The Warden of Wayward Souls :: Chapter III

[Stormm]

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What did you do to that poor girl?

My my my, how quickly the so called Force of Nature has forgotten the rules to our little game. It has been some time since we last spoke my dear boy, and I have a few questions of my own.

See, this is why I've avoided coming back here!

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Somewhere off Interstate Five in southern California, a whistle-stop between Los Angeles and San Francisco, you will find the town of Lost Hills, but don't blink, because you might miss it. The early morning hours of the weekend had only brought out some of the residents, a whole lot of fog, and one tourist, if you could even call it that.

Justin had been brought here in his search for the first of five missing Southwind Gardens patients, as Lost Hills had been the hometown for two of them. He knew he wasn't going to be lucky enough for both of them to be there, but had no doubt that he was leaving Lost Hills "empty handed."

For obvious reasons, however, he had brought along back-up. The two men that had at one time been the lackeys for the former doctor, Damian Sorrow, were now employees of Havoc Entertainment. Robert and Francis Alexander, the near seven foot tall twin brother behemoths, were only swayed by the power of the almighty dollar, and with Justin signing the checks now, were happy to do his bidding rather than force him from accomplishing his goals like they had been tasked with under Damian's tongue.

The big men remained in the rental van for the time being, Justin wasn't sure how the first patient was going to react to seeing them, let alone if both patients had found their way back. Lianna Leitz, more affectionately referred to as Lia, had always been an unstable one when it came to the men in her life. Her file referred to an unhealthy relationship with her father as one of the main reasons for her steady decline mentally, and without being able to resolve those issues with him before his suicide several years previously, there seemed to be little help for her.

Lia had attached herself to another of the missing patients many years ago, a man who was once a professional wrestling like the Force of Nature himself, the other resident of Lost Hills was even someone that Stormm had both faced off against in the squared circle, and also had in his corner. Steven Lee was a sinister son of a bitch with a severe case of multiple personality disorder, with a side of schizophrenia, who hadn't said a word since the day he was admitted into the Gardens almost a decade ago.

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Despite your obvious insubordination towards the rules I have laid forth in our little game here, I will go ahead and just right into it. You haven't fared so well since we last spoke. Tell me, why is that?

Are you counting the fact that I beat the Icemann Invitational winner and current North American champion last week as not fairing so well? The last I checked, I have all the momentum in the world.

Oh how naive the lot of you can be with one victory. Surely even you are not so blind to see Murdoc was toying with you?

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Justin found himself standing on the front walk outside of the ruins of Steven's childhood home, the same home he witnessed the murder of his parents in as a child, and the same home he bought and came back to after the money started flowing as a professional wrestler. While the perfect situation would be to find both Lia and Steven inside together, and that they would walk out with him without conflict, the Force of Nature knew better. Robert and Francis were there as back-up in the event that Steven was indeed there, as he was notorious for going on a rampage with very little being able to stand in his way.

"Here goes nothing." The words come out under his breath, despite the fact that nobody else was around, and it wasn't anything he needed to keep to himself.

Grass grew between the cracks of the front walk, about half as tall as the rest of the yard which had become unruly, and grew almost as tall as the dilapidated picket fence that enclosed the front lawn. All the paint on the house and picket fence had all but flaked off, and what was left was a darkened husk of a shell of what used to be a home. Given the right imagination, it’s possible to picture a sunnier side to that house, and of what it could have once been.

He climbed the three, creaky steps onto the front porch, and avoided the rotten planks that looked as if some others in the past had not been so lucky to miss. The floor of the porch looked like a piece of moldy Swiss cheese, but Justin pressed on, and reached for the handle on the front door.

To his surprise, the door was locked. In fact, everything he heard when he asked around town suggested that the Lee house was the place in town that local kids used as a "proving grounds" of sorts, and had been broken into so many times, that nobody even bothered to do anything about it anymore. Justin figured the door would just creak open for him to go inside and search about.

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Whether or not he was toying with me isn't important. I don't care if you are Murdoc, LoKi, Ace Anderson, Lantlas, or Pegasus, you don't LET a man beat you for any reason, let alone a man you are going to end up facing two weeks later for a title you currently possess.

Speaking of LoKi...

Yeah, that guy and me go way back, and none of it has ever been good. I ended up losing that match, yes, but I have a feeling that match would have ended the same way regardless of whether or not LoKi was in the corner with me. I bailed on him to prove a point the last time we were thrown together in a tag match, so I told him to keep his ass backstage during our match so he wouldn't have the chance to do the same thing to me this time. One way or the other, I was going to lose a two on one battle.

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Despite the nature of the situation, it took little more than one hefty push for the rotting wood to break away against the stronger steel lock. The stench inside hit Stormm in the face like a ton of bricks, but it wasn't a rotten smell, or the smell of death you would expect out of a horror film. It was more of a stale nothingness coupled with a cloud of dust and soot that was added to the haze every time he took a step.

The way the inside looked, with the sun creeping in through the cracks of the boarded up windows, the rays beaming through the clouds of grime in void that every room in the house had become. "Lianna?!" He called out as he meandered around the first floor of the Lee household. "Steven?!" He called out again, this time for the man whose childhood home he occupied.

Justin repeated this process again as he ascended the steps to the second floor. Each step accompanied with its own creak, moan, or groan, as the decrepit house seemed like it could fall apart at any second. The smaller, second story of the home was just as empty as the first, and twice as dirty it seemed. Apparently the first floor was bad enough for the kids of Lost Hills, but to come upstairs, where the murder of Steven's parents happened all those years ago, was too much to bare. Most of the dust that had been piling up upstairs hadn't been disturbed.

"Lianna?!"

"Steven?!"

Second floor, same as the first. So the Force of Nature descended the steps back down to the first floor.

Crack!

Pop!

Creak!

Snap!

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So, these two men, with whom you have no love lost between, and in a few short days will have to step into the ring with at the same time, all with one goal in mind. It is quite the opportunity and predicament all rolled into one, do you not think so?

It really is sickening just how much you enjoy the sound of your voice. You'd do well to save your breath once in a while, you are more than likely running out of them in your old age.

Do me the kindness, and just answer my question.

* * * * * * *

He took a moment to really soak it all in. What had these two individuals had endured over their lives to end up in Southwind Gardens in the first place, and also what they must have done to deserve the "treatment" of Dr. Damian Sorrow in the end. It was sad and at the same time scary for the man who had still held onto his sanity, despite what the "good doctor" had put HIM through over the years.

Just as he was about to give up on Lost Hills, he noticed a door he hadn't checked on his first circuit of the first floor. He tugged at it, but it wouldn't budge. He gave it another pull, harder this time, but the result was the same. Third times the charm, though, as he yanked on the door handle with both hands firmly gripping it, and another rotten door frame gave way to the steel deadbolt keeping the door close.

As if the dust on the other side had been pushing against the door, waiting to get out of the darkness from within, it engulfed the Force of Nature, and he hacked away for a moment as he had inhaled some of it when the cloud unexpectedly surrounded him after opening the door.

Once the dust had settled, he noticed a narrow staircase leading down to a basement. The door itself wasn't much wider than Justin's frame, and the staircase a little narrower. He didn't dare descend those steps when it was so dark, he could barely see past the first three or four steps to begin with. He tried one last time.

"Lianna?!"

"Steven?!"

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Fine, if you want to hear me say what you already know... YES! I've been looking forward to this opportunity for the last couple of months, ever since I came up short on winning the North American title and the Icemann Invitational at Living a Legacy. Of course, a triple threat with two former World champions and a potential future World champion is never an ideal way to try and win a championship I've never won or even fought for in PCW, but I'll be damned if I let that get in my way.

Pray tell, in your way of what?

In my way of winning the title. Achieving something I've yet to achieve in Pure Class Wrestling. And being one step closer to digging myself out of this hole that Skylar Marshall left me in. The hole he dug for me, and that I've been trying to claw my way out of for the last year. I'll be damned if I don't do everything in my power to make sure I'm not left in that hole, and that I kill myself trying to get back to the top, if that's what it takes! Now then, I think it's my turn...

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He paused, and heard nothing. "Damn it Steven, where are you and Lia at?!" He angrily questioned out loud. But to his surprise, it triggered something. Footsteps could be heard rushing up the steps from the basement. It was in such a manner that shocked Justin, and even caused him to jump backwards away from the door. He didn't know what to expect, and took a few more steps closer to the front door, just in case he needed the help of his new employees.

Out from the darkness appeared a dark haired, green eyed woman. It was obvious she hadn't cleaned herself up in quite a while, and she looked like she had eaten an actual meal in days; which may very well had been the case. Much like the house they were in, you could leave it to the imagination to look past the dirt covering her face, and the lack of meat on her bones, but this woman could have been very attractive under different circumstances.

"Lia?"

She took one look at Justin, and her reaction was one that the Force of Nature would have never, in a hundred years, expected. She rushed straight to him, as if his voice, and the way he called her Lia instead of Lianna, flipped a switch in her, and she leapt into his arms.

"Steven!!"

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I just have one last question for you sonny boy. How are you handling the news?

What news?

Surely Lindsay has shared this information with you?

I thought I told you to leave my family out of this?

Oh you most certainly did, but I figured with news like this, you would not be able to keep from talking about it.

There isn't any news to be shared, I can assure you that!

I would have to disagree with you there, Justin. Having a baby is big news, but finding out you are having twins is even bigger!

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