Story Ready2CheckOut (A fictional story I wrote)

[Lost in a Dream]

Spoiler: Chapter 39

39​

Jeremy was happy as he took a big bite out of his mushroom burger while his sister filled all the empty cups with pop from a two-liter; he tasted the burger itself which was very good, but he also tasted the cabbage, the onion, the vegan cheese he got, and the vegan bacon strips.

"Wow, this is very good!" Jeremy said excitedly.

"Fuck yeah it is, Office," Calvin agreed after taking a bite of his own burger.

George laughed with a mouthful of food. "I've had regular burgers with mushrooms on em before, but never an actual mushroom burger!"

Sandra laughed too after sitting down across the table from her brother and taking her first bite. "You guys chose well! If I was vegan too, I'd buy these all the fucking time."

Jeremy laughed. "No reason you can't be, Sandra! Just think about the animals suffering and the rest will fall into place."

Taking another bite, Sandra chewed her food and explained, "Cal told me you guys saw a newscast about the protesters and the slaughterhouse. Not surprising you went vegan because of that ya know?"

Jeremy was suddenly curious about his sister's opinions on veganism, so he had to ask, "What do you think, sis? Any chance you might make the change too?"

"I'll think about it," was Sandra's answer.

Her reply was good enough for Jeremy. She probably hadn't seen the same newscast he did, so it made sense to him why she would need time to think. Perhaps if he showed her how bad the footage of the animals dying really was, it would be enough to give her that final push.

Taking another bite of his burger, Jeremy smiled at Sandra with the food still in his mouth, but after gulping it down, he said, "At least see if you can get more of these mushroom burgers and see if you can go vegan for them."

Sandra chuckled and then ate more of her burger too. Calvin and George were too busy devouring theirs to say anything else for a while, and that was when Jeremy glanced over at his father, who was still standing by the grill, getting ready to cook some of his regular animal burgers.

Sandra had her back turned towards her father, but when she noticed Jeremy looking over at the grill, she glanced over her shoulder, before asking her brother a couple questions. "What's up, Jer? You okay?"

Both George and Calvin glanced at their younger buddy, who frowned suddenly. "I'm just wondering what's going through Dad's mind right now. He hasn't even really looked at my shirt yet."

Sandra looked at it, and when she saw the phrase "PEEP THE MYTHOS" and the artwork that went along with it, she chuckled. "I love your shirt, little bro. Where'd you get it?"

Jeremy smiled at her. "Cal got it for me at the store when we were shopping. I mainly wore it to freak Dad out, but he hasn't noticed it yet."

"You think I can get a better look at your shirt?" Sandra asked. "Stand up for a bit."

Getting up from his side of the picnic table, Jeremy showed her the rest of his shirt. When Sandra saw the temple with the chomping teeth on the outer walls and the horns on the roof, she smiled. "Don't wanna get too close to that temple do ya?"

"Nope!" Jeremy agreed, which caused Calvin and George to laugh as they too inspected his shirt. "Getting eaten alive by giant gaping jaws isn't my idea of a fun time."

Sandra laughed along with Jeremy's friends, and then he laughed too, which caused his father to glance over at them while he was cooking his own burgers. Jeremy briefly met his gaze for a moment, waved to him, but got no response before his father returned to cooking.

That made Jeremy feel sad, and his friends noticed it. As he was about to sit down, Calvin looked up at him. "Go talk to him, man. If anything goes wrong, we'll be here."

Realizing he should do that, Jeremy picked up his plate and started walking over towards the grill. "I'll be back guys."

Anxiety filled his chest as he walked over to his father. Though he had been around him already since arriving in the bus, it would be the first time he had actual time alone with his father in a while.

"Hey, Dad," Jeremy said when he was close enough to be heard.

Ted glanced at him before flipping his burgers, of which there were only a couple and one hotdog cooking on his grill. "Son, how's the mushroom burger?"

Taking another bite, Jeremy enjoyed the flavors and swallowed before giving his answer. "Very good! Ya know, you cooked em well."

A faint smile formed on Ted's lips as he looked at his son again. "That's good to hear. I always do my best when I'm cooking."

"Right," Jeremy agreed. "So, how have you been?"

"I've been alright," was Ted's answer. "Just been worried about you and your sister."

Jeremy stood there awkwardly as he held his plate, not sure what to say next. "So... Sandra said there was an old lady down the road selling hats for cats. I'm kinda curious to check them out."

"Oh, you have a cat now?" Ted asked, looking surprised. "That's nice!"

Jeremy chuckled. "Well, it's not actually my cat. My buddy George has a cat named Earl and he's a cute little guy. I might get him a little hat."

"Ah, I see," Ted said before flipping his burgers again. "She's selling em just a little ways down the road from here."

"We didn't see her when we got here," Jeremy said. "So she must be selling them a little further down the road in the other direction."

"Yep, she is," was Ted's answer. "She's got a little stand out there and sometimes her grandkids spend time with her while she's sewing the hats and selling em."

"She sews the hats by hand?" Jeremy asked, suddenly curious.

"Oh yes," Ted replied. "I went for an early morning jog one day and passed her by. She tried to sell me a hat, but I told her I didn't have a cat and said to have a good day."

Then Ted paused to look at his son's shirt, and when Jeremy noticed him looking at it, he looked down at it too. "I got this shirt at the store. Cal bought it for me."

"Interesting," Ted said, looking genuinely puzzled. "What does peep the mythos mean?"

Jeremy shrugged. "It could mean anything, honestly. Truth is I'm not really sure, I just thought the artwork was awesome."

"I see," was his father's reply. "That temple has teeth on it..."

Jeremy laughed. "Just don't get your fingers too close to it or it might bite them off."

Ted didn't laugh, he just stood there and frowned. "Perhaps. I like your friend Cal, he seems very nice."

"Oh, he is," Jeremy agreed. "I saw you guys talking earlier. Did he tell you he's a veteran?"

Ted looked genuinely surprised. "No, he didn't mention that yet. A veteran you say? What branch?"

"Army," was Jeremy's answer. "He served during Desert Storm and for a little bit after Nine-eleven."

"Well, I should thank him for his service when I get a chance," Ted said to him with a faint smile on his face. "He seems like an interesting man."

Jeremy completely agreed with his father's assessment of Calvin. "He is, for sure! If it weren't for him and George, I... I don't know where I'd be right now."

Ted chuckled. "Still stuck in that pothole I bet. Cal told me about it."

Jeremy wasn't the least bit surprised. "When I hit that damn thing, it really sucked, but after meeting Cal and George, it feels like the best thing to happen to me."

"Well, maybe you hitting the pothole was God's plan all along," Ted suggested. "Could be he put those guys in your life for a reason."

"I don't know about that," Jeremy said with a shrug. "I'm glad they're in my life for sure, but I dunno how much God has to do with it."

Suddenly looking irritated, Ted said, "He probably has quite a lot to do with it. All he wants is the same thing I do, for you to get right with him and go back to church. This could be the time for it."

Feeling a little irritated himself, Jeremy furrowed his eyebrows. "If that's true, then why wasn't God there for Billy?"

Ted gasped when his son brought up the name of his childhood friend who killed himself when he was a teenager. "Now listen! I know what Pastor Sherman did to Billy was wrong, I won't argue with that, but you have to understand-"

"I don't have to understand shit," Jeremy said as he set his plate down on the table beside the grill. "I told Cal about Billy's death, but what I didn't tell him about was how Pastor Sherman molested him and that is why he ended up taking his life. I blamed myself for it for a long time, but I realize what happened wasn't on me."

"Are you suggesting it's God's fault?" Ted asked, now looking angry again. "You can't blame God for something Pastor Sherman chose to do with his free will."

"You sure about that?" Jeremy asked. "God had to have known what Pastor Sherman was planning when he was still our Youth Pastor. He could've put a stop to it and saved Billy but he didn't. Me arguing with Billy about what happened to him afterwards was just the final straw."

"Still, that isn't God's fault," Ted told him.

"You say God was just respecting Pastor Sherman's free will," Jeremy said. "But what about Billy's will to not be abused? Where was his free will then? Why didn't God protect that?"

Ted didn't have an answer, but his face turned red with anger. Jeremy became angry again as well and he put his face up to his father's face. "You know I'm right, Dad. God could've saved Billy but he didn't."

"Billy could've turned to God afterwards and he would've been fine," Ted growled. "He could've recovered from what happened to him while Sherman was in jail, but instead he rejected God and took his own life."

"In his place, I would've done the same fucking thing," Jeremy growled back, now baring his teeth like an angry dog.

Then the fight that was beginning to ensue between them came to an end when they both heard the sound of someone clearing their throat. Glancing to the side, they saw Calvin standing there, plate in hand, as he approached them to get some corn and beans.

"You guys okay?" Calvin asked, looking at Jeremy specifically.

Returning to his grill, Ted said nothing, but Jeremy calmed his expression and smiled at Calvin. "I'm okay now. I think I'm just gonna go sit down with Beard and Sandra again."

Calvin watched Jeremy pick up his plate and pass him by as he approached the picnic table all over again. Feeling glad that he had his friends there to break up the fight, Jeremy took his mostly-eaten burger back over to where he had been sitting before getting up to talk to his father.

Spoiler: Chapter 40

40​

Calvin watched Jeremy until he took a seat at the table with George and Sandra, before looking at Ted. "What was that about?"

Ted looked at Calvin and gave him a smile. "Nothing to worry about. Just family drama."

Calvin scooped a couple spoonfuls of corn onto his plate and a couple spoonfuls of baked beans. "I see. So, when we get done eating, ya think we can check out that zero turn?"

"Absolutely," Ted said to him as he flipped his burgers one more time. "I'll bring my plate with me while we're eating and I'll show it to ya."

Calvin chuckled. "Sounds good."

Using a spoon that he grabbed from the picnic table, Calvin started shoveling the corn and beans into his mouth, while Ted put one of his burgers on a bun with some ketchup, mustard, and his pickles, and the remainders that he cooked, he put on a plate so he could have another one later if he chose. As they walked up to the house, they turned and headed around to the left where the driveway circled around it, until they reached the massive garage to the left of the house that was surrounded by small pine trees.

Leading the way inside, Ted opened a side door and took a bite of his burger before saying, "This is it, Cal!"

The inside of the garage was large, so large in fact, that there was enough room to stash Ted's dark-blue station wagon as well as the zero turn. Along the back wall of the garage was a large peg board with dozens and dozens of different tools hanging from it.

Calvin whistled as he took a look around the garage. "I like this! My garage is a bit smaller, so I can only fit the bus and my push mower inside."

Ted took another bite of his burger and gestured towards the zero turn with his sandwich. "Go ahead and have a look."

Calvin ate his corn and beans while he circled around the mower, trying to get a good look at it from every angle. "This is nice!"

Ted took another bite from his burger and smiled. "It sure is! You wanna try it out when you get done eating your corn and beans?"

"Sure!" was Calvin's answer.

"Oh, and by the way, Jeremy mentioned you're also a veteran," Ted blurted out, changing the subject suddenly.

Calvin took another bite of his corn and smiled. "This is true!"

Ted picked up his burger again, but before he took a bite, he paused and smiled. "Thank you for your service, Mister."

Calvin gave him a slight bow of his head. "Feels good to be appreciated. Did you ever serve before?"

Ted nodded. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I have. It was before Sandra and Jeremy were born though. I served during Vietnam, but never went overseas."

Calvin's eyebrows perked up in surprise. "Lucky you! You missed out on being exposed to Agent Orange!"

"That I did," Ted agreed before taking a bite of his burger. "I feel terrible for all the servicemen who went there, but unfortunately the war had to be fought."

"You sure about that?" Calvin asked, suddenly feeling curious. "Most wars are fought for money and oil these days, and not for the benefit of our actual country. World War Two was probably the last just war, because Hitler and his allies had to be stopped."

"And don't forget Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden," Ted said." Those guys had to be stopped too."

Eating more of his corn and beans, Calvin paused to think, and then he added, "Some people think Nine-eleven was an inside job, at least partially... I don't know how I feel about that to tell you the truth, because our government intentionally keeps a lot of secrets from us. Secrets that probably won't ever be brought to light until the world ends and God judges us all."

Ted seemed surprised. "You believe in God, do you?"

Calvin chuckled and took another bite of his beans before he answered. "I do, but I'm not exactly his biggest fan."

Ted seemed a little annoyed as he stood there holding his plate with his partially-eaten burger on it. "What does that mean?"

Explaining a little more, Calvin shared his opinions on God. "It means I'm not the type to bow down and sing his praises."

Now getting angry, Ted pointed a finger at Calvin. "Now I see why my son spends so much time with you."

Calvin was confused. "Only reason is because I helped him after he hit that pothole."

"No, there's more to it than that," Ted growled. "You and Jeremy both hate God..."

"Can you really blame us?" Calvin asked with a chuckle. "Look man, the things I've seen in all my years of being on this Earth...The news stories I've read... All the evil God could've prevented, but yet he did nothing."

"What are you referring to?" Ted asked.

Calvin finished up eating his corn and beans before setting his plate down on the cement floor beneath them and folding his arms over his chest. "I'm referring to a lot of things. War crimes, abuse, human trafficking, rape, you name it! It's especially vile when the victims are only children but yet... God does nothing to stop it, and for whatever reason demands that us humans with our limited capacity to do anything fix things he could fix with the snap of his fingers."

Ted became increasingly angry. "What makes you think he can fix things just by snapping his fingers?"

Calvin chuckled again. "He's all powerful, is he not? Seems to me he only respects the will of the perpetrators in every act of evil that happens, while failing to protect the will of their victims to not be harmed. If anyone should be judged, it's God. He should be sent to Hell for his negligence and malevolence, but unfortunately, we live in a reality where might makes right."

Ted stood there gripping his plate tightly in both hands; so tightly in fact that his hands were shaking. "Might makes right... Is that really how you think it works?!"

Calvin shrugged. "The position of God isn't exactly an elected position, it's more of a, 'This is how it is now deal with it' kinda situation. At the end of the day, it's a dictatorship, and for him to send people to Hell just because they didn't love him enough, that would be like if Kim Jong Un had God powers. It's like being in North Korea forever. Most religious people like yourself adore him for some reason, but I think you guys just have Stockholm Syndrome. That's why you love your abuser and lie to yourselves about him being loving and merciful which is all bullshit."

Ted smashed his plate down on the floor, sending shards of glass and pieces of his burger and pickles flying everywhere. Pointing at Calvin with a shaky hand, he growled, "Get off my property... Now!"

Calvin held up his hands and sighed. "Okay, I'm outta here."

"And take my son and your friend with the beard with you," Ted growled. "That way you can all hate God together!"

"Fine by me, Dickhead," Calvin said, now becoming angry himself. "I told Jeremy I wasn't gonna call you that, but now that you've shown me your true colors... I can see why you guys' relationship fell apart."

"Get out of here!" Ted snapped. "Now!"

Finally leaving the garage, Calvin walked over to the picnic table where Jeremy and George were both chatting with Sandra, but when they saw the angry look on his face, they were surprised.

"What's wrong, Hippie?" Jeremy asked.

"We're leaving," Calvin told him. "Office, Beard, let's go."

Sandra got up from the table, suddenly confused. "Uh, wha- What?! What happened?"

"It's a long story, but your old man told me to get off his property and to take Office and Beard with me," Calvin explained.

Sandra blinked her eyes a couple times, looking surprised. "But why? I thought things were going so well!"

Calvin smiled at her. "I told him my opinions on God and he flipped the fuck out. After that, I called him a Dickhead and here we are."

Taking off her glasses, Sandra put a hand over her forehead and sighed. "Shit..."

"Now do you see what I have to deal with?" Jeremy asked suddenly. "I've had to put up with his shit my whole life!"

"You guys need help bagging up your stuff?" Sandra asked as she put her glasses back on over her eyes.

Calvin nodded. "Sure. We still gotta bag up the cheese, onions, and cabbage."

Hurrying over to the other table where the grill was sitting, Sandra helped Calvin bag up their stuff and since the cut up onion was in a tupperware bowl, she stuck a lid on it but took out the spoon.

"Don't worry about giving back the tupperware," Sandra told him. "It was one of mine anyway."

"Thanks," Calvin said to her with a smile.

"So, what exactly did you say that got my Dad so riled up?" Sandra asked while Jeremy and George were walking over to hear their conversation.

Calvin chuckled. "I compared God to Kim Jong Un, the dictator of North Korea, and told him that God should be judged and sent to Hell."

Sandra sighed. "Yep, that would do it alright! He doesn't like anybody saying bad things about God. It's one of the things that piss him off the most."

"And to think, I was gonna invite him to go on a road trip with us, but I never got the chance," Calvin told her, just as Jeremy and George arrived to pick up their grocery bags. "Of course you're more than welcome to go with us if you like, Sandra."

She seemed pleased with the idea. "A road trip? Fuck yeah I'll go with you guys!"

"We still gotta pick a place," Calvin told her. "I'll have Jeremy call you in a few. See ya around."

"See ya," Sandra said sadly, just as Calvin, Jeremy, and George began their walk over to the bus.

As they were getting in, Jeremy said to Calvin after buckling up, "I still wanna check out those hats for cats if we can."

George got in the back like before, while Calvin buckled himself up in the driver's seat. Once they were all set, Calvin glanced at Jeremy. "Hats for cats, huh? Where would we get those?"

Jeremy smiled at him. "There's an old lady selling em just down the road from here. I want to get a little hat for Earl!"

George laughed. "Let's go check out those hats then! Little sum'bitch would look adorable as fuck in a hat."

While Calvin was backing the bus out of the driveway, Ted finally emerged from his garage, where he stood out by the main, front door and watched the bus leave.

 

[Lost in a Dream]

Spoiler: Chapter 41

41​

Jeremy wasn't the least bit surprised that his father and Calvin ended up not getting along after all. He was just glad that his new dad got to see what he had to put up with all his life, and now he was excited about getting Earl a little hat.

When at last the old lady's hat selling stand came into view as they rounded a slight curve in the road, Jeremy pointed at it. "That's gotta be her!"

The old lady selling the hats for the cats opened her eyes wide in surprise and she adjusted her glasses when she saw the hippie bus pull up and come to a stop directly in front of her. She had long, gray hair that hung halfway down her back while she stood behind the stand, adjusting the hats she had sewn by hand so her new potential customers could get a good look at the selection she had.

Jeremy glanced down at her through the window beside his head when Calvin parked the bus and then he waved to her with a smile. Waving back, the old lady took a seat in her chair directly behind the stand, where she resumed sewing another hat by hand. Getting out of the bus with his friends, Jeremy climbed down and walked over to look at the hats the old lady had made.

"Hello there, young Man!" said the lady.

Jeremy smiled at her just as George jumped down out of the back and Calvin went around the bus to stand beside him. "Hi there. I'm Jeremy and these are my buddies Cal and George!"

"Nice to meet all of you!" the old lady said with a laugh. "So, which one of you fine gentleman has a little cat buddy?"

George raised his hand and laughed. "His name's Earl! He's a cute, spoiled little sum'bitch. We heard you were selling hats we could get for him."

"Take a look at what I got!" the old lady said, grinning as she stood up to show off her work. "Right now I'm making a red one."

Jeremy looked at the hat she was making in her hands, and then started rummaging around through the hats that were already on display. They really were cute little hats; they were designed to wrap around the cat's chin while covering the top of their head, and there were little ears sewn into the hats as well so any cat that wore one would have a place to stick their little ears up into for their own personal comfort.

Picking up a white one, Jeremy opened his eyes wide. "We could get him this one!"

George looked at the other hats; there were blue ones, green ones, red ones, yellow ones, and pink ones. Glancing at Jeremy, he said, "White ain't exactly Earl's color. He's not that innocent."

The old lady and Jeremy's friends all laughed, but Jeremy had his heart set on the white one. "Still, I think Earl would look cute in this."

George patted Jeremy on the shoulder before taking out his wallet. "White it is then! I'll get him one."

"That'll be five dollars, Mister!" said the old lady.

George handed her a $5 bill. "Here ya go!"

"Thank you, Sir!" was her reply. "Have a nice day!"

"You have a nice day as well!" Jeremy told her, as he started to turn towards the bus.

"I love your bus, by the way!" the old lady said, causing Calvin to smile. "Absolutely beautiful!"

Calvin offered the lady a handshake. "It's mine. Both my late wife and my dad helped me restore it before they passed through the years. I've been keeping it beautiful since losing em."

"Oh, I'm sorry for your losses, Good Sir!" said the old lady. "Have a good one!"

When at last the guys got back in the bus, Jeremy buckled himself in and inspected Earl's new hat in his hands. "Earl's gonna look so cute in this damn thing."

Calvin glanced at him as he was buckling himself in. "Fuck yeah, he's gonna. You chose well!"

George laughed from the couch in the back. "I still think red would'a looked better on him."

Jeremy and Calvin both laughed as the bus's engine came back to life. Then they did a U-turn in the road and headed back the way they came. Passing by Ted's house, Calvin glanced a the property on the way by.

"Sucks things went the way they did," Calvin said as they passed by.

Jeremy looked at the house on the way past through Calvin's side window as well. "Can't say I'm surprised though. What were your opinions on God that pissed him off so much?"

While Calvin filled him in on everything he and Ted discussed while they were checking out the zero turn, Jeremy felt more and more amazed that Calvin said the things he said. "Wow, Hippie! Bet my old man's still fuming."

Calvin chuckled a little. "And he never even got to see your other shirt."

Jeremy lifted up his "PEEP THE MYTHOS" shirt and looked at the other one he had on underneath, which said, "MAY YOU BE THE DARKNESS!"

Looking down at his second shirt, Jeremy laughed. "Guess I didn't need to wear both after all!"

Calvin laughed as he watched Jeremy put the shirt back down. "One shirt was enough for today."

From the back of the bus, George laughed too. "I still wanna see your other shirt."

Jeremy glanced back at George with a grin. "Next time we stop, I'll show it to ya."

"Sounds good," came the reply.

Before long, Calvin had the bus back on the highway once again. Eventually, Jeremy removed his top shirt so he could show off his black shirt with the star on it, and he was feeling good about the day. He couldn't wait to get back to Calvin's house and pick out a place to go for their road trip with his two best friends and he was also excited about the idea of his sister and Earl tagging along with them.

At some point on their way back home, they pulled off at a random exit along the highway so they could stop at a gas station. While Calvin filled up, Jeremy was able to show off his other shirt to George, who thought it was pretty cool.

While Calvin was pumping the gas, George stood next to him, inspecting Jeremy's shirt. "May you be the darkness, ha! I love your shirt, Office."

Jeremy loved it too. "I can't decide which of the shirts I love more, honestly. The other one is super cool, but this one... It's just freaky."

George laughed. "Fuck yeah, it is. Just sucks you didn't get to freakout your old man with it."

Calvin chuckled as he stood by the gas pump, filling up his bus. "I'd say I freaked him out enough for the both of us."

His comment had George and Jeremy both bursting out with laughter. Then they headed inside the gas station by themselves so they could pick out some cold drinks to sip on for the rest of the ride back.

Spoiler: Chapter 42

42​

After leaving the gas station and hitting the highway once again, Calvin had a great time with his buddies as they headed back to the big city. They sipped on their cold drinks and made lots of jokes, but as the city skyline first came into view, Jeremy came up with a new way of having fun.

"So, Hippie," Jeremy said, looking at him suddenly.

Calvin glanced at his newly adopted son. "Yeah, Office?"

"I came up with an idea for a song we could sing on the way back home!" Jeremy told him.

Calvin was curious as he turned his attention back towards the road ahead. "And what's that?"

Starting to sing, Jeremy said, "Ninety-nine bottles of Nembutal, ninety-nine bottles of N! Take one down, pass it around, now there's only ninety-eight bottles of Nembutal!"

Calvin and George both laughed, but George kept the song going from the back. "Ninety-eight bottles of Nembutal, ninety-eight bottles of N! Take one down, pass it around, now there's only ninety-seven bottles of Nembutal!"

"I like it!" Calvin told them. "Instead of bottles of beer, it's Nembutal!"

"Exactly!" Jeremy said laughing. "I bet if we got a group of people together from Ready to Check Out, we could play some drinking games with Nembutal and have a great time, but the rest of the world would label our group as a suicide cult."

Calvin laughed. "Right you are! So, where'd you guys leave off on the song? Ninety-seven?"

Jeremy nodded. "Yep!"

Giving a slight shrug as he continued to drive, Calvin continued the song from where it left off. "Ninety-seven bottles of Nembutal, ninety-seven bottles of N! Take one down, pass it around, now there's only ninety-six bottles of Nembutal!"

For the rest of their ride back into the city, the three guys continued their song. For them, this was just a sneak peek preview of what they had to look forward to when they went on their road trip. They knew they wouldn't be able to sing about Nembutal with Sandra around, but at least they knew how to have a good time.

When at last they returned to Calvin's house, the three of them burst in through the front door and were laughing about something hilarious George had said as they were getting out of the bus. It was a joke about Jeremy's father making love with his zero turn.

"Could be the only reason... The only reason he kicked you out Hippie, was because he wanted some privacy with the mower!" George shouted, laughing so hard he wheezed.

Both Jeremy and Calvin stood in the doorway laughing at his joke, but Calvin was the first to speak after his laughter died down enough to do so. "You could be right about that! You could be right..."

"Still, it's crazy how he smashed his plate on the floor like that," George said with a chuckle. "Wish I could'a been there to see it happen."

"No, Beard, you wouldn't have wanted to be around him," Calvin told him. "He was really pissed."

George laughed. "So, we gonna pick a place to go for the road trip?"

"Fuck yeah!" Calvin said. "It's better that you help us pick a place anyway, because I wouldn't wanna leave you out of it ya know?"

"I agree," Jeremy said. "Anywhere you wanna go, Beard, we'll go there!"

While they were making their way to the kitchen, George said, "I'd love to travel somewhere outside of the country, but I don't know how we'd get the hippie bus there."

The moment they entered the kitchen, Calvin sat down in his chair by the laptop and opened it up. "Anywhere you wanna go here in the US, Beard?"

George had to stop and think about it while Calvin opened up his web browser. "I've always wanted to visit Yellowstone! Maybe go see Old Faithful!"

Jeremy liked the idea too. "Maybe we could plan a trip there!"

"Old Faithful it is then," Calvin said as he did a search for it. "All we gotta do is figure out how to get there, maybe do some sight seeing along the way, and figure out how often it erupts."

After doing a quick search, Calvin found out the information they needed about Yellowstone and Old Faithful so the next thing to do was pick a day for their road trip.

Coughing a little, George smiled as he and Jeremy huddled around Calvin. "Well, Hippie, I say we go sometime in the next month or so. That way Office and Sandra can get their days off scheduled."

"Sounds good to me," Calvin said. "We were gonna wait until after you heard back from the Doctor before we planned this, but perhaps we could just plan it now anyway."

George laughed. "Don't worry about me, Hippie. Whether I have cancer or not, I'm still going on the damn road trip! It's just that you guys might have to deal with me coughing into my rag every now and then."

Suddenly feeling sad, Calvin's faced showed it. "Right, it would still suck though, Beard."

"I know, but it is what it is, Hippie," George told him. "I've been smoking cigarettes for so long, I might as well just keep smoking em whether I have cancer or not. If I quit suddenly, my lungs probably wouldn't heal right and the cancer would spread faster."

"What about the Nembutal, Beard?" Jeremy asked. "You think you will use it?"

"Not yet," George said. "I'll save it for when the cancer spreads too far."

Looking up at George, Calvin tapped his knuckles on the tabletop. "I'm gonna miss you, Beard, whenever you do use it."

Jeremy put a hand on George's shoulder. "Me too, Beard."

Putting his arms around both of his friends, George laughed. "Don't worry about me, guys! I'll be fine! We can go on the road trip first, and then when we get back, I'll drink the Nembutal, depending on what the Doc says."

Getting a hug from him did very little to ease Calvin's mind, but for the moment he tried to push the idea of his buddy George dying out of his head and focus on planning ahead for the road trip.

When at last George finished hugging his buddies, he raised his arms up over his head and stretched. "So, what should we do for the rest of the day? Obviously we can't go to Yellowstone yet!"

Calvin paused to think. "We could watch some movies maybe. Any ideas on what you wanna watch?"

George shrugged. "Dunno. How about you pick something, Office!"

Jeremy paused to think and then he shrugged too. "I guess we look at the streaming services you got, Hippie, and see what's there."

Getting up from the table and closing his laptop, Calvin smiled. "Let's see what we can find."

"Oh!" George said suddenly. "What was that movie you guys were watching the other day? The one about the dinosaurs?"

"We could watch that one, Beard," Calvin said. "But I'm also kinda curious to see what Earl will look like with his little hat on him."

George laughed. "I think it's still in the bus. Right, Office?"

Jeremy nodded. "Yeah, I left it in there for whenever you go home. I kinda wanna see what Earl looks like with it on too."

"Maybe before we watch some movies, we could go over to my place and have him try on the hat," George said with a chuckle. "Earl won't mind us putting it on him."

"I agree," Calvin said. "Maybe you can check Earl's food and water dishes again, just to make sure he's all set."

"Good idea, Hippie," George said. "I might change out his kitty litter in the back again too. Just because he's pretty picky about having a clean litter box."

Calvin chuckled. "Well, I guess we're heading back to the bus, guys."

Going back outside with Calvin, George and Jeremy got back into their seats once again and Calvin started up the engine. Before hanging out for the evening and watching some movies, they headed back to George's place to make sure Earl was doing alright and have him try on his new little hat.

 

[Lost in a Dream]

Spoiler: Chapter 43

43​

Jeremy was excited when he walked into George's house with his buddies and Earl's hat in his hand. When they stepped into the living room, the cat was curled up and sleeping on the chair in the corner, but he lifted his head and opened his eyes the moment he heard sounds.

George went over to pet the cat. "How ya doing, Earl?"

"Mraow!" came the reply.

Holding up the hat, Jeremy laughed. "Here it is, Beard!"

Taking it from him, George showed it to Earl and let the cat sniff it a little. "You wanna try this on, huh?"

Standing up, Earl stretched out his paws, and then he looked up at George, before glancing at Calvin and Jeremy while blinking his eyes. "Mraow!"

Putting the hat over Earl's head, George laughed after he put it around Earl's chin and ears, which went right up into the little sewn on ears of the hat itself. The cat really did look adorable in it.

"Aww, I love it!" Jeremy said.

Calvin chuckled. "Same here."

Earl jumped down off the chair and circled around George's legs, rubbing the sides of his body against them. Picking up the cat, George gave his friends a closer look at his little buddy and his cute little hat.

"I kinda wanna take a picture of him with it," George told his friends. "Maybe even a couple pictures."

"Where ya wanna do the photo shoot?" was Calvin's question.

George smiled at him and Jeremy. "I say we take him out back. It's one of his favorite spots when he goes outside."

Jeremy followed his buddies down the hall where they stepped out the backdoor, which was between George's bedroom and bathroom. Going outside, they walked out onto a concrete stoop that led down to a wide sidewalk behind the house, where there was a small garden on the left, and to the right was the lawn. Up ahead, there was a corner of the house where the wall extended out into the back yard a little bit, as it went around George's bedroom, and there was a folded up lawn chair leaning against the wall there.

Setting Earl down, George took out his smartphone from his pocket. Kneeling down while the cat looked straight at him, he opened up his camera app and took a picture, just as Earl licked his own nose. When George showed the picture he took to Calvin and Jeremy, they both adored it.

"Aww, he's an adorable little shit," Jeremy said with a chuckle.

"Right he is!" George agreed. "What do ya think, Hippie?"

Calvin grinned at the picture on the phone. "Office is right, Beard. Cuter than shit."

Looking up at them, Earl spoke to them again. "Mraow!"

Jeremy chuckled and reached down to pick up Earl, who started purring in his arms immediately. "Do you like the hat, little guy? Huh?"

Earl blinked his eyes at George and Calvin while Jeremy held his purring little body, getting cat hair all over his t-shirt. "Mraow!"

Jeremy started to pet the cat while he held him. "So, Beard, about the water dish and the kitty litter."

"Oh, right!" George shouted, looking surprised suddenly. "I almost forgot! Be right back!"

Hurrying back into the house, George went into his back bedroom where the litter box was so he could clean it out extra good. He kept a trash can beside the box where he would set the litter box on top of it and scoop out everything that needed to be scooped out before refilling it with fresh litter.

Jeremy followed George inside with Earl still in his arms, and Calvin held the door open as he followed both of them into the house. George was still scooping out the litter box when Jeremy entered the house, and he and Calvin stopped in the doorway to the bedroom.

"Earl's got some stinky shit, I tell ya!" George said with a laugh.

Jeremy laughed too, before setting Earl down on the floor, with his little hat still on his head. The cat then hurried over to George, just as he finished scooping out the litter and pouring in the clean stuff afterwards.

"There we go!" George said as he set the litter box back down on the floor and put the lid back on over top of it. "Now he's got a clean shit box for later."

"I'll go check his water dish and food dish," Calvin said, before he turned around and headed towards the kitchen.

Jeremy followed Calvin out there, and he stopped by the front door when he watched him pick up the little bowls from beside the kitchen table. "So, Hippie, you wanna refill the food while I get the water?"

Handing him the water dish, Calvin smiled. "Sure. Here ya go!"

Jeremy took the dish over to the kitchen island where the sink was in the middle, while Calvin headed over to the pantry beside the fridge and pulled the door open to retrieve Earl's box of cat food, which he then poured into the dish as he set it on the countertop beside the stove.

George and Earl soon came running back out to the kitchen area, just as Jeremy and Calvin were refilling the dishes. After putting the little bowls back where they came from, Earl hurried over to the water dish and started lapping up the liquid inside.

While Earl was getting a drink, Jeremy smiled. "Good thing we stopped over here! His dish was almost empty!"

Calvin walked over to Jeremy and put a hand on his shoulder. "Right you are. So, you guys ready to head back to my place?"

George grinned at his buddies. "Hell yeah! I wanna check out that movie you guys were watching the other day."

"Sounds good," Calvin said as he reached for the doorknob. "You wanna leave the hat on Earl, or take it off of him?"

George laughed. "I'll get the hat off him for now."

Going over to Earl, George picked him up and gently removed his little hat, which he then set down on top of the kitchen table before setting Earl back down on the floor. As the guys were leaving, they all said goodbye to Earl, who eventually returned to his spot on the chair in the living room, where he once again curled up and went back to sleep.

Spoiler: Chapter 44

44​

George had a great time with Calvin and Jeremy that Sunday evening after checking on Earl and having him try out the new hat. They ended up watching a few movies and trying out the black bean burgers that were in the freezer before Calvin took him home in the bus. In the days that followed, George felt anxious about his upcoming doctor's appointment. Even though he had told the guys not to worry about him, he himself was worried about how far the cancer had spread.

By the time Thursday had arrived, most of the car parts Jeremy had ordered made it to George's place. Soon, they would be able to start fixing the vehicle so Calvin didn't have to keep taking Jeremy to work all the time (even though the guys clearly enjoyed riding together whether they took the rusty old pickup or the bus). On that same day, George went to see his doctor early in the afternoon. Taking his tow truck out, he headed into the city, to get checked in for his appointment, and he arrived at the doctor's office a little before 2 p.m. When George stepped inside through the front door, he was wearing his shirt with the beer mugs clinking together on it again, and the nurse at the front desk smiled at him and opened the sliding glass window as he approached.

Smiling back at her, George put his hands on the countertop just outside of the open window. "Hey, hey, hey! I got an appointment with Doctor Burton at Two-fifteen."

Checking the schedule on her computer, the nurse found his appointment in the system. "I'll let him know you're here!"

"Thanks," George said, before he was handed a medical form on a clipboard to fill out.

"If you could just fill this out for us really quick, someone will be out to get you shortly," said the nurse behind the desk.

Taking the clipboard from her, George took a seat in the waiting room where he used the pen that was clipped to the board to start filling out the form. Since it had been a while since he last saw the doctor, he had to tell them a little bit about his medical history; they asked things such as: had he been to the ER recently, was he a smoker, did he drink alcohol or do drugs, things of that nature.

As he filled out the form, he hummed to himself. "Hmm-hmm-hmm... Hmm... Hum, hum hum!"

He also had to use the check boxes to select new medical conditions he might be experiencing, and of course, he selected a worsening cough with blood in it, which caused him to pause and worry about the possibility of cancer. Perhaps he was afraid to drink his Nembutal after all. Still, he would wait until after the road trip to decide if he was ready to do it.

When at last George finished filling out the form, he signed it and made a comment out loud. "There we go! Fucking done..."

Taking the clipboard back up to the front desk, he handed it back and then returned to his seat where he retrieved a magazine off the table to his left and started flipping through the pages. He was holding a homeowner's magazine, containing various articles and stories about home-improvement projects and suggestions for different tools to try out. He also found several advertisements inside, and they were quite interesting.

One of the ads he found that interested him the most was of a power drill he didn't have, but kind of wanted. "Nice! I should get me one of those..."

Flipping to the next page, he started to read an article about a married couple who built an extension on their house so they could add an extra room, but that was when the nurse came out to get him.

"George!" he heard his name called.

Glancing up from the magazine, he saw the nurse waiting for him by the door that led back into the patient rooms. Setting the magazine aside, he got up and headed over. Smiling at him, the nurse had colorful scrubs on; her top and pants were various shades of blue, with palm trees on them, and her curly black hair went down to her shoulders.

"Come on back!" said the nurse, in a very friendly voice.

George grinned at her as he followed her down the hall, towards the scale where he stepped on so she could get his weight, which was a little on the heavy side due to his poor diet.

The number that popped up on the scale was 230 lbs. Writing that down on her clipboard, the nurse had him follow her to one of the patient rooms, where he took a seat in a chair beside the exam bed with the strip of paper going across it and the pillow. Taking a seat herself, the nurse plopped down on a stool with wheels on the bottom behind her computer, which was on a desk attached to the wall to the right of the exam bed and the doorway they stepped through, where a clear, plastic divider separated the computer itself from the sink and the jars containing various medical instruments beneath the cabinets up top.

George folded his hands while he sat in his chair and he became very serious as he looked at the nurse, before saying, "I'm gonna give it to ya straight, Miss. I've been smoking cigarettes since before I was even old enough to have em, and I'm sixty-three now. Lately, I've been coughing up blood into a rag, and my buddy Cal is worried about me."

The nurse seemed concerned, but she did her best to remain as cheerful and professional as possible. "That certainly doesn't sound good! Doctor Burton will probably want to order some tests."

Anxiously rubbing his hands together while he sat on his chair, George sighed. "I figured as much. Look, I'm hoping to go on a road trip soon with my buddies, but I wanna make sure I know what I'm dealing with before I go, ya know?"

The nurse completely understood his concerns as she typed away at the keyboard by her screen. "Hopefully you aren't too sick to go on the road trip! So, how long have you been coughing blood into the rag?"

"Close to a week," was his answer and it was a very honest answer. While it may have been the case that Jeremy and Calvin saw him do it more recently than that, it was about how long it had been going on.

After typing away at her keyboard a little more, the nurse turned on her stool to look George in the eyes. "I appreciate your honesty, so I'm gonna give it to ya straight too, George. Coughing up blood can be a very serious condition. If cancer has caused it, it won't exactly tell us how far it's spread, only where the tumors are located. The tests Doctor Burton will want to order will tell us where exactly they are and what stage the cancer is."

Curious, George asked, "If it's not cancer, what else can cause this?"

"Quite a few different illnesses can cause this symptom," explained the nurse. "The tests Doctor Burton will order will help us rule each of them out."

"Well, I don't have a fever," George told her. "So that probably rules out infections right there."

"At least not yet," the nurse said. "When the doctor comes in and talks to you about it, he'll go into more detail with you about which kinds of cancers can cause fevers, and which ones might not. Sometimes they don't even cause a fever until after they've spread."

George anxiously played with his beard using his hands. "If that's the case, and I do have cancer, then it probably hasn't spread very far just yet."

"You could be right," the nurse said to him with a smile. "Hopefully we caught it early! Hopefully whatever is going on with you is in its early stages so you don't get too sick to go on that road trip with your buddies!"

George laughed. "We'll see what the Doc has to say."

Getting up from the stool, the nurse agreed. "I'm gonna check your blood pressure really quick and then I'll go get the doctor for you."

"Sounds good," George said, as she wrapped the blood pressure cuff around his arm and started squeezing the hand pump.

Then, using her stethoscope, she listened to the artery in his arm. When at last the cuff deflated, his reading was a little elevated, 131/83. Removing the cuff from his arm, the nurse told him what the reading was.

"Looks like your blood pressure is a little high. One-thirty one over eighty three."

"Not too surprising," George said. "I am a little anxious about what the Doc thinks."

"Still, it's a little concerning," the nurse said. "I'll get the Doctor and he'll check you out a little more thoroughly."

After leaving the room, the nurse shut the door behind her. George continued to sit in his chair until at last, Dr. Burton arrived in his work pants and lab coat. He had glasses over his eyes and slicked-back, brown hair on his head.

"Hello there, George!" said the doctor as he entered the room and shut the door behind him. "If you could, have a seat on the bed and I'll take a quick look at you."

Getting up from the chair, George climbed onto the exam bed and put his feet down on the pull out step near the floor. Taking a seat at the computer briefly, Dr. Burton went over everything George and the nurse had talked about, before getting back up to listen to the old man's breathing and heartbeat.

George's breathing was a little raspy as the doctor listened to it through the stethoscope. He wasn't experiencing too severe of shortness of breath, just what seemed to be a little lung congestion. His heartbeat sounded good as well, but Dr. Burton was concerned about how his breathing sounded when combined with the fact that he had been coughing up blood.

"So, how much blood have you been coughing up?" was Dr. Burton's next question. "Just a little or a lot?"

"It really depends on the day," was George's answer. "Some days it's more, some days it's less, but it's been going on for close to a week I think."

"And you told the nurse you had no fever, which is a good sign," Dr.Burton said next.

"The nurse also said that certain kinds of cancers can cause fevers, so if I did get one, it doesn't necessarily mean it's an infection," George added. "She said certain kinds of cancers can cause fevers but not all, so I was wondering what you could tell me about that."

"Since you don't have a fever right now, I would suggest monitoring your health in case you do develop one," Dr. Burton told him while gesturing with his hands as he prepared to give an explanation. "If it turns out to be the case that you do get a fever and you do have cancer, the kinds of cancers that typically would cause a fever would be lymphomas, leukemia, liver cancer, and kidney cancer, just to name a few.

If you have cancer in the lungs, it likely wouldn't cause a fever for you until after it spread to other organs. Now, I don't want to scare you and say that you have cancer yet, because other illnesses such as Pneumonia, Bronchitis, and Tuberculosis can cause a person to cough up blood as well, and I would like to rule those out, just because in the case of an illness like Bronchitis, you don't always get a fever with that."

George nodded his head as Dr. Burton did his best to explain everything to him. "So it's possible I could just have Bronchitis then, and not actually have cancer."

"Possible, yes," Dr. Burton agreed. "I would like to order a series of tests to rule out each possible condition that could cause you to cough up blood until we determine the actual cause. If it is cancer, hopefully we can catch it early and treat it before it can spread anywhere else."

Feeling very appreciative of the doctor's explanations, George smiled at him. "Thanks for explaining everything to me, Doc. I know I don't come in here as often as I should, but you've always been good to me."

Dr. Burton smiled as well. "I try my best. I'd like to think that I prioritize the needs of my patients over everything else. I'll order those tests for you so we can get to the bottom of what's going on with you."

"Where's the best place to go for these tests?" George asked him.

"Well, that's entirely up to you," Dr. Burton told him. "We have a few medical facilities in this big city of ours you can go to. I can get you a list if you like, and you can pick where you want to get the tests done, but I recommend getting tested at the Peace Forest Hospital. They have an excellent cancer center there and they should be able to rule out every possible condition that could be causing your symptoms."

"I think I've heard of that hospital before," George told him. "I know we got a few hospitals around here. One of the perks of living in a big city I guess."

Dr. Burton chuckled. "Right you are. So, would you like a list of medical centers or would you prefer trying out Peace Forest?"

George laughed. "Peace Forest sounds good to me! Besides, I like the name of the hospital. It sounds... Peaceful."

Dr. Burton laughed too. "I've only heard good things about it. They have many excellent facilities there for people with different illnesses. I especially like their children's medical facility for kids with severe illnesses."

George laughed. "Good for the kids, then. I just hope they got what I need."

Dr. Burton patted George on the shoulder. "They do. Their cancer center is state of the art!"

Getting up from the exam bed, George offered the doctor a handshake. "Sounds good to me, Doc! Once you order those tests, I can get outa here!"

"Right!" Dr. Burton agreed, before he took a seat on the stool next to the computer. "I'll get those tests ordered for you right away and get the order printed off so you can figure out what's going on in your lungs. I'd hate to lose a patient to something preventable, ya know?"

After ordering the tests, Dr. Burton printed off the test order and stepped out of the room to retrieve it from the printer. After returning to the medical room, he gave George the sheet of paper he needed, so he could take it to the hospital's cancer center and get everything figured out.

 

[Lost in a Dream]

Thank you to the mods who helped me out with removing my last post. I'm going to repost the chapters because I made some more corrections to them in the document and wanted to repost them.

Spoiler: Chapter 45 (Repost)

45​

By the time the weekend had arrived again, Jeremy woke up that Saturday morning in his own bed at the apartment, instead of having stayed at Calvin's the day before. The parts he ordered to fix his car were at George's, and he at least partially hoped the vehicle could be salvaged, despite enjoying the time he spent riding around with Calvin in the truck and the bus.

Feeling glad that he didn't have to work that day, he stretched his arms up over his head and yawned as he sat up. He wasn't sure what to do for the day, so grabbing his smartphone off the bedside table beside him, he opened up his private browser and logged into Ready2CheckOut? When he first loaded the web page, he only had a couple notifications, but they were from very old posts that he made before meeting Calvin and George after hitting the pothole.

Browsing through the forums, he discovered some new threads that caught his eye; one of them was about a member who wanted to die because they flunked out of college, and had crippling amounts of student debt they were slaving away to pay off at a job they hated. As he read their post, Jeremy found himself wanting to say something supportive, but it was difficult to find the right words. He himself had only barely made it through college and had been lucky to have gotten a job in IT, despite hating it sometimes, but his student debt was less than what the poster had, and his degree had been enough to get him somewhere.

When at last the words came to him, Jeremy started to type away at the keypad on his phone. "Hey, man, I wish I knew what to say that could help, since I'm in a similar situation with my job. While I did make it through college, it was only by the skin of my teeth that I made it through. Some days it felt like too much and made me want to die too, and the job I have now makes me want to check out of this stupid life whenever I have to deal with the assholes from accounting on a different floor of my building...

Lately though, I've made close friends here on Ready2CheckOut? who make my life much more bearable than it was before. I don't know if it will help you at all, but if you ever need someone to talk to, my PMs are open. Feel free to message me."

The username of the poster who created the thread was LivingtheNightmare96. Jeremy had seen them around since joining, but he rarely crossed paths with this person. The idea of getting to know them so he could be supportive of their situation sounded good to him and he hoped his new friendship with them could be beneficial whether they chose to end their life or not. He also made the decision to view this person's profile and follow them, just to let them know he cared.

Browsing the forum a little more, Jeremy checked out the Off Topic section of the site underneath the Yes, No, and Maybe forums where people made their decision to check out or not. In the Off Topic, he played some of the forum games they had, and even posted some funny GIFs in the Meme Thread. After a while, he did get a little tired of browsing, so he logged out, closed his browser, and set the phone aside on his mattress.

Rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes with his fingers, he said to himself, "What do I do now?"

Lowering his hands to his sides while he sat there under his blankets, he stopped to think. Picking up his phone, he double-checked the time, it was a little after 9 am. Deciding to call Calvin, he unlocked the screen and dialed his number.

After four rings, Calvin answered. "Hey, Office, good morning!"

"What are you up to today?" Jeremy asked.

"Not a whole lot, just thinking about making some breakfast and having a smoke," was Calvin's answer. "What about you?"

"I went on Ready to Check Out today, and was reading this post about somebody who failed in college and now they have a ton of debt to pay off. It's really sad, Hippie."

Calvin sighed. "Yeah, financial debt is never a good thing. The more of it you have, the worse it is. I was thinking about going on the site myself too, just to see if anything new has popped up. If I can find the post you replied to, I might give it a reply myself."

"I'm sure they would appreciate it!" Jeremy said, feeling a little excited. "It's just that, I don't know how to help when someone is in that kinda situation."

"Yeah, it can be tough sometimes, knowing what to say," Calvin agreed."I think as long as you speak from the heart and mean what you say, it will mean a lot to them too."

"So, I talked to Beard on the phone yesterday too," Jeremy told him. "I called him to see how he was doing and he says the car parts have arrived."

Calvin chuckled. "Maybe we can finally fix up that piece of shit car, Office. But even then, something new will probably just break on it anyway."

Jeremy laughed. "You're probably right! I just need to get a new car!"

"I could probably help ya with that," Calvin said. "The two of us just gotta save up and pool our money together for a down payment. You could get a small loan and that should take care of it."

Jeremy shook his head sadly. "I really don't like the idea of getting a loan. I know I will need one to get another car probably, it's just that... I already have some student debt myself and don't know how good my credit actually is."

"I can help ya figure that out, Office," Calvin said. "I talked to Beard yesterday too. Did he tell you about how his doctor's visit went?"

Jeremy raised his eyebrows in surprise. "He did, yes! He told me the doctor ordered some tests to figure out what's going on."

"He told me that too," Calvin confirmed. "So, what do ya say I come pick you up and we go hang out with Beard and Earl today? Even if we don't fix up the car yet today, we can still smoke and drink a little."

Jeremy liked that suggestion. "Sounds good to me! Beard's weed is some good shit."

"Right it is!" Calvin agreed. "Also, I could use a beer today. Say, I was also thinking about stopping by the store today too. Since we're vegan now, maybe we could try making a homemade pizza or two over there."

Jeremy liked that idea as well. "You really think we can?"

"Sure," Calvin said. "All we gotta to is get some pizza crust and some pizza sauce. We already got that vegan cheese, so it's really just a matter of deciding what else to put on it."

"We ate up the onion from last weekend already, so we might have to get another one," Jeremy said. "Maybe we could put some peppers on the pizza too."

"Sounds good," Calvin said. "Just let me get around, Office, and I'll come pick ya up in the truck."

"Sounds good," Jeremy said. "See ya around."

When the guys hung up, Jeremy once again set his phone aside on the mattress beside him. Getting up out of bed, he noticed how dark it was in his bedroom, so he went over to the blinds that covered the window and took a peek outside. The sky above was very cloudy, and there was no sign of the sun whatsoever.

"Hmm," Jeremy hummed to himself as he stepped away from the window and got dressed into some jeans and his t-shirt that said, "MAY YOU BETHE DARKNESS!" again.

Going out into his living room, he flipped on the lights out there, as well as in his kitchen to brighten up the apartment. Taking a seat at his table, he once again found himself considering the idea of moving in with Calvin, instead of living at the apartment. He knew that living together would be a good thing for both of them, not just because he could help with the bills, but also because they could keep each other company.

Tapping his fingertips on the tabletop in front of him while he rested his chin on his other hand as he planted his elbow on the table, he said to himself, "Maybe after the road trip."

Getting up from his table, he went into his kitchen and opened up the cupboard where he kept his SN stashed away. Reaching in with both hands, he retrieved the jar and took it out so he could look at it. The contents were very well-sealed, so he figured if he ever needed to use it, he could, but in the present, he wasn't actually feeling the desire to do so.

Letting out a sigh as he held the jar in his hands, Jeremy said to himself, "Just sucks I had to buy this from a company that sells to the meat industry... Feels like I sold my soul to their drug dealer for a peaceful way out."

Since becoming vegan, it really did feel like that. Eventually, he put the jar back where he got it from and closed the cupboard door. While he waited around for Calvin to get there, he sat on his junk recliner and watched a little TV. Feeling depressed suddenly, he hoped that spending the day with his buddies would help him feel better.

Spoiler: Chapter 46 (Repost)

46​

When Calvin finally arrived at Jeremy's apartment, he knocked on the door. Standing outside in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, he waited for an answer. Before long, he heard footsteps and the door came open.

Jeremy looked sad when he opened the door. "Hey, Hippie, come on in."

Suddenly worried about his buddy, Calvin had to ask, "Office, you feeling okay?"

Jeremy shrugged his shoulders as Calvin stepped inside and shut the door behind him. "I don't really know, Hippie. I honestly don't know. I was just looking at my jar of SN and... I realized that I basically bought it from the meat industry's drug dealer."

Calvin nodded his head and put a hand on Jeremy's shoulder. "It does seem that way, sure, but what can ya do about it?"

Jeremy didn't answer, he just walked over to his recliner and grabbed his remote so he could shut off the TV. Tossing the remote down onto the chair, Jeremy turned towards Calvin and folded his arms over his chest. "I think I just need to get out of the apartment, Hippie."

Calvin smiled as he stepped through the living room doorway, just to the left of the main entrance and the dining table (the door going out into the hall was between the table and living room doorway). "I think so too, Office. Once we get the stuff to make that pizza and eat it at Beard's place, you'll feel better in no time."

Jeremy smiled back at Calvin, suddenly looking like he was feeling better. "Yeah, you might be right. So, we gonna stop at the store to get another onion and maybe some peppers to put on the pizza?"

For sure!" Calvin answered as he turned towards the door to step back out into the hall. "I see you got one of your new shirts on today."

"Hell yeah!" Jeremy said with a laugh. "I'm ready to go if you are, I just gotta put my new shoes on."

Turning away from the door, Calvin put his hands on his hips. "I'll wait for ya, Office."

Jeremy took a seat on his recliner as he put his shoes on, and then he walked over to where Calvin was waiting and they both headed into the hallway. After Jeremy shut and locked the door behind him, he followed Calvin down the hall and into the stairwell, as they exited the building and headed for the rusty pickup truck parked a few spaces down.

As they were getting in, Calvin was still worried about his buddy. Once they were all buckled into the front of the pickup, he glanced at Jeremy. "You sure you're gonna be okay? You can tell me anything, ya know that?"

Jeremy smiled at him. "I know. I guess today I'm feeling bad for the people on Ready to Check out, ya know?"

"Same here," Calvin agreed. "You talking about the person who flunked out of college with all the student debt?"

Jeremy nodded. "Yeah, they are one of them that I worry about, but I think about all the members sometimes, even the ones I barely know. People come to the site from all over the world with so much trauma, medical problems, and of course financial struggles, and as much as we try to be there for them, it doesn't feel like enough."

Calvin knew exactly what he meant. "To true, Office. Too true. The worst part I think is when people have those problems, but also live in a country with much less freedom than we have. While I realize that we live in an anti-choice society ourselves when it comes to the right to die, some places in the world are worse than here.

It disgusts me when people live in places so corrupted by an evil religion, that they live a life of misery merely because they were born the wrong gender, and are expected to live as a slave their whole life and be grateful for having the bare minimum of scraps from the table to survive on."

"Right!" Jeremy agreed. "That isn't living, that's just barely surviving."

Calvin smiled at Jeremy as he backed the truck out of the parking space. "Living is what we do when we're together."

Jeremy laughed as they left the parking lot of the apartment building in the truck. "Because we know how to live and how to die when we've lived long enough."

After hitting the road and picking up speed, Calvin glanced at Jeremy with the smile still on his face. "I say we hit the store and stop at my place before we head out to Beard's. I can't wait to see how our homemade pizza turns out."

Jeremy nodded his head and smiled as well. "Hell yeah!"

For the rest of their trip to the store, they discussed more light-hearted topics than they had been talking about previously, such as the upcoming road trip and their excitement about visiting Yellowstone. They also talked about the weekend and all the fun things they wanted to do with George before Jeremy went back to work at the IT department on Monday. Once they made it to the store, they headed inside and got another onion, and a couple different peppers from the Produce. After checking out at the self-checkouts, they headed off to Calvin's house to get their vegan cheese, before going back to George's and trying out their homemade pizza.

Hopefully anyone who has read these chapters already enjoys the reposts. They're a bit more polished I'll say.

 

[Lost in a Dream]

Spoiler: Chapter 47

47​

Jeremy really did feel much better the moment he and Calvin pulled into George's driveway in the pickup. Hanging out with all of his closest new relatives and having some fun was ideal to him, and the moment the truck came to a stop in front of the garage, he couldn't help but grin.

Glancing at Calvin, Jeremy picked up the grocery bags at his feet. "So, we gonna smoke a bit before we make the pizza?"

Calvin glanced at Jeremy and smiled. "Fuck yeah, Office! Of course we gotta smoke first! If ya eat the munchies before you get the munchies, it kinda defeats the purpose."

Jeremy found that comment absolutely hilarious. "Right! I kinda want to get a good cross fade going too. Beer and weed sound good to me!"

As they got out of the truck and walked up to the house, George stepped out on to his front porch with Earl in his arms, and the cat was once again wearing his little hat.

"Hey, guys!" George said with a laugh as his buddies walked up to the house. "You here to work on the car or get stoned?"

"Get stoned!" Jeremy shouted. "And cross faded too!"

George laughed again. "Well come on in, guys! Already got a few joints rolled."

"Sweet!" Calvin said as he followed Jeremy up the steps, onto the front porch of the house.

Jeremy opened the front door of the house and held it open so George could walk back inside with Earl, and then he allowed Calvin to step inside before following him in. As they headed into the living room, George set Earl down, who jumped up on the couch against the wall in front of the TV, while Jeremy plopped down on the recliner in the corner once again.

Setting the grocery bags down at his feet, Jeremy looked up at George, who he noticed was looking down at them. "We brought some stuff to make homemade pizzas with."

"Nice!" George said as he walked over and picked up the bags. "Let's see what you guys got in here. Ya got some pizza sauce, pizza crust, cheese, an onion, and some peppers. Fuck yeah!"

"Maybe stash them in the fridge for now," Jeremy suggested. "We gotta get the munchies before we eat."

Calvin laughed, and then George said, "Right you are, Office! Right you are! I'll put this stuff away. You guys want a beer?"

"Yes!" Jeremy answered.

Calvin sat down on the couch next to Earl and started to pet the cat's back, before he answered, "Not just yet. I want some weed first."

George chuckled as he stepped into the kitchen and headed for the fridge. He shoved the bags inside, before getting a bottle of beer for Jeremy and ripping off the cap with his huge hands. Setting the cap on his counter beside the sink, he then returned to the living room and handed Jeremy the beer.

Taking the beer from George, Jeremy smiled. "Thanks, Beard!"

"No problem, Office!" George said next. "So, what do ya guys say we smoke some weed, huh?"

Taking a sip of the beer, Jeremy laughed. "Sounds good to me!"

George grabbed his small table and pulled it over to the couch before plopping down beside Earl, so that the cat was between him and Calvin on the center cushion. Then he picked up one of the joints on his tray and a lighter, before putting it between his lips and giving it a light.

Taking a hit, George blew out a smoke ring. "Ah! Who wants to go next?"

Calvin pointed at Jeremy. "I say let Office go next."

Jeremy set his beer down on the carpet at his feet and reached over as George handed him the joint. Putting it to his lips, he took a medium-sized hit so he wouldn't cough up his lungs, and then he blew out a cloud of smoke.

"Oh, yeah!" Jeremy said happily. "This is the good shit!"

George laughed as he took the joint back and handed it to Calvin, who also took a hit. "It's the best shit around! This is just as good as anything you'll get at a dispensary."

While George was taking another hit from the joint, Jeremy asked, "So, did the seeds or plants originally come from dispensary weed?"

Blowing out another smoke ring, George handed the joint to Jeremy, who took it from him, and then he said, "It started out that way, yes. A couple years ago when weed first became legal, I bought the plants and put em in the ground behind the house. Been harvesting the buds every summer since then, and stashing em away in the cold months for when I need em."

"Nice!" Jeremy said before taking a hit himself. After blowing out the smoke, he asked, "Where do you keep the buds stashed?"

George laughed as he took the joint back and handed it to Calvin. "I got jars of em in the closet in my bedroom. That's where I keep my stash."

Taking a hit himself, Calvin chuckled after blowing out the smoke. "So, what you guys wanna do today while we're hanging out? You wanna watch something?"

Jeremy wasn't sure. "Movies, I guess."

"Movies you guess," George said before laughing so hard he wheezed. "I was thinking about watching something a little more interesting than that. You ever watch wrestling, Office?"

Jeremy shook his head. "Nah, I never got into it unfortunately. Back when I was in school still, I remember my classmates talking about wrestlers all the time, but my dad thought they were stupid, so I never watched them."

After taking the joint back from Calvin, George took a hit, and then blew out a regular cloud of smoke from his mouth. "I used to tape the matches whenever they came on the TV. I got a few of my favorites stashed away in the back. I know now days, most people stream this shit on their smart TVs or something like that, but I still got a VCR I can play them on."

Glancing over at the stand where the TV was, Jeremy noticed a shelf underneath it where there was a VCR with a DVD player on the other side. Amazed that they could watch either one, Jeremy's jaw dropped. "You can watch tapes or DVDs on the same machine?"

Handing the joint over to Jeremy again, George said, "Uh-huh. I can show ya some of my favorite matches from the nineties and early two thousands. Some of the tapes, I even got em transferred over to DVD as well, so we can watch em that way too. I'll let ya decide which matches you wanna try out."

Taking the joint from George, Jeremy paused to think before taking a hit. "Sure, yeah, we can watch some wrestling. I'm curious... Who are your favorites?"

After Jeremy took another hit from the joint and handed it back, George said, "One of my favorites is called T-eighty four. He's a guy from Ukraine and he's named after an actual battle tank. A total badass!"

Jeremy wasn't sure if he heard of that guy or not, while George and Calvin each took their turns hitting off the joint. Reaching down for his beer on the floor, he took a sip as he tried to remember the names of the wrestlers his classmates used to talk about when he was in school.

After setting the beer down on the floor, Jeremy turned to look at George and Calvin. "I think I can remember some of the guys my old classmates used to talk about a lot. One of them was, um... The Moderator! I don't know much about him, but I've heard that name before."

George laughed as he handed the joint to Jeremy again. "The Moderator is a good one for sure! And I love his finisher, The Banhammer!"

Taking the joint from George, Jeremy took another hit and blew out the smoke again. "He sounds interesting."

After taking the joint back, George said, "He's actually one of my favorites. Sometimes he even sat at the announcer tables at ringside, calling the moves of the other wrestlers as they were kicking each others' asses. He was also a referee a couple times."

Jeremy thought that was fitting for a wrestler called the Moderator for sure. "Makes sense. I could see him doing that."

Then George shuddered before he took another hit. "His Banhammer move though... Looks like it hurts!"

Jeremy laughed nervously as he reached down for his beer again. "I can only imagine..."

Taking his hit, George blew out another smoke ring and handed the joint over to Calvin. "Not until you've seen it. It's just... Ooof!"

"What does the Banhammer look like?" Jeremy asked curiously, before taking a sip of his drink.

"I won't spoil it for ya," George told him. "So, you got the munchies yet? Maybe we can make that homemade pizza you guys wanted to make and then we can watch some wrestling."

Realizing that he was feeling pretty hungry, Jeremy nodded. "Hell yeah! Pizza sounds good!"

After Calvin took his hit, he set the joint down on the ash tray on the table and got up from the couch, causing Earl to glance up at him curiously. "Pizza sounds good to me too! Come on, Office, let's get to cooking!"

Jeremy took one more sip from his beer, before setting his drink down on the floor and getting up to follow Calvin into the kitchen. George got up and went with them, because he was curious to see what their homemade pizza was going to look like.

Spoiler: Chapter 48

48​

Calvin cut up the onion, while Jeremy cut up the peppers. George put the pizza crust on a baking sheet and poured on the pizza sauce, before smothering it in vegan cheese. Calvin kept wiping his eyes off on the sleeves of his shirt as he was cutting up the onion, causing Jeremy to glance at him every now and then and smile as he was chopping up the peppers.

"You gonna be okay, Hippie?" Jeremy asked.

Calvin chuckled as he returned to cutting up the onion some more. "Ya know me, I'm a bit of a crier."

George laughed. "Looks like I got the easiest job out of all of us! Now, all I gotta to is preheat the oven... How hot you think it should be?"

Calvin set his knife aside and shrugged as he stepped away from the onion and the plate he had it sitting on. "I dunno. Maybe we could look it up?"

George reached into his pocket and pulled out his smartphone. Unlocking the screen, he typed into the search bar, "Cooking instructions for homemade pizza".

When the results came up, he showed them to Calvin, who smiled. "Wow, four hundred degrees! Says the pizza should only take eight to ten minutes to cook. Fucking quick!"

George laughed as he pocketed his phone. "It's gonna take longer to preheat the oven than it will to cook the actual pizza!"

Returning to his onion, Calvin laughed. "Maybe not quite..."

Watching as Jeremy finished cutting up their red, yellow, and green peppers, George whistled. "Wow, Office, you did a hell of a job cutting up the peppers!"

Handing his plate over to George, Jeremy grinned. "I did my best! You wanna put em on?"

Taking the plate from him, George started setting the pieces of the peppers all over the top of the sauced up, cheesy pizza crust; the whole thing was big enough around to be a medium-sized pizza if they had ordered one, and while it may have been labeled as "thin crust" on the packaging, it was still thick enough to be nice and filling.

"This is gonna be so fucking good!" George said laughing.

Calvin cut up more of the onion, and while his buddies waited for him to finish up, he continued to wipe his eyes off on his sleeves. When at last he was done dicing up the onion, he set his knife aside and handed the plate over to George.

"Here ya go, Beard!" Calvin said.

Taking the plate from him, George held out his hand. "Lemme see your knife."

Handing the knife over, Calvin watched with Jeremy as George carefully scraped the diced up onion pieces all over the top of the pizza. After giving it a nice, even coating, the whole thing looked delicious.

Reaching for the buttons around the clock above the stovetop, George pressed "Bake" and set the temperature to 400 degrees F. "There we go! While it's preheating, I'll go get those wrestling tapes and DVDs. I'll recommend some of my favorites, but you get to choose what you wanna watch, Office."

"Sounds good," Jeremy said, before glancing at Calvin. "The pizza looks hella good!"

Calvin put a hand on Jeremy's shoulder and laughed. "Just wait til it comes outa the oven! Then it'll look even better."

While the oven was preheating, George went back to his bedroom, and then Calvin returned to the living room with Jeremy where they both took a seat on the couch and the chair once again.

"Ah, today is gonna be fun!" Jeremy said as he reached down for his beer and took a sip. "What about you, Hippie? You ever watch much wrestling?"

Calvin smiled. "A little, but not as much as Beard. He's always been a bigger wrestling fan, but I will tell you, I like The Moderator too."

Reaching for the joint in the ash tray on the table, Calvin took a hit, while Jeremy asked, "What other wrestlers do you guys know of?"

Calvin paused to think, because he did know of a few that he liked from back in the day. When at last he thought of one he would want to watch, he snapped his fingers. "One of my favorites was a guy by the name of Shane Moreau, also known as The Sensation. That guy's got a bit of an attitude, and he has a finisher where he kicks people in the jaw called The Jawbreaker."

Jeremy raised his eyebrows in surprise before taking another sip of his drink. "The Sensation, huh? He sounds interesting."

Coming back out into the living room with a box full of tapes and DVDs, George laughed. "Did I hear you guys talking about Shane Moreau? That guy's one of my favorites too!"

Calvin took another hit from his joint and watched as George took the box over to Jeremy and handed it to him. "Here ya go! Have a look!"

Jeremy set the box down on his lap and started looking through the tapes and DVDs. "Holy shit, Beard! I thought you only had a few, not a hundred!"

George laughed as he took a seat on the couch again. "I recorded a few dozen matches."

Reaching for the VHS tapes first, Jeremy started to look through them and he read off the names of the wrestlers on the labels as he looked them over. "Hmm... Stag Beetle versus Jewel Wasp? The fuck? Hmm... Jimmy Slaughter versus Thousand Dollar Man? What's this one? El Diablo Del Blanco versus Top Dog Lucas Dubois? Ah, here is one with The Moderator in it!"

Calvin chuckled as Jeremy held up the tape in his hand, before offering it to George who took it from him and laughed. "This is one of my favorite matches! The Moderator versus Shane Moreau. You wanna watch this one?"

"Sure!" Jeremy said, just as the oven beeped in the kitchen.

Getting up from the sofa, George said, "Time to put in the pizza! I'll set it for ten minutes and we'll see how it turns out."

Hurrying out to the kitchen, George picked up the baking sheet with their pizza on it and shoved it in the oven. Then he set the time for 10 minutes and retrieved a pair of oven mits from a drawer nearby. Plopping those down on the countertop, he headed out to the living room and picked up the tape Jeremy handed him from where he set it on the couch next to Earl.

"I'll put this one in for us!" George said as he headed over to the TV.

Calvin watched eagerly as George turned on the TV and his VCR. Shoving the tape inside, George grabbed a remote that was sitting beside his TV and tossed it to Jeremy, who caught it in his hands.

"I'll give you the controller," George said as he returned to the couch and plopped down next to Earl and started petting the cat.

Calvin chuckled as Jeremy pressed play and the TV crackled to life, showing white lines going across a black screen for a second, before clearingup and showing a square wrestling ring surrounded by thousands of screaming, excited fans. Not long after that, the guys at the announcers' table started to commentate before the show had even begun.

One of the announcers had a very deep, booming voice, and as he spoke, he said, "Ooh, this is gonna be good, James! Two of the greatest in the history of the Global Wrestling Organization are about to clash together right in front of us!"

The other guy named James had a higher pitched voice, and he sounded very excited as he screamed, "You're right, Dave! This could be a fight for the ages!"

Shortly after that, as the crowd continued cheering and screaming, the entrance music for one of the wrestlers began to play, and when it started, the music was some kind of hard rock song that Calvin had only heard on the radio a couple of times. He wasn't sure if Jeremy knew the song or not, but he was certain George knew it well. Lights started flashing up above the ring and the crowd as a guy in a white jacket with matching pants that had golden trimmings on them stepped out onto the ramp that led down to the ring itself. This guy also had white shoes, and a matching top hat as he waved to the fans, with his championship belt wrapped around his waist.

Somewhere up above from a speaker, a voice announced the name of the wrestler. "And here we have our champion, coming from Houston, Texas, weighing two hundred and eighty-five pounds, Shane Moreau! The Sensation!"

Taking off his hat, revealing his long, blond hair that was tied into a ponytail behind his head, Shane tossed it into the stands beside the ramp, where excited fans reached up to catch it, and then he started blowing kisses to the people watching his entrance. Then, removing his jacket, revealing his shirtless, muscular physique, he tossed the jacket into the stands as well, and raised his arms and flexed his muscles for everyone to see.

From the announcers' table, Dave, the guy with the deep voice said, "This is why people call Shane The Sensation, James! He loves putting on a show for the fans!"

"Absolutely!" said James, the other announcer. "And the fans love it!"

After kissing his bicep on his left arm, Shane finally headed to the ring, where he climbed up the steps in the corner and slipped inside between the top and middle ropes. Once inside the ring, he ran into the middle, where he held his hands up in the air and spun around in a circle a few times, just as glowing, white flames shot up out of the corner posts of the ring.

"Whoah!" yelled James. "I never get tired of seeing that!"

Just then, the referee who was waiting in the ring with his striped, white and black shirt on headed over to Shane, who removed his championship belt and handed it over.

While the referee was taking the belt from him, Dave the announcer spoke up next. "Now we'll see how his championship holds up after The Moderator steps in. When that guy gets pissed, he only gives ya two warnings before hitting ya with the Banhammer."

"Only if he can avoid getting hit by The Jawbreaker!" James said next. "You know as well as I do, Dave, that the super kick can come completely out of nowhere!"

"Right you are, James!" Dave said next. "The Moderator's gotta watch out for it and dodge it at just the right time, to avoid taking one to the jaw! It's the only way he can last long enough to deliver that final blow himself!"

And then, the tone of the arena suddenly changed. The entire place became very dark, and then glowing, purple lights illuminated the entrance to the ramp that led down to the ring. The music changed to something more ominous; organ music, and everyone knew it was time. The Moderator was ready to step into the ring.

 

[Lost in a Dream]

These next couple of chapters are quite long and pretty brutal as there is some wrestling going on while the characters watch the TV. It was fun writing these next 2 chapters because I watched a few wrestling matches myself and some tutorials on how to do the moves so I could make it as realistic as possible. I also hope these chapters aren't too confusing because there is a lot going on and writing them was quite challenging as well.

Spoiler: Chapter 49

49​

After watching Shane Moreau's entrance, Jeremy truly felt excitement about watching wrestling for the first time ever. His biological father may have hated it, but he himself found it very amusing, especially when Shane kissed his bicep after tossing his hat and jacket out into the audience. When at last the purple lights illuminated the ramp going down to the ring, and the organ music started playing, Jeremy's eyes opened wide in amazement and he gripped the arm rests of his chair tightly with his hands.

When at last The Moderator stepped out onto the ramp leading down to the ring, he was a very tall, muscular guy in a sleeveless, purple suit that went down over his torso and legs, all the way down to his black boots. On his hands were black fighting gloves with his bare fingers sticking out of them, and on his chest was a Capital M written in gold. His long, black hair hung down to his shoulders, his extremely muscular arms were covered in tattoos, and he had a menacing scowl on his face as he strolled down the ramp, but as he approached the ring, he stopped and glanced at the adoring fans in their seats with a smirk beneath the purple lights.

From the speakers above the ring, a voice announced this wrestler as well, "And here we have our challenger, weighing three-hundred and twenty eight pounds, The Moderator!"

"Holy shit," Jeremy whispered as he watched The Moderator climb the corner steps.

As soon as The Moderator reached the top step by the corner ring post, he lifted his hands up over his head and the lights all turned on in the arena, showing Shane Moreau standing there beside the referee, who was still holding the championship belt.

From the announcers' table, Dave finally spoke up. "I always get chills every time I see The Moderator step into the ring!"

Shane seemed uninterested however, causing James to make a comment about his relaxed, almost bored-looking demeanor. "Shane doesn't seem the least bit intimidated, but perhaps he should be! The Moderator's Banhammer is terrifying!"

Easily stepping over the top rope like it was nothing, The Moderator entered the ring and walked over to Shane, where the two of them put their faces up close together, despite the fact that Shane had to look up at him. Then, out of nowhere, Shane slapped The Moderator on the side of the face, causing his head to turn to the side, before he took a step back, held up his hand, and wagged his index finger at Shane, just as the bell was rung, signaling the beginning of the fight.

"Oh no!" cried James the announcer. "Shane already got his first warning! In just the first few seconds of the match!"

Motioning with his hands for The Moderator to bring it, Shane gave him a sneer, and then the two of them grappled each other around their necks and shoulders with their arms, beginning the fight.

For a moment, the two struggled against each other, but then The Moderator easily twisted his way out of the grapple hold and wrapped his arms around Shane's neck from behind, putting him into a brutal, reverse chin lock as they stood in the center of the ring. A painful grimace overcame Shane's face as he grabbed at the arm that was wrapped under his chin with both hands, trying to free himself from The Moderator's grasp.

Dave the announcer expressed his thoughts on the current situation. "Now The Moderator's got Shane in a painful, rear chin lock! It's gonna be difficult to get out of this one!"

Using his elbows, Shane started jabbing at The Moderator's ribs, trying to escape from his painful situation. He did this once, twice, and three times, before he finally managed to twist his way out of the chin lock. When The Moderator lost his grip, Shane turned around and hit his opponent with a side chop across the chest, causing a loud smacking sound. Standing his ground, The Moderator simply glared at him.

"That chop sounded like it would'a hurt, but The Moderator just took it like it was nothing!" James the announcer said.

Then, while they were standing in the center of the ring, The Moderator grabbed Shane by the biceps of his arms with his massive hands, before picking him up and tossing him into the corner of the ring like a rag doll, where Shane hit the turnbuckles against his back.

"Look at that throw!" Dave cried. "Smashed him right into the corner! The strength of The Moderator!"

The Moderator raised his fist and charged at Shane, who ducked out of the way just in time, causing The Moderator to hit the turnbuckles in the corner against his chest and stomach. When he turned around to go after Shane again, Shane ducked under the punch and then charged straight into The Moderator, wrapping his arms around his opponent's massive torso and pushing him back first into the turnbuckles.

"And here we go!" James yelled excitedly. "Shane's taking it to The Moderator now!"

While Shane had his arms wrapped around his opponent still, The Moderator raised one of his arms and brought his elbow down against Shane's back, right between his bare shoulder blades, causing him to let go and stumble backwards, groaning in pain.

"And The Moderator just hit Shane in the back with the elbow!" Dave said next. "That probably hurt a bit."

Regaining his balance as he stumbled backwards towards the center of the ring, Shane started shuffling side-to-side as The Moderator put up his hands, preparing to strike with his fists. As the two sort of danced around each other in the ring, Jeremy felt unsure about who would strike next, and he watched eagerly as The Moderator threw a big punch, but Shane ducked underneath it, then rose back up and hit his opponent in the chest with another chop from the side of his hand.

"Here we see Shane using his speed to avoid getting struck," Dave said as the audience watched in anticipation. "Those huge right hands from The Moderator are very dangerous! I wouldn't wanna get hit by one!"

Shane backed up towards one of the corners of the ring as The Moderator stepped closer to him again, preparing to throw another punch, but when he finally did, Shane once again ducked underneath it, easily dodging it, causing The Moderator to hit the turnbuckles on the front side of his body again. When he turned around, Shane jumped up on top of him, putting his feet on the bottom rope in the corner as he brought his fist down onto the head of The Moderator over and over again, causing the referee to get involved.

Running over to them, the referee started counting, "One! Two! Three!"

Jumping backwards before he could get disqualified, Shane danced his way back into the middle of the ring, just as The Moderator put up his hands again, getting ready to strike. The two danced around again, as they prepared to make their next move, and that was when Shane threw a punch of his own, but The Moderator easily grabbed hold of his wrist, stopping the attack, before twisting Shane's arm downwards, and then grabbing him by the neck with both hands and tossing him back into the corner of the ring, where he slammed his back against the turnbuckles again.

"Ouch!" Dave boomed. "The Moderator blocked Shane's strike and tossed him back into the corner again!"

Then The Moderator pounced, and started throwing his right fist, hitting Shane in the head once, twice, and then three times before grabbing hold of his arm, pulling him away from the corner, and then getting behind him. Wrapping his arms around Shane's waist suddenly and locking his arms in place with his hands clasping his forearms, The Moderator turned to the side, blocked Shane's leg with his own right leg, and then lifted him up into the air, before slamming him down onto the mat with a massive suplex.

"Whoa, that was one hell of a suplex!" James cried. "I bet Shane didn't see that one coming!"

Suddenly excited about what he was seeing, Jeremy was like, "Holy shit!"

George glanced at him and laughed. "Brutal, isn't it?!"

Calvin smiled but said nothing as the three of them continued to watch the match. On the screen in front of them, Shane rolled around on the mat painfully as The Moderator stood up over him and motioned with his hands for his opponent to get back up and show him what else he could do.

It was then that the oven in George's kitchen beeped, so grabbing the remote, Jeremy paused the match and then he excitedly got up and hurried out to the kitchen, where he put on the oven mits, pulled open the oven door, and retrieved the baking sheet with their nicely cooked pizza resting on top of it.

George and Calvin followed him out to the kitchen as Jeremy set their pizza down on the stovetop, and the cheese on it was all melted, as the peppers and onions sank down into it.

"Ooh, Office, this pizza looks fucking good!" George said excitedly as he pulled open a drawer in his kitchen and retrieved a pizza cutter. "How many pieces you guys want?"

"Two for me," Jeremy said excitedly. "What about you, Hippie?"

Calvin shrugged as he glanced back at the TV, where the wrestling match was still paused, and then he looked at his friends and laughed. "I dunno! It ain't that big of a pizza, Office!"

Pulling open one of his cupboards, George retrieved 3 paper plates and handed 2 of them to his buddies. "Don't worry guys, we still got more cheese, crust, and pizza sauce, so we could always make another pizza. It just won't have the works on it is all. Not like this one."

Cutting the pizza up into 6 slices so they could all have 2 if they wanted, George set the pizza cutter aside and gestured towards the baking sheet with his hand. "You first, Office."

Jeremy excitedly grabbed two slices of pizza and plopped them down on his paper plate. The cheese was all gooey and the diced up onions and pieces of the peppers fell off, onto the plate. Hurrying back out to his chair, Jeremy waited for George and Calvin to get their slices, before he grabbed the remote and unpaused the match. When Calvin and George returned to the couch and took a seat, Jeremy held up the remote and pressed play, and then they resumed watching the fight while devouring their delicious food.

The moment the match resumed, Dave commentated on what The Moderator was doing. "Looks like he wants to see what else Shane can do after hitting him with that suplex. He's probably hurt after that one."

Jeremy picked up a slice of his pizza and bit down into it, tasting the melted cheese, the onions, and the peppers as Shane finally got onto his hands and knees and crawled over to the ropes, to pull himself back up to where he could stand again. Once he was back on his feet, he turned towards The Moderator, who motioned with his fingers for him to bring it.

James spoke up next. "The Moderator's telling him to bring it on, but only if he uses good wrestling moves. He doesn't like being slapped or people fighting dirty, because when that happens, oh man! One more warning and then it's Banhammer time, haha!"

Every time they mentioned the Banhammer, Jeremy couldn't wait to see what that kind of move would look like. He was afraid of how painful it might be, but also excited because he was very curious to see it.

Shane approached the Moderator and then the two of them grappled each other around their necks and shoulders again, and struggled against each other briefly, until once again, The Moderator got behind him and put him in another reverse chin lock, except this time, they both went down to their knees, and then Shane ended up in a sitting position as The Moderator jerked back on his body, while maintaining the chin lock.

"Holy shit!" Jeremy said excitedly, as he took another bite of his pizza and another sip of his beer. "This is crazy!"

"I know, right!" George agreed.

Kicking the mat underneath him with his feet, Shane struggled against his opponent. He grabbed at the arm that was wrapped under his chin and pulled down on it, but it was no use, he was stuck. Shane tried jabbing at The Moderator's ribs with is elbows again, but it didn't have quite the same effect as when they were standing up when he was in the first chin lock. Sitting on the ground, he lost a lot of his strength.

"How's he gonna get out of this?" Jeremy asked, before taking another bite of his pizza.

George laughed. "Just watch, you'll see!"

Calvin laughed too as he took another bite of his pizza as well, but he said nothing as he kept his eyes focused on the screen in front of them. Kicking at the mat again, Shane continued to struggle against The Moderator. He was determined to get out of the chin lock, one way or another, but the two of them ended up laying down on their sides in the middle of the ring, and the referee got down on his hands and knees beside them, as he checked to see if Shane would tap out.

Dave the announcer shared his thoughts on the matter. "Shane's really struggling here! I've never seen him tap out before, but perhaps this could be a first!"

Reaching out with his arms, Shane continued to struggle as he kicked at the mat underneath him. Using all of his strength, he managed to get backup to a sitting position, while still stuck in the chin lock, but before long, he managed to get onto his hands and knees.

James the announcer said, "Look at Shane! The strength he must have! He's carrying the weight of The Moderator and he's still getting up!"

Getting up to his knees, with his opponent following along, Shane put both of his hands on the knee of The Moderator and pushed himself up until they were both in a standing position once again. Then, using his fists, he punched at the ribs of The Moderator until at last, he broke free of the chin lock.

Dave sounded amazed. "Oof! A right to the body! And a left to the ribs! And another right! And another left! Shane did it! He's out of the chin lock, but The Moderator won't go down!"

With one final punch, Shane hit The Moderator in the chin with an uppercut, causing his larger opponent to stagger backwards a little bit towards the ropes at the side of the ring.

Backing up towards the corner of the ring, Shane put some distance between him and his opponent, and then he took advantage of The Moderator's temporary disorientation and charged at him. Using his speed, Shane grabbed The Moderator's leg, bent it at the knee, and lifted him up into the air before bringing him back down on his own knee, injuring his larger opponent, causing him to cry out in pain and limp around inside the ring.

"That had to hurt!" James said as The Moderator was limping around. "Smart move by Shane, targeting the knee like that! Now he's got a weak point he can attack throughout the match!"

"Not only that, but with a bad knee, it's gonna make executing the Banhammer much more difficult!" Dave added. "Very smart move indeed!"

Jeremy found himself wondering even more what the Banhammer was actually going to look like, and he also wondered how The Moderator was going to execute the move with a bad knee. Glancing over at George and Calvin, who were also devouring their pizza, he was curious about what they had to think about the match they were watching.

Spoiler: Chapter 50

50​

George was enjoying the vegan pizza that he helped Jeremy and Calvin make. He was also enjoying the wrestling match and watching it with his closest buddies. While The Moderator limped around inside the ring, Shane Moreau put his hands on his hips and smiled as he watched this happen. Then, going over into the corner of the ring, he ran straight towards The Moderator and drop kicked him in his bad knee, causing his larger opponent to fall to his hands and knees with a groan of pain.

"Oh!" Jeremy cried, causing George to laugh.

"That had to hurt," Calvin said, and then George glanced at him.

On the TV, the announcer named Dave shared their opinions. "And a drop kick to the bad knee! That looked painful!"

"You're absolutely right, Dave!" James cried. "How's The Moderator gonna do the Banhammer now?!"

Using the ropes to get back to his feet, The Moderator turned to look at Shane, who humped the air and did a double-handed chop around his crotch, showing his defiance. This angered The Moderator, who wagged his finger at him once again, giving him his second warning.

"That's two warnings for Shane!" James cried. "One more display of disrespect, and it's Banhammer time!"

"If he can even still do it!" Dave added. "The Moderator can barely stand as it is!"

Pounding his fist against his sore knee to get the circulation going through it properly, The Moderator's face became enraged, and as an apparent adrenaline rush surged through him, he charged straight at Shane, who tried to sidestep him so he would crash into the turnbuckles once more, but when The Moderator got to Shane, he grabbed him by the throat, put a hand on his back, and lifted him into the air before delivering a powerful choke slam that knocked the wind out of Shane, causing him to roll around on the mat in pain.

"Choke slam!" Dave screamed. "A choke slam! The Moderator's pissed now! Perhaps he's gonna try the Banhammer soon after all!"

While Shane was getting on his hands and knees and using the ropes in the corner to pull himself to his feet, The Moderator stuck out his arms at his sides and pointed his thumbs up to the ceiling, before turning them downwards, signaling that the match was about to be over. While Shane was climbing up the ropes in the corner, The Moderator went over to him, turned around, and grabbed Shane's feet. Wrapping his opponent's crotch around the back of his head and holding his legs, The Moderator prepared to slam Shane down onto his back.

"Here it comes!" James cried. "The Banhammer!"

Shane clung to the ropes in desperation as he tried to avoid being Banhammered, but eventually he lost his grip, and The Moderator slammed him right down onto his back, using his legs as handles to provide himself with the leverage.

"Ooh!" Jeremy cried. "Is that the Banhammer?"

George laughed. "Yep, it sure is!"

Laying flat on his back, Shane rolled his head side-to-side, groaning in pain, and then getting on top of him, The Moderator hooked his leg and pinned him down, while the referee got down on his hands and knees and smacked the floor next to them.

"One! Two!" shouted the referee, just as Shane got his right shoulder up off the mat. Holding up two fingers to show that he kicked out at the count of 2, the referee surprised the audience and the commentators.

"He got the shoulder up!" James cried. "How did he do that after getting hit with the Banhammer?!"

A look of disbelief came over the face of The Moderator, who released his opponent's leg and got back up to his feet. Shane rolled onto his stomach and struggled to get back to his hands and knees.

"Stay down!" screamed The Moderator. "Stay down, Shane!"

Crawling over to the side of the ring where the announcers' tables were, Shane went under the bottom rope and put his feet down on the floor, where the rubber mats covered the concrete. After escaping from The Moderator, he watched as his much larger opponent went over to the opposite side of the ring, leaned back against the ropes, and took off running as he launched himself forward. Jumping over the top rope, The Moderator stretched out his arms and flew through the air, before tackling Shane right to the floor, where they tumbled against the announcers' tables.

"And here they are right in front of us!" Dave shouted. "Get out of the way, James! Get out of the way!"

The two announcers got up and hurried out of the way, just as The Moderator got up and started ripping the microphones and monitors off the table. When Shane got back to his feet as well, he tackled The Moderator from behind and the two of them fell down on top of the table, but didn't quite crash through.

As the two wrestlers rolled around on top of the table, the crowd cheered and George laughed. "Shane's still kicking somehow! No idea how he's still going!"

Jeremy took another bite of his pizza and laughed. "If I would've got hit by the Banhammer like that, I'd be dead!"

"Me too, Office!" Calvin cried, before taking a bite of his pizza as well. "Me too!"

Getting on top of The Moderator, Shane brought his fist down on his head once, twice, and then three times, before his opponent pushed him off, causing him to stumble backwards against the side of the wrestling ring and fall over onto his side. Getting up off the table, The Moderator glared down at Shane and grabbed hold of him by his arms and neck, before putting him back inside the ring and rolling him towards the center. Climbing up the ropes, he stepped over the top rope like he had done at the beginning of the match, and then started kicking at Shane's ribs.

"How's The Moderator gonna stop Shane from getting up now?" Dave asked, after he and his partner went over to another announcers' table where they still had microphones available. "Is he gonna hit him with the Banhammer again, or will he do something else?"

While Shane rolled around towards the center of the ring, he eventually ended up on his back, and that is when The Moderator jumped up into the air and did a leg drop over his smaller opponent's neck. This caused Shane to grab at his throat with both hands and gasp for air, as he rolled around inside the ring in agony.

George took another bite of his pizza, and watched as The Moderator got up and shouted down at him, "Stay down, Shane!"

Ignoring his larger opponent, Shane got back up on his hands and knees and crawled over to the side of the ring, where he used the ropes to get back to his feet, but getting up was quite a struggle. When at last he stood up again, he turned towards The Moderator, who flipped his head back so that his hair was out of his eyes, and then the two stared each other down again.

"And Shane's back on his feet!" Dave said. "Now we're at the Spanish announcers' table, borrowing their mics, but holy crap this is brutal!"

Putting up his hands again, The Moderator prepared to start throwing punches, but that is when Shane climbed up the ropes in the corner, all the way to the top. Once he was up there, The Moderator went over to him, just as he did a back flip off the top rope and was caught in midair so that his head was pointed downwards, and the two wrestlers were stomach to stomach.

With his arms wrapped around Shane's body, The Moderator ran over to the corner of the ring where Shane did his back flip, and slammed his smaller opponent's back against the turnbuckles. Letting him drop, The Moderator watched as Shane rolled around in agony down at his feet.

"Stay down!" The Moderator shouted again.

Ignoring him once again, Shane used the ropes to climb back up to his feet, but as he was doing this, The Moderator turned around, grabbed his opponent's legs, and wrapped them around the back of his head again. Like before, Shane gripped at the top rope with all of his strength, but eventually he lost his grip and he was hit with the Banhammer all over again.

"And Shane gets hit with the Banhammer again!" James cried, just as Shane was slammed down onto his back. "Will this be enough to put him down?"

Pinning him down to the mat, The Moderator gripped Shane's arms and held him down while the referee slapped the mat beside them. "One! Two! Three!"

Then the bell went off, signaling the end of the match. "Ding! Ding! Ding!"

At that point, The Moderator's music started playing throughout the arena as the whole place darkened and the purple lights returned. Getting up off of his opponent, The Moderator put one hand on his hip and wiped the sweat off his forehead with his other. He also licked his lips before reaching down and helping Shane get back up to his feet.

"The Moderator has won this match!" Dave boomed into his microphone as he leaned over the Spanish announcers' table. "And look at this, he's helping Shane get back up!"

Once Shane was back on his feet, he staggered a little, nearly falling over, but then The Moderator used one hand to steady him and offered him a handshake with the other. Shaking his hand reluctantly, Shane nodded his head to show respect, and then dropped down to his knees, still in pain from the beating he took. Helping his opponent back up, The Moderator put Shane's arm around his own shoulders and helped him stand again. At that point, the referee brought the championship belt over to The Moderator, who took it from him, and gripping it with one hand, he helped Shane get out of the ring and the two of them went up the ramp together towards the exit.

George grinned as this was happening. "Sucks we didn't get to see Shane do the Jawbreaker, but we can watch another match if you wanna, Office!"

"Fuck yeah!" Jeremy cried as he paused the TV. "You got any tapes where Shane wins the match?"

George laughed. "Yes! If you can find it in the box I handed ya, there's one where Shane fights Jimmy Slaughter and he manages to get a Jawbreaker or two in. It's pretty awesome, and also, The Moderator is a referee in that one!"

Jeremy looked excited about that one, and he reached down for the box of tapes and DVDs he had sitting on the floor beside his beer. Rummaging around in it, he found a DVD that was labeled "Jimmy Slaughter VS Shane Moreau".

Holding the DVD up, Jeremy asked, "Is this it?"

"Yep!" George said. "I'll put it in if you want!"

Jeremy handed him the DVD, and then George set his pizza plate on the table where the rolled up joints and the ash tray were, before getting up and heading over to his VCR/DVD player. Taking out the tape he put in earlier, he then put the DVD in so they could watch another match.

 

[limenlux]

As a wrestling fan, I found these chapters particularly enjoyable to read. The nods to Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker were quite amusing, as well. I hope you continue writing.

 

[Lost in a Dream]

As a wrestling fan, I found these chapters particularly enjoyable to read. The nods to Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker were quite amusing, as well. I hope you continue writing.

Oh yeah, I will have more chapters coming very soon. I'm just glad I wrote it well enough that you could keep track of who was doing what inside the ring. That was the difficult part, accurately describing everything while also keeping track of which wrestler did which move.

 

[Lost in a Dream]

Spoiler: Chapter 51

51​

When the next match started, Jimmy Slaughter entered the ring first. As his entrance music was playing, he came out onto the ramp in a pair of black pants, with red stripes on them, and no shirt on. His muscular physique was covered with tattoos, and on his face he had war paint on, making him look like he was wearing a mask; the paint on his forehead, cheeks, nose, and around his mouth was white, with black swirls painted on the sides of his face. On his arms, his tattoos were of skulls and bones, to show that he meant business, and he also had a championship belt draped over his shoulder.

As Jimmy was walking down the ramp, he stopped and put his fists up in the air, just as fireworks shot up behind him, illuminating the audience that was sitting around him. Jeremy was excited seeing his entrance, and the music was unlike anything he ever heard before, not hard rock like Shane's entrance music had been, but tribal war music from some country in a distant part of the world that Jeremy wasn't familiar with.

The announcers at the table were the same as before, Dave and James, and as Jimmy approached the ring, a voice from the speakers up above announced his entrance, "And here we have our champion, the Celtic warrior from France, weighing two hundred and ninety-eight pounds, Jimmy Slaughter!"

After climbing the steps at the corner of the ring, Jimmy slipped inside between the top and middle rope, then put up his fists again and snarled like an angry dog, just as his devoted fans cheered him on.

At that point, Dave the announcer finally spoke into his microphone. "Jimmy Slaughter looks like he's all ready to go! He ain't the kinda guy who likes to play around!"

"Not like Shane Moreau!" James said with a laugh. "That guy loves to play around inside the ring sometimes! He's kinda funny like that!"

While Jimmy stood in the center of the ring with the belt still draped over his shoulder, the music changed to Shane's hard rock music, and when he came out to approach the ring, Shane was wearing a completely different outfit; this time his pants and jacket were gold, with black seems on them, and he had no hat on this time, but his hair was still tied into a ponytail behind his head.

"And here we have our challenger, coming from Houston, Texas, weighing two hundred and eighty-five pounds, Shane Moreau! The Sensation!" came the announcement from the speakers.

Removing his jacket, showing off his shirtless, muscular physique again, Shane tossed his jacket into the stands like he did in the first match Jeremy watched. Then he dropped to his knees, put his hands together as if he was about to pray, before speaking softly to himself, and then raising his hands up over his head as fireworks shot up in the air behind him. Jimmy Slaughter looked extremely angry as he watched Shane put on his show for the audience, but when Shane got back up, he strolled on up to the ring with a grin on his face and climbed up the steps in the corner. Slipping in between the top and middle rope like his opponent had done, he went into the center of the ring and started blowing kisses out to his fans. His fans in the crowd cheered him on, but Jimmy's fans booed him. Jeremy found this quite amusing, but he wasn't the only one, because the guys at the announcers' table felt the same way.

"Shane's fans are loving him today!" Dave boomed into his microphone. "But Jimmy's fans kinda hate him!"

"That's right, Dave!" James cried. "But also, we aren't finished yet, because our Guest Referee hasn't even stepped into the ring!"

When at last Shane finished putting on his show for everybody, the music changed to The Moderator's organ music and the purple lights came on. Shortly after that, the giant wrestler stepped out onto the ramp wearing black pants, and a white and black striped shirt, indicating that he wasn't going to be fighting this time, but would instead be the referee.

"I don't know what's more scary!" James said. "Seeing The Moderator in his purple outfit, or in the referee's uniform!"

"He's terrifying no matter what!" Dave yelled. "Doesn't matter what his outfit is! He's huge!"

As The Moderator approached the ring, both Jimmy and Shane watched him, and after he climbed the steps in the corner, he entered the ring by stepping over the top rope again, and that was when he went over to Jimmy and took the championship belt from him. Holding the belt up in the air with one hand, he smirked, and that was when his purple lights and music went away, and the regular lights came back on.

"And now that The Moderator is here, this fight can finally get underway!" James cried. "We'll have to see who wins, Jimmy Slaughter or Shane Moreau!"

Going over to the side of the ring, The Moderator tossed Jimmy's championship belt aside, onto one of the announcers' tables, and then the bell was rung, signaling that the fight was about to begin. Going over to the corners of the ring, Shane and Jimmy stared each other down as they stretched their arms and shoulders, getting ready to duke it out.

The Moderator went over to another corner and watched as the two fighters went up to each other and stood face to face. Jimmy glared at Shane, who grinned back in reply. This seemed to anger Jimmy even more, which caused his eyes to open even wider than before, and then the two of them grappled each other around their necks and shoulders.

"Here we go!" Dave said. "The match is underway, and Jimmy looks pissed!"

As the two fighters struggled against each other, Shane ended up stepping to the side, grabbing Jimmy by the left arm, and twisting it around before pulling him forward and slamming his chest against Jimmy's right shoulder. While this move looked extremely painful, it only seemed to piss of Jimmy more.

Performing this same move again, Shane slammed his body against Jimmy's one more time, before letting him go. Grabbing at his sore arm that had been twisted, Jimmy glared at Shane, who started moving side-to-side again, and dancing around his opponent with his grin still on his face.

James the announcer laughed. "Look at Shane! He's in a good mood! Looks like he just wants to piss off Jimmy as much as he can!"

Dave agreed with him. "Right you are! I just hope he doesn't piss him off too much, because Jimmy Slaughter is prepared to slaughter him!"

Putting up his hands as he prepared to fight, Jimmy took a few steps towards Shane, who charged at him and grabbed his left arm again, but before he could wind it up like before, Jimmy used his right arm to knock Shane down with a clothesline.

"And Jimmy hits Shane with a clothesline!" James cried. "Looks like you were right about Shane pissing him off too much!"

As soon as Shane landed on his back, he grimaced with pain, and The Moderator folded his massive arms across his chest as he watched them with a smirk on his face. Jumping up into the air, Jimmy tried to drive his elbow down into Shane's chest, but Shane rolled out of the way just in time, causing Jimmy to hit the mat on his side.

Getting back up on his feet, Shane bent down and put his hands on his knees as he eagerly watched Jimmy to see what he would do next. When he finally did get back up after landing on his side, he snarled like an angry dog and charged at Shane, who sidestepped him, causing Jimmy to run into the ropes at the side of the ring.

"And Jimmy misses his target again!" Dave said. "Shane's trying to tire him out I think!"

"Great strategy!" James said. "Piss him off and dodge his attacks until he wears himself down. That'll make him nice and vulnerable for when Shane prepares The Jawbreaker!"

Jeremy was excited to see what the Jawbreaker would be like, even though it was pretty easy to imagine it, considering the announcers in the previous match he watched called it a super kick that could come out of nowhere. The Moderator slowly walked around the ring as he watched Jimmy turn towards Shane again, who was moving side-to-side as he danced around to avoid being hit by his angry opponent.

At that point, Jimmy put his hands on his hips and watched Shane dance around with predatory eyes. When at last Shane stopped moving, he held up his hand and flipped off the other fighter, which caused Jimmy's eyes to widen as he charged once again. Shane tried to get out of the way once more, but this time Jimmy pounced on top of him, bringing him down to the mat, where he started pummeling Shane's head with both fists.

The Moderator watched with an amused smirk as this was happening, just as Shane used both hands to throw his opponent off. Getting back up, Shane seemed a bit angry himself, and when Jimmy charged at him again, he lifted up his foot and kicked Jimmy right in the chest, knocking him down.

Getting up just as quickly as he went down, Jimmy snarled again, which caused Shane's angry expression to become a grin once more. Instead of charging at him directly this time, Jimmy slowly walked around Shane, who continued to dance from side-to-side like before. When at last the two of them charged at each other, Shane tried to punch the other guy in the head, but Jimmy used his forearm to block it, and struck Shane in the head with his other fist, knocking him back.

"Nice hit by Jimmy Slaughter!" Dave cried into his microphone. "And a nice block by him too!"

The Moderator slowly circled around them as he watched the two guys duke it out. Jimmy charged at Shane while he was disoriented, and wrapped his arm around the back of Shane's neck, before grabbing hold of the waistband of his pants, lifting him up off the mat, and dropping Shane's body over the top rope, where he then fell to the floor and flailed around as he hit the ground. Going out of the ring after him, Jimmy actually smiled for the first time, and while Shane was trying to get back up, Jimmy grabbed him by the head with both hands, and dragged him over to the steel steps in the corner where he slammed him down on top of them.

"And Jimmy slams Shane down on the steel steps!" James cried, just as Jeremy grimaced after hearing the heavy thud.

George laughed at Jeremy's reaction, but said nothing as he finished off his pizza while the fight continued on. On the screen, Shane tumbled to the ground, and Jimmy continued on after him. Picking Shane back up, Jimmy shoved him back into the ring and climbed the ropes after him. Shane rolled as far away from his opponent as he could, putting some distance between him and the other guy, but after Jimmy entered the ring once more, he leaned back against the ropes on the side, launched himself forward into a run, and charged straight at Shane, where he jumped into the air and drove his elbow into Shane's chest, this time making the connection.

"Ouch!" Dave cried. "Shane's gotta be hurting now!"

Jimmy got back up and watched while Shane pulled himself up by the ropes on the side of the ring after clutching at his sore chest and rolling around for a bit. As soon as Shane was back on his feet, Jimmy charged at him again, but Shane sidestepped him, causing Jimmy to ru ninto the ropes, missing his target, and hitting his throat on the top rope.

"Looks like Shane's still got some fight left in him!" James announced. "What's gonna happen now?"

Going over to one of the corners, Shane adjusted the waistline of his pants really quick, before he started stamping down on the mat with his left foot. Jimmy turned around, grimacing in pain from having hit his throat on the rope, just as Shane charged at him and kicked him right in the jaw with a loud SMACK!

Jeremy's mouth hung open after seeing The Jawbreaker in action. Jimmy Slaughter fell backwards against the ropes, before slumping over onto his side. At that point, Shane went to the closest corner to where Jimmy was and started climbing the turnbuckles. Once he was standing on the top rope, he waited until Jimmy was on his hands and knees, trying to get back up, before doing a backflip off the top turnbuckle and landing stomach first on Jimmy's back, bringing them both down to the mat.

"And now Jimmy's the one getting beat up!" Dave said. "At first, it seemed that Shane was having trouble, but now the tables have turned!"

Jimmy rolled around in pain, just as Shane got onto his back, kicked both feet up, and leapt up off the mat so he was standing upright once again. Then he grabbed hold of Jimmy's legs and pulled him towards the center of the ring, where he then tried to pin him down.

"And Shane goes for the cover!" James cried, just as The Moderator ran over to them and dropped to his hands and knees.

Slapping the mat beside Jimmy and Shane, The Moderator counted in a booming voice that was even deeper than Dave's, "One! Two!"

But just before The Moderator could count to three, Jimmy Slaughter got his shoulder up. Shane seemed frustrated by this, and The Moderator held up two fingers, showing everyone what had happened.

"And Jimmy kicked out after the Jawbreaker and the backflip!" Dave cried excitedly. "I don't know how he did it, but this is incredible!"

Setting his now empty paper plate down on the floor at his feet, Jeremy picked up his beer and took another sip as he watched the match continue. Getting back to his feet, Shane watched as Jimmy got on his hands and knees again, but that was when Shane grabbed Jimmy by his foot and put him into a brutal ankle lock.

"And look at this!" James cried. "Shane's got Jimmy Slaughter in a painful ankle lock! How's he gonna get out of this one?"

Grimacing in pain, Jimmy put one of his hands flat against the mat underneath him, and punched at it with his other, while Shane kept him trapped in the ankle lock. Jimmy's face paint was beginning to smear as the sweat poured down his forehead, but after punching at the mat underneath him twice, he glanced back, lifted himself up with both hands, and kicked at the back of Shane's knees with his free foot. This caused Shane to lose his balance and fall to his knees, but he kept the ankle locked up in his arms anyway.

Jeremy was amazed that Shane managed to keep the ankle lock in place, and he said, "This is crazy!"

"Fuck yeah, it is!" George said, before laughing hard enough to wheeze again.

"Looks painful as hell," Calvin commented, before reaching for the joint in the ash tray, lighting it up, and taking another hit from it.

After falling to his knees, Shane then got kicked in the back by Jimmy Slaughter, causing him to finally lose his hold on Jimmy's ankle and fall face first onto the mat.

Getting up on his hands and knees again, Jimmy grimaced in pain as he crawled over to the ropes and used them to pull himself to his feet. Once he was back up, he limped around on his sore ankle, before turning towards Shane and watching him get back up as well. At that point, it was unclear who was going to win the match, since both guys had taken a beating, and Jeremy wasn't sure what would happen next.

Spoiler: Chapter 52

52​

Calvin enjoyed watching wrestling with George and Jeremy, and seeing their reactions amused him as he continued to take hits off his joint. On the screen in front of him, both Shane Moreau and Jimmy Slaughter were staring each other down again, but when they charged at each other once more, Shane tried to tackle Jimmy, who let out an angry growl as he put out his elbow and slammed it into Shane, knocking him back.

Calvin raised his eyebrows in surprise as he quietly took another hit from the joint, before George held out his hand and he passed it over. Jeremy was sipping on his beer, while the announcers on the TV shared their thoughts about what was going on inside the ring.

"That was quite a collision!" Dave the announcer said. "That elbow looked like it sucked!"

James the announcer agreed. "Absolutely! Both of these guys still have some fight left in em, so I have no idea who's gonna win!"

The Moderator continued to watch the two guys fight as he walked around the inside of the ring, and when Shane finally steadied himself after stumbling a bit, he went back into the corner of the ring and watched as Jimmy charged at him. While Shane was standing in the corner, he lifted up his leg and foot as if he was about to do the Jawbreaker again, causing Jimmy to stop in his tracks, but it was a fake move. As soon as Jimmy stopped, he stumbled forward a little bit, and then Shane got around behind him, and shoved him face first against the turnbuckles. Jimmy's arms went over the top ropes in the corner, and then Shane charged at him from behind, and wrapped an arm around Jimmy's neck, before pulling him back out of the corner and putting him in a headlock. Jimmy struggled against him, but the more he struggled, the tighter Shane's headlock became.

"And now Shane's got him in a very tight headlock!" Dave announced. "Jimmy's in big trouble here!"

It was then that Jimmy suddenly wrapped his arms around Shane's torso and lifted him up, before sideslamming him down to the mat, escaping from the headlock.

"And he gets out of it with a powerful sideslam!" James the announcer cried. "Quick thinking by Jimmy Slaughter!"

The two wrestlers rolled around inside the ring, but as they were climbing the ropes to get back to their feet, they both glanced back at each other; Jimmy had an angry glare on his face, and Shane kissed the air with his mouth before smiling.

"And look at Shane, trying to piss off Jimmy even more!" Dave shouted.

Jimmy's eyes opened wide with rage, and as the two of them turned away from the ropes and stumbled towards each other, Jimmy threw a punch, hitting Shane in the head, who retaliated with a deafening chop to the chest. Then came another punch from Jimmy, and another chop from Shane.

"Now they're just going back and forth hitting each other!" James cried into his microphone. "It's like neither guy can beat the other, they just keep going!"

Jimmy threw another punch, but this time Shane ducked underneath it, stood back up, and gave Jimmy a hard shove back against the ropes. After leaning against them, Jimmy launched himself forward, but Shane sidestepped him and stuck out his foot, tripping Jimmy and causing him to fall face first onto the mat.

Calvin winced after watching Jimmy Slaughter faceplant like that, while he and George continued to pass the joint back and forth. "Damn, guys, this is intense!"

George agreed as he handed the joint back to Calvin so he could take another hit. "Damn right, Hippie!"

Jeremy took another sip of his beer and smiled at them, before turning his attention back to the TV, where Shane was once again in the corner of the ring, stamping his foot down on the mat underneath him. While Jimmy was getting up on his hands and knees, Shane prepared to hit him with another Jawbreaker.

"And here it comes!" Dave cried. "Another Jawbreaker!"

Jimmy used the ropes to climb back up to his feet again, but as soon as he turned around, Shane charged at him and kicked him right in the jaw, knocking him down onto his back. Grabbing Jimmy by his feet and pulling him back towards the center of the ring, Shane got on top of him and pinned him down, while The Moderator went over to them and dropped to his hands and knees.

Slapping the mat beside them with his massive hand, The Moderator started counting, and the audience counted with him. "One! Two! Three!"

Then the bell was rung and the match was over. Shane had won the match and defeated Jimmy Slaughter.

"He did it!" James the announcer cried. "Shane has won! It took two Jawbreakers, but he got the job done!"

Shane's music started playing as he got back up to his feet, and started blowing kisses to the audience. The Moderator stepped out of the ring and got the championship belt so he could hand it over to Shane directly, who took it from him with a grin and a handshake.

Jimmy Slaughter rolled painfully around on the mat below them, and Th eModerator reached down to help him stand. Once Jimmy was back on his feet, Shane offered him a handshake, which he reluctantly reciprocated. The fans cheered and then Jimmy limped his way to the ropes at the side of the ring, where he sat down and slid out underneath the bottom one.

Holding the championship belt up over his head, Shane grinned and The Moderator patted him on the back with a smile.

Calvin clapped his hands and laughed. "That was great!"

Jeremy held up his beer and said, "And a drink for Shane Moreau!" before taking a big gulp from his bottle.

As the audience on the TV continued cheering Shane on, who returned to blowing kisses to them, The Moderator put his hands on his hips. With the match having ended, Calvin watched as Jeremy picked out another DVD, and for the rest of the evening, the three guys continued watching one match after another, until at last, night time had arrived.

 

[Lost in a Dream]

I don't know if I made a slight mistake in the previous chapters, calling the floor inside the ring "the mat". When looking it up I see that it's called a canvas, so from here on out, that is what I will call it. More wrestling matches are still to come!

Spoiler: Chapter 53

53​

By the time daytime had turned into night, Jeremy was tired after all the excitement that day. George and Earl were tired as well, so he and Calvin said goodnight and goodbye before heading to the truck, but with a few DVDs that Jeremy wanted to borrow of matches they hadn't yet watched.

Once Jeremy was all buckled in with Calvin, he smiled at him. "Wow, Hippie, today was fun!"

"It sure was, Office!" Calvin agreed, as he glanced down at the DVDs in Jeremy's hands. "Maybe tomorrow you can watch T-Eighty Four fight against Zach Hall, The Thousand Dollar Man!"

Jeremy looked down at the disks he was holding. "I can't wait to see what that match is like."

Starting up the truck, Calvin backed away from the garage, turned around, and headed for the road. Once the tires beneath them were back on the pavement, Calvin asked, "So, you wanna go back to the apartment or stay at my place? Your choice, Office."

"Hmm, I might stay with you for the night, Hippie," Jeremy said. "Besides, I like your living room better than mine."

Calvin chuckled as he kept his eyes focused on the road ahead. "Sounds good to me, Office."

When at last they arrived back at Calvin's place, the truck came to a stop in the driveway and the two guys got out before heading up to the house. Glancing at the garage, Jeremy asked, "So, you think we can take the bus for a spin tomorrow?"

"Sure thing!" Calvin said. "I prefer going out in it when the weather's nice. Today the sky was just kinda yucky."

Jeremy agreed as they went up onto the porch and stepped in through the front door, where the small table with the urn was. "It was definitely a good day to hang out inside, that's for sure. But damn am I tired..."

When they entered the kitchen, Calvin took a seat at his table and opened his laptop, but then he folded his arms over his chest and looked up at Jeremy. "Those pizzas were hella good too."

"Yes they were!" Jeremy agreed. "Today was a good day!"

Turning towards the computer, Calvin unfolded his arms and opened his browser. "So, you think we should go on the forum really quick? I never got around to replying to that post you told me about, with the guy that's got the student debt. I kinda want to let him know I give a shit."

Jeremy liked that suggestion. "I'm sure he'll appreciate it, Hippie."

Typing in the site's name, Calvin opened up the homepage and then he logged in. As soon as he did, he discovered that he had another message. Opening it up, he saw that it was from Flowers@MeGrave.

"Well, I wonder what she has to say this time," Calvin wondered out loud, before clicking on the message.

Jeremy leaned over Calvin's shoulder and read it as well, and the message said the following, "I hope you and your buddy that you met on the site and in real life by accident are doing well! :) I don't know if I believe in fate, but perhaps there is such a thing?"

Jeremy was surprised. "What did you tell her, Hippie?"

Showing him all the messages, Calvin sighed. "I never told her your real name, just mine. All I know is, the odds of us meeting on the site and in real life were so astronomically low, religious people might say it was because of God. I don't know about that myself, because I don't really like God all that much, but even if it's true... Feels to me like he just threw us a bone for the hell of it to see what would happen. Sure, it worked out well for us, but what if I had met someone else from the site and it didn't end so well? That could've happened."

Jeremy knew Calvin was right. "Yeah, for all you know, you could've met a journalist pretending to be a normal member, just so they could stalk you and doxx you while being smug and self-righteous about it. The people who are targeting Ready to Check Out are just virtue signaling anyway. They pretend to care about people who commit suicide, but in reality, what they care more about is sensationalism and trying to make themselves look good by pretending to be a white knight saving lives.

If they truly wanted to save lives, they would try to understand why people like us wanna die in the first place, and work on fixing those problems in society, but they don't. Instead, they just wanna blame an internet forum and shut it down so they can shut up suicidal people. They'd rather us be silent and have no community to express ourselves in."

Calvin smiled at Jeremy. "I completely agree, Office. If it wasn't for that site, I guarantee you, I would've offed myself years ago, before we ever had a chance to meet. Perhaps Beard still would'a rescued you from the pothole and introduced you to wrestling, but he would'a been a much more sad version of himself than the one you know, because I would've been gone for so long already."

Jeremy hugged Calvin, who hugged him back. "I completely agree. Also possible he would've offed himself too, and guess what? I would've been stuck in that pothole with no one to save me except Sandra. While I would've appreciated it, it wouldn't have been the same."

When at last they finished their hug, Calvin asked, "So, you wanna go to bed right away, or are you in the mood to watch more wrestling? Only reason I ask, is because I still kinda wanna see T-Eighty Four in action."

Setting the DVDs that were still in his hand down on the table next to the laptop, Jeremy smiled. "Ya know, maybe we could watch one more match before bed. Sucks we can't watch it with Beard, but he's probably seen the match already and your TV is bigger..."

Calvin laughed. "One more match sounds good to me, but first, I wanna check out that post you replied to. The one about the guy with the student debt."

Jeremy was surprised as he suddenly remembered them again. "Right! I can still remember the title of the thread. It was, 'Flunked Out and Drowning in Debt'. If you search for it, you may be able to find it and see my reply."

Using the search function, Calvin was able to find the thread, and when he did, he clicked on it and read the original post, as well as all the replies to it (including Jeremy's). Other people had replied since then, but when Calvin reached the bottom of the page, he started to type.

In the text box, Calvin said, "Hey, I just saw your post! A friend of mine showed it to me and I wanted to say something. I'm sorry about the mess you're stuck in, LivingtheNightmare, but I'm also glad you've received so much support since making your post. It really is tragic when some threads get posted and receive very few replies, or none at all, and I'm glad yours wasn't one of those.

Every time I see a thread like that, I try to leave a post if I can think of what to say. It's difficult to find the words sometimes, but I do my best and would like to think most of the other members in our community do the same. Debt really is a terrible thing, and the more you have, the worse it is. I also understand what it's like to have a job you hate, considering I used to be in the military and was forced to do regrettable things more often than I care to admit.

All I can say now is, my days of fighting wars with guns and bombs are in my past, but for people like you and I... We have to fight a different kind of war everyday. It's a war for our very survival against a brutal, uncaring world and all the corrupt people who run it and try to kick us while we're down and vulnerable. I hope you can get some kind of debt relief that gets you out of the situation you're in. I realize that if you file for bankruptcy, it'll fuck up your credit, but perhaps you have other options? Maybe see if there are some debt relief agencies in your area or close to it that can help.

Best wishes to you, Hippie."

Jeremy loved the reply and he put a hand on Calvin's shoulder. "That was beautiful, Hippie! A reply worthy of the name HippieBusSixty-Two."

Calvin smiled up at Jeremy. "I agree, Office. Besides, you gave him a good reply too. So, what do ya say we watch one more match before we go to bed?"

Jeremy shrugged. "Sounds good to me. But first, I think you should react to all the posts you like in the thread. Might help the people who replied feel better too, ya know?"

Calvin nodded and went through each of the replies, giving the best reaction to each one that he felt was appropriate, including Jeremy's, to which he gave a hugging emoji reaction.

"Aww, thanks, Hippie!" Jeremy said. "Hugging emojis are nice!"

Calvin laughed. "But not quite as good as real life hugs."

Jeremy agreed with that statement. "Right! So, what do ya say we watch T-Eighty Four duke it out with The Thousand Dollar Man?"

Glancing at the computer screen, Calvin frowned. "Sounds good, but first, I wanna reply to Flowers at Me Grave."

Going back to the message he received from her, Calvin typed in the textbox about how the day went. While he didn't tell her Jeremy's real name, he simply called him Office, and said that while they were hanging out with his buddy Beard, they watched some wrestling and ate some pizza. He told her that it was a great time.

"There, that should do it!" Calvin said before sending the message. "So, how about we watch one more wrestling match?"

Jeremy balled his hands into fists and raised them up in the air over his head excitedly, just as Calvin logged out and closed the browser. "Fuck yeah! Sounds good to me!"

Picking the DVDs up off the table, Calvin went through them until he found the one labeled "T-84 VS The Thousand Dollar Man". Then he got up and followed Jeremy out to the living room, where he turned on the TV, stuck the disk in the player, and took a seat on the couch with Jeremy.

Spoiler: Chapter 54

54​

Calvin always found it quite odd how George had recorded one match per tape and disk. Perhaps his friend liked the idea of dedicating each one to a favorite match of his, which made some sense, despite the fact he probably could've fit multiple matches onto each tape and DVD. While he and Jeremy sat on the sofa watching the TV, the next match started, and when it did, Zach Hall came out first. Wearing a green suit covered in Dollar Signs, and wearing green shades over his eyes, The Thousand Dollar Man danced his way down the ramp with a song about money playing as his entrance music, while he wore the championship belt around his waist.

On his way to the ring, his entrance was announced from the speakers up above, "And here we have our champion, coming from Denver, Colorado, and weighing two hundred and eighty-nine pounds, Zach Hall,The Thousand Dollar Man!"

Holding up his hands over his head, Zach Hall laughed and spun around in a circle, while green lights flashed up above his head and the audience. Then, removing his glasses, he tossed them into the audience, where excited fans tried to catch them. As he danced his way down the rest of the way to the ring, he climbed up the steps in the corner and the turnbuckles from the outside, where he ended up standing on the middle rope and pointing his index fingers out at all of his fans.

Calvin laughed as he watched The Thousand Dollar Man's antics. "This guy's kinda weird!"

"Right!" Jeremy agreed. "He loves money a little too much!"

At that point, Zach Hall jumped over the top rope, did a front flip, and landed on his feet inside the ring, with his hands held high above his head. His fans cheered him on, and as he ran into the center of the ring, he clapped his hands and spun around in a circle, showing off his green suit he had on. The referee stood nearby, waiting for him to hand over the belt, and the moment Zach handed it over, he took it out of the ring, and gave it over to the people behind the announcers' tables.

It was then that a deep, booming voice spoke into the microphone that was even deeper than Dave's. "Zach Hall is here and ready to go, but is he truly ready to face the challenger? Let's see if he is."

Calvin suspected that he knew who was speaking, but it didn't take long for James the announcer to confirm it. "I don't honestly know, Mister Moderator! T-Eighty Four is a giant! He's just as big as you!"

The Moderator laughed into the microphone. "Right you are! One of these days, I'll face him in the ring, but that day is not today!"

At that point, the green lights above the arena faded, and were replaced with dim, gray lights, just as T-84 emerged from the entrance to the ramp wearing a silver suit covered in black stripes, and wearing a mask that matched the rest of his outfit. The music changed to military music with drums, and everyone knew that the tank had arrived.

From the speakers up above came the announcement, "And here we have our challenger, coming from Ukraine and weighing Three hundred and thirty-seven pounds, T-Eighty Four!"

As T-84 strolled down the ramp, silver flames and clouds of smoke shot up into the air on either side of him, and when he at last reached the ring, he jumped up onto the top step in the corner, raised his massive arms over his head until his forearms crossed each other, and then brought them down to his sides again, just as silver flames shot up from the corner ring posts.

"Whoa!" James the announcer cried. "This guy's almost as scary as you, Mister Moderator!"

The Moderator laughed. "I ain't that scary. I'm just a regular guy with an important job to do. I know I'm big and scary looking, but that don't mean anything."

"Tell that to everyone who's faced you in the ring!" James yelled. "They know better!"

The Moderator laughed again just as T-84 stepped over the top rope and stood in the corner, facing down The Thousand Dollar Man, who suddenly looked scared as he cowered in the corner in his green suit next to the referee.

At that point, Calvin paused the match and glanced at Jeremy. "So, did you happen to see a tape or DVD of The Moderator facing T-Eighty Four?"

Jeremy shook his head. "No. I wonder if Beard forgot to record that one, or if he lost it somehow. Maybe we can find that match online somewhere."

Calvin chuckled. "We can always look and see!"

Unpausing the match, Calvin watched with his buddy as T-84 stood in the corner, looking down at his terrified opponent, who tried to shield himself with the referee.

Calvin pointed at the TV and laughed. "Look at him! He's hiding away like one of those journalists going after Ready to Check Out! He acts all brave when he first steps into the ring, but now he's just hiding in the corner!"

Jeremy laughed as well, and when the normal lights came on in the ring, T-84 adjusted the black gloves on his hands, and took a few steps towards his opponent in his silver and black boots. When the bell finally rung, signaling the beginning of the match, T-84 stamped his way over to Zach Hall, who quickly backed into another corner, still shielding himself with the referee.

"Thousand Dollar Man!" The Moderator said with a laugh. "More like the One Dollar Man!"

James laughed. "What's he gonna do? Hide behind the referee forever?"

At that point, T-84 stepped over to the corner where he grabbed the referee by the shoulders, shoved him out of the way, and wrapped both of his massive hands around the throat of Zach Hall. Lifting him up into the air, so that the green man's feet dangled beneath him, T-84 turned towards the middle of the ring and slammed his smaller opponent down onto his back, directly at his feet.

The Thousand Dollar Man hit the canvas so hard, he arched his back up towards the lights above them and screamed in agony. T-84 stepped over to him and lifted one of his giant feet up in the air, preparing to stamp down on him, but Zach Hall rolled out of the way, just as the giant man's foot came crashing down.

"I wouldn't wanna be under his feet like that, Mister Moderator!" James cried. "That would be like getting caught under the tracks of a tank for real!"

The Moderator laughed again. "I'd like to see him try doing that to me! I'd chokeslam him for that!"

"You're probably the only one who's strong enough to do it!" James shouted. "You and that guy are both seven foot plus monsters!"

Getting back up off the canvas by climbing the ropes, Zach Hall glanced at T-84, who stamped around inside the ring, chasing him around. The Thousand Dollar Man tried to escape at every turn, but when at last T-84 threw a massive left-handed punch, Zach dodged underneath it, got behind the massive wrestler, and kicked him in the back of his knees.

T-84's knees buckled a little, but then he turned, grabbed Zach Hall by the throat, put a hand on his back, and lifted him into the air before delivering a powerful chokeslam.

"Nice one!" The Moderator said with a chuckle. "I know a good chokeslam when I see one, because I've done several myself!"

It was then that Calvin paused the match again and he smiled at Jeremy. "Ya know, I really wanna see The Moderator fight T-Eighty Four! I can only imagine seeing two giants like that in the ring together. You wanna look it up online and see if we can find it, or should we finish this one first?"

Jeremy laughed. "I wanna see The One Dollar Man get humiliated first, Hippie. This is pretty funny!"

Calvin shook his head and laughed. "One Dollar Man..."

After getting chokeslammed by T-84, Zach Hall rolled around in agony, before climbing up the ropes again and turning towards his much larger opponent. It was then that he put up his shaking fists, and charged towards the giant. He punched T-84 in the gut, but then clutched at his hand as if he just punched a brick wall.

At that point, T-84 wrapped one arm around the back of Zach Hall's neck, grabbed him by the waist of his green suit, and lifted him straight up into the air so that The Thousand Dollar Man's feet were pointed straight up at the ceiling, and then the tank let out a loud battle cry and fell backwards onto his back, slamming his smaller opponent against the canvas, causing Zach to cry out in pain.

Getting back up to his feet, T-84 put one foot on Zach's chest and held his fists up in the air, just as the referee crawled over to them and started slapping the canvas beside The Thousand Dollar Man. "One! Two!"

But then Zach Hall got his shoulder up, and the referee held up two fingers, surprising everyone. Stepping back, T-84 wrapped both hands around his smaller opponent's head, turned him over, and got him back onto his feet. Then he used his massive hands to grab The Thousand Dollar Man by the neck and crotch of the green suit, lifting him up over his head, and slamming him back down onto his back. Once again, the tank of a man put his foot on the smaller guy's chest and put up his fists.

Slapping the canvas again, the referee counted. "One! Two!"

But like before, Zach Hall kicked out, and the referee held up two fingers.

"I think the One Dollar Man should just give up!" The Moderator said. "All he's done is deliver one cheap shot to the back of the knees and break his hand. If he keeps this up, he's gonna have every bone in his body broken!"

Stepping away again, T-84 towered over The Thousand Dollar Man, breathing heavily, before reaching down to pick him up again. Rolling out of the way, Zach Hall avoided another powerful slam from happening to him, but when he got back up, he climbed up the ropes in the corner.

Stamping over to him, the massive tank of a man tried to grab him again, but as he brought his arms down, Zach ducked out of the way, got behind him, and gave him a hard shove from behind. For the first time in the entire match, T-84 lost his balance and slumped against the turnbuckles, but using the top rope to steady himself, the giant wrestler turned and kicked Zach in the head with one of his giant feet, knocking him down.

"And a big boot to the face!" James cried.

Clutching at his nose, Zach Hall rolled around in pain, just as T-84 went over to him and picked him back up by his head. Once The Thousand Dollar Man was back on his feet, the massive dude picked him up, flipped him upside down as he wrapped his arms around him, and charged straight into the turnbuckles in the corner, where he slammed the green-suited man into them, dropped him, and started kicking at his stomach with one of his giant feet.

Groaning in anger with each kick, T-84 kicked him again and again, but when the referee went over to intervene, the tank turned and put his face down towards the referee, who panicked and fled all the way back to the opposite corner of the ring. When Zach Hall finally got back to his feet in the corner where he was, he turned around, and taking advantage of T-84's distraction, jumped onto his back and wrapped his arms around the giant wrestler's neck.

"Look at that!" The Moderator said with a laugh. "Zach Hall's finally on the offensive!"

Stumbling backwards while wearing the green man like a backpack, T-84 grabbed at the arms that were wrapped around his neck with both hands, and with a loud cry, ran backwards against the turnbuckles, but The Thousand Dollar Man kicked up his feet, avoiding the collision, and put his feet on the top rope after T-84 slammed his own back into the corner.

When the giant wrestler turned around, Zach Hall started punching him in the head while he stood on the top rope, but after three hits, T-84 caught him by the wrist mid-punch, looped the green man's arm around his own neck and shoulders, took hold of the waistline of his green suit, and performed a powerful superplex off the top turnbuckle, slamming The Thousand Dollar Man against the canvas, and causing him to cry out in agony.

"Nice superplex off the corner!" The Moderator said excitedly. "For a moment there, it seemed the green guy was getting somewhere, but not anymore!"

Getting back up, T-84 put another giant boot on the chest of his opponent, held up his fists once again, and waited as the referee got down on his hands and knees and slapped the canvas beside Zach Hall's injured body. "One! Two! Three!"

At that point, the bell was rung, and T-84 was victorious. It had been a surprisingly easy match.

Pausing the match again, Calvin looked at Jeremy. "So, about The Moderator and T-Eighty Four..."

Jeremy smiled back at him. "Let's see if we can find it. One more match before bed!"

Since Calvin's TV was quite a lot newer than George's, he was able to use streaming services on it, and as it turned out, one of them had wrestling matches on it if he just paid a little bit extra for the subscription. Jeremy offered to pay for it, since he himself had some money left after paying his rent and utilities, even if it wasn't much. Paying for the subscription, they did a search, and as it turned out, there had been a Global Wrestling Organization pay per view in the past, where T-84 and The Moderator facing each other in the ring had been the main event to draw people in. It was called The Great Summer Smash of 1999.

"Holy shit, Office!" Calvin said excitedly. "This is it!"

Jeremy tapped his hands on his knees excitedly as they found the match they were after, and started to watch. The Moderator entered the ring first, and when the purple lights came on and the organ music started to play, they both knew it was time.

 

[Lost in a Dream]

These next couple chapters were really fun to write! I will say that the wrestler named T-84 is loosely based off of Kane, but also is his own unique style of wrestler too, being named after a Ukrainian battle tank. His match with The Moderator will be some brutal stuff!

Spoiler: Chapter 55

55​

Coming out to the ring in his sleeveless, purple suit with the golden M on his chest, The Moderator's massive arms swayed at his sides as he stamped his way down the ramp, with his long black hair hanging down to his shoulders once again. Adoring fans cheered him on and held up signs saying, "T-84 gets the Banhammer!" and "Banhammer Time!" while a voice from the speakers above announced his entrance like before.

When The Moderator reached the ring, he smirked at his fans again beneath the purple lights, before climbing the steps in the corner and easily stepping over the top rope like Jeremy had seen him do before, except this time, his opponent could do the same thing. Stamping over towards the center of the ring in his black boots, the giant wrestler adjusted the black, fingerless gloves on his hands as he paused and waited for T-84 to arrive. When at last he did, his entrance was very much the same as it had been when he easily destroyed The Thousand Dollar Man.

The gray lights came on, and the military music started to play, just as T-84 stamped his way down the ramp in his silver and black suit with the mask over his face, while the silver flames and clouds of smoke shot up on either side of him. When he reached the steps at the corner of the ring, he jumped up onto the top step, crossed his massive forearms over each other above his head like before, and then brought them down, causing the silver flames to shoot up at the corners of the ring.

"Whoa!" Dave the announcer cried, who was back at the announcers' table with James again. "I think this guy's a little bigger than The Moderator, James. How's he gonna do the Banhammer on him?!"

"I don't know, Dave!" came the reply. "It's gonna be challenging, that's for sure, and so far, we have yet to see what T-Eighty Four's finishing move is, since he hasn't ever needed to use it to destroy his opponents!"

When at last T-84 stepped over the top rope, he went over to The Moderator and they put their faces up close to each other, just as the military music stopped playing and the regular lights came on. As it turned out, the tank really was slightly bigger than his purple-suited opponent, but only slightly. Shaking his head a little as the bell was rung, signaling the beginning of this truly epic match, The Moderator struck first. He hit T-84 in the head with his huge right fist, and then he did it a second time, and a third time, before finally, the tank blocked his fourth throw of the fist, and headbutted him, causing The Moderator to stumble backwards a little.

As The Moderator was striking his opponent, Dave commentated on what was going on. "And The Moderator hits him with a huge right hand! And another one! And another one! And T-Eighty Four blocks it this time! And then he hits The Moderator with a nasty head butt!"

Taking advantage of his opportunity, T-84 charged at The Moderator and hit him with a huge clothesline, easily knocking him down onto his back, but then The Moderator sat up like it was nothing and quickly got back to his feet.

"And the tank knocks him down with a massive clothesline!" James cried. "But it hardly even phased The Moderator! Look at him get back up!"

At that point, the two massive wrestlers put their faces up together again, and it was then that they finally grappled each other around their necks and shoulders. After struggling against each other for a bit, The Moderator put T-84 into a vicious, reverse chin lock like he had done to many others in the past, but the tank easily got out of it by running backwards into the corner of the ring, and smashing The Moderator against the turnbuckles with a loud battle cry.

"And T-Eighty Four escapes the chin lock!" Dave cried. "What's he gonna do now?!"

Turning towards The Moderator in the corner, T-84 started throwing heavy punches at his head, shoulders, and ribs, causing The Moderator to block with his arms. The referee tried to get involved, but when T-84 turned and glared at him through the eye holes of his mask, the referee fell over onto his back, terrified of the monster looking down at him.

James laughed at the referee's reaction. "Look at him intimidating the referee like that! Get away from him, dude! Run away!"

Scurrying away on his hands and knees like a terrified cockroach, the referee escaped from T-84 who turned towards The Moderator and charged at him, attempting to crash into him in the corner, but The Moderator stuck out his elbow, striking T-84 in the chest and knocking him back.

As T-84 stumbled back a bit, Dave commentated, "This is like watching a tank trying to steamroll across a bulldozer! It's possible, but it ain't gonna be easy, and both guys are gonna take a lot of damage before this is all over!"

Going over to his silver and black opponent, The Moderator grabbed him by the throat with one hand, but T-84 retaliated by doing the same thing. As the two giants stood there, holding each other by the throat with a single, huge hand, The Moderator raised his other arm and brought it down across T-84's arm, breaking the hold on his own throat, before putting a hand on the tank's back, lifting him into the air, and delivering a thunderous chokeslam that shook the entire ring.

"And look at that chokeslam!" James cried. "The strength The Moderator must have to do that!"

"But look at T-Eighty Four!" Dave cried, as the giant, silver and black wrestler sat up again. "It wasn't anywhere near enough to put him down!"

Getting back up, T-84 kicked The Moderator in the gut a couple times, causing him to bend at the waist a little, before turning to the side and putting him in a massive headlock. Wrapping his arms around T-84's waist however, The Moderator locked them in, and wrapping the knee of his leg around one of T-84's legs, he launched himself down onto his back, and the two guys slammed down on the canvas, which broke the headlock.

"Wow!" Jeremy said, as soon as he saw the two guys go crashing down onto their backs. "This is some crazy shit!"

Calvin agreed. "I still can't believe Beard didn't record this one!"

As the two giant wrestlers got back up on their feet again, T-84 wrapped both of his hands around the throat of The Moderator, before turning and throwing him against the turnbuckles in the corner. This temporarily disoriented the purple-suited wrestler, which allowed T-84 to charge at him and hit him with a clothesline in the corner. The Moderator remained standing however, and when T-84 tried to do it again, The Moderator stuck out one of his giant feet, and kicked T-84 in the chest, pushing him back.

"And a boot to the chest by The Moderator!" Dave cried. "This is brutal, James!"

T-84 stumbled back towards the center of the ring, but remained standing, just as The Moderator turned and stepped over the top rope, before climbing the turnbuckles in the corner from the outside. Once he was at the top, he launched himself through the air, and hit T-84 with a flying clothesline, knocking him down onto his back. After tumbling to the canvas himself, The Moderator got up as quickly as he could, but like the other times be brought T-84 down, the black and silver guy sat right up and got back to his feet just as quickly.

"That was one hell of a flying clothesline!" Dave cried into his microphone. "But T-Eighty Four got right back up like it was nothing!"

"How are either of these guys gonna win, Dave?" James asked him. "It seems like no matter what they do, they both get back up and go back at it again!"

Jeremy found himself wondering the same thing. How the match would end was a complete mystery to him, but he discovered he didn't really care all that much who won, he just wanted to enjoy the show. Once the giant wrestlers were back on their feet, The Moderator hit T-84 with a huge right hand, who threw a punch of his own, but The Moderator ducked to avoid it, causing the fist to fly over his head, but when he stood up straight again, he grabbed hold of T-84's throat with his huge hand again, and shoved him into the corner of the ring, where he pushed him back against the turnbuckles and held him there for a bit.

Grabbing The Moderator's forearm with both hands, T-84 started making a hissing noise from his mouth, and as it escaped from his silver and black mask, he lifted up The Moderator's arm, removing the hand from his throat, and kicking The Moderator in the stomach again. At this point, T-84 let go of his opponent's forearm, and ducked down as The Moderator threw a punch at him with his left arm, which T-84 dodged before getting beside The Moderator and wrapping his arms around his opponent's waist. At that point, T-84 locked his arms in, lifted The Moderator up, twisted his body a little, and hit him with a massive suplex in the middle of the ring.

Jeremy was amazed by what he saw. Realizing this was the perfect final match to end the evening with, he found himself wishing he had more pizza, but unfortunately, when he and Calvin were still at George's place, they did end up making a second pizza and eating that one too, so the pizza crust was gone, and the pizza sauce and cheese had been left behind in George's fridge.

Dave sounded shocked. "It ain't everyday you see somebody suplex The Moderator like that! Usually, he's the one doing it to somebody else!"

James agreed. "I can't believe it either! And watch this! T-Eighty Four is going for the cover already!"

T-84 tried to pin The Moderator down to the canvas by gripping his arms, and when the referee went over to them, he slapped the ground beside them once, but that was when The Moderator kicked his legs up, and hit T-84 in his mask with both knees, causing him to let go of The Moderator's arms and roll away across the canvas. Getting back up, The Moderator put his hands on his waist and watched as T-84 sat up and slammed both fists on the canvas at his sides. This caused The Moderator to smirk a little, as he realized his opponent was becoming frustrated.

Commentating on this, Dave shouted, "And T-Eighty Four seems frustrated that he can't keep The Moderator down! What's he gotta do here?"

"Perhaps he's gotta hit him with the tank cannon!" James suggested. "We've seen in the past how devastating that move can be when T-Eighty Four is destroying smaller guys, but perhaps he's gotta use it here!"

When T-84 got back to his feet, he ran over to the side of the ring, leaned back against the ropes, and launched himself forward with his fist held out in front of him, which he slammed into the chest of The Moderator, and it struck its target as if a giant fist had been launched out of a literal tank cannon, knocking him back painfully,before falling down onto his ass.

"And there it is!" Dave cried as The Moderator took a seat on the canvas. "The tank cannon! I've never seen anybody stand up to that move, and it's probably no surprise that even The Moderator would go down from it!"

Putting a hand on his chest where the fist struck him, The Moderator grimaced painfully, before getting back up again, which caused T-84 to step over the top rope by the announcers' tables, and drop down to the mats covering the concrete floor below.

"What's he doing now, Dave?" James asked.

Walking over to where the tables were, T-84 stepped between them and shoved a random dude out of their foldable, steel chair, which he then grabbed, folded up, and took back into the ring with him. Raising the steel chair up over his head while gripping the feet of it, T-84 prepared to smack The Moderator in the head with it, which caused him to defend himself by kicking his foot up, and shoving the chair back into the face of T-84, who dropped the chair, stumbled backwards, and fell down onto his back.

As T-84 was getting back up, The Moderator looked down at him and wagged his finger at him, causing Dave to scream, "The first warning! T-Eighty Four got his first warning! He only gets one more! Two more dirty moves like that, and he's gonna try the Banhammer!"

Grabbing the chair off the canvas, The Moderator tossed it out of the ring, where it landed on the floor directly in front of the announcers' tables, before he grabbed hold of T-84 by the head with both hands, and drove his knee into the tank's gut. When T-84 bent forward at the waist, The Moderator grabbed him by the back of the head, forced him to bend down a little more, and then drove his elbow into the back of T-84, knocking him down to one knee. While he was down, The Moderator got behind him and put him in another reverse chin lock. Now that the two giant wrestlers were down on their knees, getting out of it was going to be more difficult for T-84.

"And look at the Moderator locking him into that reverse chin lock!" Dave said excitedly, as The Moderator got T-84 down into a sitting position and tightened his hold. "He ain't gonna get out of this one very easily!"

But then to the surprise of Jeremy, Calvin, and the announcers, T-84 managed to get onto his hands and knees, while carrying The Moderator around on his back like a giant, full-body back pack. As he slowly got back up to his feet, The Moderator followed along, and then T-84 ran backwards into the ropes at the side of the ring, where he pushed back against them, while still stuck in the reverse chin lock, and pushed The Moderator's back against the ropes behind him as well.

"What's T-Eighty Four doing now, Dave?" James asked.

"Just watch!" Dave told him. "He's gonna do something amazing here, I guarantee it."

Grabbing hold of the arm that was wrapped around his chin with both hands, T-84 let out an angry growl and took off running forward, with The Moderator still on his back, and charged towards the ropes at the other side of the ring, where T-84 ducked his head between the top and middle rope, snagging The Moderator's neck on the top rope, and causing it to hit him in the throat, where he then let go of the chin lock and tumbled to the canvas, gripping at his sore throat with both hands.

With the Moderator temporarily down and out after hitting his throat on the top rope, T-84 reached down with both hands and picked him up by his head. Getting The Moderator back into a standing position, T-84 grabbed hold of his opponent's left arm and put one hand on his back as he shoved him towards the other side of the ring, but then The Moderator spun around, put a hand on T-84's back, and ended up shoving him towards the other side of the ring instead. Running over there,T-84 turned and leaned back against the ropes, before launching himself forward and trying the Tank Cannon again.

Dodging the attack, The Moderator grabbed hold of T-84's extended arm and flipped it upwards, causing the giant man in the silver and black suit to jump up off his feet, flip through the air, and slam down onto his back, where he ended up laying there longer than he had at any point during the match before then.

"What the hell was that?" James asked, just as The Moderator released the arm and jumped up into the air where he did a leg drop across T-84's throat. "Whoa! Look at that leg drop!"

Jeremy felt just as pumped with energy watching this as he had for most of the time he and Calvin were hanging out with George and Earl watching wrestling over there, except now, he was watching on a bigger screen and no longer in the mood for sleep. Glancing at Calvin, he wondered what his new dad was thinking as he too watched the TV with excited-looking eyes.

Spoiler: Chapter 56

56​

While T-84 lay there on the canvas with one hand wrapped around his sore throat after the leg drop, Calvin opened his eyes wide in surprise. He watched as The Moderator got back up from where he was sitting and grabbed T-84's other arm, which he then used to drag him away from the ropes, towards the center of the ring, where he then tried to pin him down.

"The Moderator's going for the cover it looks like, Dave!" James said excitedly. "Can he do it?!"

The referee hurried over to the two wrestlers and slapped the canvas beside them. "One! Two!"

But then T-84 kicked out, still hanging on. When The Moderator got back up, he put his hands on his hips and watched as T-84 suddenly sat up, and got back up to his feet.

"What's The Moderator gotta do here?!" Dave cried. "Is he gonna have to execute the Banhammer with just one warning?! That might be the only way to keep the bigger guy down!"

Once T-84 was back on his feet again, he and The Moderator exchanged blows to the head a few times with their fists, but when T-84 threw his final punch, causing The Moderator to stagger backwards a bit, the silver and black wrestler grabbed him by the throat, put a hand on his back, and chokeslammed The Moderator in the middle of the ring so hard it shook the entire ring again.

"And now The Moderator has been chokeslammed!" James cried.

It was then that T-84 did something shocking, maybe even sacrilegious, as he pointed his thumbs up towards the ceiling, making a mockery of The Moderator, before turning them downwards.

"Oh no!" Dave cried. "Is T-Eighty Four gonna do what I think he's gonna do? A Banhammer on The Moderator! No way! That's The Moderator's finisher move!"

While The Moderator was getting back up on his hands and knees, T-84 turned around and grabbed hold of The Moderator's legs. As he lifted them up and wrapped them around the back of his head, he prepared to do The Banhammer himself, but as he was in the process of lifting The Moderator up to slam him down onto his back, The Moderator wrapped his arms around T-84's torso from behind, stopping him from doing The Banhammer.

"This is crazy, Dave!" James cried. "Nobody, and I mean nobody does the Banhammer on The Moderator. Nobody!"

While T-84 stood there in the ring with The Moderator's legs wrapped around the back of his head, and his arms wrapped around his torso from behind, he was unable to perform the Banhammer, so letting go of The Moderator's legs, he soon found the knees of those legs wrapped around the sides of his face, causing him to stumble backwards with The Moderator's body wrapped around his own from the back, while also being pointed upside down.

Losing his balance, T-84 fell over onto his side, just as The Moderator finally let him go, and the two of them rolled around painfully on the canvas. When The Moderator managed to get back up, he looked enraged, and it was then that he turned his thumbs up towards the ceiling, before turning them downwards. He was gonna do the Banhammer on T-84. When the silver and black tank of a man was climbing the ropes on the side of the ring to get back to his feet, The Moderator turned around and grabbed hold of his legs, which he wrapped around the back of his head, as he prepared to slam T-84 down onto his back. The giant, silver and black-suited man struggled to hold onto the top rope to avoid being slammed down to the canvas, but it was no use, The Moderator was too strong, and he perfectly executed the Banhammer, slamming T-84 down onto his back in the center of the ring.

"Holy shit!" Calvin cried. "What the fuck is this match?!"

"I know, right?!" Jeremy cried.

As soon as T-84 landed on his back, his arms and legs lay splayed out at his sides, as he rested there breathing heavily. It was then that The Moderator hooked his leg and pinned him down while the referee slapped the canvas beside them.

The audience counted along with the referee. "One! Two!"

But then T-84 got his shoulder up, surprising everyone, including Calvin and Jeremy who couldn't believe their eyes. Letting go of T-84's leg, The Moderator got up and watched with a look of disbelief on his face as T-84 continued to lay there, rolling slightly back and forth from side-to-side. But then, as if the match wasn't already crazy enough, two other wrestlers came strolling down the ramp towards the ring, catching the attention of Dave and James at the announcers' table.

"What's this?!" Dave cried. "Shane Moreau and his best buddy, Lucas Dubois, The Top Dog are here! What are they doing out there?!"

As the two additional wrestlers strolled down towards the ring, wearing jeans and matching, black t-shirts that said, "Suck it!" on the front, they came to a stop by the side of it as they watched T-84 suddenly sit up again. The Moderator watched the other two wrestlers with an angry look on his face as he wondered what their business was out there as well. As it turned out, these two guys actually had The Moderator's back. Shane Moreau went around to the other side of the ring, where he picked up the folded steel chair from the floor by the announcers' tables. Tossing it into the ring, he gave The Moderator a nod, who gave him a nod right back.

When at last T-84 was back to his feet, he charged at The Moderator, trying to tackle him from the front, but he was easily sidestepped, where he then fell against the top rope on his chest, so that his arms hung down over it. Getting behind him again, The Moderator turned, grabbed T-84 by his legs, and then he executed the Banhammer again, this time slamming T-84's back down onto the steel chair.

"And T-Eighty Four gets Banhammered on the steel chair!" Dave cried. "Will this be enough to put the big guy down?!"

Hooking his leg again, The Moderator pinned him down, just as the referee went over and slapped the canvas. Once again, the audience counted with him. "One! Two! Three!"

Then the bell was rung, and The Moderator's purple lights came on as the arena darkened and the organ music started to play. Getting back up, The Moderator stood over T-84, who continued to lay there on top of the steel chair, just as Shane Moreau and Lucas Dubois hurried back up the ramp, away from the ring. Stepping past T-84, The Moderator watched them leave, but then something truly crazy happened; T-84 sat up suddenly.

"Oh no!" James cried. "T-Eighty Four! He's getting up again!"

While The Moderator's back was turned, T-84 got up and picked up the steel chair by the legs. The bell was rung again, signaling that the match was already over, but just as The Moderator turned around, he was smacked in the forehead by the steel chair, and knocked down to the canvas. Even though the purple lights and music were still going, T-84 put up his fists and let out a battle cry towards the ceiling after dropping the chair down into the center of the ring.

Calvin's mouth hung open in shock, and so did Jeremy's, but at that point, The Moderator sat up while T-84 wasn't looking. Once he was back on his feet again, he grabbed T-84 by the shoulder, turned him around, and punched him in the side of the head, before tossing him face first against the ropes at the side of the ring. At that point, The Moderator got behind T-84 one more time, grabbed him by the legs, and wrapped them around the back of his head. He was going to Banhammer him for the third time.

"Look at this!" Dave cried. "This will be the third Banhammer! Can he do it again? Yes he can!"

And once again, T-84 was Banhammered on top of the steel chair, where he lay on the canvas with his arms and legs splayed out at his sides. Wiping the sweat and blood off his forehead with his hands, The Moderator left T-84 laying there as he approached the edge of the ring and stepped over the top rope. After jumping down, he glanced back and watched as T-84 tried to sit up again, but the big guy ended up slumping over onto his side. Then, with a smirk, The Moderator turned away and headed up the ramp, away from the ring.

 

[Lost in a Dream]

It's been a while since I posted any new chapters because I had a bit of writer's block, but I managed to get past it thankfully. I hope you guys like the next couple chapters!

Spoiler: Chapter 57

57​

When Jeremy woke up the following Sunday morning, after having slept in the guest bedroom at Calvin's again, the sun was shining in through the window, on top of the blankets that covered him and the pajama pants he was wearing. Sitting up in the bed, he stretched his arms and legs, before flipping the blankets off himself and getting up. Putting his bare feet on the carpet, he scratched himself on the chest of the sleeveless, gray shirt he was wearing over top of the pajama pants, and the previous entire day felt like a good dream he had just woken up from.

What he had actually dreamed about before waking up, he couldn't guess, but he was glad that on this particular Sunday, he didn't have to go anywhere, especially not to his father's house for a cook out again, which had only ended in disaster, except not in the way he had expected. Still, the wrestling matches he had watched the day before were all exciting, and he found himself developing a fondness towards the sport and the various wrestlers he had watched, despite knowing that some parts of it were scripted, but that certainly didn't mean that professional wrestling was 100% fake, in fact, it was far from it. He figured the only moves that were faked were those that would result in permanent injury if done incorrectly by untrained people, but professionals knew how to put on a show, without permanently injuring their opponents, but even then, mistakes could still happen.

Standing up from the bed, he walked over to the guest room door and opened it before stepping into the hall. Jeremy wasn't sure if Calvin was awake yet, so he took the stairs down to the hallway that led towards the front door of the house, while branching off towards the living room and kitchen. Going into the kitchen first, his bare feet slapped across the linoleum, but there was no sign of Calvin anywhere. Taking a seat at the table next to the laptop, he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and yawned, before looking around at the kitchen, wondering what he could have for breakfast.

Getting up, he headed over to the kitchen counter where the microwave was beside the stove, and he grabbed a loaf of bread off the top of it. Turning the twistie on the bread, he opened it up and took out two slices, before putting the twistie back on and plopping the loaf back on top of the microwave. Opening one of the cupboards, he got out a plate for himself and set the slices of bread on it, before going over to the freezer and pulling it open. Looking inside, he saw the vegan chicken-flavored sandwich patties, and reaching for those, he opened up the package and took one out.

"Nice!" Jeremy said as he set it on his plate and headed over to the microwave.

Humming to himself, he pushed the button to open the door, and holding the slices of bread in his hand, he set the plate inside, shut the door, and set the time for one minute. While the plate was inside spinning ,he stood there waiting, just as he heard the front door of the house come open. When it shut, he heard Calvin set his cigarettes and lighter down on the table beside the urn.

"Hey, Office, you awake out there?" Calvin asked as he approached the kitchen.

Jeremy glanced at him and smiled as he entered through the doorway in pajama pants and an old t-shirt that was full of holes. "Just woke up and got something to eat."

Calvin smiled. "I thought I heard the microwave going. I was just outside enjoying the morning and having a couple smokes. It's a much nicer day out than yesterday was."

"Nice enough to take the bus out?" Jeremy asked.

"For sure!" Calvin said. "So, what'cha making?"

"One of those vegan chicken things," Jeremy told him. "I thought making a sandwich for breakfast would be nice."

"I might have one too, when that one gets done," Calvin said. "What'cha gonna put on it?"

Jeremy shrugged. "Not sure yet. Maybe some ketchup?"

Calvin chuckled. "Only ketchup?"

Jeremy opened his mouth to answer, but then the microwave beeped and he opened the door and took out his plate. Putting the patty on his bread, he then went over to the table and set the plate down, before walking over to the fridge and pulling it open. Reaching for the ketchup, he also paused as he thought about what else he wanted to put on it.

"I might put some cabbage on it," Jeremy said as he reached inside for the head of cabbage. "I see we still have some vegan cheese in here too, just not the stuff we took over to Beard's yesterday."

Calvin laughed as Jeremy brought out the Mexican style blend of oat cheese. "Yeah, we kinda forgot our pizza sauce and the mozzarella over there. Oh well, we can stop by and pick it up later."

Jeremy laughed as he went over to the table with the cabbage, ketchup, and cheese in his hands. "This ought'a do it for a good sandwich!"

Calvin watched with his hands on his hips as Jeremy put the ketchup, a couple cabbage leaves, and some of the cheese on his sandwich, before putting a slice of bread over the top. Taking a seat on the opposite side of the table from the computer, Jeremy dug into his sandwich.

Calvin whistled. "Looks good, Office! I should make myself one!"

Getting a plate and some bread for himself, Calvin put one of the chicken-flavored patties on the plate and cooked his in the microwave as well. When it was done, he put the same stuff on it as Jeremy did; ketchup, cabbage, and cheese. Then he took a seat by the computer, slid the laptop out of his way, and sat there eating his sandwich.

"Good shit!" Jeremy said after taking another bite and gulping it down. "I love how this stuff tastes like chicken, but without torturing or killing actual chickens."

Calvin took a bite as well and nodded. "Mmm-hmm, so good..."

Jeremy really did enjoy the flavors of his sandwich. It may have been a strange breakfast to some people, but to him, it was perfect. While he sat there eating, he found himself wondering what else he wanted to do that day. He definitely wanted to go out with Calvin in the hippie bus, but where they went in it, he had no idea, except to stop by George's house for the pizza sauce and cheese they left over there.

"So, Hippie," Jeremy said as he was chewing his food, before taking a swallow. "Where should we go in the bus today?"

Calvin took another bite too as he thought about it, but after setting his sandwich down on his plate and swallowing his bite, he said, "Well, if you like, I can show ya where Mary's parents are buried. I know it's sad shit, but her grave marker is next to there's with no casket under it."

Jeremy was curious, so he had to ask another question, "Beard told me that back in the day, her parents lived somewhere downstate when you showed them the mustang before the accident. Did they move up here after it happened?"

Calvin nodded. "Yep. They knew I had her ashes here and they wanted to feel closer to her. Unfortunately for them, illness is what took them out, and they weren't much older than I am now. I had a close relationship with them for a while before that, and before they went out, they told me where they wanted to be buried and after they were, I uh, had Mary's stone put next to theirs."

Finally understanding how it all went, Jeremy nodded his head. "Okay. Sorry if I brought up bad memories, it's just that... I was curious."

Calvin smiled across the table at him. "It's okay, Office. No harm done. Maybe after we visit the cemetery, we can stop by Beard's and work on the car for a bit, just to see what we can do. If we get hungry later, maybe the three of us could go back to the Mountainview Cloud and try out some other stuff on their menu."

Jeremy loved those suggestions. "Fuck yeah! I wanna see what else they have. The breakfast we had there the other day was amazing!"

Calvin nodded and took a bite of his sandwich again. "Mmm-hmm!"

Suddenly remembering the wrestlers they watched the day before, Jeremy smiled. "Ya think we might have time to watch more wrestling again? I'm still curious to find out why Beard didn't have the last match we watched recorded."

Calvin put his sandwich up to his mouth to take a bite, but paused. "Ah, the one with T-Eighty Four and The Moderator? Yeah, I wonder what he says about that one. So, out of the wrestlers we saw, who was your favorite, Office?"

Jeremy didn't have to think long to answer, "The Moderator of course! But also Shane Moreau. His superkick... Shit!"

Calvin chuckled and took a bite of his sandwich again. As he was swallowing it down, he asked, "You want something to drink, Office?"

"Sure thing, Hippie," Jeremy said. "You got more root beer?"

"Sure do!" came the answer.

Calvin set his sandwich down on the plate and went back to the fridge where he got a couple root beers for them. Setting one on the table in front of Jeremy, he opened his own and took a drink.

"Ah, that's the good shit," Calvin said.

Jeremy laughed as he opened his root beer and took a sip too. "So, you been onto Ready to Check Out today?"

Sitting back down in his chair again, Calvin set his drink beside his plate. "Not yet. I'm curious to see if we got replies from Living the Nightmare."

Jeremy was curious too. "I think I left my phone upstairs, I'm gonna go back and get it really quick."

"Okay, see ya in a few," Calvin said before eating more of his food.

Leaving the kitchen, Jeremy returned to the guest room where he left his phone laying on the dresser. Retrieving it, he took it back to the kitchen, where he took a seat on his side of the table and unlocked the screen. Opening up his private browser, he typed in the address for Ready2CheckOut? Once the page loaded, he logged in and entered his credentials.

Waiting a bit, Jeremy was surprised by all the reactions he got, as well as the one personal message he received. "Holy shit, Hippie! I got a lot of reactions!"

Calvin looked curious as he was chewing his food. "What'cha got?"

Clicking on the bell icon, Jeremy discovered that the majority of the reactions were for his post in LivingtheNightmare96's thread, and one of them came from the original poster themselves. He also had a reply in the thread where his own post was quoted.

"Let's see," Jeremy said as he clicked on the quoted post, and went back to the thread.

Reading the reply to his post, he saw that LivingtheNightmare96 said, "Thanks for the reply, it means a lot. I'm glad at least one of us made it through college, even if it was just barely. Sucks we both have jobs we hate, but at least you have some pals who make living more bearable for you."

Then Jeremy saw the replies to some of the other posts in the thread before he finally came to the reply to Calvin's post. "Hey, Hippie, he replied to both of us."

"What did he say?" Calvin asked, before taking another bite of his sandwich.

Jeremy read off the reply to his own post, and looked up at Calvin, who smiled, but said nothing, so then he read the reply to Calvin's post. "Hey, HippieBus, thanks for the reply! I agree, it really is sad when some threads don't get replies, which is why I appreciate getting so many responses to mine. It truly means a lot that you guys care so much. You're also right about us having to fight a different kind of war against the greedy bastards who want to kick us while we're down.

I've looked into getting debt relief before, but don't honestly know how much they can help. I barely get by pay check to pay check, and most of what I earn goes towards paying off debt. I feel like I'm gonna be stuck doing this forever unless I find a way off this hamster wheel, if ya know what I mean? I may have to file for bankruptcy no matter what. I hate to do it, but thanks for the kind words."

After reading the post, Jeremy became sad, and Calvin frowned as well. "It really is a sad situation they're in, Office. It truly is. All we can do is be there for them ya know?"

Jeremy nodded as he set his phone down on the table. "You're right, Hippie, I get it. But I still feel bad."

Calvin smiled. "That's because you're an empathetic person, Office. That's part of what makes you so special. If only your father would've realized that."

Jeremy didn't know what to say. He knew that Calvin meant what he said, and he appreciated it, but being empathetic towards the suffering of others didn't feel good enough. He wished there was more he could do.

Spoiler: Chapter 58

58​

Calvin could tell that Jeremy was feeling quite down as he looked across the table at him. It seemed that the poor guy had lost his appetite even, and he wished there was a better way he could encourage his new son.

"Office?" Calvin asked.

Jeremy had been staring down at his partially-eaten sandwich for a little while after setting his phone aside, and he glanced up when he heard his name. "Yeah, Hippie?"

"I don't know what's going through your mind right now, but if I had to guess," Calvin said before pausing. "If I had to guess, I would say that you wish there was more you could do than just be empathetic towards them. I feel that way too, all the time. Unfortunately, when we're on an internet forum like this, there really is nothing else we can do."

Tearing up suddenly, Jeremy wiped his eyes with his hand and nodded. "You're right, Hippie."

Tearing up himself, Calvin blinked his eyes, and the water from them started to flow down from between his eyelids. "I wish I was wrong. I wish there was more we could do. I wish I was a billionaire and could pay off all of Living the Nightmare's debt all at once for him."

Jeremy smiled at that idea. "Would be nice, yeah."

Calvin smiled too. "I wish I could cure the physical illnesses of all the people on the site who have them, and I wish I could heal the trauma of everyone who has that. If only..."

"If only you had magical powers," Jeremy said with a chuckle, before wiping more tears from his eyes.

Picking up his sandwich again, Calvin raised it to his mouth. "What do ya say we finish our breakfast and head out in the bus? Might help us feel better."

Jeremy seemed to like the idea. "Hell yeah! But first, I'm gonna log out of the site."

Picking up his phone, Jeremy unlocked the screen and tapped on it with his finger while Calvin watched, but as he was about to swipe away at the private browser, he hesitated.

Curious, Calvin asked, "Something wrong, Office?"

Looking into his eyes, Jeremy said, "I still haven't read my personal message yet. It's from Living the Nightmare."

Taking a bite of his sandwich, Calvin chewed thoughtfully before taking a gulp. "What's the message?"

Reading it to him, Jeremy said, "Hey, thanks for posting in my thread, it really means a lot. I was wondering if you wanted to be friends, for however long either of us continue to live. I know our futures are uncertain, so becoming friends is a bit of a risk, but hopefully it will be worth it."

Calvin liked the message. "That's nice, I wonder if he sent me a message as well."

Jeremy tapped his finger on the screen and smiled. "I just reacted to his message with a hug emoji. I think I'm gonna reply really quick."

Calvin took another bite of his sandwich and a sip of his root beer while he watched Jeremy type away on the screen. When he finished, he read his message out loud. "I'm glad I could be here for you. I'm down with the idea of being friends. At the moment, I have no plans of checking out just yet, but like you said, the future is uncertain. I hope you're doing well today."

Calvin loved the message and he smiled as he set his sandwich down on the plate in front of him. "That's a beautiful message, Office! I hope you guys get to be good friends. I know it's unlikely that he will hit a pothole and end up in our lives like you did, but at least you can be there for him virtually."

Jeremy nodded as he swiped up at his screen and set his phone down on the table. "Anyway, I closed the browser so I'm logged out now. You thinking about logging in yourself?"

"Maybe later," Calvin told him. "I just wanna eat and hit the road so we can enjoy the nice day. If you like, we can leave out the trip to the cemetery and just go back to Beard's."

"No, it's okay," Jeremy said. "I really would like to see the gravesites. I'm sure you put some beautiful messages on the stones."

Realizing he hadn't paid much attention to the words written on the gravestones in a while, Calvin chuckled. "Yep, sure did, but it's funny, for the past few springs, whenever I go out there, I do a little gardening to make em look nice, but I always get too absorbed by the gardening to stop and read the words on em like I used to."

Picking up his own sandwich, Jeremy smiled. "Well, maybe today would be a good day to take a good look at em and refresh your memory."

"Right," Calvin agreed. "I know the messages on the stones are beautiful, but I can't remember exactly what they say. Isn't that sad?"

Jeremy shrugged before taking a bite of his sandwich. After taking a sip of his drink, he said, "Sad? Maybe. Is it a bad thing? I dunno. But like I said..."

"Today could be a good day to take a good look and refresh my memory," Calvin finished the thought for him. "You're absolutely right, Office."

For the next few minutes, Calvin and Jeremy finished eating their breakfast and drinking their root beer. When they were finished, Calvin got two more root beers from the fridge to take with them for the road.

Setting the drinks on the table, Calvin chuckled. "You want another one, Office?"

Jeremy grabbed one and pulled it over to his side of the table. "Fuck yeah! Anyway, I'm gonna go upstairs and get dressed. We're still in our pajamas."

Calvin laughed. "Right you are! Which shirt you gonna wear today?"

Jeremy shrugged. "Peep the Mythos maybe? I really like that one."

"Peep the Mythos it is," Calvin said with a chuckle. "Let's head upstairs.

Once they went upstairs and got dressed, Calvin returned to the kitchen first. He was wearing jeans with holes in the knees and a white t-shirt with the picture of a VW bus on the front covered in peace signs and flowers. Underneath the picture was the phrase, "Riding with style!"

Before long, Jeremy returned to the kitchen as well in a pair of jeans and his "Peep the Mythos" shirt with the temple and the gaping jaws on the front. "I'm ready if you are, Hippie!"

Calvin smiled at his buddy. "I'm ready too, Office. Let's go out to the garage."

Taking the cans of root beer with them, Calvin led the way out to his garage, where he went over to the wall and pressed the button that caused the main door of the garage go up along its track. Sunshine shone in through the doorway, reflecting off the face of the bus, just like it had done on that fateful day when Calvin and George first met Jeremy.

As the guys were getting in the front of the bus, they both set their cans of root beer inside the wireframe basket that was clipped to the dash. When they shut their doors, the seashell necklace hanging from the rearview mirror swung back and forth slightly, before Calvin took his keys out of his pocket and started up the engine in the back. Just like all the other times he started it up, it rattled to life and became a gentle hum as he pulled the bus out of the garage. Once they were out in the driveway, he used the remote that was clipped to the wireframe basket to close the garage door behind them.

Grinning at Jeremy in the passenger seat, Calvin asked, "So, you ready to hit the road again, Office?"

"Fuck yeah!" came the reply. "I love riding in this thing!"

Calvin pulled up to the end of the driveway, where he stopped to look both ways for traffic. Seeing none, he pulled out and headed off towards the cemetery so he could show Jeremy his wife's and in-laws' gravestones.