[Echoes]
[My mom, terrified.]
“He fell down the stairs and bumped his head. He won’t wake up. Please Doctor, please save him.”
[Beep. Beep. Beep.]
[Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.]
[Clear.]
[Clear.]
[Beep. Beep. Beep.]
“Your son is alive, but we’ve placed him in a coma to recover from his severe head injuries. These injuries aren’t conclusive with…”
[My moms voice.]
“Foley. Our name is Foley.”
[Pause.]
“Very well.”
[Present Day – Felix stands in the waiting room of the hospital he once visited as a boy. He doesn’t remember much but echoes from back then.]
[What he does remember, terrifies him.]
“I know what it’s like, Drewitt.”
“They said I was dead for three seconds. Three measly seconds. I know that may not seem like a lot to you, but to me it was… everything.”
[He sits down in a hospital chair.]
“I remember the first thing my dad said to me when I returned home from the hospital. He said that I should’ve stayed dead. He said that those three seconds of death would be the best three seconds of my life.”
“And they were…”
[Felix lowers his head.]
“Until I won the NXT Level Championship.” [That makes him smile.] “And then the Tag Team Championships with my best friend Doom.”
“And then I realized something – the best three seconds are always the next three seconds. They’re always the three seconds counted when I’m in the middle of an Old School Wrestling ring, covering an opponent.”
“Every pinfall, every victory, those are the best three seconds of my life.”
“That’s a problem for you, Drewitt. Because I know you know what it feels like to die, but you have no Arcadian idea what it’s like to need those three seconds. You have no idea what it feels like to be told that you’re better off dead, only that you should be.”
“And yeah, you’ve lived in the knowledge that there’s people out there that want you dead. You’ve had them try and kill you. Me too, buddy. My father, much like Tombstone, was relentless in punishing me. Over and over, until the day he didn’t anymore.”
“I’ve found a way to deal with my trauma. I’ve taken the three seconds I was dead and made them something. I became the NXT Level Champion in three seconds. I became the Tag Team Champion in three seconds and one day, I’ll become OSW World Heavyweight Champion…”
“In three seconds.”
[Foley stands up and walks towards the wall, looking at a picture of his mom and a blurred out figure.]
“My dad told me the best three seconds of my life would be the three seconds in which he killed me.”
“He was wrong.”
“Dead wrong.”
“The next best three seconds are when I pin you to the canvas at Frostbite and pick up the victory.”
“For the kids, Drewitt.”