Call and Comfort

Simon tried calling Bruce again several times, only for the call to be rejected each time.

"Dammit, Bruce," he grumbled before once again looking at the piece of paper in his hands and letting out a loud groan, "DAMN IT ALL!"

He typed the number down and saved it under the word "MOUSE" and then finally called Suzanna.

The phone rang... and rang... and rang... and rang... and stopped.

He tried again. It rang... and rang... and rang... and...

"Hello?"

That wasn't Suzanna.

"Hello?" He asked, "Who is this?"

"You're the one who called. Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

(Snarky little...)

"This is Simon Thompson from Psycho Style Wrestling. I'm looking for Suzanna Lee'aja. I thought this was her number."

"It is. I'm her roommate, Sarah. She can't come to the phone right now."

"Why not?"

"Because she's asleep," Sarah said, "I don't know if you know this, but it's a really bad idea to bother her when she's sleeping."

"I'm... aware," he said, cringing.

(Very, very aware.)

"Look, if it's about your jacket, I can give you my details. Just text me the address and I'll mail it to-"

"No, that's- I need to talk to her. Urgently."

"About what?"

"I just need to check if she's alright."

"She's not," Sarah said flatly.

"I'm sure she can tell me that herself, can't she?"

"I don't think she'll feel comfortable doing that."

"Again, she can tell me herself."

He heard a sigh on the other end.

"I'll tell her you called."

"Thank you."

"Yeah..."

Then she hung up.

He sighed and dropped his shoulders and his phone. For some reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that Sarah didn't like him.

(The Mouse must have been whining about me. Whatever. They can't say I didn't make the effort. Knowing her, she'll probably be asleep the whole-)

His phone suddenly started ringing. It was her.

(Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!)

He took a deep breath and picked it up.

(It's probably just her roommate again. Probably going to tell me to chuff off.)

"Hello?"

"H-Hello, Simon?" This time it was Suzanna.

(____!)

"That's my name," he said, "Don't wear it out."

"You said you wanted to talk? H-How'd you get my number?"

"Gamal gave it to me. Told me to check on you."

"... Oh..."

"So... how are you doing?"

"I'm... fine."

"Really?"

"Yeah..."

"Okay... When are you coming back?"

"Ms Gamal gave me a week," she said, making him frown deeply.

(A whole week? Seriously?)

He then shrugged and said, "Alright, talk to you tomorrow then."

"Wait, that's it?"

"Yep. Take care, Mouse."

And then he hung up, before packing his things and leaving.

(A whole damn week.)

Little did he know that he was on speaker and Sarah was in the room with Suzanna, hovering over her with her arms folded.

"'Mouse'?" Sarah asked, while Suzanna stared at her phone with a look of profound disappointment, "That's what he calls you?"

Suzanna sheepishly looked at Sarah, then back at her phone, "He... told me I needed to earn my name."

Sarah shook her head and walked out, "What an asshole."

Suzanna watched her leave before looking down at her phone again. She frowned, tossed it, pulled her blanket back over herself and closed her eyes.

Back at the Sammartino Centre, the Viking was the last of the rookies to drag himself into the centre ring. He, Mostafa, Vités and Ramatla all lay on their backs, sucking in air like vacuum cleaners, all of them covered in bruises, cuts, burns, blood and vomit.

It was at this moment that the ACs in the building finally came on, and Alexa's loud "WOOOOOO!" could be heard.

She excitedly dashed in and out of the ring with a 5L bottle in her arm that she gave to each of them, "One for you, one for you, one for you and one for you!"

She then stood over them with her hands on her hips and her glasses glowing brightly. Tonye stood to her right with his hands behind his back. Daniel to her left with his arms folded. If the four rookies had their eyes open, they would see three featureless silhouettes.

"So..." she bent down, smiling wide, "You guys ever gonna disobey us again?"

"No..." croaked Vités.

"Negative..." said Ramatla.

"NEVER!" declared Mostafa with tears in his eyes.

"Uh-uh..." was all the Viking managed.

"I really hope you mean that," she said, finally dropping the sadistic-sweet affectation she had taken on. They all opened their eyes to see not a smile, but a look of genuine sadness.

Tonye spoke next, "You all saw the state Suzanna was in last night, yes?

They nodded.

"That's the world you're all about to enter," he said, "When we tell you that you're not ready, you are NOT ready. ¿Comprende?"

"Yes, coach!" They said together.

"Bien," He said, turning away, "The medics will check you out. Hit the showers and head home. We'll see you all next week."

As the coaches exited the ring, Vités lifted his head, "Wait, next week?"

Daniel turned his head menacingly, "You wanna comb in tahmorrow?"

The speedster received glares from his fellow rookies and rapidly shook his head, "No. No! Next week is fine, Coach."

Daniel "hmphed" and left them as the medics came in.

Ramatla was the first to fully sit up, take off their weight vest and open their water bottle.

Mostafa looked at the Viking, "You heard them, right? We're in this together."

The big man grabbed his own bottle and ripped the cap off, "Until we're out of here," and then just poured it on his face, downing whatever entered his mouth.