knowtheskybeyond

[knowtheskybeyond]

Whumptober 2023 October 11, 2023 Animal Trap Adam Page

It wasn't easy for a man to admit that he was cornered. It wasn't easy for a man to admit that he was overwhelmed, or perhaps he had gotten in over his head and gotten himself into a situation that he couldn't get himself out of, not that easily anyway. This was the situation that Adam Page found himself in when he thought about what Swerve Strickland had done just a week before. When he thought about his adversary standing in the doorway of his autistic son’s room, standing over the safety bed of his autistic daughter. He had put those children in danger. He had brought his work home in a way he had promised he never would. He had always promised that whatever happened in the ring would stay there, and he wouldn't bring any angry adversariesA home to the two children who couldn't understand why people who were once their friends were now arguing with their father. He had promised himself that after he had had a break Auggie’s heart during the feud with FTR. Auggie had always been attached to the men enjoying new foods with them and babbling on about his love of trucks for as long as he could backstage with the pair of southern men. He had considered the two to be two of his closest friends, until his father had begun feuding with him. He didn't understand why these men that he had considered his friends for so long were no longer allowed to see him, or if they even wanted to see him.

Adam had promised himself that neither of his children would go through that kind of pain ever again, but he knew he was going to have to explain the shirt over Autumn’s safety bed, he knew he was going to have to explain thrift drawing that had been on their fridge the night before to Auggie when he found it. He couldn't just throw it away. Auggie was too perceptive he would notice it was gone. He was so in tune with his surroundings he noticed every little detail that changed from day-to-day. Especially when his art, his special interest was involved.

These were the tiny little details that were racing through his mind as he tried to free the little fox from the rusty trap in the woods behind his property. He hadn't even realized it was there before this moment or he would have cleaned it up ages ago. He never wanted to see anything get hurt, not like this. He tried to calm the wounded animal if you tried to release its back paw from the trap, but he couldn't help but wonder how ironic it was that he had found the animal that morning of all mornings. In all the years they had lived on this property he had never stumbled upon that trap. He had walked these woods hundreds of times and never noticed the rusty trap hidden in the leaves.

Was this what his family had become? Were they now a wounded pack of animals stuck in the trap or the web of Strickland’s making? Had he led his family right into the belly of the beast? He couldn't stop to think about those things now, shaken from his thoughts by the squeaking snap of the old trap on the ground. He watched the animal limp away before he even had time to try to look at how badly the little thing had been injured. He wasn't sure how well it would survive out there, but there wasn't much he could do about it now.

What he could do however was make sure that the man who tried to make a fox of his own family trapping them in their own web of his madness would pay for what he had done to the hangman's children. Adam didn't care what happened to him, on a certain level he didn't even care what happened to Nolee; she was a competitor she could take care of herself. She may have been a woman, but she was no damsel in distress. Their children however, it was different with them. They were outsiders. They were innocent. They didn't belong wrapped up in all of this mess just because another man didn't like the opportunities that Adam was getting. If this was the game that his adversary wanted to play, then that was perfectly fine with Adam. But next time? The hunter would become the prey.

[knowtheskybeyond]

Whumptober 2023 October 10, 2023 Alternate Prompt #1: Betrayal Hayden Marlowe/Jack Perry

Maybe Hayden should have seen this coming. Maybe there was some unwritten social cue he had missed. Maybe there was something he had said days ago, weeks ago, or maybe even longer Jack was holding against him. Hayden wasn't always the best at neurotypical social cues. Granted, he wasn't exactly sure that his boyfriend was neurotypical. Boyfriend? Former boyfriend? Hayden wasn't exactly sure what he was supposed to be calling the person that just a few minutes ago had attacked and turned his back on him. He knew this business wasn't one that was necessarily built on friendships, or any kind of relationship. The most memorable moments were those in the breakdown of a relationship. That didn't make things any easier though. He and Jack were supposed to be different. They understood each other in such a way that he wasn't sure anyone had ever understood him before. He hadn't needed to take the time to teach Jack sign since Jack already knew it and used it frequently. In moments when he didn't have the strength or the desire to use his voice, and Jack didn’t need words to communicate with each other. They didn't even need their hands at some moments. They just understood each other.

So why could Hayden suddenly not understand what Jack was doing now? Why was Jack suddenly acting so seemingly out of character? Hayden was used to being the one who had done something wrong. After all his parents had kicked him out when he was a young teenager just because they couldn't handle the symptoms that were likely signs of autism, they would never get him diagnosed with. It was the man who would become sort of a surrogate father figure to him after discovering him sleeping behind his house that would finally get Hayden diagnosed. It was also through Taz that Hayden would discover his love for professional wrestling, and by extension later his love for his boyfriend Jack Perry.

Hayden hadn't had a meltdown like this one in many years. He could barely see a few feet in front of him because of how flurry his vision had gone. He had barely made it to his private locker room space before collapsing in the floor a shaking mess. He wasn't sure when the older man had arrived but the first sensation he remembered feeling clearly was that of being scooped up into his surrogate father's arms.

“I got you kid,” he spoke softly. “He's gonna pay for this I promise you that.”

Hayden focused on the familiar accent trying to find anything that he could latch on to. Even with the door to the room closed he felt as though he could hear every single sound in the hallway outside it. His ears felt as though he could probably hear every sound for miles. He was so hypersensitive that he swore he could feel the individual threads in the hoodie that he wore. He tried to raise his hands to sign something to the other, but they were shaking too badly to form anything coherent.

“You ain't gotta say nothing,” Taz said. “You can talk to me when you're ready, but until then don't push yourself too hard okay kid?” Hayden may not have been biologically his, but for the last ten years Taz had looked after the young, abandoned boy, and considered him his son just as he would have if he had been his own by blood. He had fought with the court system for two years to get guardianship over Hayden when he was sixteen years old, and though he hadn't ever told the young boy he had a strong desire to eventually adopt him, but he didn't want to push him too far. He knew how hard major changes, and strong emotions could be for him. These exact things were the reason why the young boy sat trembling and sobbing in his arms. Jack Perry was lucky that Taz couldn't go out and try to find him himself. He was lucky that he was no longer an active competitor, not that he needed a ring to go after the person that had hurt his son so deeply. He knew that all of Hayden’s things were likely still with Jack. That made him all the angrier. Hayden didn't have access to the things that he would usually use to ground him in a moment like this because they were with the person who was the very reason why he needed those coping devices.

He needed to find someone he trusted to bring Hayden’s bag back to him. He needed those things to get him grounded again, or this meltdown was going to lead to a stay in the hospital, and those were never easy for Hayden. He sat the young boy down on a small black couch in the corner. “I'll be right back I promise.”

He stepped out into the hallway, closing the door behind him hoping to muffle some of the loudness of his voice, though he knew in Hayden’s current state it wasn't going to matter much. “Hey,” he shouted into the full hallway “I need somebody to go and get my boy's bags from Perry, if you let me get anywhere near him, we're going to have a dead body on our hands.”

It was Kelani Johnson that made her way over to him. The worry for her friend was clearly etched on her face. “I can go and get them for you,” she offered. “I don't know why Jack is acting like this, especially knowing what this would do to Hayden. This just doesn't seem like him.”

“I ain't got time to worry about the house and the wise,” Taz sighed. “I gotta worry about keeping my boy for making himself sick and ending up in a strange hospital overnight. It's hard enough when we're home.”

Kelani frowned and turned in the direction of Jack's locker room. “I'll make sure he has what he needs, and you can message me anytime if you need anything else for him. He's one of my best friends and I hate to see him hurting like this.”

“I appreciate it, kid. We'll be right here in this room until he's ready to go. The arena staff can take it up with me if they've got an issue with it. I'm not moving him until he's ready. Trying to change too much too fast is only going to make this worse, and I haven't seen a meltdown like this since he was a teenager. They don't normally manifest themselves like this. Normally they manifest in anger, but we ain't got time to go through all that. We'll be waiting here when you get his things.” He watched her go off down the hallway before returning to the room with Hayden. At least he knew even in a moment like this that Hayden had friends he could rely on. He was going to get his boy through this, and he was going to have Jack Perry's head.

[knowtheskybeyond]

Whumptober 2023 October 9, 2023 Polaroid | Mistaken Identity | “You're a liar.” Chuck Mambo/Jackson Flint

Chuck didn't even know why he still had the small box of Polaroid photos from the summer vacation that he and Jackson had taken all those years ago. They had gone on a week-long trip with Chuck 's sister Eloise. They rented out a small beachfront property just big enough for the three of them and spent the week relaxing on the Welsh coastline without a care in the world. The photos had come from the instant Polaroid camera that Eloise had bought for the trip. She had always been the type that enjoyed the vintage aesthetic. Chuck had kept a small cigarette box under his bed with all the photos from that trip tucked neatly inside it. At least he had thrown the photos in that box a few days after Jackson had left him without so much as a word to say goodbye.

He hadn't looked at those photos in years. It was far too painful for him. That week had been the happiest that he thought they had ever been in their entire relationship, and he couldn't look back on those happy times without bringing himself to wonder what had gone wrong. What had he done to push away a man that he loved so deeply? Jack knew that he could be a little too much sometimes. He could be a little too hyper for the taste of most men, his smoking habit could be a little too much for some. Both things had been points of contention in his relationship with Spike Trivet at one time or another after Jackson had left. He had always been a man of high energy, some even suspected the Welshmen had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but he always found the smoking to be the one thing that would calm him down.

He'd given up cigarettes a long time ago, sometime shortly after he had been kicked out of do not resuscitate. Marijuana, however, was a different story. He found after Jackson's abandonment that he was smoking more than he ever had before. Even to the point that her sister was bringing it to his attention. It was the only thing that calmed his racing thoughts, his racing heart. It was the only thing that made him not want to scream into the very waves that had taken his Jackson away from him.

He didn't visit the coast as much anymore. He still enjoyed the beach as much as he always had but he tried to find places that weren't the ones that he and his sailor used to frequent. New bars, new beaches, new friends to play volleyball with. None of them filled the void, however. None of them could stop the aching in his chest. None of them could replace the warmth that he felt when he heard Jackson laugh.

He had tried with Spike for a while, and in the beginning, things had been fine, but Spike’s propensity for the finer things in life and Chuck 's desire to get out on a dingy sailboat and cut and cook a fish right there on the shoreline didn't mix very well. Spike was often too concerned about getting sand on his designer suits to really enjoy the more spontaneous time on the beach that they had together. Their happier moments were always in opulent hotels, or in Spike’s extravagant manor. Truck had loved the Englishman with all his heart, but they were very different people. That had become easy to see toward the end of their Escape the Midcard days.

It had been years now since those photos had been taken, years even since Chuck had laid eyes on them. As he lay in bed in the small two-room flat he was sharing with Eloise now a bottle of coconut rum sat open on his bedside table, a small joint sat burning out in the ashtray as he stared up at the ceiling taking in the joint between his fingers. Nothing he had tried to do to fill the void was working. No one in this world had made him feel as alive as Jackson Flint had had once made him feel. Even on the tag team run of his life with TK at his side, Chuck felt empty. He put on a smile for the crowds in the ballroom, for the crowds in Brighton, and sometimes for his sister; but Chuck couldn't remember the last time that he truly felt anything.

Well, that wasn't completely true. There was one night that he did remember feeling something: absolute terror.

It had been about a year or so ago give or take, Chuck wasn't exactly sure on time these days. He remembered sitting bolt upright in bed, and screaming until Eloise came to his side. The only thing he could tell her was he felt as though Jackson was gone. That didn't make any sense however, because he knew just by turning on his television that his Jackson was perfectly fine. Alive and well and living his life without him, his Jackson didn't need him anymore. Chuck wished he could learn how to not need Jackson anymore as well, but it seemed utterly impossible. Everything about Chuck Mambo was so intrinsically linked to Jackson Flint that he barely knew how to breathe without the other at his side. That's why he had felt so immeasurably empty in the last few years.

He stood up from the bed and knelt beside it pulling the cigarette box from beneath it and setting it atop a small blue pillow on the left side of the bed. He settled cross legged on the bed, took a long swig of the coconut rum and opened the box. He wasn't sure if it was something within his emptiness, the weed, or the rum but something made him pick his phone up from the bedside stand and send one simple text message to a number he had never been able to forget.

I miss you.

[knowtheskybeyond]

Whumptober 2023 October 8, 2023 Overcrowded ER | Outnumbered | “It’s all for nothing.” Drew Gulak/Jordan James

Iatrophobia (noun) iat·​ro·​pho·​bia

Definition: an intense fear of doctors

Having such a phobia could be hard enough for a person. Having such a phobia as a person who was HIV positive, is an entirely different animal. Jordan always hated places like this. He had hated them since he was a small child. His parents often thought that as he got older, he would overcome the phobia and get used to the level of medical care that someone in his condition would need, after all what six-year-old child was just going to be used to the number of needles that an HIV positive child was going to be subjected to especially in the early days of HIV treatment. As Jordan grew older however he didn't adjust. In fact, the phobia he developed as a child seemed to only grow worse as he grew older. He seemed to internalize the years of fear that his parents didn't allow him to show and because of this the fear only grew worse as he grew older. There had been times in his late teens and early 20s that he had been practically unconscious when Charlie had brought him to the local emergency room.

On this night, however, he didn't have the option to wait until he was too weak to make it to the ER himself. This time he was in New York all on his own. Charlie was away with AEW as the head of their medical team, and Drew hadn't even made it back home from the most recent round of NXT tapings, let alone to be able to make it to New York to be at the ER with him. Jordan was on his own this time. There was no one to help him through the panic that was coursing through his veins, but there was also no one to keep him in that emergency room. There was no one to stop him from running out that door and going back to his apartment. Every fiber in his being wanted to get up from that chair and hurried down to the subway. Instead, he pulled his phone from his pocket, and sent a message to his partner.

So, I don't want you to panic, but I need you to tell me not to leave this ER right now.

Okay so first off why are you sitting in an emergency room right now???

Jordan expected the question as soon as he sent the text. He expected his partner would be texting Charlie as soon as he had the opportunity. Conversations like this had been common between him and his sister when they were living alone, or she was traveling for work. Now he had the added factor of explaining these things to Drew and Tony as well.

Just a little weak and feverish. Nothing you need to worry about. Just wanted to get it checked out just to be on the safe side but every single bone in my body says run out of here and I need you to tell me not to do that. I swear there's a person in every single seat in this ER. It feels as though the walls are getting ready to close in on me.

Okay, well First off, I'm proud of you for making the decision to go and get yourself looked at. I know that wasn't easy for you and I know you don't want to be there. If you made it this far though you can't just get up and leave before you're seen to. I'm sorry that I can't be there with you, but you can text me the entire time you're there I promise.

Thanks darlin'. I knew it was only going to get worse if I just laid there. As much as I absolutely despise the thought, I'm not going to get any composing done feeling like this. I feel like I'm really at a breakthrough with the support group scene and I'm not gonna get any work done on it if I can barely get myself out of bed. It's been years since the demo for Burn All Night dropped and I haven't put out any new work since. I have to put out new work I have to stay relevant.

You obviously haven't been listening to Vienna lately. You're too hard on yourself Jordan and don't give me any of that pot and cut all stuff either. You'll put out the new work when it's ready and not a moment sooner. You can't be everything you want to be before your time. Remember?

Jordan drew in a slow calming breath. Drew was right, of course he was right he always was. Even if he wanted to stay up for the next six days in a row to work on this scene, it wasn't going to be good for the health of the work or for his health to do so; but it did distract him from his panic to talk about the work instead.

Of course, you're going to use that song against me. I never should have told you how much I love that song.

I can't help that it's relevant and it works.

Jordan let out a soundless laugh from under the mask that he wore. Drew always knew exactly what to say to calm him down, and even without having the older man at his side he felt a little less alone even just having the small screen in his hand.

Let Tony and Charlie know that I'm okay. I'll text you periodically and let you know how things are going. They're calling me back now, so I'll let you know how things go once doc comes back to see me. I love you. Don't stay up all night worrying about me.

With that Jordan pocketed his phone and followed the nurse that called his name down the long hallway to an examination room. It was going to be a long night, he knew that ER visits were never easy things, but at least he knew that, Drewould be right there on the other end of the phone whenever he needed him.

[knowtheskybeyond]

Whumptober 2023 October 7, 2023 Alternate Prompt #7: Examination Brody King/ Moira Jade King

There were many people in Moira's life who didn't think that she was going to make it as a doctor. Being the only Deaf member of her family, she felt the perceived limitations of her disability placed on her from a very early age. One thing that they didn't count on however, was how her deafness would heighten her perception of other things around her. That morning, her husband Brody was still fast asleep in their bedroom, and their children were staying with her mother for the week. Moira was typically the first one to wake. It was a pattern she developed even when she and Brody were still dating. She was nervous about letting their relationship get out in the beginning, so she often made a habit of leaving his hotel room before anyone could notice she had been there. She supposed now that that habit had formed somewhere due to the shame that had been forced upon her. She had always been taught that she would be a burden to whatever partner she ended up with if she ended up with anyone at all.

The longer the morning went however, Moira was beginning to grow concerned. It had been several hours since she had gotten out of bed and yet there was no sign of her husband. This wasn't like him. half an hour to an hour after she woke was one thing but several hours later it's just completely out of character. She made her way down the long hallway between their kitchen and their bedroom to go and check on her husband. Typically, if he had been still in bed and she needed his attention she would have flashed the lights in the bedroom but something that morning told her not to. This was so atypical of him that her typical routine didn't seem correct. She stood in the doorway of the dimly lit room, the only light coming from the small window across from their bed as it's shown between the curtains. She could tell even from where she stood that he was paler than he typically was. She knew this was going to be a long day.

“Brody?” Her voice, and her deaf accent as it was known in her community was a high pitched almost squeak of a sound. She didn't like to use it, but she felt like this was an appropriate time.

Brody stirred slightly in their bed but did not move before a deep cough rattled in his chest.

Moira didn't have to hear the sound so now exactly how it was racking her husband's body. She took a few steps back to grab a black leather bag she kept in the hall closet. It looked like the bag that doctors would carry to house calls in old period pieces. Moira used it to keep all her supplies whenever they were on the road. She knew they could provide her with new versions of certain supplies, but she kept her own stock and had certain things that she preferred anyway. She sat the bag down beside the bed and moved to set on its edge. When she placed her hand down to brace herself, she could feel the cooling puddle of sweat below her husband's body. Whatever this was had taken deep root in his body at some point throughout the night. She reached out the hand to stroke his cheek and could feel the heat radiating off him. She needed to get a temperature as soon as possible. If this was something serious, she would ask her mother to keep the children for a little while longer. It would have been best if they didn't expose them after all. She had to think about how to take care of all her family, not just herself and Brody.

Brody stirred again at his wife's touch bleary eyes blinking open slowly. “Moi…” he spoke softly before signing her name. He was grateful she couldn't hear how weak his voice was. He gave her a gentle smile before signing carefully, “you look upset is everything all right?”

“You're burning up,” she signed in response.

He waved his hand dismissively “I'm fine it's nothing you need to worry about.”

“You're lying in a puddle like our toddler wet the bed.”

“It's nothing really, probably just a little bug. I'll get over it in a day or two.”

“You can say it's nothing as many times as you want, but that's not going to stop me from taking a look at you. You married a doctor; you knew what you were signing up for.”

“You already brought the bag in while I was sleeping, didn't you?”

The grin on his wife's face told Brody everything he needed to know. She had been plotting several steps ahead while he was still fast asleep, his chest rattling with every breath, even more so than the typical snore that occasionally woke him up in his own sleep. That was also something he was grateful that Moira didn't have to deal with, but he often wondered if the vibrations had ever woken her up. He raised his hands to sign in protest when he noticed the hand shape that her hands were beginning to make.

“Nathan.”

There it was. What was known in his industry as his shoot name. The couple had always used both in tandem with each other, flowing easily between the two. She only called him Nathan in more serious moments, or more intimate ones. He supposed that this was a little bit of both. There wasn't anyone else who saw him like this, and he wasn't exactly in the greatest shape right now. His hands dropped quietly to his side ready to answer any of her questions but knowing there was no point in arguing this anymore. He watched her with soft adoring eyes as she ran the temporal thermometer across his forehead. He could see the focus in her face even on such a simple task and he loved to see her in her element, even if he was her patient. That was how they met after all.  Had he not ended up in the ER on a random stop in Connecticut on his way home all those years ago, he never would have met the love of his life.

She shook her head at the reading on the thermometer. “That's a rather high fever,” she sighed with a frown. “Can you tell me what else is bothering you?”

“My chest feels like I've got like seven men sitting on top of me,” he signed before breaking into a coughing fit. “My throat feels like it's on fire and my head is killing me.”

Moira's frown grew deeper as her eyebrows knitted with concern. She pulled her digital electronic stethoscope from her bag, “you think you can set up for me?” She signed slowly.

Brody moved himself carefully to a sitting position, his legs dangling off the edge of the bed as if they were dangling off the edge of a doctor's office exam table, after all that's practically what his bedroom had become. He wanted to do everything that he could to help his wife look after him the way that she wanted to. She was only trying to look out for him even if all he wanted to do was sleep. He had been in awe of the digital electronic stethoscope the first time he had seen it. He had had no exposure to adapted medical equipment before he had met Moira. But for the first time he had seen her in that emergency room he had never seen a Doctor Who had needed something like that before but now he knew he would do anything to make sure that Moira had it if she needed it. He followed her instructions as she allowed the stethoscope to take recordings of his heart and lungs that she could amplify to hear them better. Even all these years later he was still amazed by it.

“You're wheezing,” she told him, her hand reaching out to take his for a moment. “It's not terrible but definitely something I want to keep an eye on.”

As soon as she moved toward the bag Brody could hear the rustle of packaged paper. He knew that was the sound that often accompanied the tongue depressors that she kept in her bag. He let out a soft sigh and opened his mouth knowing what was coming. If he was going to be stuck being her patient for the day, he was at least going to be a well-behaved one. After all, it certainly could have been worse than having his wife looking after him. He sat perfectly still, almost like a statue as she examined him. There was a comfort and having someone who would go to these lengths to make sure that he was taken care of. After a few more minutes of diligently following her instructions, he raised his hands to sign with a sheepish grin. “So, what's the verdict doc?”

“Likely the flu,” she explained, “I'm sure we've still got some flu meds in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. I'll walk down and get you some, and then I'll put some soup on the stove.” She laughed softly “at least you'll have your own personal care team to look after you for the next few days.”

“I wouldn't want it any other way sweetheart,” he said before reaching to take her hand and give it a squeeze before kissing the back of it. “I'm so damn lucky to have you.”

[knowtheskybeyond]

Whumptober 2023 October 6, 2023

Recording | Made to Watch | “It should have been me.” Wheeler and Wynn Yuta Trigger Warning: Transphobia

Every single time that Wheeler woke up so the sound of his sibling screaming, his heart sunk a little bit more. He knew exactly what those screams were from, exactly what events had caused them. It wasn't any one singular event though; it was years and years of repeated abuse by their father. It was years of being caught in wheeler's clothes and beaten for the simple act of wearing the garment that made them the most comfortable. Wheeler would never understand it. He would never be able to understand but something as simple as his sibling wanting to wear a hoodie and a pair of jeans instead of a long pink flowing gown was something that upset, and in their father’s mind disrespected him so much. Even years later he had absolutely no understanding of it. It was just close, or in the beginning it had been.

He would come to understand in later years that for his sibling it was so much more than just close. For Wynn, it was who they were not what they wore. They had started borrowing their brother’s clothes as early as twelve years old, but they didn't start broaching the idea of a different gender identity with their father until they were about fifteen. That was when everything started to get worse. The beatings grew more intense, and the language used against his sibling became so vile the Wheeler felt as though he was going to be sick even thinking about trying to repeat it now.

As he sat on the edge of the bed where his siblings slept in the apartment, they shared with their new surrogate father and trainer Drew Gulak, Wheeler reached out to gently stroke his sibling 's arm. “He can't get to you anymore Wynn,” he said softly. “He's never going to hurt you again I promise.” He had spoken those words almost a thousand times since they had left the home they had grown up in and gone out to fend for themselves. The early days weren't easy, but none of that mattered any more. What mattered now was the anger that Wheeler felt when he realized just how deeply his sibling had been hurt by the years and years of abuse they had suffered. To see them all these years later still waking up in the middle of the night screaming and afraid of the man that was supposed to protect them made his blood boil. The one thing a parent was supposed to do was keep their child safe, instead their father had become his siblings greatest fear.

“It was the birthday again,” the younger whimpered. “My 16th birthday and that damn dress.” They wiped their eyes and sat up in bed a little. They had barely moved from the position they had been sleeping in even when the nightmare woke them with a scream. They had found in these later years they didn't have the energy to set up immediately. The energy that it took just to relive that trauma was more than they could handle at first.

Wheeler knew exactly what they were talking about, he always did. He remembered every single beating he hadn't been able to stop. He remembered every single time when they were younger, and he had been too cowardly to say anything to their father. He remembered every single time he had failed his younger sibling. “I should have done more for you,” he said quietly drawing in a slow, sharp breath. “I should have stopped him sooner. I should have gotten you out of there sooner. I should have taken the beatings myself, stepped in between the two of you and stopped him from ever laying a hand on you. It should have been me. It should be me that has to be the one to deal with all these ghosts that you have to carry now. I'm the older one I'm supposed to be the protector, and I couldn't do that for you.”

“You were just a kid, Wheeler,” Wynn insisted. “We were both just kids, and as soon as it was safe for you to get me out of there you did. If we had left sooner, what would we have done? We had to steal to get by anyway, can you imagine if we had been any younger? Can you imagine if you had gotten me out of there when I was twelve? You were barely in high school then. You couldn't have gotten a job to find us a place to stay, we would have ended up on the street, or wards of the state. If we had tried to do things the legal way, it would have been his word versus ours. Even if they had taken us out of the house, they probably would have separated us. You did what you could to keep us together, and you did what you could to keep me safe while we were stuck in that house. There's nothing else that you could have done.”

The younger’s brown eyes looked up to meet their brother’s. “You can't blame yourself for what you did or didn't do when we were children, that isn't fair to you. The reality is you got me out, and that's what's important here. You saved my life Wheeler. That's the truth of it. I'm sure if we hadn't gotten out when we did, that he probably would have killed me. I'm sure of it. I've had plenty of nightmares about that exact thing. I can almost feel what it would have been like. That is in our reality though, because you got me out of there. You are my hero, plain and simple. I won't have you over here beating yourself up over details of the situation that there's no way you could have changed. I'm still alive because you got me out of there. That's all that matters now, okay?”

Wheeler slipped into the bed beside his sibling and wrapped his arms carefully around their waist. “I'll stay with you for the rest of the night, that way I'll be right here if it happens again.” He let his sibling rest their head on his chest as he had many times over the years. Maybe they were right, maybe he had done everything he could, but that didn't change the fact that he would blame himself for the rest of his life for what happened to his sibling.

[knowtheskybeyond]

Whumptober 2023 October 5, 2023 Debris | Pinned Down | “It's broken.” Charlotte James and Spike Trivet

Even if it was her job, Charlotte James hated to be the one to tell anyone that she worked with that they would have to be on the injured list for any length of time. As a medic however, she had done this several times. She had been the one to tell the young man known in the ring as Kid Lykos that he would miss most of the 2018 year due to repeated shoulder injuries. It broke her heart every single time. This time was no different. It was several hours after progress wrestling 's biggest event yet, hello Wembley. The largest independent wrestling event in British wrestling history. Now, here she was sitting in an accident and emergency department waiting to hear from the team overseeing the care of one of her talents. She hated turning the care of those that she had been entrusted to look after over to the care of the local hospital, but there were times that it simply couldn't be helped, and this was one of those times.

She knew the moment that she saw Simon land that something was seriously wrong. She had gotten used to being able to tell which ones were going to need her care as soon as she saw the moment happen. Her years in the business had made it easier for her to detect at this point. Sitting in the hospital she knew the news wasn't going to be good, and she knew that Simon wasn't going to take it from anyone other than her. She had explained her possession as the company's head medic to some of the team who were taking care of Simon now that he was in the hospital and asked them if she could be the one to deliver the news to him whenever they officially had his diagnosis. She knew that Simon had a... difficult medical history, known to those closest to him as a years long battle with hypochondria. She expected anxiety disorder, and form of obsessive-compulsive disorder started when Simon was quite young. It wasn't uncommon for some traumatic event to be the cause of a condition such as this one. She knew because of his past that she would have to be the one to deliver the news. Even if he heard it from another doctor, he wasn't going to believe it until he heard it from her.

They had developed a mutual respect, and he had developed a trust in her that she wasn't sure he held in anyone else. What she didn't think that anyone else on the roster knew was it the two had a shared trauma that they had bonded over in her years with the company. She wheeled herself over to a seat close to the nurses’ station, and waited for word of what was going on with the young man in her care.

“Charlotte?” A young woman moved slowly in her direction. She recognized her as one of the nurses she had spoken to earlier in the evening. “We just finished his X-rays; he didn't even want to look at them.”

“I didn't suspect that he would,” she said shaking her head slightly. “That's why I warned you he wouldn't take the news from any of you. Even if all he had to do was turn his head and look at that X-ray, he didn't want to hear it that way. If it's all right with you, I'll take the films and I'll head into his room. I have a feeling this isn't going to be an easy conversation.”

The nurse said the folder of X-ray films on the smaller woman's lap. “You can find him in room seventeen,” she explained. “If things get ugly, I've already alerted our security. He hasn't been in the greatest of mood since he got here, but we're used to that kind of thing.”

“I don't think that'll be necessary, but I appreciate it nonetheless,” she turned her chair to face the hallway she would head down to make her way to his room. She had had enough X-rays in her lifetime to know that if they were developed this quickly, the hospital staff had the same suspicion that she did. She made her way slowly to room seventeen and knocked lightly on the open wooden door.

“I told you I didn't want to see anyone until you were able to give...” The younger of the pair began to rattle off, not even looking up from his phone.

“I can go if you want me to, sugar,” she said with a slight laugh. Of course, he wasn't going to expect them to give the films directly to her. She had prepared for this though. She always wanted to be the one in charge of the care of the talents that she worked with even if this wasn't in her jurisdiction.

“No, wait I do apologize Charlotte, I wasn't expecting you so soon. These damned A&E people don't know what they're doing.”

She sighed softly and wheeled herself over to his bedside, her hands coming to rest folded above the folder that would determine how long it would be before this young man would see and ring action again. It was this moment just before she told them what the outcome was that she always dreaded the most. Those last few seconds before they knew what their future held always seemed to drag on like eons. “You're talking to Chuckie?” She asked softly, “he coming to pick you up?”

“Just get on with it, Charlotte.”

“It's broken,” she said simply “it isn't a break that requires surgery, in fact I would say you could even appear in ring with the cast on. That's up to Jim and the others of course, but even so I would recommend you take some time off to get some rest. A break like this needs time to heal Simon. If you don't give it time to heal it's just going to cause you pain for longer than it needs to.”

“Charlotte, you, and I both know that I have been in pain for a very long time. There isn't much of my life where I don't remember pain. Perhaps this pain is some sort of karmic justice for the evil deeds that I have done. Either way, pain is nothing new to either one of us. I will take some time if you insist, because I know you can simply refuse to sign my medical release form and I know that you will,” he looked up at her with a smirk, almost a smile on his lips, “just know that I am most certainly not happy about it, Missus James.”

She knew despite the look on his face that Simon was probably more unhappy about the situation than he was letting on, but he respected her enough to hold back his anger. The fact that she had given him at least a partial green light to appear in the ring with the cast on probably gave him more hope as well. At least in this case there was a somewhat positive outcome, and she would be sure to check in on occasion to make sure he was holding to his recovery plan over the next several months.

[knowtheskybeyond]

Whumptober 2023 October 4, 2023 Cattle Prod | Shock | “You in there?” House of Black (OC version) ft Rory Cullen

Malakai knew as soon as he didn't see the young girl in the hotel room when he walked down the hall to check on her that something was most certainly wrong. He knew Lenora was not going to be in the greatest spirits after losing her match at WrestleDream for the TBS championship. He knew what the young blonde was capable of when she felt that she had failed the other members of the House, the other members of her family. He had seen exactly what those emotions could drive the young woman to do after the loss of the trios championships in London.

“Lenora?” he called out into the room but received no reply, “Lenora you do not have to hide from me.” The longer that he did not see the woman the more concerned her surrogate father figure became. He walked over to the small closet in the right corner of the room and rapped lightly on its door. “Lenora, you in there?” he asked softly sitting down outside the closet just out of range of the door.

He knew it could be dangerous if Lenora had placed herself in a closet like this after her traumatic upbringing with grandparents who locked her in the closet for several hours on end. If she had placed herself in the closet, then she was at her lowest point. He was simply grateful not to hear the crack of a whip in the deafening silence of the hotel room. He had heard that sound in London and he never wanted to hear it again. He pulled his phone from his pocket and sent a quick group message to the other two members of the house, Jackson Flint and Micah Kent. He knew it was going to take all three of them to coax Lenora out of the closet. He sent a secondary text to Kent in particular, bring the Irishman.

Micah knew when he received that text exactly how serious the situation was. Involving outsiders in house business was not something that Malakai was known for typically doing. It wasn't even something that he did when Jackson was engaged to a woman outside the house. If it was bad enough that their leader was allowing an outsider into the situation just how dark of a situation would he be walking into when he walked into that hotel room?

He arrived minutes after receiving the original text side by side with his housemate and dragging his fiance along. It was obvious from the look on Rory Cullen’s face that he knew just how serious this was and perhaps he had even dealt with a situation like this before.

It was Jackson who spoke first “’ow long has she been in there?” He asked his voice barely above a whisper but his accent heavy on his words as he worried about the woman he grew to consider a sister.

Malakai didn't move from his position by the closet door. “I've been in here for at least ten minutes,” he explained eyes not leaving the white door in front of him. “I don't know how long she was in there before I got here, however.”

“She prob’ly shut ‘erself off in there as soon as she got to the hotel,” an Irish lilt said in response. “When she's real upset she doesn't give you the time to try to stop her, she doesn't want to be stopped she thinks she has to suffer.” Rory moved slowly toward the closet door slightly raising the volume of his voice as he did, “but you don't ‘ave to suffer Nora, you didn't do anythin’ wrong, you didn't fail anyone, you didn't let anyone down. Nobody in this room is angry with you, except for yourself. I'm not gonna tell you how to feel, I'm not gonna tell you not to be angry, because I know I'd be damn angry if it were me I know how hard I can be on myself, but you always told me not to be so hard on myself and now it's my turn to try and make you take your own advice.”

“You don't have to say anything, you don't even have to come out of the closet if you don't want to,” Jackson began his voice shaking ever so slightly, “just open the door so that we can see that you’re okay.” He hated seeing her like this. He had blamed himself for the incident that happened in London, and a part of him was never going to be able to let that go, to be able to forget the sound of the whip cracking against her skin, or cleaning the blood from her back when they finally got her to leave the closet later that night. He hated to see her suffering like that again, and he knew any minute that sound could start up and he would have to deal with that all over again. He would have to see her like that all over again.

“Just leave me alone,” Lenora finally spoke after several minutes of silence, “I'm not worth all of you out there fussing over me. I failed tonight and there's no way around that. I failed and now I have to pay for that failure. I promised you I would never do...that again, but if the only way that I can make myself suffer from my failure is to keep myself locked in this closet until tomorrow morning, then that's what I'll do. That's what I deserve.”

Malakai took a slow deep breath. “Lenora, out of respect for you I have not attempted to open the closet door since I have been here, but if I believe that you are a danger to yourself I will be forced to open the door myself and remove you from that space. I do not want to have to do that, but what I want to do is protect you even if I have to protect you from yourself.” He took a moment to gather his words. “I would not be a very good father to you if I allowed you to sit in that closet and punish yourself for some perceived slight when I know that I am the one you think you've slighted. As Mr. Cullen said, none of us are angry with you, especially not me. I could never be angry with you, dear daughter. I am right outside the door, as are the others and we will be here to get you through whatever emotions you feel so suffocated by right now.”

“I can order ice cream, yes and you can use my chest as a punching bag if you need to,” Micah offered softly. He reminded her so much of the moments that his teenage daughter would lock herself in her room when she was going through particularly intense emotions. The only thing he wanted to do was to come for her in any way he could.

“If Malakai doesn't open the door in the next five minutes, then I'm goin’ to be the one to do it,” Rory spoke simply. “You can hate me if you want to, you spent enough of the last few years doing that that it won't be anythin’ new, but I'm not gonna let you stay in there like this.”

It only took a few more moments before the closet door slowly swung open. Lenora sat with her back to the closet wall and her knees pulled tightly to her chest. Her mascara marked out long black road maps of her suffering along her cheeks. She didn't look up at any of the four men in the room. She didn't say a word, but she didn't need to. The others knew that this was going to be a long night, and she was going to need a lot of care and attention to come back from this, but none of them cared. The important thing at that moment was that she was safe, they would be there to pick up the rest of the pieces however long it took.

[knowtheskybeyond]

Whumptober 2023 October 3, 2023 Journal | Solitary Confinement | “Make it stop.” Eddie Edwards/Audrina Collette

Eddie wouldn’t go back to that place. He couldn’t. Even the thought of the small room he had spent six long months of his life trapped inside made his chest tighten. He could already feel the walls he had long escaped closing in around his racing mind. He couldn’t go back to that situation. He would rather die than end up in that room again—and she had promised that it would never happen again.

Audrina had been his light in the darkness. Audrina had been his savior. Not Lyra. Not his Davey. Audrina. Audrina had been the one to insist that she could take care of him if they let him out of that hospital, and she did. Audrina had been there for the nightmares, and the screaming. Audrina had been there to hold him while he shook, mentally running from demons he couldn’t even name.

She had been there when no one else had, and now she needed something from him. She wanted him by her side in Honor No More. It seemed incredibly simple, and the least that Eddie could do for everything Audrina had done for him.

When Eddie signed his name to that dotted line, he didn’t realize he would be trading one solitary life for another altogether.

[knowtheskybeyond]

Whumptober 2023 October 2, 2023 Thermometer | Delirium | “They don't care about you.” Mike Bennett/Roderick Strong/Matt Taven

Matt Taven paced the floor of the large, opulent main bedroom of Destiny Layfield’s extravagant mansion. “This is bullshit, Rod! This is bullshit, and you know it!” he said with a huff. “When are you going to realize the reality of the situation?”

“What exactly is that Matt?” Roddy asked, stretching out in the comfortable pillowtop bed.

“She doesn’t care about you!” Matt snapped. “They don’t care about you!”

“Matt, I think you’re being a little hard on him…” Mike frowned.

“He’s completely blind to the truth, Mike!” Matt insisted. “They’re supposed to be together, but he’s always the least important one there! It’s always what Adam wants, or god forbid what her precious baby boy Kyle wants! They’re her favorites, it’s obvious, and that’s just not how polyamory works! It’s just not! She should be here with you, but of course the minute that Adam is in danger, she doesn’t care about you. I don’t think the ever has.”

Roddy frowned deeply. “Of course, she cares about me. Des has always cared about us. It’s just been hard since Bobby…”

“Turned out to be an absolute nutcase?” Matt asked.

“It’s been hard on her and Kyle especially. They’ve just needed to lean on each other a little bit more.”

“So, your problems are less important than hers?” Matt asked with a wave of his hand. “That doesn’t seem fair…”

“It’s not like that.”

“Then what is it exactly?”

“I’ve already told you; they just needed each other right now…”

Matt sighed, pulling Mike through the door as he shook his head. “If that’s what you want to tell yourself, dude, I can’t stop you. Just know that when you’re ready to deal with the truth, when you’re ready to stop letting them hurt you, we’ll be here.”

Roddy watched the pair go with sad eyes as he rolled over to the side of the bed where Destiny typically slept. Matt was wrong, wasn’t he? Of course, he was. Matt just liked to make everything into some big, dramatic situation. He thrived on it. He always had. As annoying as he could be, Roddy would always appreciate having Matt and Mike around. It was nice to have them in his corner when Adam and Dessi were wrapped up in other things. He would have to admit, though, it would be nice if they had more time for him.

[knowtheskybeyond]

Whumptober 2023 October 1, 2023 Safety Net | Swooning | “How many fingers am I holding up? Blackpool Combat Club Polycule

Angel sighed as she walked into the medical team office and saw her quite possibly concussed husband pacing the room rather than seated on the exam table where he should have been. Leave it to her Jon to make this situation even more stressful than it already was. She was sure that he wouldn’t even be still in his coffin when the time came. “Jon, what are you…?” she started to ask before a familiar accent cut her off.

“I’m sorry, Angela,” Claudio began, rubbing the back of his neck. “I have tried to sit him down, but it seems it is easier to still your toddler than it is your husband.”

Angel reached a hand out to her husband, trying to steady him the best she could as she watched his body sway more erratically than his typical anxious wiggle. “Don’t apologize, Claudio,” she spoke softly, trying to coax Jon toward the table wordlessly.

“Should I go back to the locker room and get Bryan and—” “Don’t get the kids,” Jon cut Claudio off with a slight slur.

Angel glanced over where Wheeler stood in the corner and gave him an expectant nod.

Wheeler turned on his heel in one swift motion and hurried off quickly down the hallway to the sound of a shouted “Fuck you, Yuta!” in the distance.

“We are only trying to take care of you, Jonathan,” Claudio insisted. “That’s all we want.”

“I’m fine,” Jon huffed, stumbling toward the exam table.

“Pop, sit down, please,” came the voice of Jon’s youngest son, Connor. He was linked arm in arm with Wheeler, who supported the frail boy at his right side. ”Wheels told me how bad it is, you need to relax, let mama make sure you’re okay.”

“Mama ask you to sit down?” Brianna asked, the teen girl leaned back against her walker.

“Not with words exactly…?”

“How many fingers am I holding up?” she asked, holding up three fingers on her right hand.

“Rabbit…” his daughter’s nickname would come out a long sigh.

“Answer the question, dad.”

“A number.”

Bri giggled softly. “It’s gonna be double that number if you piss off mama, yeah? Let’s sit down, and maybe not do that?”

Jon let out a laugh of his own and sat down slowly. “You win, Rabbit, you win.”

[knowtheskybeyond]

“Do you have brain damage or something?” A-Kid cocked his head to the side.

"I should be asking you that."

[knowtheskybeyond]

“This job will always give you an excuse not to make that call, not to have that dinner - but this job won’t keep you warm at night.” Dakota sighed.

"This job may not, but I'll always be by your side."

[knowtheskybeyond]

“I bet it’s aliens. It’s always aliens.” Phantasmo beamed.

"It's not aliens, Riley."

[knowtheskybeyond]

“As a rule, they were vegetarians, rather amiable and easy to get along with. However, there were bullies and gangsters amongst them.” Mance shrugged.

"Doesn't seem that bad."

[knowtheskybeyond]

“Do you have to live in a place like this?” Robbie asked, looking around the apartment.

"Do you have to be a little prick?"

[knowtheskybeyond]

“We live through this, hon, I’ll even fart in front of you.” Blake winked.

"You're an absolute mess, sweetheart."