on June 24, 2025, 12:27 pm
Sean was sitting up in bed when the scene opened up. Michelle had propped the bed up with all sorts of pillows and cushions to support his back and shoulder. Bottles of pain meds lay on the bedside table along with several half-empty glasses of water. Sean’s shoulder was also still heavily strapped and in the same brace it had been in since his surgery. Sean was dozing, his head tilted back, but the sleep he was in didn’t look to be a pleasant one. His eyelids were fluttering and his expression looked pained. Suddenly his head came jolting up, his eyes wide, and his chest heaving.
(Sean): No! Michelle! Michelle?!
Michelle shot upright, she was sitting next to Sean’s bed dozing off a little herself.
(Michelle): I’m here, I’m here…it’s ok.
She sits on the edge of the bed and scoots in just enough to lean Sean’s head into her. She brushes his hair taking in the scent of him.
(Michelle): Everything’s okay…probably just a bad dream.
Sean nuzzles into Michelle like a wounded puppy seeing shelter. The feeling that Michelle hadn’t been there filled his stomach with dread. She wasn’t wrong either; it had been a bad dream. The same one he’d been having since Fatality. Azami standing over him, Masamune in-hand and burying her blade deep into his shoulder.
(Sean): I hate this! I hate this! It’s the same dream every time I sleep…. her…. Masamune… my shoulder….
He reaches desperately for Michelle’s hand, like the touch of her skin and the feeling of her fingers intertwined with his was like a comfort blanket for him.
(Sean): I thought you’d gone….
She’s had her own bad dreams. Vivid and terrifying. The flash of light on the left side of her face as Erica hit her with an unsuspecting Fireball. The look on Azami's face when she drove that sword through Sean’s shoulder. Her own scream, its own nightmare. In one version of her dream, Azami stabbed and killed Sensei, making both her and Sean watch. She blinked the thoughts away, focusing on Sean.
(Michelle): I’m not going anywhere.
She goes to pull the bedsheets up but uses her other hand. She’d be careful as she could not let Sean see her injured hand. The stitching around her wrist where the skin had been pulled back into place. She’d forgotten her wristband that she started wearing to hide it from him.
(Michelle): It’s almost time for lunch, no more hospital food for you mister, it’s time for a real meal. What would you like and don’t say “nothing”….you have to eat. You have to keep your strength up.
Sean sighs deeply, snuggling into Michelle, inhaling her beautiful scent.
(Sean): I don’t feel like eating… I just…. I don’t know what I want… I want this shoulder to feel better… I want to close my eyes without seeing her. I want to not feel dizzy when I stand up… I just…
Sean begins to well up but tries not to let Michelle see him, turning his head. She then cradles his head into her. What little comfort she thought she might give, she was willing to give it all to spare him the misery he was going through. She prayed for strength to push past her own emotions from what happened so she could be as present for him as possible.
(Michelle): Shhhhhh!
She stroked his matted hair and kissed the top of his head, careful to avoid his bruised areas. She’s reminded of being a little girl, any time she was sick her grandmother sang her a Mormon Lullaby called “Oh, Hush Thee, My Baby” that helped soothe her. The words might not resonate as well with Sean, but she hoped the sentiment would. And then….ever so gently, and sweetly…she sang to him.
(Michelle): Oh, hush thee, my baby; a story I’ll tell,
How little Lord Jesus on earth came to dwell;
How in a far country, ’way over the sea,
Was born a wee baby, my dear one, like thee.
Lullaby, baby, lullaby, dear.
Sleep, little baby; have nothing to fear.
Lullaby, baby, lullaby, dear.
Jesus will care for his little one here.
The story was told by the angels so bright,
As round them was shining a heavenly light.
The stars shone out brightly, but one led the way
And stood o’er the place where the dear baby lay.
Lullaby, baby, lullaby, dear.
Sleep, little baby; have nothing to fear.
Lullaby, baby, lullaby, dear.
Jesus will care for his little one here.
There was one more verse to the song, but she stopped there, feeling the tenseness of his body lessen. She kissed his head again.
(Michelle): I know it’s not easy….I see her too, both of them, but we’ll get through this…you and me….together.
Sean looked up at Michelle, feeling like he could almost fall asleep again. But instead, he posed a question. He wasn’t sure if it was the pain meds, the pain itself or Michelle’s soothing lullaby. Or maybe a combination of all three.
(Sean): Will you marry me?
Michelle just giggles at him.
(Michelle): You silly boy…you’re just too cute when you’re medicated, you know that?
(Sean): No, I mean it. I want us to get married. Soon. I don’t want to spend another minute with you, not as my wife….. and I think… I think I’m ready to tell you… about her… about Japan.
Michelle feels her spine become rigid. It’s as if her bones were made of ice as a chill prickled her skin. She even thinks she’s unknowingly shivered, but isn’t sure. Never in her life had she ever wanted to know something so badly, but at the same time didn’t want to know at all. What would he say? What could he say?
It was years ago. Long before she ever came along, but had she been walking in this woman’s shadow all this time? Just a girl who couldn’t compare. Was she just the next best thing? Like when you go to a restaurant and look at the menu, make your selection but the waiter tells you they’re out so you settle on something else.
Her stomach churned now. Her guts twisted like thorny vines, the pain a precursor to swallowing Sean’s jagged truths from the land of the rising sun. She tried to put Azami out of her mind, but how could she. The thought to focus on the wedding. The venue, the caterer, the rings they had yet to get, the dress still to be tailored. She couldn’t think of anything to say, only one word, one question came from her mouth and even then she wasn’t sure which of the two things he’d mentioned it was in response to ... the wedding, or the story.
(Michelle): When?
(Sean): I don’t want there to be anything hanging over us. And I don’t know what the future holds with… her… in HWA. But I don’t want to get married and have you wondering what if, or any other questions….
He grunts as he tries his best to sit up in bed so that he can look Michelle in the eye. His head is still spinning slightly from his concussion but he tries his best to ignore it and wipes the tears that had formed and stuck to his cheeks earlier.
(Sean): I love… I love you with all my heart, Michelle and before I declare that in front of God, I want you to know that it’s you that I want to spend the rest of my life with…. that it’s you I’m in love with….
She meets his eyes, then lowers her head nodding, fighting back her own tears. She remembers Jeremy and Matt and the feelings they had for one another, not even sure when it was that they had secretly fallen in love with one another. She asked herself the same question. When was it that she had fallen in love with Sean?
Had her appreciation for him during their time at the academy really been adoration? Was it his encouragement of her the millions of times she failed and doubted herself? Was it during that time when they’d all gone out to lunch after practice and he stuffed himself with a Cheeseburger and Fries while she ate salad and the guilty gleam in his green eyes caught the light as he looked at her?
She didn’t know when, she might never be sure…but she was sure that she loved him now, and whatever he had to say about Azami, about Japan…wouldn’t change that. It might hurt her own fragile insecurities, but that’s not his doing. He loved her and she knew it. She placed her hand, her good one…one his cheek along with her sweet smile as she stared at him seeing pain not just in his flesh, but in his spirit.
(Michelle): I love you too, Sean, and whatever you have to tell me, whenever you want to tell me…I’m here.
Sean took a deep breath, scrunching his eyes shut for a brief moment. He was still in a tremendous amount of pain and discomfort between the concussion, his shoulder, his throat and everything else in between. But he knew he needed to be honest with Michelle about Azami, his time in Japan with Sensei after he’d learned to walk again. And he knew it needed to happen sooner rather than later. There was no doubt in his mind the love he had for Michelle was real and that he was deeply, madly in love with her.
(Sean): Azami… She was my first ever proper friend. Sensei, before he was technically my Sensei… he came to visit Uncle Butch when we all still lived in Scotland. I was only five at the time. But he brought Azami with him too. They stayed with us for a few nights before Uncle Butch and Sensei went on the road for a European tour with whatever promotion they were working for at the time.
Sean paused for a moment, he could feel Michelle’s eyes on him.
(Sean): She told me that her mum had died and that was the first time I’d met another kid who’d lost a parent. So, I felt this connection with her, y’know? Someone I could finally relate to. I didn’t see her again for another fourteen years.
Michelle listens attentively, recognizing how hard this story seems to be for Sean to tell. There was a knot still in her stomach waiting and she waited for it to either tighten further or loosen, along with a lump in her throat she hoped to swallow and not choke on. Somehow, he seemed transformed. He was that little 5-year old boy again, the innocent sweetness of his face alone nearly broke her heart.
(Sean): After my operation, I had a lot of resentment towards Uncle Butch. Not so much Aunt Wisdom, but Butch wanted to wrap me in cotton wool. He was so scared that the slightest bump or knock and I would get hurt again. He wouldn’t let me train properly, refused to sign an insurance waiver so I could train at the Academy… the first Academy, nothing like it is now. So, when Sensei said there was nothing left for him in the States, and he was going back to Japan, I knew it was my out. Sensei had been there for me throughout my entire recovery, after the accident, rehab, my clinical depression, then my operation, learning to walk again.
Again, Sean paused for a moment. It was like he was reliving his past as he was telling Michelle.
(Sean): I don’t even remember giving Uncle Butch a chance to say yes or no. I was eighteen and I didn’t care what he thought. The next thing I know I’m getting a travel Visa sorted and Sensei and I are on a plane to Okinawa… that’s when he reintroduced me to Azami. Even after over a decade of not seeing each other, we hit it back off straight away. We trained together, we hung out, she helped me with Japanese, and soon we were Sensei’s top students, earning our first and second Dan black belts…. and yeah, we got close… really close.
Sean stopped again. He knew he was getting to the part he was dreading telling Michelle.
(Sean): I couldn’t help it, she’d been there for me. She was the only one who didn’t judge me. The gaijin, Sensei’s pet. She never saw it that way, or at least I didn’t think she did. We became inseparable, did everything together. Eventually, we became an item… but we never did… anything…
And there it was…she could swallow. The hairy tennis ball in her throat dissolved. She didn’t realize she was holding her breath until she let it go. She knew he wouldn’t lie to her, but her own human frailty had invoked fear and jealousy. That heart belonged to another before her. That he too was human, a young man with hormones and had some physical intimacy with Azami even though they didn't…..do it.
This was silly. He wasn’t raised in the bubble she was, but all her life she had imagined being with a man as pure and unspoiled as she was. Of discovering every part of being in love together. She realized how unrealistic that was. She took her hand and placed it over Sean's, in part to reassure him that she was ok, but also in part to prove to herself that she wasn’t going to withdraw from him.
(Sean): Anyway… a few years went by, and things were great. And then, out of the blue, Sensei tells me that Uncle Butch had called. That he was reopening HWA as an independent promotion, that he wanted Sensei to head up the Academy and wanted me to be part of it, part of this new vision he and Aunt Wisdom had. I couldn’t believe it. As much as I had resented him for what happened before, I couldn’t ignore Uncle Butch’s call. Us, Sensei? Matt? Spearheading a new generation of HWA, on our own terms? I couldn’t turn it down. Azami begged me to say. I begged her to come with me. But she wouldn’t leave Okinawa. She told me she loved me and wanted us to have a life in Japan, just us, to start a family… but….
Sean hesitated, feeling himself choking up as he relived the conversation in his head.
(Sean): I just couldn’t, Chelle… I loved her but I wasn’t in love with her. Those three years I was in Japan were incredible and I learned so much about myself. But when Sensei said he couldn’t turn Uncle Butch down, I knew I couldn’t either. I lied though… I lied to Azami… I told her that I’d come back for her, that I wouldn’t forget her… gave her a necklace as a keepsake, as a reminder that I’d always be with her…. I lied… I broke her heart… I deserve this… all of this… and now, you’ve been hurt by it as well… all because of my selfishness…
Michelle tries to hide her hand but Sean had already looked down and seen it during his last words. The Frankenstein stitches around her entire wrist, the swelling and discoloration that makes it look worse. She didn’t know what to say. Sean’s heart had belonged to another before her. It pained her to think that this journey they were on was not as parallel as she had believed.
All of the dots were connecting. The necklace Starlight always wore. The way she touched it and rubbed it between her fingers. In hindsight, she’d only done it when Sean was around. No one would have ever suspected its sentiment. They way she always Michelle had so easily befriended her, she playing on her innocence so she could get close to Sean and size up the competition.
That flicker of insecurity hit her again. If Sean had lied to her, if he was with her for years and then suddenly just stopped…could he do the same to her? Would he? Was their love real, or was it a one way road like theirs? She doesn’t want to ask any questions, but she must. This yo-yo of certainty and uncertainty was absolutely maddening. Her throat felt like sandpaper as her lips parted to speak.
(Michelle): Why? Why did you do that to her?
Her eyes looked pleadingly at him. They said, “please don’t do the same to me.” They screamed “do it now,” “hurt me now” if you’re going to.
(Sean): I was very young, Chelle. I was between a rock and a hard place. I couldn’t stay in Japan, not without Sensei, not without Uncle Butch and Aunt Wisdom. When I thought about it, I didn’t see my life there. So, just as I didn’t love her enough to stay, when I asked her to come back home with me and refused, I guess a part of me accepted that she didn’t love me enough either. But I didn’t mean to lie to her… Azami was the first girl I’d ever had romantic feelings for, the first girl I ever kissed. I truly thought that somehow, we’d make our way back to each other. But the phone calls, the texts, the letters, they went from days, to weeks, to months…
Sean looks up, making eye contact with Michelle.
(Sean): And then you walked into my life. And everything changed.
She’s said this to herself so many times before but it still rings true time and time again…. so much in her life had changed since coming to Los Angeles for this wrestling adventure. She recognized so much had changed in Sean’s life as well. Being thrust into the business when he was a teenager, his accident, going to Japan, then coming back. These years must have been horrible for Azami, but what she did was inexcusable, and only God could forgive her and Erica.
She made a decision, then and there. A silent declaration that nothing else mattered. Not Sean’s past, not hers…only their future. She looked back at him with sincerity in her eyes.
(Michelle): Thank you for telling me.
She didn’t know if it was the right time. It would only make him feel worse, but they might as well expose all their open wounds now and get it over with so the healing can truly begin.
(Michelle): Sean…there’s something I need to tell you.
Sean knew it was a massive risk being as open with Michelle as he had been even though he knew it was the right thing. Still, the sound of those ominous words coming from Michelle’s mouth suddenly made him lightheaded although that could’ve been the concussion.
(Sean): Oh no… what is it?
She couldn’t meet his eyes. She couldn’t bear for him to look at her with disappointment.
(Michelle): I…..I’m not going back. I can’t do this anymore. Everything that was fun about wrestling for me just isn’t anymore. I’m tired of seeing you and Mr. Hans, all our friends and…
She pauses, again covering her wrist.
(Michelle): …everyone, being hurt. It never ends. I miss the old days, those little crowds and little arenas, all of us sitting around a computer seeing how many views our videos were getting on Youtube, really trying to be wrestlers and entertain people.
She didn’t want to point the finger at his Aunt or Uncle, but he could probably guess that she’d been disillusioned by the whole “pure wrestling” thing the once all lived and loved. HWA simply wasn’t that anymore. Not with people hitting each other with wheel chair legs, or stabbing each other with knives, with ungodly creatures she never thought possible walking around in dead friends bodies.
(Michelle): I just….I just can’t anymore.
Sean just sighed. Not in disappointment but in understanding. She was right, this wasn’t the HWA they remembered, what he came back from Japan for, what Butch had sold him on all those years ago. He nuzzled into Michelle.
(Sean): I… I think I’m done too. This isn’t the HWA I want to be part of. I’m never going to win the World Championship and if I do, what am I representing? Who am I fighting for? HWA is exactly what it was years ago, with the inmates running the asylum. Maybe I should retire. Maybe this is a sign, Chelle, from Him.
Sean motions up to the ceiling.
(Sean): You’re always talking about how He has plans for everyone. Maybe mine isn’t professional wrestling. Maybe it’s with you… whatever that entails. I love you and only you, Michelle. You’re my soulmate and wherever I am, whatever I’m doing, I’ll be happy. But I’m not dying in a wrestling ring. I’ve lost too much of my life already because of this.
She hadn’t expected this response from him. Wrestling had been his life, his family's life for years, decades. She knew she could, but could he just walk away from it? A part of her was angry for him, but a part of her felt a guilty relief.
(Michelle): I don’t know what to say. Is that what you really want?
Another sigh from Sean, this time a resigned one. Followed by a grimace, an involuntary spasm of his shoulder and a grunt of pain that he tried to mask but he could see that Michelle had spotted him. His meds were wearing off. He reached over to the bedside table and took three pills from the screw cap bottle, tossing them into his mouth and swallowing them dry.
(Sean): I don’t know… I just… hmph…. I just want us to be happy. No drama, no awfulness, no worrying about what’s around the corner… I want to be excited about what's around the corner, not worried… what were we talking about?
Sean started feeling woozy, his eyes widening before they started to blink rapidly. His head started to sway like a metronome.
(Sean): Marry me, Michelle Learner… I’ve been planning this… since Ring Master… then we’ll go on it’s a small world…
Somehow in this moment just the two of them nothing else mattered. Sean was fighting fatigue and losing, she would let him rest, he’d eventually fall asleep soon, but when he awoke…she’d make sure he ate and wouldn’t take no for an answer. She looked at him in this fragile state. She thought about how funny a time it was.
A year ago he had just been in the hospital at this same time racing towards Ring Master. A year later he’s out of the hospital again…only now he’s racing towards their future and she would race with him.
(Michelle): Of course I’ll marry you, and we’ll go on It’s A Small World, and then….wherever life takes us.
She leans in and gives him a peck on the lips before pulling back and resting his head on the pillows and the scene fades to black.
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