Playing Mind Games with Nightmare

Smoke. Fire. Sirens. Death all around. It was surreal, but a reality. One second had changed everything. One second that I was never going to get back. Jessica and I stood outside of what used to be a very fancy restaurant in downtown Paris. Now, it wasn't anything of the sort. It was just rubble, flames and debris all around. People were carried away on stretchers as both police and paramedics attended to those in need of assistance. The sun glowed and shined brighter than the flames that rose from the ground. It was kind of hard to believe, but it was real. I was once again in the middle of a warzone. And I had just narrowly escaped. Alison held onto my right arm as she stared at the bloodied, burnt bodies being pulled from the wreckage. She was unable to look away, and the sad part is, neither was I. We watched with open eyes as the dead were pulled one-by-one from the carnage and destruction. Anything but a pretty sight.

"Who was that man?" Alison asked, holding me tightly. "He was going to kill me, but I got away. You know him, don't you?" I was silent for a bit, but my ears still rung after being treated to the sound of gunfire and explosions. Nonetheless, the truth had to be told.

"That man, Alison. That man is very dangerous," I told her, shaking my head, wiping some of the dirt from my face. "He's... a monster. A menace. And he knows where we live."

"But who is he?" Alison asked again, taking a few deep breaths. Sadly, I had no choice but to tell her the truth. The sad, yet highly unfortunate truth.

"I don't have the slightest idea."

By this time, the fire department had showed up to extinguish the flames and the inferno that raged like a monster who had been let out of its cage. From behind us, two police officers handcuffed both Alison and I and lead us into the backseat of their police car.

"Handcuffs?! Andrew, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Jessica laughed as we both had our seats in the car. I just sighed deeply and looked Alison in the eye and whispered, "when we get back to the hotel, then we'll play."

The police officers said something to us in French and then shut the doors to the police cruiser and made their way to the front seats. "Andrew, why are we getting arrested?" Alison asked me, yet again wondering the same thing I was. The answer was the same as the last time.

"I don't have the slightest idea."

Sure, it was my answer, but it wasn't the truthful one. I knew exactly why we were being arrested, and the answer was held tightly in one of the police officer's hands. He stared at it, examined it, and cradled it with his hands. Make no mistake about it, I was glad he was the one with the mask and not the phantom who lurked in the shadows. But nonetheless, the real monster was still out there, ready to strike again. And there was nothing I could do about it.

Nothing at all...

__________

.::: Twenty-Five Minutes Earlier :::.

He stared down at me, but just barely. He was only two or so inches taller than me, and that's all. His eyes glowed a cosmic, indefinable red as his hands reached for his mask and slowly began to pull it off of his face. My expression told the whole story: confused, shocked and just flat-out bewildered. But at long last, I was going to see the man who had been using my mask as a way to hide his face. To form his own persona. His own reality. His own world.

The mask was lifted, and just as it was, my world became nothing. It was as if when the mask was removed, his face was bright enough to blind me. The white, glowing light exploded from all around and consumed me within it, trapping me and embracing me.

Maybe it wasn't a white light...

When my vision returned, the only thing preventing me from seeing the attacker's true identity was a wall of flames that had erupted from below. They rose off the ground and completely shielded me from any sort of line of sight. It was all too weird. And it was real. The entire building was in flames, and I knew for a fact it was going to blow at any moment once that flames hit the propane tanks used to cook the food. I had to get out, and I did just that.

I ran into the washroom, grabbed Alison by the arm and pulled her away just as the flames began to spread. Together, we jumped out of a window where a few of the survivors had made it out. But the entire building was about to go boom.

Together, we made it to safety and watched from outside as a white van took off down the road, speeding very quickly. And being tossed from the front seat of the car and at my feet was none other than my own mask the man had been wearing.

Our eyes wandered, staring off as the car zoomed down the road and out of sight. Then, our attention turned back to the restaurant and its inevitable, definite end...

KABOOM!!!!

Debris was tossed everywhere, flaming rocks cascaded down onto the ground and bodies were tossed from the building in heaps, flying every which way. Men and women around us opened their mouths wide and stared at the grand destruction that had taken place. They gasped in awe as so many different people and their body parts rained down from the sky above.

I didn't believe in God. But the Devil... at that moment in time, I had no choice but to believe in. I began to believe that Satan did exist, and he was going to stop at nothing to kill me.

Maybe my own undoing was just part of God's master plan...
__________

.::: Police Station - Downtown Paris - 6:23 PM :::.

Alison and I didn't say a single thing on the ride to the police station. We were both tired and still in complete and utter shock over what had taken place. Alison's eyes told the whole story: they were half-closed and rolling all over the place, like strangers in a strange land. And in front of me, much like last week, was a detective smoking a cigarette, blowing smoke out of his nose.

"You are... how do you say? Guilty?" the French detective asked, staring both Alison and I in the face. "That is quite a prize you got there, no? Too pretty to be a terrorist, no?" he asked again, looking just at Alison.

"I'm not a terrorist," Alison snapped.

"Well now, no need to get angry here. Just tell me what happened and you will be, uh, how do you say? Excuse?" he asked. Between his French accent and hitting on Alison, I was getting very annoyed.

"Listen," I began, placing both of my hands on the table. "We were sitting down getting ready to eat when that man showed up shooting people. How do you think we feel?"

The detective raised an eyebrow and walked over towards a small table where the mask was placed. He picked it up and walked back towards Alison and I, putting the mask in front of us. "This mask is yours?" I nodded my head. Lying would just get me in more trouble at this point. "Then how did the man get your mask? Did he steal it? Make you look bad? Sir, we are going to find out. We have the best men working on this."

"You won't find anything," Alison roared, standing up, pushing her seat back, screeching it on the floor. "Alison, sit down," I demanded, but she just shook her head. "No, I'm sick and tired of being accused of this bullshit. I'm a dominatrix, I don't need this!"

"Ah, so you are... how do you say? Kinky, no?" The detective asked, licking his lips. Alison made a disgusted face and shook her head.

"Not with you, pastry-fucker," she laughed, getting right on the table, extending her legs outwards, revealing that she wasn't wearing any panties under her skirt. "Come on, Andrew! Eat me out! Show this clown how it's done!"

"Alison!?!?" I said shockingly, hitting the side of my head with the palm of my hand. "Not now! When we get back!"

"Oh, come on, Andrew!" Alison sighed, sitting back down. "You're not fun."

"Wait... what's a pastry-fucker?" the French detective asked, pondering. Between Alison and I, we had just made matters far worse. "Doesn't matter. You're staying here over night until we get this figured out."

"Fuck," both Alison and I said in unison, but just as we did, the door to the interrogation room was kicked open. Both Alison and I watched with open eyes as before our very eyes, Rain had arrived.

"I'm just here to say that neither Alison or Andrew are guilty. After all, I like Alison. I like her very much. And Andrew, well," The Rain walked right passed the detective and towards me, giving Alison a little nod before reaching out her right hand and grabbing hold of my chin. "Andrew will owe me."

"What?! Lady, what do you think you're doing?" Alison roared, getting up, knocking the Rain's grip of my chin away before staring her right in the eyes, face-to-face. "Andrew is mine!"

"Oh, well, if you insist," The rain laughed, winking, digging into her pocket, pulling out a cup of tea. "It's teatime anyway. Andrew, Alison... would you like to join me?"

"For tea?" Alison sarcastically asked. "I think Andrew's thinking more about pie."

"I like pie too," The Rain replied. "Andrew, I make a pretty good pie. Would you like some sometime? It has lemon-filling and has an absolutely warm, melt-in-your-mouth crust. It's just... so delicious."

"Why you little bitch!" Alison screamed, making a run at the Rain only to be restrained by two police officers who came running into the room.

"Wait? Who is this lady?" The detective asked, being all puzzled.

"I..." the rain began, spinning around three-hundred-sixty degrees, blowing a kiss in the process. "Am they Rain. I'm super stylish, like big hats and sun glasses, and I once drank a whole case of bear."

"I think you mean beer," I interrupted.

"Nope, it was a bear. See!" Rain dug into her dress and pulled out a huge case of something known as 'bear'. "Obviously it was imported," Rain laughed.

"Are we free to go or what?" I asked.

"Of course," Rain replied. "I found a DVD that proves you didn't do it. Odd things those DVDs. But yes, the building next to the restaurant had a video camera. All it took was a little grab and pull, and a hit of the eject button, and it was mine. The proof is in the pudding. Speaking of which, I want vanilla!"

"GET THEM ALL OUT OF HERE!" the detective roared, slapping his head in frustration. Suddenly, the other police officers grabbed both Alison and I and showed us the way to the door, as if we couldn't find it ourselves. Rain looked on and smiled with glee as she was free to walk by herself and out of the police station by her lonesome.

Finally, we were all outside.

"Thanks," I told Rain, breathing in the cold air. "If it weren't for you, we would have been staying the night."

"But don't think for one moment you're leaving in one piece, bitch," Alison confidently said, turning around, prepared to face Rain, only to see no one there. "Hey, where did she go?" Alison asked.

From up in the air, however, both Alison and I could see Rain take off into the night by opening her umbrella, causing her to travel into the sky. Even for me, and all the strange things I had dealt with, I couldn't comprehend this. Rain was one character I just couldn't, no matter how hard I tried, reason with.

"Come on, Andrew, let's go back to the hotel," Alison told me, clinging onto my arm once more as we walked onto the side of the road, calling for a taxi. I obliged, and held her tight... never wanting to let her go. She may have had a morbid mind, but she was mine, and I was going to keep it that way.

________________________

Tired, and as exhausted as humanly possible, I carried Alion in my arms as the elevator doors opened and we found ourselves on the highest floor the hotel had to offer. I walked while holding onto her, and carefully managed to use my room key without dropping her onto the floor. We just wanted to sleep. But what we saw made us sick to our stomachs.

I flipped the lights on, and as soon as I did, we both laid witness to an entire while wall smeared in blood. It dripped onto the floor in buckets and was written as clear as day. Alison's eyes opened widely and nearly fell out of my arms, so I had to set her down gently. It was everywhere. All over the walls. The furniture. Everywhere. Blood. On the wall directly in front of us the words, 'Revenge is a virtue' was written as clear as day. On the bed where Alison and I were going to lie, the words, 'while you sleep, I kill' were written. We looked all around, staring at all of the words written in blood all around.

And on the TV located in the room over, a news channel was on. All Alison and I could hear was the news anchor speak with a distressed and emotionless tone. "Death. And plenty of it. This afternoon, just after the explosion that rocked the downtown core, the downtown Paris police station was attacked by a man with a hood covering his face. He demanded to be given a piece of evidence found in the restaurant massacre, but when the police wouldn't hand it over, he killed all of them. A sad day for police officers everywhere and the work they put into protecting this city."

It wasn't just any blood. It was the blood of the people murdered at the police station.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

A few drops of blood found their way from the ceiling above onto my head. Within a mere second after that, both Alison and I stared up at the ceiling and couldn't believe our eyes. The mask had found itself on the top of the ceiling, covered in blood. It was no longer a white mask - it had become blood-red quite literally.

"Andrew, what the fuck is all of this?" Alison cried, breathing rapidly, holding onto me, staring me deep in the eye. My world went completely blank at that moment, and this time, there was no lie I could tell. No truth I could keep bottled-up inside. There was no longer anything I could mask. Nothing I could do. My world was become soaked in blood, and everything I thought I was done with was slowly, but surely coming back to me. The wars from my past would never leave me. There were people who knew.

And so I stared up at the ceiling and the mask above. There was no way around it now. I had tried avoiding the inevitable, but those days were long done. There was only one thing I could do now, and that one thing involved becoming the one thing I had promised myself I would never become again. Sadly, I was out of options...

When the final day is done. Bury me under the dying sun...

I could feel something from inside of me open up its eyes. They wanted a killer? They wanted a mastermind? They wanted a war? Vengeance? There was no doubt about it anymore. I was game. And I was going to make him pay.

"I'm going to find you," I whispered, staring up at the mask covered in blood. "And when I do...you're going to die."

I was back.

---------------------------the match----------------------------

James Shark I hope you had your fun attacking me after my match with RHG and you think your gonna knock my fatass out really James Really you think your gonna drop me just like that James and Karly Zedic you think I'm soft but the thing is I don't hit girls. So back to you James, James I'm going to bust you up then beat you up all over the arena then Break you.

OH yeah not forgetting you Jason Hawk its good to see ur back from the dead but your going to be ending up going back for old times. Jason the Last time we faced off you toke somthing that was mine and i'm going to make you pay dearly for that.

RICK you fucking Ingrate why does ever title match I get end up becoming a Triple Threat match if this keeps happening your not going to like the punishment that happens to you.

At Bloody Sunday James Shark and Jason Hawk get ready for a Nightmare to be unleashed.