Post by Duane on Oct 10, 2022 17:31:00 GMT -5
Residence of Lisa Macdonald
Jamestown, New York
October 1, 2022, 12:56 p.m. local time
Jamestown, New York
October 1, 2022, 12:56 p.m. local time
I knew something had to be amiss when Amelia asked for the entire Nocturne Collective to be on a call. Normally when Nocturne’s booked, Amelia handles the call, two usually at most, based on where the show is that week. For her to want everyone on the Zoom call…it sounded like bad news.
It could just as well be the person Nocturne’s booked against, too. From what we’d seen on EXP, Donny Mason looked to be picking up a bit of a mean streak. That might be why Stephanie isn’t taking this without hesitation—Indiana fell into her domain after all. There wouldn’t be much time to think on it more, however—the call was scheduled to begin momentarily.
And as if the thought made it manifest, the window changed, and I was staring at six other women on the laptop screen. Sure, some of them looked to be in more “professional” settings like a home office or the like. I was the only one nestled in a beanbag chair in the living room huddled under a blanket.
Hey, I’m allowed my comforts, too!
“I call this Council of the Nocturne Collective to—” was all that Amelia got out before she was playfully jeered into silence by the rest of us. We never needed pomp and circumstance before, why start now?
“All right, all right, ladies. I know for some it’s still early in the day—” Amanda, obviously in her bedroom at her mother’s place, nodded in agreement. “—but I wanted everyone on the call for this one. Even Dani, who just came back from Vero Beach on a redeye yesterday.”
I quickly darted a glance at the square that held the newest, and youngest, member of the Collective. Amelia had shown me video of Dani training at The Aerie, and she already had a knack for the technical game even before they sent her off for additional training in Vero Beach at the Champions Advantage Performance Center. In my mind, despite not making her debut, she was already one of us.
“We all know Nocturne’s booked for the go-home to Triforce Heroes, against Donny Mason. It’s not the same Mason we’re used to, though. I’m hesitant to ask Stephanie to take this one as she’s been dealing with a nasty head cold, and I want something a little less…volatile…for Dani’s debut as Nocturne.”
“But, Amelia—”
“Dani, trust me. The last thing I need is something to happen, for Mason to exhibit some trait we’re not aware of and hurt you. We just got you back from Florida, I’m not about to let you get injured on your first go.”
To her credit, Danielle said nothing in rebuttal. Before anyone else could interject, I said something that I think surprised everyone but Amelia. “I’ll take it.”
I swear I saw Angelina give a sigh of relief—being based in Nashville, she would have likely been the next to be asked. She confirmed this a moment later. “Oh, thank you, Lisa. I have a show already scheduled here on the ninth.”
“Why are you stepping in, Lisa?” This was Amanda speaking from the west coast. “Last I heard you were basically our internal shrink and consultant.”
“Which I am, too—informally, of course. But I’m going a bit stir-crazy here. I need to get out of town for a bit, try to drive some of these thoughts away.”
“You okay, Lisa?”
I waved a hand up dismissively. “Nothing like that, Amelia. Just been thinking about the past recently. It was right around Halloween when I first met Kevin. Just a lot of old memories stirring up even though I’m not in the same area I used to live. Indiana’s far enough away to get my mind off of things for awhile.”
“You sure?”
“I’m fine, Steph. Don’t worry about me. Besides, y’all said that Donny looks like he’s turning a new leaf, right? Maybe it’s best to send in someone who can take whatever gets dished out. That’s where I come in.”
I won’t bore you with the rest of the thirty-minute conversation. Suffice it to say, when everyone hung up, concerns were eased and everyone was on the same page. I would finally be making my Level Up debut, some seven months after appearing as Nocturne for the first time in an event that I’m not even sure has ever reached the airwaves. As I closed the laptop, and settled further back into the beanbag chair, I started putting together a plan to get me through the next week and change, as my mind decided to take a different journey…
** ~~ ** ~~ **
Center Junction, Iowa
October 29, 2010, 8:44 p.m. local time
October 29, 2010, 8:44 p.m. local time
I can’t believe I got talked into this, into going to a haunted house attraction with some of the people from the show I was wrestling on tomorrow. But here I stand, at the back of a group of six following the path laid before us through the attraction. I knew there was at least one person behind me, probably a pair of kids—they kept peeking into the corners of my peripheral vision and were painted like zombies—but I was more worried about the scares that were obviously going to come from the front.
Progressing to the back of the building, we saw that it had been made to look like an asylum out of some butcher’s nightmare, with lots of fake blood and hanging body parts everywhere and a soundtrack of cackling, mad laughter. I had to give the place credit, they did a great job with the set. I had to force my attention to the front as the would-be doorkeeper banged on a heavy metal door and bellowed, “Fresh meat! Six more coming through!”
I couldn’t even begin to tell you what the interior looked like. Strobe lights made it impossible to get a sense of bearing, and the mad cackling being piped in over the speakers didn’t help much. It was only during one of those strobe pulses that I noticed one of the guys I had come with had dropped to a knee, both hands pressed hard against his eyes. I got to where I saw him, damn near tripped over him, and knelt beside him once I found myself in the right spot. “You alright?!”
“These strobes…making me sick if…I look too long.”
“This happen to you before?”
“No…” he managed to groan out.
“I can’t leave you in case you get worse! Can you at least get to your feet with your eyes shut like that?”
He tried, but a moment later dropped back to a knee. “Too…strong…”
Oh, fuck. I looked around, desperate to find an actor to try to stop the lights so we could get him out of there. That’s when I first saw him, opening one of the cell doors and shuffling over towards us in an effort to get us going before the next group came in, like a zombie. I’m certain I surprised him when I stepped inside his reach and leaned towards his ear. “The guy’s about to have a full seizure. Can we stop the lights so we can get him out?!”
Even behind the cosmetic contacts he was wearing, I saw recognition dawn on his face. With a surprising quickness—surprising my ass, he works here, he knows the layout in the dark!—he ran back towards the entrance point and pounded some sequence against the door. A moment later, the strobes stopped as did the loud laughter, and a dim light filled the room. He came back with a second person who was carrying a first aid kit. I led them to my companion, and out all four of us went through a hidden side door, into the cooler October night. The medic led my counterpart to a bench to sit down, while I kind of stood awkwardly next to the zombie I had shocked out of character.
Get rid of the makeup, get him in some actual clothes…he might clean up okay. I had to force the thought from my head—this was no time to be thinking about that.
“So, I have to ask,” the zombie said. “How do you—”
“Working with the guy in a couple of days. Pro wrestler. Just happen to have an idea of what could have happened and took a chance that you’d break kayfabe.”
The zombie nodded. “Good call. We’re supposed to be on the lookout for things like that but most patrons run from me when I start moving.”
“You’re a big guy, you obviously work out. Zombie or no, they see you coming in the dark and think you’re gonna break them. I don’t blame them either. Wasn’t for my job, I’d have shit myself too.”
A full-throated laugh met this quip, as the medic finally stood back up. “Your friend here will be good to go, long as he doesn’t drive home. Have a doctor check him for signs that he’s susceptible to seizures, even if this was the first time. We need to get set back up, the natives grow restless.”
I nodded at this, and felt a slight pang as the big zombie guy went back into the house. It didn’t dawn on me until later that I never got his name, but when people would ask me later how I met my husband, I could be honest with them.
I first met Kevin Macdonald at a haunted house attraction in Iowa. How’s that for something no one would believe?
** ~~ ** ~~ **
YouTube transcript
Uploaded to channel “NocturnalSonata”
October 8, 2022, 01:00 UTC
Uploaded to channel “NocturnalSonata”
October 8, 2022, 01:00 UTC
[[WARNING: THE FOLLOWING VIDEO CONTAINS STROBE-LIKE EFFECTS. IF YOU ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO PHOTOSENSITIVE EPILEPSY, CLOSE THIS VIDEO NOW.]]
…
[FADE IN to a dimly-lit crimson room. Against the back wall on the right is a gurney. A sink is in the other back corner, chipped and barely functional. Lying on the gurney, wrapped in a straightjacket, is Nocturne, facing the back wall and thus away from the camera.]
[The screen FLASHES every few seconds or thereabouts, showing Nocturne in various positions—sitting on the gurney, leaning over the sink, cross-legged on the floor screaming at the ceiling, running back and forth within the small room. As the pictures change, the FLASHES come more frequently. Eventually with one final FLASH, the screen goes dark as Nocturne charges at the camera.]
We all have our devils inside us. Some hide them better than others. Some let them out openly for the world to see. And some are just destined to escape when the time is perfect.
[FLASH. Nocturne now stands in the center of the screen, lit by a crimson spotlight.]
Donny Mason, you have kept your devils locked away for some time. Sure, we all know what they are—the shadow of your father, that lingering self-doubt about being able to be your father’s son, your lack of gold within Level Up—but you’ve always presented a different face to the world.
Until now.
Now you finally seem to have unlocked the door keeping them at bay, and are instead harnessing them for your benefit. It’s about time, Donny.
[FLASH. We are zoomed in close on Nocturne’s masked face, features almost indistinguishable due to the crimson lighting as she stares at the camera.]
You say you won’t spare lives, that you’ll take no prisoners. Who better, then, than the one member of the Nocturne Collective who is not afraid of death to be the one to welcome you back to Level Up? You see, Donny, all your bluster and bravado means bupkiss to me. Whatever you can throw at me, I’ve endured worse. Whatever you can think to say to me, I’ve heard worse. I have endured a waking nightmare for years. Your little temper tantrum is barely a wisp of a cloud passing in front of the moon on a cold winter’s night to me.
Until you prove it otherwise to me, and to the rest of Level Up, you’re just a young man swimming in the oversized boots of your father. You want the world to start thinking of you differently? Hell, I’m not a hard woman to find, Donny. I’ll be in Indianapolis soon enough. I don’t want your words to tell me you’re changing. I want to see your actions be the proof of it. So come on, Donny. Do your worst. Let’s see if you’re truly ready to hang with the so-called sellouts and those with no morality left to their name. Because if you’re not…
[FLASH. Nocturne is now standing beside a large bell as the sound of a bell echoes throughout. Hanging over her shoulder, held in both hands, is a sledgehammer.]
…if you’re not, Donny, then you’d best not ask for whom the bell tolls. Because it will be tolling for you.
[Nocturne brings the hammer around as if to hit the bell, but instead lets it fly from her hands. The hammer grows closer and closer to the screen before the image shatters, as if the window or mirror this is being viewed in breaks, and the sounds of the bell tolling in the background fade to silence.]
