HWA Message Board: Show Me The Way To Go Home

Fifteen minutes after the conclusion of Ring Master. Off-camera.

Sean hadn’t long hung up with Michelle, making sure she was alright after Erica’s interruption during the Ring Master final. After hearing her voice, knowing everything was, for the time being anyway, ok, everything else came to the surface. Sean pressed himself against the wall of the locker room, sliding down it, collapsing into a heap. The pain racking his body was a drop in the ocean compared to the one he felt cutting through his heart.

All the hard work he’d put in, the training, the surgery, the rehab. Everything. All for nothing. Truth be told, he didn’t care about Stu-E Price. He didn’t care about anything right now. He was hurting, he was heartbroken and no one in the world had the right to begrudge him that.

A quiet knock on the door emanated and it creaked open a second later. Matt’s head poked through and he quietly made his way into the main body of the locker room. He walked over and crouched down in front of Sean in a squatted position. He leaned over, placing a gentle hand on top of Sean’s head, pulling him.

Sean didn’t even resist at this point. Tears streamed down his cheeks, the saltiness not even registering as they clouded his eyes. Matt didn’t need to say anything. He’d experienced himself the heartbreak of having something that meant the world to him snatched from his grasp. Matt knew no words were needed. He planted a soft kiss on Sean’s forehead.

The two close friends, for what seemed like an eternity, sat there, sharing the silence. Eventually, Sean lifted his head, sniffling, wiping his eyes and nose with the back of his hand.

(Sean): Matt…

(Matt): Yeah, mate?

(Sean): I’m done… I want to go home.

Sean stood up from his seated position, still in his ring gear. He grabbed his bag, not even bothering to shower, change or even put on a t-shirt. As he opened the door of the locker room, Jeremy, Red Dragon, Wisdom and Butch were all waiting outside, eager to see how he was. But Sean, his face absent of any expression or emotion, didn’t engage. He simply walked past them all like they weren’t even there.

(Butch): What did he say, Matt? Is he ok?

Matt shook his head solemnly.

(Matt): He just said he wanted to go home.

(Butch): He’ll be ok, he’s just hurting. I’ll talk to him.

As Butch went to follow his nephew, Red Dragon stopped him, gently grabbing him by the arm.

(Red Dragon): Hai, Butch-san, leave him be. Sean-kun needs time.

(Matt): I don’t know, Sensei… he said he was done. This was the biggest match of his career, so it was. It’s hard to come back from something like that. Becoming Ring Master, winning the HWA Championship, emulating you, Butch? That’s all he ever wanted. That’s all he ever dreamed of. To make history. To be the first HWA Champion since Butch. Missing the first Havoc, battling through what Fallen put him and Michelle through? His surgery? His rehab? Battling through all that. To fall at the last hurdle?

Nothing will ever be the same, so it won’t. Even if he does win the title in the future, it won’t be the same, it won’t carry the same meaning. Nobody remembers the guy who won it next. They remember the guy who won it first. And, after tonight, that won’t ever be Sean. You don’t just get over that, so you don’t.

The group collectively watched a dejected, heartbroken Sean trudge off, ignoring everything and everyone around him as the scene faded to black.