Post by Dominator / Mortimer on Aug 13, 2018 18:43:46 GMT -5
OOC: Please play musical prompt for the reading experience as intended whilst writing.
Saturday 29th July 2018 - 9.39pm
Location: River Avon, Goodworth Clatford, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom
Revelations have pierced his heart like daggers.
Perhaps why they refer to it as ‘shock.’ The pain had been instantaneous and severe, but short-lived. The circuit had been broken, overloaded by the fury that had engulfed his thoughts. He felt a twinge in his brain; a literal snap. He expected an uncontrollable rampage to break loose; the wild animal inside of him that he had urged himself to subdue snarling and swiping through its cage bars. Instead, his energies had thusly been redirected, rebooting his rage to it’s ‘factor setting.’
He sees clearly as opposed to red. He breathes softly rather than suppressing his angst through heavy breathing. How long this will last is anybody’s guess. However, if there is a time to capitalise on his newfound solace, then now is the time.
“I believe we have some unfinished business.”
Those ominous words come from a voice that Shawn had hoped he’d never have to hear again, going as far as to bargain with God, evident through the desperation in his prayers. He shudders as the towering figure emerges from the shadows like his own personal demon sent from Lucifer to drag him into the yawning jaws of hell. An equally horrified expression appears on Amy’s face. Given that she is to be his wife, it might be surprising to see Amy wield such alarm.
Dominic’s eyes look soulless; zombified by his rage.
The trees unleash a bloodthirsty hiss as a gust of wind rustles tens of thousands of leaves that admire the spectacle from above.
“How long have you been listening?” Amy asks, breaking the silence as awkwardly as she can. Dominic does not move his head. Only his eyes roll on a diagonal, meeting hers with a look of distain, as if all the love for her had been vanquished.
“Long enough,” he replies with a soft, unnerving tone, which causes Amy to stifle another sob. His voice is not consumed by malice or sorrow. Instead, it seems to be devoid of any emotion at all; almost robotic. He lock he has on the stare does not last a second longer than it needs to be. Instead, his eyes slide back into their factory setting; dead ahead with Shawn directly in his crosshairs. “I heard every word,” he confirms to both their horrors. “So you’re Dawn’s true father? I can’t say I’m surprised by such news. I seem to have become so untrusting as of late that I could not help but consider it as a possibility. I thought I was a terrible father by thinking such things, but at least I know I’m right.”
“Dominic… I can explain,” Amy tries to negotiate against his cold stare, interjecting herself between the two rivals so that neither of them come to the inevitable harm that they will cause to one another.
“There’s only one thing I want you to explain,” Dominic replies through gritted teeth, his anger now starting to swell having attempted to produce a composed approach. “I want to know why you’d do this. Why would you want to live a life that you would have known in your heart would have been incomplete and insecure?” Even though the response should be basic, the complexity comes in the method of conveying it, which is what causes Amy to take such a large amount of time to contemplate her delivery.
“I only wanted what was best for us,” Amy whimpers. “I love you and I wanted to do whatever it takes to keep us both happy.”
“You were doing whatever it takes to keep him happy,” Shawn interrupts. “In doing so, you made yourself miserable.”
“You’ll get your chance,” Dominator snarls, taking his aggression towards his former best friend no further at this stage; the sternness in his voice should be enough of a deterrent to prevent Shawn from speaking out of turn again, at least for a moment. “Continue,” he prompts, looking back towards Amy. She sniffs to give herself a couple more seconds to think.
“I do love you,” she repeats, “but every day is… just… so hard. Trying to balance chemo, Dawn, The Order, you… it’s too much. I tried to take the easy way out,” she rubs her wrists. There are nowhere near as many fresh wounds as there had been in weeks gone past, but the scars are still visible even beyond those that she feverishly tries to mask with her hand. “I felt hopeless. I feel hopeless. I can’t stand the fact that I’ve caused you so much pain. I wanted to make things right.”
“By having me raise another man’s child?” Dominic frowns, clenching his eyes shut as the only possible way that he can refrain from elevating his voice.
“I know, I know,” Amy suddenly sobs, wiping the tears from her eyes. “I know it’s stupid. But Shawn has caused me so much heartache that I couldn’t bear the thought of losing Dawn either. I had to make a choice between you and Dawn, but I refused to let either of you go. I either let Dawn be with Shawn so I can be with you.
“Why not tell me the truth from the offset? At least I would have known where I stand,” Dominic says, an argumentative tone taking form in his words. “Every minute of every hour of every day. That is the scale of which this consumes me,” he states with utmost honesty and sincerity. “Even in a professional environment, where my mind is always intended to remain focused on whatever task is expected of me, the thought of everything that has happened between us continues to…” he pauses to find the adjective that describes his feelings with the most accuracy and candour.
He finds it and unleashes it without remorse.
“…IRRITATE me.”
The endless well of tears that are Amy’s eyes become flooded once again.
“I… irritate you?” Amy weeps even more profusely than she had done before.
“It is the constant lying that irritates me,” Dominic reiterates. “And as painful as it might be to hear it, you are a culprit of that. One of many. Horacio, Shawn, hell, even your own brother lied about working for Shawn.”
“I knew it!” Shawn exclaims in disbelief, smacking his forehead with the palm of his hand. “I should have known he‘d double cross me. That bastard hasn’t been returning my calls for months. I just figured you’d… I don’t know…‘disposed of him’ or something. I should have known better.”
“Yes, you should have,” Dominic snaps once again, now pivoting to face Shawn. “And so should I. I should have done something about these lies a long time ago.” As he begins to stride towards his long-time oppressor, Amy and Ruth collectively shake their heads vigorously from side to side. The last thing either of them want if this situation to blow up in front of their faces. Shawn takes a deep gulp at the looming presence approaching him, yet he stands his ground. Before the altercation becomes physical, Amy rushes past Dominic once again and throws herself at Shawn as if for him to use her as a human shield. “Move, Amy.” Dominic warns.
“No,” she cries. “I won’t let you hurt him. Don’t you understand? If you start to fight, this whole thing is going to get a lot worse than it needs to be.” The Zenith pauses upon listening to these words. Shawn, equally as stunned as Dominic, slowly coils his arms around Amy’s waist as she sobs into his shoulder.
“Very well,” Dominic says with a heavy-hearted sigh. “Amy. I don’t think this is going to work out.”
She glares at Dominic, wide-eyed, stunned by what she has just heard.
“What!?”
“If you couldn’t choose between me and your daughter, then I am going to make that decision a lot easier for you,” Dominic says without remorse. “And the fact of the matter is that you deceived me. I know that I haven’t been there for you as often as I should, given that I travel the world as part of my profession and my duties within The Chronological Order are significantly important, but the fact is that, whatever time I have spare, I have cherished alongside you. I have spent any and all of my free time… with you. And Dawn.” It would appear that such pleasant memories fill Dominic with unbridled joy, if only for a moment. His face suddenly turns. “But now I have the knowledge that I have been raising another man’s child when thinking it was my own. And that level of deception is one that I just cannot forgive.”
“Dominic,” Ruth intrudes objectively, “I don’t think this is the best way of…”
“What do you care?” Dominic hisses. “You were the one who orchestrated this supposed marriage. I didn’t even want to get married.”
Ruth’s face is agog momentarily, but proceeds to nonchalantly twirl her hair between her fingers. Amy is frozen by disbelief.
“No longer will my life be dictated by deceit,” he states with the utmost of assertiveness. “We all have to live with our mistakes. If this is a mistake, then it will at least be one that I can learn from.”
In order to create one final lasting image in his memories, he looks towards Amy huddled within Shawn’s arms for what he will consider to be the very last time. It is understandably difficult for him to break away from this sight. This is the woman that he had fallen in love with. But with the seemingly endless lies still throwing their punches in his direction, he cannot help but relent and turn away, walking towards a content Ruth, who nods her head contently, almost congratulating him in some fashion, dismissing his scorn towards her.
“So that’s it!?” Shawn yells as he releases Amy like a child dropping a toy upon seeing something that he deems more entertaining before clambering back onto his feet. “After everything that we’ve put each other through, you’re just going to accept it and walk away? You’re just going to leave a dying woman who has already sacrificed so much for you because you can’t deal said sacrifices?”
“I don’t need to justify myself to someone like you,” Dominic says over his shoulder.
“I’m not through with you, Dominic,” Shawn cautions with malevolence. “You might be doing the right thing in your mind, but you’re not. And that still doesn’t excuse you from the trauma you’ve put me through. Not to mention the trauma you’ve put her through.” Dominic comes to a stop right in front of Ruth. She shakes her head at The Zenith. This message is not received as Dominic has closed his eyes to take a deep breath and somehow clear his thoughts and wash away the hatred. Behind him, Shawn has his arms outstretched at either side as if to welcome further transgressions. “
“You know something, Shawn?” Dominic huffs, doing his best to remain composed, “I have wanted to get my hands on you for months. Literal. Months. But that is not going to do anything to set this right. I realise that now. What Amy needs is support, one way or the other. And the two of us brawling here and now is going to do nothing to rectify that.” Ruth lets out a smile, delighted that Dominic has finally seen the level of sense that she herself possesses. “Perhaps another time. But not right now.” The look on his face depicts that the last string of sentences were truly the most difficult and somewhat insincere that he had been forced to make throughout the whole day. Slowly, he begins to walk along the towpath. “I assume I’ll see you at home,” he says back to Amy, not looking over his shoulder to ensure that his message is conveyed. Instead, he continues to walk away, leaving his demons behind.
“Oh, no you fucking don’t!” Shawn growls under his breath with a wicked smirk, skipping forward before launching himself into a full blown sprint, a wicked grin flashes across his face as he balls a fist.
“No, don’t!” Amy suddenly shrieks, causing Dominic to turn around at the precise moment that Shawn swings punch, catching it in the palm of his hand. Shawn’s cocky and confidence evaporates as he tries to prise his hand away from Dominic’s vice-like grip. Dominic does not budge, glaring at Shawn as if he were a common criminal. A thousand different scenarios flicker through the mind of The Zenith.
“Months,” he says aloud once again. “Literal. Months.”
It was not only Shawn who had subjected Dominic to this torment, of course. There had been tension similar to this that had been mounting over a prolonged period of time, ready to bubble over and overflow like the lava from a volcano.
One such date: Thursday 21st December 2017. Trauma 223. The Icey Awards.
It was the closing statement of his opening passage that set the concrete on the foundation of our hatred on that fateful night. Johnny Matthews, in his own words, “made it clear what he wanted.”
In the three months that followed, Matthews chipped away at Dominator like a the sledgehammer slamming down against the immovable boulder that is The Zenith. During that time, there was a part of Dominator that felt as though Johnny Matthews was genuinely succeeding in wearing him down, week by week. Matthews’ mind games, at that time, had proven more effective than The Underground King had let on. The stolen victories, the constant one-gunmanship, the endless war of words, they had started to take their toll. But Dominator managed to pull through, exceeded both Matthews and his own innate fear of heights in one foul swoop.
He thought at Mass Destruction, he had banished Matthews from his life for good.
And yet, at Living A Legacy, he came to realise the true severity of his error.
Since then, there was nothing but revenge on The Zenith’s mind; a feeling that seems to accompany him even inside of his private life away from the PCW cameras. Of course, with Grimm’s own agenda against Notorious, along with the alleged ‘history’ between The Chronological Order and The Black Hand, it was an easy decision for Dominator to make when offered a position alongside one of the company’s most infamous stars; a new opportunity and a new way of thinking.
But then, Johnny Matthews threw yet another spanner in the works.
The bombshell that rocked the wrestling landscape that was Matthews’ declaration of his intention to retire had been nothing more than the typical ‘hit and run’ tactic that he has utilised for as long as The Zenith has had the displeasure of knowing him. He has come to realise the true terror of the beast which he has disturbed. In the changing landscape of PCW, Johnny Matthews now finds himself well out of his depth. It is undoubtedly why he is choosing to retire; so that he can leave this federation under his own terms, with good grace, and a relatively untarnished legacy.
Little does he realise that the legacy of Johnny Vivacious died the very day that Johnny Matthews was reborn.
Johnny Vivacious has had a stellar career highlighted alongside one of the most notable teams in PCW’s achives; Notorious. He has held championships, fought some of the best in the business and, somehow, become one of the company’s most popular draws in years.
And yet, on that fateful day where Grimm defeat Vivacious, Johnny took a leave of absence in order to search his soul to find the answers that nobody asked but himself. He deemed it necessary to leave his vivaciousness behind and instead become the man that he needed to become for the sake of his family; the family that so desperately need him back in Texas as Lonestar Championship Wrestling…
…where, as he has found out first hand, he is still not safe from Dominator’s wrath.
He left his brother-in-law, Justin “Stormm” Michaels, to continue the name of Notorious without him. He leapfrogged so many other deserving names in his quest to be named as The Underground King despite his claims that he does not even want the gold; the very same gold that supposedly instigated this entire conflict.
In short, if Matthews were to claim the Underground title for his own, he would have little intention of defending it. The likelihood would be that would instead release the belt; an act that would be akin to tearing up the winning lottery ticket and throwing the pieces into the wind. It is undeniable that Dominator has brought more in the sense of prestige and honour to the PCW Underground Title than anyone who preceded him…
And The Zenith will be damned if his hard work is undone by a man who clearly has no ambition other than to wash the blood from his hands.
If not for The Underground Championship, what business does Johnny Matthews have with Dominator? Could it be the jealousy of success? The loathing of Matthews’ own ineptitude when trying to usurp The Zenith in the past? Or is he merely clutching at straws, trying to think of a legitimate reason for his own existence in PCW in order to maintain some sort of relevance other than being ‘the man who caused Dominator’s first loss in PCW.’
Maybe that is the main contribution towards Johnny Matthews’ decision to retire.
If The Zenith were to be facing Johnny Vivacious, he might have been in for a rough ride. The fact is; Johnny Matthews has not found the same level of success that Johnny Vivacious had. This persona; this character that he had made for himself had gained far more notoriety than the man himself. Even the cheers from the masses who attend shows and watch on their television sets are nowhere near as loud as they used to be.
It is because the character is more popular than the man who plays him.
Who is more recognisable? Anthony Perkins or Norman Bates? Bryan Cranston or Walter White? Mark Hamill or Luke Skywalker? Dan Castanella or Homer Simpson?
Johnny Vivacious or Johnny Matthews?
The Zenith has already beaten Matthews at his own game. Multiple times. Even with the plight of Horacio Mortimer’s absence as a result of Matthews’ own hand, Grimm and The Black Hand have kept Dominator on the right course. More recently, The Zenith had found a way to truly irk The Man In Black; by demolishing his pride and joy pick up truck.
Parts of a car can be easily replaced, but it is far more difficult to repair a broken spirit.
A Last Man Standing Match has not been applied just a simple test of endurance. The most significant ulterior motive that a contest such as this brings up will be the calculation of the passage of time that will elapse before Dominator can crush a man’s will, bones and dreams. In more traditional circumstances, it is a matter of how long The Underground King chooses to play with his food before he finally devours his meal; he can pin an opponent at any time. Here, the reliability of the desired outcome boils down to how long Johnny Matthews can survive.
Although the significant variable that could be at play concerns the amount of time that Dominator lets Johnny Matthews survive.
Matthews wants to ride off into the sunset. The Zenith will grant him this luxury; by bounding him down onto a horse’s back, smacking it’s ass and send it galloping off into the wilderness.
Unlike Johnny though, The Zenith still holds many ambitions; a bucket list of accomplishments that he intends to tick off before he hangs up his own boots. Alongside even more emphatic victories for ‘higher tiered’ championships, along with vanquishing Johnny Matthews out of his life for good, there is one goal that is currently within reaching distance.
Currently, Monroe holds a record that seems almost impossible to break; the longest single reign with any championship belt in Pure Class Wrestling that stands at four hundred and nine days. That was with the now defunct International Championship. By Dominator’s calculations, the milestone date that he had earmarked is December 10th 2018.
That means that The Zenith would need to successfully retain his crown until Trauma 243; the event directly after Collision Course VII.
It would mean surviving the final pay-per-view of the year. It demands success at the Deadly Rumble. And it is absolutely vital that Johnny Matthews is overturned and silenced, once and for all, at Return To Glory. Even the practises conjured up in Matthews’ nightmares could not prepare him for the fate that awaits him. He will learn a valuable lesson that will reach out to anybody and everybody who makes the ill-fated decision to challenge the Underground King. It will feel like time stands still when Dominator lives up to his name.
He is an angry Zenith, but a focused Zenith. And he will be the last man standing.
“End of the line, cowboy,” Dominator smirks, applying even more pressure to the balled fist of Shawn that he finds clenched in his hand. Shawn looks at Dominic as if begging for mercy. The Zenith simply looks back down at him, callous towards any clemency that he desires.
“Stop it! Stop it! STOP IT!” Amy screeches at the top of her voice.
Dominic stares at Amy, whose face has turned the most vivid shade of scarlet through sheer despair. He then glances towards Ruth, who tilts her head subtly in his future wife’s direction, as if echoing her sentiments. With a reluctant grunt, Dominic shoves Shawn’s arm back. He sucks in air through he teeth as he tries to regain the feeling in his fingers. Amy checks to ensure that Shawn has not come to harm before standing in between the two of them in the same manner as he had done before.
“I can’t take this!” she sobs. “You’re both right. About everything. It’s just like Shawn said. My relationship with Dominic was built around lies. Lies that I have had to live with every single day. The longer time passes, the worse the pain gets and the more lies I have to come up. I’ve not been fair to you. I’ve not been fair to Dawn. And for that, I’m sorry.” Amy sinuously wriggles her fingers in between those of The Zenith. “Dominic,” she looks up to gaze into his eyes, yet the robotic expression of Dominic does not waver. Amy’s sadness heightens by the lack of emotion, no matter how justified his rigidity may be. “I want you to know that I never intended to hurt you. I do love you, but you are right as well. I have made a mistake; the biggest mistake that I will ever make in my life. I promise you that I am going to do what is right to make sure that I never hurt you or anybody else again.” She elevated herself onto her tiptoes, which sink into the boggy riverbank slightly as she plants a soft kiss on the base of his neck; the only piece of bare skin that she can reach. “Thank you,” she says quietly as her fingers slip through Dominic’s hand and rest at her sides. It is this last statement that causes a sudden reaction from Dominic, jerking his head down to look at Amy in confusion. Why is she thanking him? Is she simply expecting forgiveness? The only answer he gets comes in the form of a weak, forced smile from Amy which soon morphs back into one of dejection.
“I’m sorry,” she sobs. “I truly am.”
Without another word, she reaches into her pocket and pulls out her car keys. Her head hung low, she drags her feet along the riverbank towards the Volvo XC-90 that has been patiently waiting for her. Both Dominic and Shawn begin to follow in her footsteps, however Ruth is quick to interject, standing between the two and placing one hand gently on each other their chests, shaking her head.
“She’s made her decision,” Ruth says to the two of them. “I’m afraid that neither of you realise just how truly her psyche has been shattered by this whole ordeal. I think you just need to let her do what she needs to do to make amends.” The two men in either corner of the love triangle seem incapable to protest Ruth’s knowing mentality as the engine of the 4X4 roars into life. Slowly, it begins to reverse along the riverbank in the direction that it came from. Ruth leads Shawn and Dominic aside, towards the shrubbery and overgrown fauna that dominates where erosion has not made its mark.
“So what now?” Shawn huffs.
“What do you mean ‘so what now?’ Are you expecting us to be friends again just like that?” Dominic states with the utmost validity. “You can go back to whatever life you have and I will return to mine. Frankly, I couldn’t care less about where you go or what you do. Just stay the hell away from me. I want nothing to do with you.”
“Couldn’t agree more,” Shawn grunts, folding his arms and turning away from the man that he once called his best friend.
“Well at least we finally fucking agree on something.” Dominic scowls back, letting out the smallest of chuckles to himself. To his surprise, the very same noise is mimicked by Shawn; an expression of amusement. He scratches his beard as a means to distract him from this unnerving silence. “Listen,” he sighs, “if you need a place to stay, Matthew is still living in the bunker. I’m sure there’s plenty of space there.” Shawn glances towards Dominic, who seems surprisingly sincere in his statement, yet he is quick to laugh it off.
“Thanks but no thanks,” Shawn says dismissively. “I don’t need your Order’s charity.” He says this hesitantly, as though he were simply blurting out the first words that had entered his head. “Although,” he evaluates the offer more thoroughly, “it would be good to see my brother again. We have our differences, but we’re still family.” This causes Dominic to finally crack a smile, although he keeps it well hidden from his nemesis. An air of tranquillity seems to be filling the scene.
Although it is quickly disturbed by the roar of an engine; growing louder.
And louder.
And louder.
Dominic looks along the length of the riverbank. What he sees causes his eyes to widen. The Volvo XC-90, the very same vehicle navigated by Amy, is careening along the grassy and muddy bank at a frightening speed. It’s rear end is not in parallel to the rest of the vehicle; the rear tyres struggling to obtain grip against the boggy surface of the towpath. Shawn notices this much later than what Dominic does. Having already made movement towards the tent under the bridge where the few belongings in his possession are kept, he is stood directly in the middle of Amy’s route. There is no sign of any intent to slow the vehicle down.
“Shawn!” Dominic roars in shock. Without hesitation, he lurches out onto the towpath and barrels towards Shawn. Ruth shouts out to The Zenith, but her words are not heard. Instead, he tackles Shawn from the side, closing his eyes and bracing himself for the worst. The force of the impact combined with the speed and power behind Dominic’s tackle sends both of them hurtling into the river. Dominic feels the slipstream of Amy’s acceleration rip at his skin for a split second before they are engulfed by the waters below.
The splash is almost deafening to them; a vibration shakes them so ferociously that both Shawn and Dominic feel them pounding against their ribcages. Fortunately, the river does not flow at the speed of rapids. It is, however, surprisingly deeper than Dominic had envisioned. He opens his eyes to reveal towers of bubbles and grime that had disturbed the regular flow of these murky waters. He twists his body around, seeing Shawn flailing his arms to reach the surface. Even though he stands at over seven feet tall, Dominic cannot stand on the muddy riverbed without his head penetrating the surface of the water. He quickly surfaces, gasping for breath.
Shawn is struggling to keep his head above the water; the wind being knocked out of him by the force behind Dominic’s tackle. He chokes and splutters, most likely from inadvertently inhaling waters in his desperation to take a gulf of fresh air. Dominic is able to swim a short distance and latches his hand onto the back of Shawn’s collar, hoisting him upwards. He drags both Shawn and himself to the water’s edge, leaning against the bank of grass, reeds and nettles to recuperate. Even the sting from the nettles do not seem to taint them as they realise just how lucky they were to avoid the impact.
As Shawn struggles to catch his breath, Dominic then sees the reason as to why the ‘splash’ had been as loud and forceful as it had been.
The vehicle piloted by Amy had ploughed directly into the brickwork of the bridge that meets the riverbank itself. In turn, it has rolled onto its side onto the concrete embankment before the momentum itself had sent it crashing into the water. The Volvo XC-90 is now upside down in the water; black smoke billowing from the under-carriage of the engine compartment. He had not seen it due to the murkiness of the waters. The smell of fuel and smoke now fills the air. The historic bridge that held so many memories of their past had been significantly damaged. Chunks of brick and mortar lay fragmented on the riverbank.
“Amy…”
Dominic’s eyebrows furrow; panicked and fearful.
”Amy!"
Any ill will that he had cursed her with had dissipated immediately. He pushes himself away from the riverbed and swims with a front crawl to the driver’s door. He submerges to locate the door handle; a difficult task given that the vehicle is on its head. He pulls forcefully at the door handle. As he does so, his eyesight is able to see past the gloomy waters of the canal to see Amy’s lifeless body through the window. Her eyes are closed, the water has untied the scarf around her head, pulling it away to reveal a bare scalp, her hair ripped away from her by the cancerous cells that have been attacking her body so mercilessly. There is a horrifically large gash on her forehead, the blood flows from her head into the river itself. The airbag that had deployed on impact keeps her forced into her seat.
Despite the fact that the vehicle is not quite fully submerged, there is enough pressure provided by the water than inhibits the door from opening. Dominic instead deploys a different tactic, resurfacing and peering over the top, or rather the bottom, of the vehicle’s chassis.
“The bat!” Dominic yells to Ruth. “Throw me the baseball bat! Quickly!” Ruth immediately complies, running to the bush where she and Dominic had been hiding behind prior to this altercation. The bloodstained baseball bat, used by Johnny Matthews on his ‘award winning return’ lays in wait. With all her might, Ruth throws the bat towards the river, landing in the water a few feet from Dominic’s location before assisting Shawn out of the water and hauling him safely onto the towpath. The bat floats on the water’s surface, as if the river itself were playing its part in order to save Amy in spite of the fact that it could very well had killed her already. Dominic reaches out to obtain the bat, clasping it with both hands.
In spite of the drag behind Dominic’s swings caused by the water, he is able to use the tip of the bat the create a large crack in the driver’s side window. Two more thrusts and he creates a hole in the glass which splinter away and float gently downward onto the car’s roof. He chips away at the glass until there is nothing left; larger panels of shattered glass drift away as Dominic reaches in to retrieve Amy. He can feel a few remnants of glass dig into his chest as he pushes the deployed airbag out of his way and unclips Amy’s seatbelt. He loops both his own arms under hers, pulling her smaller frame much more easily out of the window and resurfacing once more.
She must have been in the water for more than three minutes by the time her head meets fresh air. Unlike Shawn who had gasped for air the second he had surfaced, Amy makes no such effort.
If the water didn’t take her, Time most certainly would.
Upon hauling her limp and lifeless body onto the riverbank, both Ruth and Shawn are on hand to pull her onto the more horizontal platform of the towpath. Dominic scrambles up the embankment in a crocodilian fashion; fast and frantic as he chases Amy down, wiping his sodden hair away from his face before tilting Amy’s head slightly backwards.
“Come on! Come on!” Dominic booms as he thrusts the palms on his hands downwards on Amy’s heart, pinching her nose softly and blowing a lungful of air into her mouth.
Ruth kneels down beside Amy, grabbing her arm and pressing two fingers against her scarred wrist.
She gently lowers it.
Dominic glares at Ruth as if warning he not to give him the answer that he surely already knows.
She simply shakes her head solemnly towards him.
It is only through denial that he chooses to ignore it.
He relentlessly pounds on Amy’s chest, refusing to give up on her. Yet every time he blows into her airways, a little bit of hope dies within him. He repeats the CPR operation multiple times. Shawn cannot bear to watch. Upon the tenth time or more of trying, Ruth rests her hand on Dominic’s shoulder.
“Dominic,” Ruth says hopelessly. “She’s gone.”
“There’s still time!” Dominic rebuts in frustration, pumping her heart once again. Instead of imposing once again, Ruth stops herself, instead taking a step back to watch the foregone conclusion continue.
What was once bloodthirsty shrills from the leaves amidst the breeze have become nothing more than stunned murmurs. The rain begins to fall; as if the heavens themselves had initiating the mourning process. Shawn’s forehead is buried in his hands, the role that he must have played in this whole scenario act as the burden of grief that he knows that he will have to pack up with the rest of his belongings. Ruth gives him a sympathetic look, but it is nowhere near as sincere as the one that she sends in Dominic’s direction.
Finally, after what seems like an infinite amount of empty time has passed, both Ruth and Shawn are able to comfort Dominic into relinquishing what little hope he had left. The Zenith stares down at Amy. It is impossible to tell whether or not its is raindrops or tears that trickle down his face, yet the emotion that had been baron mere minutes ago manifests itself. He places one hand gently under Amy’s head and lifts her up into a deep embrace; the last that they would ever share.
