Trouble

FOUR

FOUR

It was downpouring the next morning by the time I got out of the shower, which was odd. The forecast had predicted a sunny day, and there hadn't been a single cloud when I'd woken up. I looked out my first-floor window and spotted a very sour-looking, very wet Abigail Creature stomping through puddles and glaring at her mother.

Emily's expression was one of sadness. She had tears streaming down her face. I wished I could read her thoughts because I wanted desperately to fix whatever was making her sad.

"Mom, stop it!" Abigail cried out in annoyance.

"I'm sorry, Abby," Emily said so softly I barely heard her. She took a deep breath and.. wait for it... The rain stopped. I'm not saying it slowed down or became a light drizzle. It just stopped. The clouds vanished. It was sunny again.

Either Mother Nature was extremely bipolar, or Emily was the cause of the storm. Survey says... ding, ding, ding! We have a psychic!

"It's not your fault, Mom, so quit blaming yourself," Abigail said.

"I know, baby, I know... It's just... It was Frank." Emily looked like she might start that storm up again.

"He would never be okay with you being so sad."

I wondered what the hell they were talking about. What had Emily so upset that the sky literally wept with her? It takes a lot of power to cause a storm like that, let me tell you. She had to be over the edge emotionally.

I walked out of my hotel room and headed toward them, but Matt stopped me. "Did you hear?" He asked. Matt Hardy is not only the world's most frequent tweeter, he's also the world's biggest gossip.

"Hear what?" I asked.

"Air Ritz died."

Air Ritz was a fairly unknown high-flying indie wrestler from Orlando. He'd done some jobs with TNA in the past. The guy was good, but he was only twenty-one and was still a baby wrestler. His real name was Frankie Richmond. Frank, I thought.

"How?" I asked, too shocked to say any more. The kid was so young...

"He had a jobber gig for WWE last night. Him and Carlos took a real beating from Kidd and Cesaro from what I hear, but he seemed fine. The two of them went out to celebrate afterward. Carlos found him dead in his bed this morning."

"Holy shit... Is Carlos okay?" Carlos was Frank's cousin. He was about six weeks older than him.

"I'd assume not. They think it was drugs."

"It wasn't."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "Why do you say that?"

"The kid was straightedge. He never touched a drug in his life. He wouldn't even pop a painkiller."

"Then what killed him?"

"Not what. Who."

"McMahon?"

"That's one possibility, although I don't see Vince wasting his time on a jobber. It could be the boss of Team Baddie."

"Why would he waste his energy on some kid from Florida?"

"Because he was more than he seemed?"

"It sucks, man... He was a baby."

"I know..." I remembered what drew me out of my room. "I need to go, Matt. I'll see you later."

"Okay, man, see you."

I headed toward Emily and her creature. I wasn't sure what to say to her, so I went with, "Freaky weather we're having this morning, huh?"