger to his lips and hush his ‘guests’, Matthias rapped his fists a couple times on the door, silence spreading across the room before a thick Texas drawl cut through the quiet.
“I told ya we weren’t interested in a good time, ladies, now get!”
The hallway grew quiet before the boys began to chuckle at Caliber’s humor, Athena rolling her eyes at the quip.
“Much obliged, ladi-”
“Cute, real cute, Caliber.”
“Matt, that you? s**t, why didn’t you say something?”
“Little ears, Caliber!”
“Little ears, Caliber!”
The locker room rippled with raucous laughter as mother and son chided the cowboy in unison before a hush whispered throughout the space and quiet seeped in again.
“Anyway. My aunt made me and my mom bring my cousin to show him a good time, let him know what we did before we were… normal, whatever that means. We figured we shouldn’t be strangers and the boys probably wouldn’t mind tagging along so.”
“…yeah?”
“Are you and the boys up for some guests?”
“Uhhhh, uhhhh… shitshitshit… I guess… put the damn bourbon away, jackass… give us about… real funny, give me my damn jeans… five minutes?”
Matthias shook his head before he leaned back toward the door.
“Take all the time you need, man.”
Stepping away from the door, Matthias exchanged glances with his mom, his brother, and his cousin, muttered something about having to wait before the door swung open to reveal Caliber in a plaid shirt buttoned up to just below his collarbone, jeans, and hair still damp from being washed.
“Come on in! Don’t be strangers!”
Matthias slipped past his former Sharpshooter Society brother, his brother and cousin close on his heels enough to get high fives from J.W. as they walked in before…
“Mrs. L-”
“Don’t even start with me right now, Caliber.”
Matthias had turned around just in time to catch the verbal barb his mother landed on his old teammate before Caliber stepped out of the way and let the legend through with a nervous chuckle and looked to Matthias with an amused grin. He shook his head as if to warn Caliber not to push the issue with his mother after this evening. Caliber shrugged and walked back over to his bench as Athena began to make rounds with the boys, catching up with old buddies, sharing tidbits with the boys of matches and promos and old feuds, and shooting the s**t. Matthias could almost pretend that the evening hadn’t gone to s**t an hour or so earlier.
“So what are you guys in town for?”
“Nothing much. Mom decided to take Grams up on a Christmas at home this year; I’m just along for the ride.”
“Let me guess- a Sharpshooter Society reunion wasn’t in the plans, was it?”
Matthias chuckled and silently mouthed the words ‘god, no’ as he shook his head before he began catching up much like his mother was doing across the room, sparing only a moment to stare to the far corner of the lockers where he spied Valentino hiding just out of sight in the showers. Good, he thought to himself as he redirected his attention back to Caliber and crew with a grin. Means he can take a hint.
Matthias forgot how long the two had been catching up when a sharp, tinny ringtone cut through the hubbub of the locker room.
“To the sound of a heartbeat pounding away…”
The locker room went quiet as the grave as the tone bounced off the concrete walls. Matthias’ eyes darted toward his mom just in time to catch her eyes narrow and start to dart around the room, looking for the source of the noise.
“To the rhythm of the awful rusted machines; we toss and turn but don't sleep…”
“Real funny, y'all.”
“Each breath we take makes us thieves, like causes without rebels…”
Matthias stood still as Caliber strode across the room and began digging around his duffel bag, craning his neck just in time to overhear his mom mutter, "goddammit, Mike," just loud enough that if you weren't paying attention, you'd miss it.
“Just talk…”
“Which one of you a**- I mean, jerks… switched my ringtone?”
“But promise nothing el-”
Caliber’s hands darted to a pile in the bag before a sharp click sounded, signaling the phone declining the call. He stood up with a triumphant grin before turning around to the rest of the locker room, now staring attentively in his direction after the phone went off.
“Now where were we?”
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 10:45 pm
“I should probably explain what went on back there at the Neo-Japan house show.”
The textured purple background of the confessional cut into view after Caliber’s words and the locker room reunion faded away, leaving Athena to explain some imagined misdeeds. Her chest rose and fell with a sigh as she drew scratched at the back of her head, trying to stitch together the words of her history in a way that made sense. Sure, the hand-kissing may have seemed innocent enough but it had touched a raw nerve judging by the confrontation Matthias had initiated in that school hallway so it was plain as day that something else was there.
“Several years ago, I was approached by an acquaintance of mine from way back, before my career really took off, you know? They had a guy in their school that wasn’t jiving that well with the rest of the training class- fresh off the boat, really cocky, wasn’t all that teachable. Asked if I would take him off their hands.”
Athena shrugged nonchalantly before she readjusted herself in the plush armchair before nodding and continuing with her story.
“I figured what the hell, I’ve gone from selling out arenas and putting my body on the line to entertain millions around the world… and here I’ve gone from barely holding my family together and supporting my legacy to a stay at home mom with nothing better to do. ”
Athena fell silent for a moment as her words sunk in before she rushed to follow up her last statement, a twinge of guilt twisting its way across her features.
“Don’t get me wrong. I adore Luke. Wouldn’t trade those years for the world. But I was bored and going stir crazy. I wasn’t training. I’d finished my degreework. I needed a hobby. So that’s how I ended up with Valentino on my doorstep.”
Stammering over her next words, Athena shook her head before she stared at an unknown point in the floor before furrowing her brow and looking back up to the camera perplexed.
“I’m still not entirely sure how he got our address because we had just bought the house. I could’ve sworn we hadn’t told anybody we moved but there I am with this guy who looks like he could charm the skin off a snake with the little English he had.”
Athena pressed her lips together as she looked away from the camera for a moment, still piecing together what had happened in the days that followed his arrival on their doorstep. She pinched the bridge of her nose with her left hand and shut her eyes for a moment, letting the full weight of her naivete hit her before she spoke again in hushed tones.
“Maybe I was a little quick to let a stranger into our lives. Maybe I should have vetted the guy a little more. Maybe I should’ve known better than to take this acquaintance of mine at his word.”
Athena chuckled nervously before she glanced up at the camera.
“But goddammit, I was useful again and that’s all I cared about.”
The legend let the booth grow quiet before she picked back up on her speech.
“So I make amends with Matthias again, get him to come home long enough to help me train this guy, get a couple other local guys in on the action for variety, you know, pull some money out of savings- boy, that pissed off my banker- and rent a building outside town big enough to hold a ring and not much else. And that worked…”
Athena folded her hands and placed them in her lap before shifting her eyes back down to the floor.
“For awhile.”
Digging up these skeletons were clearly beginning to make Athena uncomfortable, nervous even. She let out a ragged breath before she stared up at the ceiling and continued, looking at the camera too much to bear.
“He was like a son to me, he’s not too far off Matty’s age but at the end of the day, I’m just his trainer. But one by one, the local guys that helped me, my manager, even Matthias… started picking up on some of Valentino’s behavior. He got a little too personal. The way he would speak to me during training sessions, how he would call at the most inappropriate times, how he would show up places uninvited … there was an attachment there that was entirely one-sided. He saw us…”
Athena motioned with a flick of her hand between herself and the camera before swallowing the lump in her throat and continuing.
“As something more.”
Athena ran a hand through her hair to comb the strands that had worked themselves loose from behind her ear and into her face.
“I had to handle this before Mike got involved. It was bad enough that Matthias had started in on the guy a few times in our sessions and took things from scripted to real, taking submission holds several seconds too long, shoving Valentino around the ring, using excessive force in his strikes and shooting on him, like, one of the last training sessions he was over.”
Athena was quiet for what seemed like an eternity before she spoke again.
“Then he came onto me one day during a training session, with a room full of students. Matthias had picked up a double at the restaurant- he’d started doing that a lot instead of coming out to train- so thank God he missed that. It was really, really creepy, made me feel skeevy. I think we were discussing graduating him from the program, I’d gone out on a limb and called in a couple favors, got him a gig with EWA because apparently he had a bit of a history with some of the European feds so it didn’t seem right to ship him off to a local fed- clearly, he had potential. I was walking from my makeshift office in the back, flipping through a folder of paperwork, trying to make sure everything he needed to sign was there and I walked right into him. He’s not much taller than Matthias so he’s what, half a foot taller than me and he’s just… towering over me. And he tried to make a move on me, leaned in for a kiss and I, I just… ”
She buried her face in her hands for a moment before she looked through her fingers at the camera, gauging her surroundings before she dared speak again.
“I shoved the contracts into his chest, walked… no, I ran. Straight into one of Matthias’ buddies on the way out. Got in the Challenger, drove the long way home, didn’t say a goddamn word to anybody until the next day, called in some more favors to some schools to make sure I didn’t leave my students hanging then called each of them to let them know a personal emergency had come up and I had to close the school, had that acquaintance break the news of the school closing to Valentino, sold the ring a couple days after that, and got out of the rental contract for the building the day after that… I couldn’t do it.”
Athena let the silence wedge itself between her and the camera again before she cleared her throat to speak again.
“Listen, I'm not really comfortable talking about this anymore so can we cut this confessional short?”
Athena waited long enough for the producer to begin to speak before cutting them off with a clipped 'okay, great' before hurrying to her feet and walking off camera as it faded to black before the next scene.
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Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 10:53 pm
The camera swiveled around to follow Athena’s hasty exit from the booth, shielding her face with her hands until the only thing left to the camera was her back as she walked away, sunlight bursting through the moment she opened the door to leave the makeshift studio and disappearing behind her. After she had disappeared from view, the chatter of the production crew could be heard as they rushed to shut the feed off and plunged the screen into darkness that seemed to go on forever until…
A gentle click brought the screen back to life inside of a vehicle, the orange glow of the clock heralding the time as 4 a.m. before disappearing with the melodic jingle of keys and the whir of a window being rolled down. Another click changed the tint of the screen, the colors adjusting to the night and making clear the car was positioned in the driveway of the home across the street from the Augustine compound. Dusk shrouded the homes that lined the street as the snow flurries continued their waltz from the sky to below before a porchlight gently clicked on, illuminating the patio before the faded red of the red door dissolved as it opened to the twilight and there appeared a shock of red hair amidst the fur ruff of a winter coat. The flame-haired vision turned to slowly pull the interior door closed then closing the red door, taking great care to make minimal sound as they left. Clutching a ring of keys in their gloved palm, the figure took measured steps to turn around in the growing snow piles on the patio before clutching the railing and descending the steps. They tugged their hood further over their head as they reached the landing before trudging down the driveway toward the black F-150. They fumbled around with the keys before unlocking the truck, climbing into the passenger side before silence befell the community again. It seemed pointless to keep the camera trained on the property adjacent to the crew, the subtle tick-tock-tick-tock-tick-tock of a wrist watch whirring into the night before a dial tone pierced the quiet until…
“H-h-hello?”
“…Mom?”
“Hey, ‘Vidi.”
“Mom, it’s you? What time even is it?”
“That’s not important, baby.”
“It’s what, five a.m. in Seatt-”
“Four.”
“Christ, Mom! You’re home? What are you doing up so early? I love you but go to…”
“It’s December 23rd.”
The voice on the other end of the line could be heard to stutter, struggling to find their words before giving up.
“’Vidi, are you still there?”
“Yeah. Yeah, Mom. I’m still here.”
The silence crept into the line again before Athena’s voice bridged the space between mother and daughter, hushed tones speaking into the phone pressed into her face like her life depended on it. Athena’s voice could be heard to crack at the edges, too. She had been fighting for distance, for privacy from everyone else since the moment her flight touched down at Ted Stevens International to get away from the crowd, away from the family, away from her sons… and at least try to reach the daughter that had been stolen from her.
“You thought I forgot your birthday, didn’t you?”
Invidia’s laughter bubbled over the connection before it disappeared, almost as quickly as it began. You could almost hear her rueful smile, the gentle shake of her head from side to side as she chirped ‘no’.
“I’ve been trying to call you all day. I just couldn’t get through, I just wanted to hear your voice and…”
“Yeah, Dad said we got a couple calls. He said there was nobody on the other end, said he thought it was you but he couldn’t be sure. Had to have been a pocket dial, he said.”
Athena sighed as her daughter spoke, soaking in the sound of a voice she hadn’t heard in far, far too long. She held her tongue, ever mindful to not speak an idle word and create a rift between her daughter and her father. Though her own son fought like Hell to sow the seeds of discord between families, Athena struggled to maintain a respectful distance no matter how bitter the divorce, wanting to give her daughter the most peaceful home life she could have independent of her parent’s bickering. How successful she had been was more telling with one child than the other but…
“Mom?”
“Yeah, I’m still here.”
“Mom, I love you.”
The camera didn’t have to be near Athena to hear her voice begin to unravel at the seams, tears forming at the corners of her eyes and fighting an uphill battle to descend her cheeks. The words she wanted to hear most found the c***k in her armor and that wall she put up to keep the rest of the world out was gone like that.
“Mom, it’s late. Get some rest.”
“Merry Christmas, ‘Vidi.”
“Merry Christmas to you, too, Mom. Tell Grams and aunt Lexi I said hi and I miss them lots. I know Grams is probably on your case about where I am, am I coming home, have you heard from me, what am I doing…”
Athena’s laughter tripped over her lips as her daughter talked about her grandmother with a hint of laughter in her voice before the quiet reared its ugly head again. She lost track of how long they sat their, the call still counting away the seconds and the minutes until she spoke again.
“Happy birthday, baby.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
Silence.
“Talk to you later.”
The melody that had played before Athena dialed played in reverse and her daughter was gone, the glow of her phone timing out and plunging the truck’s interior into darkness again. The camera continued to roll into nothingness, the frame appearing to remain motionless if not for the snow that continued to fall until Athena could be hear to weep in the passenger seat of her sister’s truck, trying unsuccessfully to muffle the noise before letting her sorrow take hold until she was spent. The wristwatch from before resumed its cacophonous measurement of time for what seemed like ages before the door to the truck slowly opened to allow Athena room out before closing it with a thud. She stood there in the snow facing the truck for a few moments before shoving the phone in her winter coat and making her way up the driveway, up the steps to the patio, and into the house, closing the red door behind her and cutting the porchlight off as the scene faded back to black.
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 11:04 pm
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Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2018 9:31 pm
The Augustine household was still steeped in darkness when the cacophony of covers ascending from a bed with a start and muttered curses brought the viewing public back from commercial break, fading from advertisement to a bed room dimly lit by a clock’s display heralding the time as somewhere north of eight in the mourning. Matthias rolled over the side of the bed with a start, letting a drowsy ‘s**t’ escape from his lips as he flung his arms out to prevent his fall over the side of the bed. He stayed frozen in place for a moment, his hands stopping his descent before he pushed himself up one hand, then the other and onto his back with his eyes trained on the nothingness of the ceiling above. Matthias drew a hand over the length of his face, pushing back the cold sweat that had layered itself over his face and down his neck. The shrill buzzing of an alarm forced his hand to swing out toward the dresser to silence its call then dialing up the sole light in the room until he could see his surroundings in more detail as he sat up in bed.
Matthias had been lulled into a false sense of security with what felt like the best sleep he’d had in weeks. He would toss and turn, dreamless yet disturbed most nights but when his head hit the dull flannel of the pillow in his room for the week, he was out within seconds. Whether it was from exhaustion or a Christmas miracle, he didn’t know. But one thing he knew for certain- the nightmares were back.
Had they ever truly went away? Matthias could count on the nightmares like clockwork, looming like a shadow in the back of his mind, waiting for the right moment to strike. He could feel them coming on like one would anticipate changes in the weather some days, some crept up on him like a thief in the night. It would skip over the same tired memories, tugging at his emotions until he awoke with a start not unlike tonight, moments away from falling out of bed and covered in sweat, playing like a broken record in his head until his body caught up and stopped the music. The nightmare began the same way each time, drowsiness overcoming him like sinking into a warm bath before tension began to snake along the course of his spine, stretching along his neck and his shoulders and his arms before squeezing him awake. The feeling of height greeted him next as his eyes adjusted blurry lines of black and gray into steel bars, light dancing at the edge of his vision as he felt the earth shift beneath him and struggled against the shifting balance, terror roiling in his gut with each toss and turn. Matthias could feel himself grasping for anything to hold onto to stop the movement, shouting until he was out of breath for help as the dream tossed him to and fro. The dream continued to a fever pitch before the sensation of height gave way to sheer terror, to the floor giving out beneath him as he screamed into nothingness before he snapped awake and found himself in a situation not unlike what he was in now.
Matthias exhaled sharply as he waited for the adrenaline to work its way out of his system, tossing the blankets aside as he threw his legs over the side of the bed and pressed his feet to the cool hardwood floors with a sigh of relief. That sensation was a balm to his troubled mind after such a fretful slumber, one he held onto for what seemed like ages until he finally made his mind to join the living. He could hear the ones already awake, their footsteps padding the floor beneath them as smells of breakfast wafted upstairs, the sizzle of bacon mingling with sausage, toast, and eggs before dancing down the hallway with the aroma of coffee. Matthias got to his feet, adjusting the drawstring of his pajama pants as he walked across the room to grab his sweater from the dresser and pull it overhead, drawing his shoulder length red curls into a bun on the top of his head and depositing his feet into slippers before leaving his room and the terrors of the night before behind him.
Careful to pull the door shut behind him without a sound, Matthias looked over his shoulder, half expecting his mother to come lumbering sleepily out of her room to join the others but instead was met with silence. He began to turn toward her door with hand raised to knock…
”I wouldn’t if I were you.”
Matthias stopped dead in his tracks when he heard his grandmother’s warning echo from the other end of the hallway, nearly jumping out of his skin as if he’d been caught. He hadn’t heard the footfall of her ascending the stairs but there she stood mug of coffee in hand, her lips pressed in a thin line and her face stern like it used to be when she would catch him getting into something he shouldn’t when he was younger. Returning his arm to his side, Matthias felt a heat rise in his cheeks before vanishing as he looked over his shoulder toward his grandmother.
”You know what day it is.”
”Yeah, I do.”
The thought leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. December 23rd. Her birthday. Matthias silently shook his head as he turned back to his mother’s door, sighing before he waved a hand dismissively toward his mother’s door and turned to follow the aromas that traveled up the stairs from the kitchen to greet him but felt his grandmother’s hand grip his shoulder, her slender fingers digging into his shoulder and stopping him in his tracks as he passed by.
”I’m warning you. Do not poke the bear.”
”Grams, you know I’m not going to-”
”Matthias Elijah Augustine.”
The words were sharp as they left her mouth, hooking into flesh as they reached his ears and made the hairs begin to stand up on the back of his neck. Matthias squeezed his eyes shut as his shoulders scrunched up towards his ears, just like they did when Grams would scold him as a child all those years ago. He cursed under his breath as he regained his composure, determined not to be treated like a child but his grandmother’s face was his undoing. He could read the worry, the exhaustion, the guilt, the pain, everything in a face that looked so much like his own, the pleading in her eyes to not make this harder than it had to be. As much as Matthias wanted to take his grandmother down a peg, he couldn’t find it in him to do so. Grams had more than enough to deal with trying to atone for the mistakes she had made with his mother by seeing her through this terrible day.
”She has enough on her plate already without anyone else adding to it.”
”Fine.”
Matthias felt his grandmother release her grasp and shrink away as if ashamed of what she had done, her eyes darting away from her grandson before she furrowed her brow and forced herself to make eye contact with him again. She smiled sheepishly before she slipped by Matthias and closed in on her daughter’s door.
”Thank you. I don’t need to tell you there’s breakfast waiting downstairs. Get your fill before the rest of the house wakes up. I made extra pancakes for you.”
Matthias nodded wordlessly before he strode down the hall, his ears catching the gentle click of the door to his mother’s room and the hushed tones of conversation going back and forth before he descended the stairs and moved out of earshot. He rounded the corner into the kitchen as he reached the bottom, greeted by his aunt looking up from piling her own plate with pancakes and bacon with a smile and ‘good morning' before crossing to the table and laying the plate at a place at the table.
”Hey, your mom up yet?”
Matthias shook his head in the negative as he picked a plate from a stack and began loading his plate, looking up long enough to catch a frown twisting its way across his aunt’s face as she came back for the mug perched in front of the coffee pot, grabbing the carafe to top off her coffee.
”It almost slipped my mind that it’s the 23rd.”
Alexis took a sip from her mug before she walked back to the table and took a seat. Matthias rolled his eyes as he grabbed the plate that Grams had left to the side of the breakfast spread, piling bacon and sausage and eggs onto a second plate before joining aunt Lexi.
”Makes sense. I thought I heard her up late last night. Guess she couldn’t sleep.
”Yeah, makes two of us.”
Alexis furrowed her brow in suspicion as she eyed her nephew over the edge of her mug, taking a long sip as she tracked the length of her nephew’s face for any hints of what had gotten into him before setting her mug down with a shake of her head. She cut off a wedge of pancakes with the edge of her fork before shoving the maple drenched pieces in her mouth, idly chewing before she looked her nephew dead in the eyes.
”You know this time of year is always hard on her.”
”So I’m told.”
”Just… don’t do anything stupid. If we can just get through today, through this weekend in peace…
”Are you gonna lecture me, too?”
Matthias tilted his head to the side, rather unimpressed with the emotional pleas he had no received from both his grandmother and now his aunt. Alexis sat up straight in her chair as she glared at her nephew with a hint of disgust, opening her mouth to say something before she decided it wasn’t worth it and turned back to the food on her plate.
”I’m just saying, Matthias. It’s not every day I get to see you guys. More than anything, I want to get through this holiday before twenty-five hundred miles of distance get put between us again and we all go back to our lives. After the year I have had, Matthias…”
Matthias remained silent as he picked wedges of pancakes off onto his fork and chewed at a slice of bacon in between bites, breaking eye contact with his aunt when her voice began to crack, veins of sorrow and anger weaving themselves in between her words.
”Without the drama that usually crops up when you two guys are in the same room for too long, if that’s not too much to ask.”
Silent still, Matthias stopped chewing at his aunt’s verbal barb.
”Please and thank you.”
Alexis’ words were pointed so Matthias continued to eat in silence for the moments that followed until the cacophony of footsteps descending the stairs pierced the quiet. The two at the table looked up from their plates as Paulie and Luke darted into the room, sliding into seats beside each other with smiles spread across their face and mumbled ‘good mornings’. Matthias put on a smile for his brother and his cousin as he continued to eat, his aunt getting up from her seat to join Grams in making plates for the boys and normal chatter struck up in the Augustine household for the next few moments. The boys were exchanging opinions on the previous night’s show, reliving their meet and greet and the friends they had made backstage when Alexis held a finger to her lips to quiet them and craned her neck back to where Grams stood behind the kitchen counter.
”Athena’s not coming down, Ma?”
Grams wordlessly shook her head, a frown vanishing from her face almost as quickly as it appeared.
”Is she awake yet?”
”Yeah, she’s up. I brought her coffee but I’m going to bring her a plate. Don’t think she’s up for joining us for breakfast but I want to make sure she eats."
Matthias caught his brother craning his neck up at those last words, concern painting itself across his face as he looked from Grams to Alexis then finally to him. Luke turned his head away from his brother to hide his embarrassment as he stared at his plate, picking at the eggs with his utensils before shoving a forkful in his mouth. The anger he felt at watching his brother be exposed to this was visceral but he turned his attention back to his breakfast, trying to hide his feelings before he reached around to try to distract his brother with a smile and a playful nudge to the shoulder.
”Don’t worry, kid. She’s just tired.”
Matthias could feel his grandmother’s and his aunt’s eyes on him before the clink of a plate scraping the counter proved enough distraction, those at the table returning to their breakfasts as Grams walked out of the kitchen with plate in hand. He exhaled sharply as he returned to his own plate, stabbing at another wedge of pancakes before shoving the forkful in his mouth. It was enough that his mother still mourned what she lost after such a bitter divorce but her pain had become the eight-hundred pound gorilla in the room, enough of one that his little brother was starting to notice. Matthias stretched his jaw as he tried to chew around his indignance and put on a good face for his brother. If his mother couldn’t put on a good face and give him a happy Christmas, he thought to himself, he’d be damned if he didn’t at least try to himself.
Plates had been cleaned then refilled, only to be cleaned again and put away by the time Grams came back down the stairs empty handed. Alexis’ fork came to rest beside her plate as she looked up, reading her mother’s face for answers on how her little sister fared upstairs but Matthias kept focused on idly chewing at the bacon he picked up strip by strip from his plate. The boys had decided after the awkward silence that had fallen over the table earlier to set up shop in front of the television and eat their breakfast over morning cartoons instead. Matthias would gladly join him but with the mood that hung over the house now that his mother had chosen to seclude herself instead of spend time with the family she did have, he didn’t want to spoil the holiday any further for Luke or Paulie by carrying his foul mood over to the safe haven that was the living room. Grams picked up a plate of her own and began making her breakfast before she joined the two at the table and they all three ate their fill in silence. Matthias scraped the last morsels of food from his plate onto his fork and into his mouth, chewing as he stood to his feet to deposit the plate in the sink and get the hell out of this kitchen before his grandmother cleared her throat to speak.
"Rather than sitting around the house and moping all day, why don't the five of us go into town?"
Matthias' brow furrowed in confusion as he turned from the sink to his grandmother at the table, picking at the food she had made for herself rather than actually eating it. He could tell his mother's sadness was eating at her, too, and guilty though it made her feel, she wanted just as much as he did to escape it.
"We take Alexis' truck, go into Anchorage, make a day of it. It'll give the boys something to do. I mean, we could get a tree to put up. I wanted to save that for once you guys got up here so we could have at least something to do as a family."
"Yeah, sure. Why not, Grams?"
"Perfect. Let me eat something and get ready and we'll find something to do."
Matthias read the guilt easing in his grandmother's face before she turned her attention back to finishing her plate. The table grew quiet again before Matthias left the room behind him to get ready for the trip into town. He plodded up the stairs toward his room before finding himself face to face with his mother's door again, a frown twisting at the corners of his mouth and shaking his head before turning to open his door and close it behind him as the screen faded to black.
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2018 1:31 pm
A hesitation was present on the screen, the darkness stumbling over itself before bells tinkling a familiar holiday tune queued up over the speakers. The cameramen had discovered their presence was an unwelcome one at the breakfast table after that terse exchange of words they had witnessed only moments before and made their exit, freeing up the Augustines to spend the rest of their morning in peace. This holiday was turning out to be quite the eventful one for the five that loaded themselves into Grams’ aging crossover SUV and rolled into Anchorage proper to take in the festivities and leave Athena to her grief, free from her eldest son’s incessant need to stick his nose where it didn’t belong. When the crew rejoined the five mid-morning, the cameras joined them as Lexi herded Paulie and Luke from a brief visit with Santa to using what spending money Grams offered on gifts to exchange between the family on Christmas morning, Matthias hanging back behind the four and strolling mindlessly in their wake while glued to the phone in his hand. He could be seen to scroll across the screen with intention, as if he was looking for anything but the gentleman that walked out of the Yankee Candle arms loaded with purchases, upending bags and sending jar candles rolling across the tiled floors.
“Holy crap. I apologize. I wasn-”
“Don’t you Anchoragites watch where in the hell you’re going? Ain’t s**t else to watch up here but…”
Matthias shoved his cell phone into the waist pocket of his coat as an arm shot out to start grabbing glass jars off of the ground before they could roll away. He had begun his ascent from the floor with a jar in each hand and another tucked in his elbow when he heard the stranger stutter to a stop, the drawl almost seeming familiar before.
“s**t. Matthias, I didn’t even recognize you for a second.”
“I guess I could say the same for you, Caliber. What are you doing up here at… Yankee Candle.”
Matthias craned his neck up at the sign that hung above the threshold that Caliber had exited then looked down at the bags perplexed before shrugging his confusion away.
“Figured, uh… I’d see the sights, do a little shopping, enjoy the holiday. Listen, is it really a crime that a man likes Yankee Candle?”
Matthias stifled a chuckle as he looked down the corridor to where the rest of his family had gone to before he turned back to Caliber with a shake of his head.
“I can’t help it. Orange Blossom is my weakness.”
The pair fell silent before Caliber cleared his throat and spoke up again.
“What are you up here for?”
“Not much, man; Grams wanted to get us out of the house, get a tree. You know, Christmas stuff.”
Caliber checked his surroundings as he pushed his aviators up the bridge of his nose and over his forehead to rest on the top of his head before he squinted and turned back to Matthias.
“Your ma ain’t with you, is she?”
Matthias’ face began to lose all expression as he shook his head wordlessly.
“No.”
Caliber begun to furrow his brow in confusion before deciding it was best to leave the subject alone, hastily changing the subject.
“So you’re getting a tree, huh? Fake ones not good enough for you anymore?”
“Yeah. Once Luke and Paulie get done doing their Christmas shopping, we’re going over to where they’re selling trees. You know, on the far corner of the lot, right as you come in?”
“Oh, yeah, I saw them trees when I came in. Say, you need somebody to haul it for you?”
Matthias squinted his eyes as he looked to Caliber, sensing there was a catch to whatever he was about to offer. The South Texas Stallion put his hands up in the air as if to proclaim his innocence before he continued on.
“Listen, our little Italian friend ain’t here. This is strictly between the Society.”
“Good. Because I’m too far from home for jail and bail, Jay Dubya, and I can’t make any promises about what’ll happen if I see him again.”
“He’s harmless.”
“You don’t know him like I do, Jay.”
Caliber scoffed, unimpressed with Matthias’ distaste for his tag partner before waving for him to follow as they left the storefront of the Yankee Candle.
“I’ll haul the tree to your house because I imagine you’re not driving something with room to tow much of anything…”
“Nah, Grams drove her SUV…”
“Who drives a SUV to get a tree? What’s wrong with a tru- you know what, I’m gonna leave it because that’s what you have friends like me for, right?”
The two walked in silence toward the entrance at the far end of the corridor where Lexi waited with Grams and the boys, waving her nephew over to join them before they stashed their purchases in the SUV and went to pick out the tree.
“So y’all pick the tree, I haul it, you introduce me to your aunt, we all go home happy, am I right?”
Caliber stopped in his tracks as he passed one of the islands that sold cell phone cases and as seen on TV items that nobody really needed, those same pearly whites splitting his face and jarring the screen as he struck that same nerve with Matthias.
“Lighten up, Matty. I’m only here for the tree and a good time.”
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2018 2:18 pm
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2018 7:56 pm
Those words hung on the screen like an omen of sorts as the cameras rolled on Caliber joining the Augustines in their quest for the perfect Christmas tree, chatting up Alexis then shifting his gaze to catch Matthias’ reaction up to the point he brought his truck across the lot and grabbed the tree before pointing towards home. Matthias could see Caliber following at a distance with the evergreen strapped to the bed of the truck when he would look over the back of his seat and through the rear glass, hand reaching into the dash and drawing something- was that a party bong tube?- up then putting it back a few seconds later once or twice during the half-hour trek back to the compound in Eagle River. The drive seemed to take longer knowing what melancholy waited on them at the house than it did on the drive into town but none except Matthias seemed to dwell on it, too distracted to care about the shenanigans of the man hauling their tree behind them.
A short few minutes later, the Augustines arrived back at the compound with Caliber on their heels, pulling his primer-red Silverado past their driveway before backing the aging vehicle around a corner as Matthias crawled out of his grandmother’s SUV. The two worked in tandem to free the tree from its bonds before hauling it up the driveway and through the door Alexis held open for them, depositing it on a stand in the modest living room before declaring their job done.
“I appreciate the helping hand, Caliber.”
“Ahhh, it’s nothing, Matty. You’re practically family. This is just what family does.”
Caliber cracked his trademark crooked smile as brushed his hands on the front of his jeans and looked around the living room.
“Have you got somewhere I could wash my hands? Haulin’ a tree is dirty business and I don’t want to disrespect your Grams by mucking up the place.”
“Yeah, down the hall and to your right. There’s a sink in the kitchen.”
J.W. muttered his clipped thanks as he took steps out of the living room and followed the path Matthias had set out for him, Matthias on his heels to show him the way. Alexis rounded the corner before the pair could reach the connection holding her hand out to stop the two, leaning to the side to catch Matthias’ attention before they went any further.
“Your mom finally came down as you two were setting the tree up. She’s at the kitchen table. What I said earlier still stands.”
Matthias could already feel his stomach sour knowing what he was about to walk into with his mother having finally made her mind up to leave her room and join the family she had within reach, instead of isolating herself and mourning a daughter she could never touch. He pressed his lips into a thin line and stretched his jaw, shaking his head to clear his face of his displeasure before either Caliber noticed or his aunt called him out for perceived impudence. Matthias was near to walking past his fellow Society member when Caliber shrugged off the terse exchange between aunt and nephew and strode into the kitchen as if nothing happened, crossing the space past the kitchen table with a smile and a polite nod before making his way to the sink. The water came on with a quick flick of the handle and Caliber waved his hands beneath the faucet before grabbing at the bar of soap.
“’Mornin’, Miss ‘Thena.”
Matthias had propped against the threshold into the kitchen, daring to go no further and risk a heated exchange with his mother. He took a sharp breath in through his nostrils after Caliber’s greeting before shifting his gaze to catch his mother at the table with a mug of coffee in her hands, her glare boring a hole through the table before she stretched her jaw with displeasure and her eyes darted up to meet J.W.’s. Athena muttered her greeting before she shook her head, working a few strands of the shock of her red hair loose before taking a long sip from her mug. Matthias could feel his mother’s rage from across the room but this felt no different than her usual anger, quiet and slow-burning. It would burn out soon enough.
“Merry Christmas to you, too.”
Caliber rolled his eyes and grimaced as he rinsed his hands free of suds and shut the faucet off with his elbow, scrubbing his hands dry on the back of his pants before he waved Matthias out into the hall.
“Jesus Christ, red-haired boy wonder. What did you do?”
Matthias raised his hands and shrugged his innocence before he stepped further away from the threshold to make sure his next words were out of earshot.
“I didn’t do s**t, Caliber. This is just one of her moods.”
Caliber tilted his head in amusement, finding Matthias’ story hard to believe. He pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers in exasperation at his former partner’s naivete before he spoke again.
“Listen. It’s Christmas. I feel bad seeing your mom mope around here when clearly more could be done to give her a happy holiday…”
“...go on.”
“So I was thinking. I know she hates me and all but I figured it would take a load off y’all’s shoulders… what if I took your mom out for a drink?”
Matthias’ eyebrows raised in surprise as his gaze darted to the kitchen and back to his friend. He lowered his voice to barely above a whisper before he spoke again.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? After what happened the last time I drunk with you?”
“Listen, Matthias. I take her out for a couple drinks, get her something to eat, she forgets whatever it is that’s bothering her, I get some brownie points in with your aunt, we all have a merry Christmas. Help me, help you.”
Matthias crossed his arms across his chest as he looked Caliber, a hint of concern in his eyes but considering his gracious offer nonetheless. His mother and this mood had the house draped in a layer of gloom that was slowly grating on all of their nerves.
“What harm could it do?”
Matthias wanted to cut his eyes at Caliber’s question, knowing those words had a tendency of coming back to haunt him but his friend was right: what harm could it do? He had to have a little compassion on his mom, even if he didn’t necessarily agree with the why behind her mourning.
“Sure. But don’t do anything stupid.”
“Me? Do something stupid?”
Caliber’s smile stretched the expanse of his tan face as he feigned innocence, shrugging in amusement before he patted his friend on the shoulder.
“Matty, I’ll treat your mother like my mother. Don’t worry.”
The cameras continued to roll on Caliber and Matthias heading back to the kitchen to coax Athena out of her shell long enough to convince her to go have a drink and let off a little steam with Caliber. Athena took some convincing that there was nothing to lose by letting Caliber- someone she ******** loathed, thank you very much, Matthias, as she so graciously reminded her son- show her a good time and take her into downtown Anchorage for a drink but eventually, she relented. Caliber waited until Athena left the room to put herself together before he pumped the air with his fist and went for a high five with Matthias that alas, was not reciprocated. Matthias rolled his eyes and shook his head as he took his mother’s seat at the table and waited, time passing slowly until Athena returned, her face a caricature of impatience and surliness.
“Look at you, all dressed up for a ni-”
“I’m leaving this house for drinks, not conversation, Caliber. The less you speak, the better.”
Caliber flinched at the curt response, shielding his face as he turned behind his hand as he turned to Matthias and grimaced in embarrassment. He recovered quickly and turned back to the legend, offering an arm to the lady before clearing his throat and speaking again.
“Come with me, ma’am. The Rustbucket awaits.”
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Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2018 12:55 am
The camera faded out on the Dirty South Outlaw acting, much to everyone’s surprise, like the perfect gentleman with a legend on his arm. Caliber walked her from the kitchen and out the door to his truck with cameras in tow, opening the door for Athena and lending his hand to help her up into his truck before darting through the falling snow to his side, getting behind the wheel, and disappearing through the neighborhood and towards town. The camera shifted from its view from the patio of the driveway, positioning itself at Matthias’ back as the snow fell in swirls, flakes coming to rest on his scalp. You could read the faintest hint of apprehension in how he held himself on the porch as he watched one of his best friends drive away with his mother before it disappeared with sharp exhale, him turning around to face the door and walking into the house as the screen faded away.
The camera renewed its focus on the exterior of the Augustine compound, the clock marching ever forward into the afternoon hours as clouds heavy with snow raced across the Alaskan sky. Curtains could be seen to shift in some of the windows, as if the occupants inside were waiting for sign of the aging Silverado as the afternoon gave way and the sun began its descent in the sky. It was anybody’s guess how long Caliber and Athena had been away and Grams and aunt Lexi were starting to get concerned. Alexis was putting on her coat and in the process of searching for her keys to go search for her sister when the phone rang, piercing the evening hubbub and drawing her into the kitchen to answer it. Matthias brushed the ringing phone from his mind and returned his focus to the holiday movie playing on the local affiliate of a basic cable channel until…
“Matty, bud; it’s for you.”
Matthias groaned and rolled his eyes as he pushed off of the couch in the living room, muttering under his breath before calling ‘give me a minute’ to his aunt. He trudged through the hallway to grab the phone out of his aunt’s hand, tarry a moment to catch the puzzled look on her face before lifting the receiver to his ear. Whatever waited on the other end, Matthias already wasn’t a fan of it.
“Hello?”
“MATTY!”
“Caliber? Where the hell are you? Grams and Lexi are starting to ask quest-”
“I gotta question.”
Matthias stitched his brow together in confusion as he pulled the receiver away from his face and looked over his shoulder to his aunt, shrugging before putting it back. He exhaled impatiently before he took the path of least resistance, choosing to humor his obviously inebriated friend.
“Fine. Go ahead, Jay Dubya.”
“How does your mom usually act when she’s drunk?”
“What? Caliber, how much have you had to drink?”
“I’m really not the one you should be asking that question.”
The line went silent.
“Yes or no, buddy?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen my mom drink so… no?”
“…oh.”
Silence.
“Matty, buddy, pal. I want you to promise not to be mad but your mom…”
Matthias felt his irritated expression drain from his face, a bad feeling beginning to brew in the pit of his stomach as Caliber trailed off at the end of his sentence.
“Is drunk. I called a cab. I’m bringing her home.”
“You <********> redneck a*****e. I thought she was hurt or something.”
“HEY. THASNOTNICE.”
Matthias bit his tongue to keep from having a fight over the phone with a drunk Caliber, pinching the bridge of his nose and exhaling sharply through his nose before continuing.
“Wait a minute. What about how she’s acting, Caliber?”
“I said… she’s drunk. She’s been doin’ a lotta shots. She must really like the SoCo and the Fireball but I’m tellin’ you, ‘Thena; the moonshine was a baaaaaad ideaaaaaa. You know... drunk. But like an angry drunk, not a ******** drunk like the last you drank with me.”
Matthias’ eyes went wide with terror as he started to piece together what had happened. Caliber had no problem holding his liquor, if Matthias’ memory served him correctly, but the South Texas Stallion did not shut up once the booze really hit his system. Like, the filter between his mouth and his brain was gone and godforbid he drink you under the table, godforbid.
“You know, that one weekend… remember that one weekend you weren't home, miss ‘Thena?”
“What the <********> are you talking about, you Texan dipshit?”
“Hey now, enough with the name calling. I came out to have a good time…”
Matthias kept quiet as Caliber took a deep breath and exhaled before he spoke again, the drawl in his voice getting thicker with each drunken syllable.
“And I’m honestly feeling so attacked right now.”
“Caliber. Don’t you do it. She doesn’t know about this.”
Matthias cringed as the melodic, drunken laughter bubbled across the line, making the young man draw the phone away from his ear until the laughter died down.
“You mean to tell me… you haven’t told her about…”
“No.”
“About the time I brought the boys, you know… Neo Japan whatnotchamacallit… to the Landry house… mansion thing…”
“J.W., I’m going to wring your neck if you don’t shut up right now.”
“Oh, ho ho… wring my neck? My neck ain’t tha one you need to be worrying about.”
Silence.
“But as I was sayin’… that one time me and the boys came over to your ma and pa’s place. That one weekend they was off and not even in the state, the house was empty, wasn’t nobody there but us chickens… And you invited us over to kick our feet up and take a load off while we was in town on our way to Vegas for a show. Just left Mexico City- what a show! What a show! My home is the Society’s home, he said, ‘Thena. Real nice place. I love what ya did with the windows and the curtains and s**t. Real HGTV, Good Housekeeping like of ya. But Carrot Top ********’ Junior here… showed us ya booze selection. Top shelf, high dollar, nothing to sneeze at. I showed ‘im mine. It’sa humble connnecti- I mean, collection. Is not your thousand dollar bottles but it’s good quality s**t, right? Don’t knock We swapped liquor. And your boy…”
The line went quiet until he could hear his mother breathing in the background, almost like she used to when he was a kid and he got into real trouble. Not like ‘I made bad grades’ trouble but more serious, you know? All Matthias knew was that he could feel the gooseflesh roiling on the back of his neck the moment he heard her exhale sharply and in this still, hushed, drunken voice… speak.
“What’d’he do, Caliber?”
“I’ll tell ya what ‘e did. That boy of yers can’t hold his liquor for s**t. Said ‘e could drink more than me and I drank ‘im under the table.”
Matthias was too nervous to breath by this point but he could hear his mother in the background and needed no words to know exactly how angry she was becoming.
“And you know what this red-headed boy wonder did? I told ‘im to go easy but nooooooo, he didn’t listen. I turned my back on ‘im for a minute. It was more like ten or fifteen but you know, a minnit.”
Caliber cleared his throat before he continued.
“Next thing I know, I hear this… crash from upstairs. He’s gone Led Zeppelin on me and taken the Stairway to Heaven, I says. But it was really just to ‘is room, I guess, I says. So I told the boys to wait on the jello shots till I got back and go to turn around and who does I see at the top o’ the stairs? Who? Who? Guess, ‘Thena.”
Matthias had never felt so sick to his stomach in his life, he wanted to hang up but he had to follow this call to its hellish conclusion.
“Is Mattybear!”
Matty squeezed his eyes shut as his face turned as red as his hair, knowing exactly which night Caliber was talking about.
“And he’s DRESSIN’ UP!”
Caliber’s laughter bubbled over the line again as Matthias held the phone a couple inches from his face until it was safe to press it to his ear again.
“He ‘ad been upstairs, alright… not to ‘is room, though. I tried to stop ‘im but ‘e’s a quick b*****d when ‘e’s up to no good. ‘E must’ve been hell as a kid.”
Matthias winced as he heard his mother mutter unintelligible words on the other end, not knowing what it was she said but enough to know it wasn’t good with that tone.
“So I try to chase ‘im up the stairs and down the hall. Where do I find ‘im?”
Matthias’ voice warbled as he spoke.
“Caliber, no.”
“Caliber, yes. Continue the damn story, Jay.”
“I may be cowboy trash but Jay DUBYA is my name, Mrs. Augustine.”
Matthias heard his mother mumbling again before Caliber continued with his story.
“I chase ‘im, alright… on up to y’all’s room. Did I tell you I like what you’ve done with the place? So I end up in y’all’s room, s**t’s strewn everywhere, I’ve seen some s**t you probably don’t want seen in public, and who comes out of your closet but Matty… you know that dress from Dementium V? That press conference dress? Hugged every curve? Had the boys drooling and doing God knows what for weeks?”
“I’m still here, Jay Dubya! That’s my mom you’re talking about!”
“What? It was a nice dress. You know it? Miss ‘Thena?”
“Yeah. The little black one.”
“Them shoes was real nice, too. Pulled the outfit together. Jimmy Choos, right? Size 7?”
Matthias didn’t hear a word, not a sound from his mother this time.
“They ain’t size 7s no more, not with them fat clodhoppers of ‘is!”
“…oh my god, not the Choos.”
“Yes, the Choos! And that dress of yers! ‘E came out the closet- boy, you must be so proud- like a bat outta hell and I still ain’t figured out how ‘e made it on them giraffe legs of ‘is past me to get to them steps…”
Matthias could hear his mother seething in the background, no words needed.
“For bein’ shitfaced, ‘e sure was fast. Stumbled right down that hallway and landed flat on ‘is a** and rode them steps the whole way down… and stuck the goddamn landing on the bottom step. So I catch up to ‘im and the boys are already handing ‘im more liquor. I said don’t give ‘im no more shots. But it’s Jenga jello shots, they said. What harm could it do? ‘E’s already drunk! So ‘e did a couple and before I know it, ‘e’s doin’ impersonations. Look at me, I’m Phoenixfire and I’m a so many times champion, I’m a legend, ‘e says. Had the Society rolling.”
Matthias heard his mom’s voice before it cracked and disappeared in the background, like she was on the verge of tears but too angry to let them actually fall.
“But it was startin’ to catch up to ‘im. We turned our backs for a minute and what does this slippery s**t do? He gets loose again!”
Silence.
“Next thing I know, I hear a splash and notice the doors to the pool is open. The boys run out to see what’s the matter, and there ‘e is in the pool just hangin’ out, drunk as hell. Poor Neo-Phoenix needed water wings. For a boy dropped off a bridge, ‘e sure has no clue how to swim.”
“That was my story arc, you ********’ cowboy p***k.”
Matthias could hear the tears falling in earnest now, her voice cracking over every syllable. She wasn’t drunk enough that her rage wasn’t pouring through the phone right now.
“Hey, now. There’s no need to name ca…”
Matthias could feel his gut beginning to churn hearing his mom on the other end, knowing she was a powder keg waiting for her fuse to be lit sober but now drunk?
“I’m bringin’ her home, Matty. Shouldn’t be too much longer. She’s, uh… a little mad.”
“A little mad? A little mad?”
Athena’s angry, drunken sobs could be heard on the other end and knowing the cab would be at the house any minute didn’t make it any easier not knowing which Athena was waiting to get out of that cab. Matthias hung the phone up and darted out to the patio then started down the stairs, assuming his mom would be too inebriated to follow through on any threats and he’d just help her up the steps and into the house and to her room to sleep this off. He could see the headlights rounding the bend the closer he got to the end of the driveway. The closer the cab got, the harder it was to shake the feeling that he was about to step into the biggest pile he’d ever stepped into in his life and before he knew it, the cab had come to a stop. The doors open and there Athena stood, eyes bloodshot, red-faced from the alcohol, and mouth twisted in rage. The sight of her was almost enough for him to miss Caliber stumbling out the other side of the cab, tossing money at the driver before the cab pulled away and left the pair standing there. Athena swatted Caliber away as he waddled up next to her, huffing and puffing as she stared her son down. She took a deep breath then exhaled sharply, her breath like fog in this Alaskan chill as she struggled to piece together her words.
“You piece of s**t.”
Those words were all that Matthias heard before a 5’9”, 145 lb fury lunged at him, tackling him to the snowy ground below and knocking the wind right out of him. Matthias threw his hands up in his defense as he heard his mother yell in rage, trying to block her wild punches to his face and wherever else she could reach but missing as many as he blocked. For being drunk, she had a terrifying amount of fight in her.
“You come in my house…”
Matthias felt an ache ripple across his cheek sent a flash of light across his vision.
“You use a piece of my history, fit your bulky a** into my Dementium dress and stretch them thick feet of yours in to my Jimmy Choos- my Jimmy ********’ Choos, Matthias! You piece of s**t!”
“Mom, stop. Mom, calm down. Mom.”
“Disrespect me, embarrass me, make a mockery of me…”
Matthias shoved forcefully at her chest and away before scrambling to get to his feet. Caliber had disappeared the moment the fight started and left him defenseless, at least until Grams and aunt Lexi noticed. Athena roared in anger once she found her footing and lunged at her son again as Grams and Alexis came scrambling down the driveway, scratching and clawing anywhere she could reach as Matthias kept her at bay. She was starting to lose steam as he heard shouting and his mother was being pulled off of him by the pair.
“Athena! What the ********, Athena? Come on, stop it! Are you trying to get the cops called? Athena, stop!”
“I raised you better than that and what thanks do I get? What ******** thanks do I get, huh?”
Matthias saw his mom lose her composure in that instant, her sobs growing worse between each word she screamed as she tugged against Grams and aunt Lexi’s hands.
“Do you have any idea what I’ve been through for you? You ungrateful s**t, do you? I lose my career, my reputation, my business… I lost my daughter. I lost my daughter because you can’t keep your nose out of where it doesn’t ******** belong. My precious Matty, my Mattybear… grown up into this ungrateful wretch that hates me… ”
Matthias could read the pain in her bloodshot eyes too clearly, knew she had been biting her tongue on this for too long that all it took was enough liquor to bring her inner demons out to play again. He’d beat Caliber senseless next time for putting his mother through this.
“Those nights I’d spend sobbing at the goddamn table, the days I’d pick up and ******** disappear, the days I wished I was…”
“Athena Dionysia Augustine, shut up. Don’t talk like that.”
Matthias watched wordlessly as his mom laid into him with these words, too drunk to see or care how they ate at him. She could not speak for her tears now, her pain too clear as she stumbled and sunk into Grams’ arms, still red-faced and angry as Grams held her close and stroked her hair, tried to shush her and calm her enough to get her into the house.
“Sometimes I wished… sometimes I wished you were dead. And I hate myself for it but you know what? Maybe I wouldn’t care so much. Maybe this wouldn’t hurt. Maybe this wouldn’t keep me up at night. Maybe I wouldn’t feel a lot of things. Maybe you wouldn’t hurt me like you do anymore. But ******** me, right?”
Matthias felt like he had been shot in the chest when his mom finished her tirade and devolved into tears again, too stunned to move from where he stood on his own. Alexis grabbed Matthias forcefully by the arm and took him around one side of her truck while Grams ushered his mother up the driveway and into the house. Silence fell over their neighborhood again, Alexis waving off nosy neighbors with assurances that they had they situation under control. When Alexis saw that the last neighbor had disappeared from sight, she exhaled sharply and nudged her nephew until Matthias began to trudge up the same driveway in silence, the camera fading to black as the red door to the Augustine home shut behind them.
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2018 11:45 am
The screen seemed to stay black for ages, choosing to rest on silence rather than intrude further on the disastrous scene everyone had just witnessed. There was not a soul behind the camera that was ready for that dose of reality and it was best to just leave it alone until the smoke cleared. The Augustines welcomed them back inside early the next morning, house still quiet in the waning dawn as Matthias sat at the table with a mug of coffee in one hand and a pack of ice pressed against the hint of bruises that spread the side of his face in the other. Alexis stood stone faced at the oven, her eyes focused on the griddle and flipping bacon over to crisp every few minutes before moving to crack an egg or two and scramble them in the pan the next burner over. Neither was willing to break the silence to speak after the previous day, the risk of reopening old wounds too great to bear until the soft thud of footfall descended the stairs and came down the hallway, drawing both of their gazes to the hallway to meet Grams as she trudged into the kitchen rubbing at her eyes with one hand and fighting a yawn that threatened to cleave her face in twain. Alexis drew her eyes away to pour the eggs off into a plate and grab bacon off the griddle before setting it aside, opening her mouth for a moment to say something before deciding against saying anything at all. Grams turned her head to Matthias at the table, her gaze catching his until he diverted his eyes back to the dark liquid swirling in the mug, too ashamed to look again.
“How’s she holding up, Ma?”
Matthias struggled not to flinch when Alexis’ voice pierced the quiet as she loaded breakfast onto a second plate. Grams started to speak then stopped, started then stopped, the frustration mingling with the exhaustion in her face like old friends before she sank into her chair, cradling her face with her hands before her chest heaved with a sigh.
“Once I got her into the shower to sober her up then calmed her down enough to get her to bed, boom… out like a light.”
“Well, that’s good, right?”
“Night was rough, though. I rolled a sleeping bag out on the floor and a couple pillows with the nice blanket- you remember, the one you got for my birthday, came in that set?- and camped out on the floor. She just… kept waking up. I would hear her toss and turn, start whimpering and then go quiet again just like that. Bad dreams or something, I guess.”
Alexis rounded the table with plates in hand, depositing one in front of her mother before stopping at Matthias’ seat. He could feel her eyes boring a hole into his skull, that disapproving stare almost identical to his mother’s running the length of her nose down to him as she just stood there. Matthias gripped the ice bag with one hand and craned his neck up, trying his hardest to put on a good face and not carry over yesterday’s fracas into today. Matthias could read the disappointment more than he could the anger in his aunt’s face as she put the final plate down and took the icebag from his hand, gripping his chin and tilting his face toward her, tracing the curve of his cheek to inspect for any damage she may have missed when she patched him up last night before handing him the icebag. Alexis turned on her heels and walked the length of the kitchen to pick up her plate and more coffee to bring to her mother, Grams taking a long swig from her mug as he started shoveling food onto his fork and carrying it up to his mouth with a trembling hand.
“Going to be one hell of a hangover once she gets up.”
Matthias grew frustrated with icebag in his hand, pushing away from the table and walking to the sink to drop the bag opposite the side with the dishes. His aunt and Grams were working away forkful by forkful at their plates when he returned to his seat, soaking in the terse silence before he decided to break it himself.
“Let me handle her.”
Grams furrowed her brow at her grandson over the porcelain edge of the mug lifted to her lips. Alexis had stopped mid-bite to exchange glances with her mother before her eyes darted back to Grams, swallowing her food before daring to speak.
“Don’t you think you’ve had enough meddling for one weekend, Matthias?”
“Look, this is my ******** up, aunt Lexi.”
Matthias stared his aunt down as she shrugged her shoulders, let her mug down onto the table with a gentle clink against the hardwood, folded her arms across her chest, and leaned back into her chair unimpressed.
“She’s like this because I didn’t want to come up here in the first place.”
“Go on.”
“Because every time I come up here, Invidia becomes the gorilla in the room and I feel like I become invisible, have felt invisible for God, I don’t know how long… and I wanted Mom to take Grams down a peg…”
Grams shifted uneasily in her seat as he trailed off, putting her fork down and abandoning her plate to listen in silence.
“They put Mom through so much Hell. I figured if we didn’t talk about her, she didn’t exist, and maybe I’d feel like you’d realize I was still here…”
Matthias crunched a piece of bacon off into his mouth, chewing to keep himself from digging himself a deeper grave before he took a sip of coffee and rubbed the side of his face with his palm, wincing when he realized his cheek was still tender to the touch.
“So I created this monster, I let her out of the house to drink her demons out to play. I’ll take care of it.”
“Fair enough.”
Matthias relaxed with a sigh of relief as Grams relented to her grandson’s persistence to make amends.
“But give her a couple hours more rest to get the last of yesterday’s shenanigans out of her system. Perfect time to set up tree, don’t you think? Before the boys wake up?”
“Yeah, Grams. Perfect time.”
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Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2018 9:40 pm
The hours seemed to pass by in a peace that passed all understanding, the camera focused on the living room within the Augustine household as Alexis and Matthias made sure the tree was secure in its perch in the corner by the television while Grams descended into the basement to pull ornaments from storage. After the hell they had endured yesterday, it was almost too idyllic for the trio to share the holiday like a family should, their sadness overwhelmed by the nostalgia each ornament brought with each story that Grams told behind it. The pipe cleaner and cotton ball reindeer and construction paper snowmen Alexis and Athena had made each year at Christmas until fate would have them separated. Athena’s tiny handprint Santa. Alexis’ cinnamon dough ornaments from her high school home economics classes. Popsicle framed pictures of the Augustine sisters. Memories bled from the cardboard boxes that Grams hauled up the stairs until the tree was barely visible under their weight. The trio stood back to admire their hard work in precious silence for a moment until the boys could be heard descending the stairs, chatter between the two carrying their infectious excitement for Christmas Eve down the hall until they bounded into the living room all smiles. Now would be Matthias’ opportunity to quietly slip away.
With the living room and its holiday spirit behind him, Matthias padded down the hallway barefoot to the stairs, climbing them as quietly as he could until he was on the floor where their rooms were. He stood at the top of the stairs and checked to make sure the coast was clear, turning to make sure he hadn’t been followed up the stairs before trudging the length of the hallway until at last… his mother’s room. He could hear nothing but his own breath, his heart nervously thudding away in his chest. For all he knew, his mother was still sleeping off her hangover. His nerves snaked their way up through his gut and into his chest, hesitating as he started toward the door to knock. What Athena waited for him on the other side? Would it be the angry one that had tried to beat him senseless yesterday? The depressed one that he remembered so well from all those hours spent crying alone after the divorce proceedings, wordless meals eaten around the dinner table after a long and trying custody hearing? Or would it be the Mom he imagined as a distant memory sometimes, gone and never to be seen again? Matthias exhaled sharply before he raised his fist to the door and gently knocked three times, regretting he’d knocked almost as soon as the last tap echoed across the door frame. Quiet engulfed the hallway immediately and Matthias could feel regret sink like a stone in his stomach, sighing his disappointment and started to turn away before he heard… she’s awake.Matthias pressed his ear to the door as he heard his mother’s pained low groan and slurred curses resonate as the bed creaked beneath her weary frame.
“Do you have to knock so loud? What is it- three in the morning?”
Matthias fell silent, his words escaping him
“…well?”
“Mom?”
Matthias felt his voice crack with guilt before he heard his mom slurring something unintelligible, the room falling silent for what seemed like an eternity. Had she rolled over and gone back to sleep? Holy s**t, Grams wasn’t kidding. This had to be a hangover from Hell, given Caliber’s propensity to drink his partners to excess.
“Mom, say something. Please.”
Silence followed the wake of a pained whimper from the other side of the door.
“That’s it. I’m coming in.”
Matthias twisted the doorknob and shoving his shoulder against it, opened the door into darkness and stepped into his mother’s room.
“Goddammit, Matt! Shut the ******** door!”
Recoiling in shock, Matthias slammed the door behind him and plunged the room into darkness again. He could see the outline of the sleeping bag where Grams had slept the night before, keeping close watch on her daughter through this hellish night through the light that danced in slender beams slipping through the heavy curtains. Matthias palmed his way along the wall until he found himself in a corner, trying to inch his way closer to a lamp, anything so he could see where he was going better without turning a full-fledged light on. He could hear his mother’s pained whimpers again as she slowly moved to an upright position with her palms pressed against her face, shielding her eyes and cradling her head at the same time.
“Owwwwww. Where do you get off hurting me like that, Matt? Chrissake.”
Matthias’ fingers clumsily tripped across the switch at the base of the lamp on the table that stood opposite of his mother, who was now swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and gingerly placing her feet on the floor. He could tell her revelry had taken its toll by her stooped shoulders, how her head hung too heavy for her neck, gravity threatening to mingle with exhaustion long enough to pull her back to the bed’s surface.
“Is there any way to turn that light down? My head feels like it’s on fire.”
Matthias plodded back around the room to the edge of the bed his mother sat perched on, seating himself beside her and joining in her silence. She was quiet for so long that he could’ve sworn she had fallen back asleep.
“Drinking with Caliber… was a mistake.”
There was nothing for either of them to say.
“What I said yesterday… was a mistake.”
“It’s my fault, Mom. Don’t apologize. I know it was Vidi’s birthday and I know it’s a rough day for you. I was being a d**k. I didn’t want to watch you suffer. I shouldn’t ha-”
“Matthias Elijah… just shut up and listen to me for five seconds.”
Matthias felt a jolt of surprise hit him when his mother began to rattle his name out with all the sober precision of a judge.
“Please.”
The pain that webbed its way through her voice was unmistakable so he relented, resting his hands on his thighs as he turned his head toward his mom and listened.
“I’ve had this s**t building up on my head for a long time, Matty. I was weak and her birthday just made it easier to let the booze and my temper get the better of me.”
Matthias shifted his gaze to the floor as his mother began to pour her heart out, too terrified of saying the wrong thing to interrupt her.
“I try not to pretend like I was perfect in how I raised either of you but my pride is a stubborn b***h and yeah, maybe I didn’t want to admit how much I let Mike down, your sister down… you. I stopped trying to get over it at some point. The safest thing to do was hold onto the hurt and keep you arm’s length, where my darkness couldn’t hurt you again…”
Athena’s voice began to crack under the weight of her emotion, drawing Matthias’ gaze back up in time to catch tears of shame well up in his mother’s bloodshot eyes and roll down her cheeks. Matthias wrapped his arms around his mom in the tightest hug he could manage, assuring his mom ‘it was gonna be okay, Mom’ as he held her. He knew there was a lifetime of demons in that head of hers, too many to be solved by a hug but the least he could do at the moment was just be there.
“When it’s just take, take, take and your name, your career, everything… the pain was the only thing left that was mine that they couldn’t take from me. Everything else is gone.”
“You still have Grams, aunt Lexi, cousin Paulie, Luke…”
Matthias went quiet as his mother’s words sunk in, afraid to let go of his mom now he had an inkling of the storm brewing in her head.
“I didn’t want you to take that from me, too. If I couldn’t have my baby girl, my sweet Vidi, damn everything and everyone else… I just wanted to hurt in peace. Because what else am I good for?”
“Mom, stop. You know that’s not true.”
“Yeah, I get up, take care of your brother, do things around the house, put on a good face, play the part that I’m supposed to for the rest of the world to see but lying there at night, I look at your father, at what he’s done- the career, the restaurants, the team- and I can’t help but wonder did I trade in one shadow for another? I’m old news. Your uncle said it best- I’m just an insurance policy waiting to happen. I can’t come back because it’s not like there’s anything for me to come back to, the Clepsydras took it from me… Matty, what do I have left?”
Silence wedged itself between the two again, neither quite sure what to say as Athena bore her soul.
“I’m so sorry I dragged you down with me. I didn’t mean to hurt you, too. I know you just wanted your mom and I wasn’t there when you needed me most and I know it’s too late to take back everything I said when I came home drunk yesterday and I know I hurt you. I’m so sorry…”
“It’s gonna be okay, Mom. I’m still here. I’m not going anywhere, I promise.”
Matthias held his mom close and let her cry her demons out onto his shoulder, stroking her hair like she used to do to comfort him when he was little. He waited until his mom calmed before he held her at arm’s length, wiping tears away from her face with his shirt sleeve.
“Didn’t you tell me there’s no crying on Christmas once?”
Matthias felt a sense of relief when that trademark half-cocked smile light up his mom’s face, a weak chortle slipping from her mouth as she shook her head.
“I knew those words would come back to haunt me.”
Matthias chuckled before he got to his feet and crossed the room to turn the light on, warning his mom so she could shield her eyes and give herself a few moments to adjust in her hungover state. He could tell she was worse for wear than when she had returned home the night prior but he refused to let that phase him and crossed the room to the bathroom where his mom had set up shop for the weekend, running a cup of water for her to drink before returning to his mom’s side. Matthias helped her lift the cup to her lips to drink before putting it away on her nightstand and trying to tame her hair enough to make her comfortable.
“Come on, let’s go see the tree.”
Matthias helped Athena to her feet and let her steady herself by keeping a grip on his arm as the two walked to the door of her room then out of the camera’s view to join the rest of the crew downstairs as the camera faded to black.
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2018 10:43 pm
An overwhelming quiet enveloped the screen as mother and son hobbled down the hallway and out of sight of the camera, the camera fading to black behind them. One would think that such a touching scene of a mother making amends with her son would be the perfect capstone to finish the episode with but when the warm purple hue of the confessional floated into focus, it was almost jarring. Athena sat silent in the velvet chair with her eyes focused intently on the floor, her head too heavy for her neck to tolerate facing the camera dead on. She could feel a spike of pain working its web across her temple, cradling her face in its tendrils before it wrapped around the base of her skull and squeezed with all its might.
“Athena?”
Surprise coursed through her like a lightning strike, making her grimace in pain in between curses muttered just beneath her breath and reluctantly lift her head to face the producer opposite her.
“I’m sure you’re aware that by now, footage of you assaulting your son under the influence has made its rounds on social media, hit the tabloids, and been picked up by local news outlets.”
“Yeah, I’m aware.”
“Well, have you got anything to the disappointed fans at hom-”
Athena raised her hand to stop the producer mid-sentence, unimpressed with how quickly her indiscretions had become fodder for this confessional. Her face was too heavy to be moved by expression but there was no need to communicate how utterly done she was with this invasion of her privacy any further.
“I’m going to stop you right there.”
Athena’s chest heaved with the weight of her breath as she gathered her thoughts from the jumbled whirlpool that had formed between her ears after her drunken escapades with her son’s friend the day prior. The camera captured how her eyes burned like coals, hot and angry in her skull from exhaustion and alcohol. Her face was no longer flushed but her fury was ever clear in how she set her jaw, her lips pressed into a hard line.
“Some demons I’ve hid from you guys better than others over the last two and a half decades you’ve been chronicling my every move but yesterday… yesterday, you crossed the ******** line. You would do well to learn your place as guests in my home before my legal team sues for controlling interest of this network and I have every last person on this set standing in the same unemployment line.”
The silence became hostile in the distance between that chair and the producer but Athena sat a vision of reckoning opposite the crew, unfazed and unmoving.
“…not too fun when the rabbit’s got the gun, is it?”
The corner of Athena’s mouth smugly tilted up the moment she was confident she had wrested control of the booth from the producers.
“Where were we? Right. I’ve been a household name for how long, again? I’ve lived in the shadows of two men, fought with both of them, raised their children while I self-destructed in the most spectacular way… not trying to justify what I’ve done but if you’re just now disappointed because I couldn’t hold my liquor…”
Athena’s soft chuckle rippled in waves across the booth before she spoke again.
“Then I find it amusing how well you’ve paid attention. Which is to say that you haven’t at all.”
Silence. The adrenaline that had coursed through her system in those brief moments that she was in command of the both began to dissipate, Athena reminded of her hangover and wincing before she sank back into her seat.
“I’ve disappointed my family, my mother, my sister, my nephew, my husband, my sons… myself. It won’t happen again. I’d say there won’t be a next time for you to catch me at my lowest but I know as sure as death and taxes, you’ll find a way.”
Athena sighed as she furrowed her brow then turned her sights on the camera.
“I drank myself to excess, no thanks to that cowboy’s goading- I'll never drink with Jay Dubya again, that's for damn sure- and it removed my filter and it became that much easier to give voice to the pain I’ve been holding onto all these years. I mean... it’s pretty obvious that I have some damnably unhealthy coping mechanisms and a penchant for bottling s**t up until I explode, it’s something I’ve needed to work on for years but that’s no excuse for yesterday.”
She tilted her head back and stared at the ceiling, a wave of emotion pricking at her conscience. Athena rubbed at her eyes heavy with bags beneath them with the palms of her hands, trying to stop herself from performing her grief for the camera. She hated that she was emotional to a fault, hated that the show had gotten her ugly side again and showed the world an Athena she struggled to admit was even her.
“I’m thankful Luke missed actually seeing me like that. I mean, it kills me to know he heard me fighting Matthias and bellowing for the whole neighborhood to hear because if there’s one thing I’ve fought tooth and nail for the last eight years to protect every bit as hard as Mike has, it’s keeping him safe from our drama and I just threw it all away. Godforbid he gets a moment of peace in the next forty-eight hours between the team and the restaurant, I’m sure I’m in for an earful.”
Athena looked back to the camera after a moment of silence, still struggling to put words to her feelings.
“There’s a long road ahead of me but I’m every bit committed to making amends with Matthias. We’ve needed to call a truce to this pissing match of ours for, what? Forever?”
Athena let out a grunt of laughter as she looked back at all the fights and disagreements and petty squabbles she’d shared with her eldest over the years.
“I guess you could say I’m pretty excited to see an end to this bullshit. Don’t let the wicked hangover fool you-”
She motioned around her face with a wave of her hand before she smiled softly.
“This is me, optimistic that we can move forward as a family and finally heal. It’s my own fault this took so long but yeah, better late than never.”
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Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2018 9:53 pm
With Athena’s confessional behind them, the camera crew heeded her warning to give the family space in the hours that followed, leaving the Augustines to pass the day in relative peace. The change of pace was jarring considering how much of Athena and her family’s lives had been lived in front of the camera, to now not being a witness to a few of those hours. When the camera crew had finally been given permission to be on the property again, the dawn had given way to a bright noonday Alaskan sun and the family had been able to exist without the prying eyes of the producers just over their shoulders. This peace was not to last long, the crew shifting focus to the street outside with a jarring cut between scenes. The snow had begun to descend on the neighborhood again, a fresh layer of flakes dancing in spirals to create a new layer on the ground below. The street had seen almost no traffic in or out that day due to the holiday, a blessed silence enveloping the street after the chaos of yesterday until… was that a Briggs and Stratton motor?
The camera shifted on its axis, scanning the yard until it swiveled toward the bend in the road just before the Augustines driveway. Trees stood staggered in its view and making the source of the noise difficult to track. No Anchoragite in their right mind would be mowing their yard with snow on the ground so who could possibly be running a motor to anything on this Christmas Eve holiday? Muttered curses could be heard sounding, exasperation loud and clear in the camera man’s voice as the focus began to shift, almost a second too late to miss the familiar face approaching. His tan features stood a stark contrast to the precipitation below as the camera focused in on Caliber rounding the curve, a knight in shining tinfoil atop his red scooter steed. While Athena struggled to recover from their drinking, you couldn’t tell the previous day’s events left him any worse for the wear despite his trademark Aviators and the lit Marlboro resting in the corner of his mouth as he steered the Redneck Rocket with one hand toward the Augustines’ driveway before letting off the throttle and shouting over his shoulder.
“Hey, il Demone, you coming or not?”
A figure that was more coat and scarves than man stumbled up the snowy road behind him, his face exposed to the elements from his nose to the mop of inky black hair atop his head. The man’s gloved hand darted up to peel gear away from his face to reveal his chattering teeth, curses in Italian angrily stuttering over his lips to Caliber before retreating into his layers.
“Didn’t understand a damn word you just said but yeah, that’s real quaint, Valentino.”
“You drag me out here to the middle of nowhere for the woman I love and it is too goddamn cold, tu stronzo!!”
“Valentino, buddy… I got tired of you moping like a lovesick puppy dog. Figured why not drive your mopey a** out here…”
“For what? To get me killed or to freeze me to death?”
Caliber sighed in exasperation, shaking his head after his breath dissipated into a cloud of fog that mingled with cigarette smoke.
“Both if you stand here and keep bitching. Now get your a** up that hill to the woman you love. Oh, and…”
Caliber motioned the jittery Italian forward with a wave of his hand, rifling around in the basket of his scooter for something before he held out a sprig of…
“Mistletoe? Sono pazzi questi Americani.”
“Hey! Language!”
Machiavel glowered over the edge of the scarf bundled around his face before snatching the mistletoe from Caliber’s gloved hand before marching up the hill, his feet furiously slipping beneath him as he stomped toward his prize. Caliber had begun to back the Redneck Rocket out to the street as Machiavel ascended the steps and stomped his feet free of snow and stood like a deer in the headlights, eyes trained on the red door his love waited behind. Caliber could read his apprehension from a mile away and shouted up the hill, not willing to let him back out now, not after the work it took to haul this Rocket out of Anchorage and find a place to park and unload it at the mouth of the road that led into the neighborhood.
“You’ve got mistletoe, buddy! She can’t say no!”
Machiavel’s shoulders bunched up before he turned around to look down the hill to his companion, exhaling sharply before he reluctantly continued forward. He took measured steps toward the door as he peeled back his scarves from his face and lifted a hand to knock, bringing his fist down upon the frame a few times, enough to make sure he was heard before he took a step back. It would seem that no one was brave enough to come to the door but after a moment, the door began to creak open until…
“Valentino?”
“Signora, I promise I can explain. See, I…”
The door swung wide to reveal Athena standing there in a Christmas sweater and sweatpants, her hair splayed over her shoulders and her fingers pressed to her temples as she tried to process the vision that stood before her. The camera cut from one feed to the next until finally, there was a cameraperson on the porch within earshot of the exchange now happening on the front porch.
“What the <********>, man?”
“Ever since I met you, signora… è stato amore a prima vista.”
“How did you find where I lived?”
“Signora, please!”
“Forget I asked, Valentino. Just go.”
“Athena, please… ti amo, la mia fenice…”
“I said LEAVE!”
“Amore mio, no.”
“I should’ve known when you popped up out of the goddamn blue in Seattle that you were ******** insane. Something seemed off about how you got dropped in my lap but hey, I figured I’d give you the benefit of the doubt. But no, you had to ******** that up, too. You couldn’t leave well enough alone. You made a pass at me when I was training you, just like you tried to at the Neo Japan show the other night… in front of my nephew, in front of my sons, for crying out loud! And now you come out to my home, uninvited on Christmas Eve!”
“He what?”
“Signora, please… no…”
“I’m not interested, Valentino! What part of that don’t you ******** get?”
“Don’t do this to us, Athena. Please. I beg you, signora.”
“To us? To us?! I’m a married woman, de Palma- there is no us!”
Athena turned to shout for her mother to call the cops as Matthias could be seen stepping into the hallway from the kitchen, following the source of the commotion. The camera caught his stunned expression perfectly at the revelation that the puroresu show was not the first time Machiavel had tried to make his move on his mother. Athena had not quite crossed the threshold when Machiavel grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around, making her freeze in surprise long enough for him to toss the mistletoe aside and draw her in close enough to press his lips to hers for a long kiss.
Silence enveloped the front porch of the Augustine home for all of three seconds before Athena swung her arm upward and brought her palm down hard across her former pupil’s bare cheek. The two stood there in a glimmer of shock, neither too sure of what had just happened.
“I’M GOING TO ******** KILL YOU, DE PALMA!”
Matthias’ primal roar echoed from the hallway as he catapulted himself out the front door in pursuit of Machiavel, now scrambling down the front steps toward the chariot that awaited at the end of the drive. Caliber let out staccato curses- ‘’- as he stumbled over the keys in the ignition and cranked the Rocket up and got the hell out. The camera followed Matthias in hot pursuit of Machiavel as he tailed Caliber around the curve at the edge of the Augustines’ home and the screen faded to black.
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2018 8:52 pm
The camera flickered to life again after the pursuit faded from the screen, as if the feed had suddenly shifted on command. The door that Athena had stormed out of in an earlier confessional flung open on its hinges, slamming against the wall of the booth as Matthias appeared with the producer on his heels, a vision of disheveled curls and face red and contorted from the exertion of bolting after Machiavel. His chest heaved with breath as he strode the length of the booth until he dropped himself into the plush chair, sinking into the cushions as he waited on his heart to quit pounding long enough to catch his breath to speak. Matthias was wiping the sweat from his brow as the camera crew scrambled to ready themselves for what he had to say. An assistant tossed a water bottle to Matthias, who intercepted it in mid-flight with an outstretched hand before struggling to twist the top off so he could drink. He had finally managed to take a draw of the water as the door flung open again, slamming against the same wall as the camera spun around to greet Athena. Anger etched itself across her face as she stormed to one end of the booth to grab a folding chair then walk toward her son, prying the chair open and placing it next to Matthias before taking a seat herself. Matthias gulped the water as he sat up straight, furrowing his brow in confusion as he turned to his mother.
“What are you doing here, Mom? This is my confessional.”
“If you’re coming here to talk about what just happened, it made more sense to kill two birds with one stone.”
“I… I can’t argue with that.”
Matthias exhaled sharply as he sunk back into the seat and squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for his heart to decrease as his mother adjusted her chair. The producer could be heard to clear their throat off-camera before speaking into the space between them, hoping to move the conversation forward.
“Well, why don’t you start with what happened?”
Athena furrowed her brow in disbelief before she turned toward her son, the two exchanging a glance before she motioned toward the producer to see if she had heard the question correctly. Matthias scoffed in amusement, shaking his head before he sighed and waited.
“What happened? I think anyone with a pair of eyes or two functioning ears or both knows what happened. Come on.”
The confessional grew quiet before Matthias broke the silence.
“Let me handle this, Mom.”
Matthias cleared his throat as he sat up straight in his chair.
“So what the camera didn’t see… was me chasing Valentino.”
“Yeah, you launched out of the door before I could stop you. Grams was on the phone with the police by the time you were around the corner.”
“Like that slimy b*****d would sit still long enough for the cops.”
Matthias shook his head before he continued on with his account of what occurred once the cameras stopped rolling.
“So Valentino is booking it, Caliber’s got a head start and I’m running after that redneck b*****d, too, for bringing Valentino out here… and we’re just running. I have to give the Italian credit; he was trying to lose me by running through yards, ducking behind cars, and ultimately Caliber and Valentino went separate ways. I lost them.”
Matthias exhaled sharply as he combed curls out of his face with one hand.
“What do you mean you lost them?”
“Exactly what I said. I lost them.”
“How do you lose a man on foot and a man on a Hoveround?”
“Simple. One ran me until I got winded- cardio was the last thing on my mind after I retired- and the other… ******** it, the Hoveround went off-road, Mom. Caliber strapped a Briggs and Stratton motor to a scooter and I don’t know how he did it but that scooter can handle natural terrain.”
“Jesus, Matty.”
Athena cursed under her breath as she threw her hands in the air in disbelief.
“What happened with the cops, Ma?”
“They filed a report. Valentino’s got some trespassing charges and a restraining order waiting on him. Caliber’s in the clear but I doubt you’ll be hearing from him for awhile.”
“Experience tells me otherwise… but one can hope.”
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