The Bottom of the River

Oh my Lord, take this soul
Lay me at the bottom of the river
The Devil has come, to carry me home
Lay me at the bottom
The bottom of the river

Troy Garter, independent reporter with the Wrestling News Network, steps out of his Uber at the edge of an abandoned Warehouse in Troy, NY.

Driver: Kid, you sure this is the right place?

Troy: Yeah, I think so. The address matches, anyway.

Driver: Alright, whatever. Good luck.

The driver rolls up his window and speeds off. Troy pulls a tape recorder out of his pocket and makes his way across the gravel towards the dilapidated warehouse. It's large but thoroughly battered by the hands of time, surrounded by abandoned shipping containers and old, stripped-down husks of vehicles. The building itself is covered in rust and graffiti,  and try as he might, Troy could not find a single unbroken window. He makes his way up to the closest door, and pushes against it. It creaks angrily, threatening to rip itself free from its weathered hinges, but it gives to Troy and opens.

The inside of the building is no better; dimly lit by cracks of natural light, Troy can hardly see more than ten feet in front of him. Stacks of rotten wood and rusted iron bars scatter the area, and the floor is covered in flakes of old drywall and broken glass. The graffiti on the inside is somehow even worse than the graffiti on the outside, and Troy can't help but notice the handful of old cots and sleeping bags, likely remnants of the city's homeless population.

Troy moves in a little further, and spots the reason for his presence here; sitting in the center of the main chamber, on an old folding chair, is Jason Spade. He's dressed in his casual clothing, jeans and a sky blue hoodie, and gray and red sneakers. He's listening to an old-fashioned CD player on his lap, and there's a large, silver-painted ladder erected a few feet to his left.

Troy: Not exactly the nicest place to meet for an interview.

Spade looks up and chuckles, removing his headphones and setting the player aside.

Jason: It was a turd when it was in business too.

Troy: Why meet here, anyway? What was this place?

Spade hesitates before answering.

Jason: It... It was the Emerald Titan Wrestling School. It's where I was trained. I ran away from home when I was seventeen with a thousand bucks I stole from my parents, and camped out in one of the storage crates where they kept their extra rings.

Troy was not ready for Spade's direct answer, nor his candidness. He quickly regretted not turning on his recorder, and did so before speaking again.

Troy: So, is this the part where you hand me flash cards with pre-written questions?

Jason: No... Not this time. I actually called you here to apologize.

Troy is again taken aback.

Jason: Not just to you, but to everyone. You see, I... I was practicing some martial arts in the park the other day, and this little girl came up to me. She said, "Wow, you're Jason Spade!" And honestly, Troy, I hate kids. Can't stand them. But I was nice to her, I said, "Yes, I am. Are you a fan?"

Spade pauses, clearing his throat.

Jason: She said, "Well, I used to be. But then you started acting really mean. I wanted to ask if you'd stop so I could like you again."

Spade stops himself from getting choked up.

Jason: I've never... I've never had someone just come up to me and say something like that, y'know? Like people complain on the internet all day. They bitch and moan about everything, but kids? Nobody's more honest than a child who doesn't know how to lie yet, and it... I don't know, that hit me. So I went back and started paying attention to what people have been saying about me the last few weeks, and for the first time, I actually... I gave a shit. I've never cared before, until that little girl spoke to me.

All the things they've been saying about me, all the things I've been ignoring are true. I've lost my way... Ever since I've come to CMV, I've lost my way. I've let myself be consumed by bitterness and anger, and... Well, I've been back to the way I was. Back to the moody, violent child I was when I first started, all the way back in 2015. They used to call me a superhero... And I believed them. But what am I now, Troy?"

Silence; the reporter has no answer.

Jason: Did you see that segment Brett Angel and Shay Hoxton did recently? I don't like to talk about other people's business, but something that purple idiot said touched me the same way that girl's words did. "Heroes don't exist". I never wanted to be a hero, Troy... I do this because I love to fight. Because win or lose, I love competition. I wanted to be the best fighter in the world, and tear down everyone and everything that stood in my way. "You're too small", they said, so I learned every possible way I could to take people down to my size. Leg kicks, submission holds, you name it. "You're too weak", they said, so I trained my ass off until I could lift guys like Guri Sukanov over my head and drill him into the mat. "You don't have the discipline", so I traveled to Korea and studied under the master who trained my master. And I proved them wrong, didn't I?

And somehow, someway, along the way, I became a hero. A real life superhero, Troy! A man who others looked up to, both in the business and outside of it. A man that people wanted to be like. A man that broke down boundaries, who started from the bottom and worked his way to the top on nothing but the clothes on his back and the blood in his veins. And then... I let them all down. I let the Devil in, and he dragged me to the bottom of the river.

Spade stands up, and heads over to the ladder, placing one foot on the bottom rung.

Jason: But now... Against all odds, I have a second chance. At Ascendance, I have the opportunity to rise from the depths and start again."

Spade climbs one rung.

Jason: Literally and figuratively, I have the chance to rise from the ashes.

Another rung.

Jason: I have the chance to be that hero again. I have the chance to save my own rotten soul.

Another.

Jason: A chance that I don't deserve. An opportunity that should have gone to someone else.

And another.

Jason: But it came to me.

The final rung.

Jason: I will tell you now... You, and anyone else out there who will listen. Fans, fighters, enemies and friends alike. That this is not an opportunity I will squander. I will face those other men down and I will smile; I will fight and claw and scratch, and I will bleed and sweat and cry, and I will climb that ladder, and I will reach that briefcase and claim it for myself, and prove to everyone- to Shay Hoxton and Brett Angel, to CMV, to the fans and anyone else who's ever doubted me, and that girl... And most of all, to myself...

I will prove that heroes are real.