In my arms he was protected, safe, comforted.  When I was so busy training and spending weekends in cold, cheap motel rooms, all I thought about were her and him.  My son mostly, but also the his mother, my girlfriend as well.  What money I made, I gave to her to take care of him and get food.  My mother would help out giving money for diapers and food whenever we needed it.  Dove moved in with Snow to keep her company and help out.  Dan, well Dan was on his way to becoming the angry individual he is today.  Ok maybe I'm a little too harsh on my brother, but when we were growing up, I used to try to look out for him, try to guide him to do right, my advice fell on deaf ears apparently.  Don't get me wrong, my brother isn't a horrible person.  He's had to deal with things like his older brother getting his father thrown in jail, his older brother getting the attention he wanted when I had a child, Dan has resented me since the days I stopped being able to hang out with him and tried to keep the family afloat with whatever money I could make.  With luck, I actually became the draw in the dinky federation I was wrestling for.  Everyone wanted to see the tall skinny freak of nature.  At 17 I was almost 6 foot 10 and all the guys I went up against were barely 6 feet if even that.  Naturally they tried to capitalize on that and make me into some kind of monster.  I kind of liked it, I was allowed to take out my daily frustrations on the talent and make people cheer while I did it.  Life on the road was getting a little better, because I became the draw, they started making more money, started paying me more, and started to become a more serious promotion.  Still, they would never make it to the big time.  I got the call from my cousin Death that this place called the Elemental Empire Wrestling Federation was looking for talent to bolster their roster.  My first impulse was to sign right away and try to become a top star so I could provide for my family, but I had to discuss it with that very same family.


*An alarm clock buzzes, after about 2 minutes of buzzing it stops and silence once again.*

"I'll be gone a little longer some days.  They're allowing me to finish school, but weekends, holidays and summer they want me to work for them."  Snow was not happy, but she knew the money would be better and we'd have a better life for Jasper.  My mother was against it from the beginning, but Snow assured her that it would be worth it.  Dove had once again run off with some guy and we barely heard from her, and Dan, well Dan actually seemed supportive of the idea.  With the family in agreement, I signed with the EEWF, I had no idea what my future held, I just knew they wanted a big man to put some of their guys over.  I had no problem being a "jobber" as long as I was getting paid.  At first I just took it, losing to guys that were on their way up to the main event and just need some "impressive" wins to build their image.  I didn't mind at all, one 3 minute squash match got my brother some nice basketball shoes, he had made the team in school and while we weren't poor, basketball shoes were not part of the budget.  The look on his face when I handed him the box of Nikes was priceless, for once my brother seemed to be happy.  Basketball kept him out of trouble, his grades improved because he had to keep his gpa up, his attitude improved and he stayed away from the crowd that usually got him in trouble before.  My brother kicked major ass in basketball, I was proud of him.  It seemed our lives were going to get better, it looked like our future was going to be brighter.


*the alarm clock blares once again followed by a groan, it stops almost immediately, then silence once again*

I graduated at 17, not that I was smart or anything, I just happened to get all my work done and passed all my classes a year early.  I knew I wanted to finish high school so I'd at least have a diploma, but I also knew my life plan was to be a wrestler.  Kids at school were trying to get close to me, several of them say they saw me at an EEWF show or on cable access tv who showed EEWF material late at night.  I had developed a small following mostly of classmates and underclassmen, I didn't think of myself as popular, just a guy who had some fans.  Even back in the day, I knew the fans were what was going to make my career.  Once again I think my brother became jealous of the attention I got.  I would show up to one of his basketball games, just being a fan myself, and kids and people would clamor to me trying to get close to me, all I wanted was to watch my brother kick some ass on the court.  Dan would have stellar performances each game, he regularly scored half or more of the teams points, he was a rebounding machine and he had division one scouts attending games and checking him out.  He was only a freshman but he was the best player the school ever saw.  I was proud of my little brother, but my pseudo-fame distracted from his awesome talents, there was a time when he came up to me and asked me not to go to his games anymore, it was hard for me to accept that my brother didn't want me around, but it didn't matter, a big change was coming, soon I was going to be missing more than just basketball games, and the family, it was about to unravel.


*the alarm clock goes off again, this time a light switches on, we see Scott Pandora in bed, mumbling to himself as he finally wakes up.  He gets out of bed and heads to the kitchen to grab a drink of water.  He looks around his duplex.  He made a lot of money in his lifetime, but he doesn't flaunt it.  While most wrestlers would have bought million dollar homes and half a million dollar cars, Scott Pandora was saving as much as he could to support his son and save for his college education.  Pandora doesn't believe in being so flashy anyway, Scott Pandora the regular guy, who just happens to be a hardcore addicted wrestler.*

Scott Pandora: Too frickin early, Why did JahMon insist on coming in on the early morning flight?  Oh well, I better get my ass moving if I'm gonna pick him up at Orlando.


20 minutes later


*Pandora steps into his 2002 Chevy Blazer Extreme and fires it up.  He  motions for the camera crew to get in the back, failing to realize he has only 2 doors.*

Scott Pandora: Oh right, I really need a 4 door vehicle if I'm gonna have you guys following me around again. 

*He steps out and lets the camera crew get in, then they pull away heading towards Orlando*

Scott Pandora: It still feels weird sometimes letting a camera crew document my life.  Its part of the job I can't really get completely comfortable with, even after close to 15 years in the business.  The word is out that my next opponent is the dark and demented character named The Scorpion.  I'll be honest, I haven't really been paying much attention to him, I saw his little debut package when he first showed up, but I haven't really watched any of his promos and I haven't paid attention to things he's done on South Beach Sunday, so basically I have no idea who he is.  Doesn't matter, I'll still show him a thing or two about this business.  I made my name in this business spilling blood, and a lot of times I had no freaking idea who the guy across the ring from me was, I just knew as soon as the bell rang, I wasn't going to stop until my opponent stopped moving.  Sometimes I'd be on the losing end, but if it was a hardcore match, win or lose, I punished my opponent like they had never been punished before.  There was a time when I was one of the most feared wrestlers out there, the time is long gone now, but I'm still as bloodthirsty as I was back in the day.  My quest for shattering my opponent's skull knows no bounds, It could be Scorpion, it could be Brent Kersh, hell it could be my brother or even Hartnell himself, I'll treat them all the same.  There's a rush that builds inside me when I see that first cut in my opponent's forehead, or taste the first drops of my own blood, it transforms me into the monster no one wants to see.  I've made more men bleed in this business than anyone else, I've ended plenty of careers and put mine on the line plenty of times as well, I've come close to losing too much blood, injuring myself permanently, and even dying several times., I've been crucified and left for dead, you name it, I've done it.  One would ask, why am I still around if I've seemingly done it all in this business?  Well because for some wrestlers, no matter how many times you walk away, you always want to come back, one last roar of the crowd, one last thrill of victory, the ref raising your hand one more time as the crowd cheers you on one more time.  I don't think I'll ever be able to leave this business, not while I'm still physically able to perform.  I plan to be around for a while, so anyone who has visions of ending my career, they can damn well try.

Scott Pandora: The Scorpion seems to be an interesting character, I hear he quotes Bible, he seems to be spiritual and perhaps believes God is on his side.  Well Scorpion, when you enter that ring with me, God won't be anywhere near us.  In that ring I create chaos, I create disorder, I create hell.  While I'm not denouncing your beliefs, I'm just telling you, relying on God will get you nowhere when you step into that ring with me.  You can say your prayers, spout your Bible verses but the results will be the same, you will find yourself in a battle for your life.  I can sit here and talk about how I'm going to beat your ass from pillar to post and from turnbuckle to turnbuckle, but I don't need to actually verbalize that, I'll simply DO it in the ring at South Beach Sunday.  I won't tell you not to show up, I won't tell you to cower and hide in fear, I know you aren't the type to do that.  I hope you do show up because I would love to show you a few things about the dark and demented side of this business, I would love to show you how God can not help you in this business.  Believe me, I've tried to include him in my life in this business and I usually end up looking like the fool when I do.  The man upstairs can have his reign over all the earth, but in that squared circle, no one has reign over me, not even Him.  So go ahead, quote the Bible, go ahead, tell the people what God can do for them, but don't tell them he's on your side in the ring, because I just may have to prove you wrong on that.  Don't go mistaking me for an anti-God deviant either, I believe in him as well but I don't include him in my professional life, personally, I don't think anyone should.  God is great, but he's not human, you and I are human, we bleed, we hurt, we break.  Break, I love that word!  I would love nothing more than to break you into pieces.  I look forward to our match, I sure hope you're looking forward to it as well.  Well, it looks like I'm here.

*Scene fades as Pandora drives up to the Airport drop off/pick up lane and we see JahMon standing in the distance waiting to be picked up.*