February 9th, 2002

Philadelphia Sheraton

Thanatos and John Grim are seated in their hotel room, Thanatos attuned to the evening news, John sitting in the corner, sipping from a bottle of whiskey.

TV: In the main story today, the Olympics opened in Salt Lake City last night. These winter Olympics, seen by many to be a sign…

Thanatos: Eh, the Olympics… who the hell cares.

Grim: C’mon man, it’s the best of the best, all the greatest athletes from around the world going head to head. It’s a classic battle for superiority…

Thanatos: Then why aren’t we in it?

Grim: Oh, be serious. Everyone knows that professional wrestling isn’t a sport… it’s just an athletic soap opera. Granted, a very dangerous one at that, but in all truth… it’s just like “General Hospital” for men.

Thanatos: But seriously, what does figure skating have that we don’t? We’re just as athletic, if not more athletic, then they are. We could be judged the same way, on style, on the routines we could pull off… hey, quit laughing, I’m being serious here…

Grim: I know, but could you see them awarding medals for that? Gold Medal Olympian in the Professional Wrestling category, Crisis? Nah, that will never happen. It’s a pipe dream.

The phone rings as the TV continues in the background

TV: In other news, gunshots were heard last night in this north Philadelphia neighborhood…

Grim: Hello… yeah, he’s here. You want to talk to him? Sure thing…

Thanatos walks over to the phone as the news anchor drones on.

TV: Today, Officer Dennis McNamara was laid to rest… Officer McNamara was shot…

Thanatos: Yo, T here… hey mom, how are you- what? What’s the matter?

TV: He was the first Upper Darby police officer to be killed in the line of duty…

Thanatos: You can’t be serious… how could that happen? I thought she was…

TV: He was buried with full honors today in…

Thanatos: Okay mother, I will try and make it home as soon as possible… Give me a ring on my cell phone if you hear anything else. Okay. Take care, I’ll see you very soon.

Thanatos hangs up the phone and turns to Grim, a dark look on his face.

Grim: Um… dude, what’s wrong?

Thanatos: I got to head home.

Grim: Anything you need to talk with me about?

Thanatos: Actually, I’d like for you to come with… you might be able to help… It seems that Kate disappeared from college this last week… Mother and father have no idea where she went, no one has heard from her since last Wednesday.

Grim: You gotta be shitting me… disappeared like she ran off, or disappeared like she was taken?

Thanatos: They don’t know… the cops have already been called in, they checked her dorm room… said that there is some clothing missing but most everything else is still there… so they don’t think she ran off of her own volition.

Grim: But who the hell would want your sister? I mean, I remember her as being an annoying little brat…

Thanatos: Yeah, but that was five or six years ago. She grew up, John. She went to Harvard, wants to be a lawyer… She’s not a little girl anymore. Plus, you do realize how many people dislike my father and our family as a whole, don’t you?

Grim: True…

Thanatos: And you can’t even begin to guess how many people he’s driven out of business, destroyed their livelihood… And these people know people. They have friends who are willing to do almost anything to make a point… kidnapping one girl would be no sweat for them…

TV: In other news, a local college is in a state of mourning after this fatal car crash claimed the lives of three…

Grim: Well, when do we leave?

TV: It occurred on a stretch of roadway in Chester County. One car, carrying three Millersville University students, crossed over the yellow lines and impacted head on with a vehicle coming the other way.

Thanatos: As soon as I can find us a plane out of here…

TV: Two of the students were killed in the accident, as was the driver of the second car. The third student is listed in critical condition in Brandywine Hospital, we have been told he is in a coma at this time… That is all for now, we will keep you updated.

Grim: God damn… why the hell does stuff like this have to happen? Why does it happen to the innocent, why the young?

Thanatos: That is a question that we will never be able to answer John… but as a wise man said, “It is only in death that we can find the true meaning of a life.”

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