Monday, January 21, 2019
Los Angeles, California
Hollywood Hills
Home of Crystal & Seleana Zdunich
8:25 PM PST
Off-Camera
Seleana Zdunich nods happily as she watches her wife, Christina “Crystal Hilton” Zdunich, tackling a video game. This was a normal activity in the house once everyone had come home from the office during the day. Which game was up for debate since there seemed to be several favorites of late, none of which made sense to Seleana since that was one activity nobody had managed to rope her into yet. She grins as Crystal gives another loud exclamation, her sister, Maia Lopez, sitting next to her for the moment. The two were showing off their competitive streak, something Crystal’s daughter, Brittany “B-Brat” Williams, had picked up in spades. B-Brat was off with a couple of friends and was due to return any second now from this little business trip she’d been on.
She’d called it market research but Seleana knew from experience it usually meant something closer to retail therapy in some form and B-Brat would, no doubt, return with several bags and a smile on her face that the “research” had been a success.
Making her way around the corner and u the hallway, Seleana hears a voice actively talking from the room only two doors away. This was surprising since the others who lived in the house, Crystal’s old friends, the Sullivan Sisters, were supposed to be off on what amounted to what Americans called grocery shopping. Back in New Zealand, she’d always just heard people call it “popping to dairy,” but this was one of many changes she’d had to acclimate to upon making the move full time to the States. Truth be told, she still struggled with this sometimes, especially when it came to driving, something she had needed to do precious little of in New Zealand. She’d done even less of that back in Sweden but here, it seemed like a serious necessity.
As she approaches the door, it becomes clear to her that the voices belong to B-Brat’s live-in girlfriend, Haylie Jo “Halo” Annis and her twin sister, Amy “Rain” Annis. Rain was a wrestler who lived in Asheville and worked as a tag team with her childhood friend, Kendra “GoGo” Goganious. Having just completed her first year as a professional, Rain was somebody Halo tried to talk to often to get insight into what she had now gotten herself into right along with Seleana, Crystal and B-Brat.
Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: What am I gonna do, Amy?
The tone of Halo’s voice was concerning to Seleana, even if it was not particularly surprising to hear. Halo had always sounded anxious since the first day she’d come to this house back in May and that had never really dissipated for her. Seleana stops at the door and listens for a minute.
Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: Seriously, what am I gonna do, Amy?
Seleana can see Halo is talking to her computer screen where the smiling face of Rain is visibly confused by the question.
Amy "Rain" Annis: About what?
Halo, sitting on her bed, smashes both fists onto either side of herself on the mattress, clearly annoyed by her twin’s confusion and lack of understanding.
Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: Ames!
Rain just shakes her head on the screen.
Amy "Rain" Annis: Y’all worry too much, HayJo. Look at where y’all is!
Halo sighs heavily.
Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: On the edge of…
Rain cuts her off.
Amy "Rain" Annis: Girl, you in a loving house!
Halo nods pointedly to the screen.
Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: That could decide I should be sent away any second now!
Seleana stares at Halo in shock. It had been eight months since the young woman had been added to the menagerie of people who lived in this house and it hadn’t taken that long for everyone else to just accept that the tall blonde woman from Tullahoma, Tennessee was here to stay.
Amy "Rain" Annis: HayJo, I’m tellin’ y’all, everything’s gonna be fine.
Halo nods sarcastically.
Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: Easy for you to say, you and Goldi have had each other for years!
Rain stares at her sister, visibly slightly cowed
Amy "Rain" Annis: We hasn’t always been together...
Helo crosses her arms.
Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: What would you call it?
Rain shrugs, clearly trying to lighten the mood.
Amy "Rain" Annis: Up until D-Man, I’d call it me and Goldi bein’ silly about things.
Halo’s arms drop down, her fists pounding the mattress again.
Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: I want what y’all have had! I want me and B-Brat to last!
Rain nods.
Amy "Rain" Annis: You been there for a while now.
Halo stares at the screen, her entire body starting to shake now. As she watches, Seleana can’t help but wonder, “What is going on here?”
Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: I was at Logan’s for a while too.
Rain can’t believe her ears and neither can Seleana.
Amy "Rain" Annis: She ain’t gonna do that, HayJo.
Halo leaps out of her seat and almost looks like she’s gonna lash out at her twin’s image on the screen. Seleana watches, unable to believe her eyes or her ears.
Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: How do you know that? Huh? How do you know that?
Rain just stares back, seemingly searching for a response.
Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: You’ve said that so many times, I don’t understand how you keep that kind of outlook on things, Amy! First you said they wouldn’t send me away in school, and they did. Then you said Mama wasn’t gonna die and leave us and she did! Then you said Daddy wasn’t gonna lose the house and make us homeless and he did right as you were leaving me to go off to wrestling school with Goldi!
Rain stares at her sister, her own jaw starting to quiver now.
Amy "Rain" Annis: I…
Halo shakes her head, marches voer to the computer and reaches for the mouse.
Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: Nevermind, sorry to bother you.
Amy "Rain" Annis: HayJo, wait…
Before another word can be said, Halo disconnects from the internet and steps back. She stares at the computer for a second and then pounds on quadriceps.
Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: Dammit!
As she starts to fall onto the bed, Seleana hurries into the room.
Seleana Zdunich: Det blir okej, sötnos.
She catches Halo, who promptly bursts into tears. Seleana holds onto the younger woman as Halo clamps onto her looking very much the child.
Seleana Zdunich: Det är okej…
Halo holds on to Seleana and starts to shake her head.
Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: What am I gonna do, Miss Seleana?
Seleana strokes the younger blonde woman’s hair and nods soothingly.
Seleana Zdunich: It’s alright, Chickie.
Seleana cradles her and then sits her up on the bed.
Seleana Zdunich: What is wrong?
Halo shakes her head.
Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: I…
Her hands ball into fists and she starts to look away but Seleana simply cocks her own head.
Seleana Zdunich: What is it?
Halo looks back and then nods to the computer.
Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: How much did you hear?
Seleana nods slowly.
Seleana Zdunich: Do you really worry you will be sent away?
Halo nods quickly.
Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: Don’t you?
Seleana stares into the young woman’s eyes and then shakes her head.
Seleana Zdunich: Oh, Chickie…
Halo sits there looking like she’s waiting to be yelled at but Seleana simply stands up, cross over to the doorway and closes the door. She walks back to the bed and sits down across from Halo.
Seleana Zdunich: I know what it is to lose someone suddenly but no one can know what it is to have had what happened to you happen. I do not worry about being sent away because I love and trust Christina. We are married and she loves me. I know she does things that seem unexplainable to some people but she is truly a good person. She is not the monster she is portrayed to be by those who simply wish her out of the way for their own professional gain. Does she give reason to be worried sometimes, yes, but I have faith in her. She is a loving, beautiful woman and I know she worries that others are right about her. You understand that worry, ja?
Halo nods sadly.
Seleana Zdunich: I know you worry you will not measure up to Amy. She worked to get into wrestling school and then worked to make the roster within only a few months. She then worked to make herself a champion in six months and now you start nearly a year behind her but you also have the drive she has displayed. You fight for everything because you know what it is to have nothing. It is why you won your first two matches and how you got to be in the main event for your next match amongst some very tough competition.
Halo nods.
Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: What if I’m not good enough? What if I let B-Brat and the rest of y’all down?
Seleana shakes her head and takes Halo’s hand into her own.
Seleana Zdunich: Chickie, the only way you could let us down is if you just did not try. You make us proud every time you wake up in the morning. We love you, Haylie Jo, we are happy to have you in our family.
Halo stares at Seleana.
Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: But… what if I…
Seleana shakes her head.
Seleana Zdunich: No what if. You walk into that ring this week and do what you do. No matter outcome, we love you. There is no what if.
Seleana leans forward and kisses Halo on the forehead as the younger woman hugs her again.
Seleana Zdunich: There is no what if. Just like B-Brat, I love you as you were my own.
Halo nods as they embrace.
Seleana Zdunich: You should call you sister back. She look worry.
Halo nods.
Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: Ok…
She manages a smile and then nods as Seleana stands up.
Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: Miss Seleana?
Seleana turns back to her.
Seleana Zdunich: Ja?
Halo nods again.
Haylie Jo "Halo" Annis: Thank you.
Seleana smiles, nodding happily.
Seleana Zdunich: I hear Brit coming back so I leave you to it, Chickie.
Seleana opens the door and steps into the hallway just as Brittany arrives, almost like they’d planned this. As she watches the door close again, Seleana can’t help but nod and smile again. Brittany would help assuage whatever lingering doubts Halo had for the night and they could all get ready for their next matches.
Friday, January 25, 2019
Detroit, Michigan
10:05 PM CST
On-Camera
The camera opens upon Seleana as she stands against the wall of a hallway in a hotel wearing a black American Murder Log t-shirt and blue jeans that look like they were painted onto her body. A pair of well worn black Chuck Taylor high tops completes her ensemble as she nods to the camera.
Seleana Zdunich: I wonder…
She looks off to the distance behind the camera as if a great answer will materialize from nothing there at any moment.
Seleana Zdunich: I wonder, is there no teaching you, Christian?
She moves her gaze down to the camera’s lens and nods slowly, almost beggingly.
Seleana Zdunich: Is there no learning for you?
Nodding slowly again she steps away from the wall and cocks her head to the right as if seeing if a new angle will open everything to new answers.
Seleana Zdunich: I know Jessie Salco say you are world champion at holding grudge but is there no room for anything else inside of you? Is the grudge all there is?
Her head moves to the straight upright posture and then slowly cocks to the left instead.
Seleana Zdunich: She is unable to challenge for championships unless she defeats me in Henderson and has been this way for nearly a year. I do not know how long you have held grudge against my wife but I would bet money none of us have it has lasted longer than my career.
Her right hand raises up showing three raised fingers.
Seleana Zdunich: This is the third time you have sent someone for me since you asked that question of me in front of the world and did not like the answer.
The second and third fingers fall to leave only the index finger remaining in the raised position.
Seleana Zdunich: First you send the Metal Maniacs after me and they bring help. You stack rules in their favor so that there were very few of them so they not have to worry about disqualification or count out. You set stipulation so they can do whatever they want before they go for pin or submit and the referee can do nothing but ask if I quit or count pin. You make it so I have no help in building by banning my wife and daughter from even stepping foot through door and tell the Metal Maniacs to simply enjoy themselves, indulge themselves before finishing me off.
She nods grimly.
Seleana Zdunich: That was supposed to be my end. Two raving lunatics who admit they care nothing for actual wrestling or winning or anything other than inflicting pain and suffering and they were allowed to bring others of like mind to help. They set up to burn me beyond recognition and allow you to laugh and show that anyone foolish enough to step to you was making grave error.
A small smirk crosses her face.
Seleana Zdunich: But they fail. It might be kluck, it might be their own stupidity, it might be anything but at end of day, they fail and it was one of them that ended up in hospital with burns, not me.
A second finger joins the first in the raised position.
Seleana Zdunich: So then, we come to next plan, Delia Darling coming from whatever rock she had been under to show the world she still dominant and that it was grave error for me to stand against you. She is a former World Champion and again, this was to be my end. Everyone look at this on paper asd a huge mismatch because she is a champion and i am not and coming off a hardcore match where the Metal Maniacs were allowed to try and injure me just for fun, this should be no problem. Delia would take me out, possibly humiliate me in the process and you would have what you wanted.
The smirk fades away.
Seleana Zdunich: Only she fail too and not only did she not humiliate me, she tap out to me. As Jessie said before, you can call it luck, you can call it Delia’s hubris, arrogance or whatever other failing you wish to ascribe to her but in the end, none of it mattered because it was me making her submit!
A third finger joins its brethren in the raised position.
Seleana Zdunich: So now, it is Jessie Salco, a woman who thinks nothing of me outside of my choice of marital partners and what is in the match for her. Jessie salco is a woman that SHOULD get along famously with me. We both enjoy the same kind of music, in fact, my sisters play that kind of music professionally. We are both wrestlers who work hard to make sure everyone sees what we can do in the ring and we both no care much for you and have found ourselves on the wrong end of your grudges.
The hand lowers out of the shot.
Seleana Zdunich: Jessie say she is nothing like the Metal Maniacs and I say she is correct because she is not nearly as reckless or careless as those two are. She DOES care about winning and she does a pretty good job of going for that whenever she steps into the ring. She also says she is nothing like Delia Darling and in this I say she is partially correct again because she is not coming out from under rock to step in on the whim of a boss that only wishes to see destruction.
She pauses and then nods slowly.
Seleana Zdunich: But now I ask you a question, Jessie?
Her hand raises and flashes the three fingers again.
Seleana Zdunich: What if you are like them and you fail as they did?
The hand lowers as Seleana nods slowly to the camera.
Seleana Zdunich: What if you step in the ring with me and dumb luck happen and you do not get your championship ban lifted? What if you look across the ring at somebody you have no respect for and fall to them the same way the Metal Maniacs and Delia Darling did?
Her eyes flash as she nods to the camera knowingly.
Seleana Zdunich: What if you fail Christian Underwood again?
The hand raises, the three fingers still on full display.
Seleana Zdunich: And Christian, I ask you the same thing. What if… ?
She shakes the three fingers at the camera.
Seleana Zdunich: What if you send three at me seeking my pnishment, suffering and end and three times they are turned back and I still live? What if you send Jessie here to finish me and all that happens is you have to look in the mirror and realize that yet again, you asked me what I was going to do about it and I punched you in the face?
She nods as she flashes the three fingers even closer to the camera.
Seleana Zdunich: What if you cannot break me, Jessie? What if you cannot break me, Christian?
The three fingers finally lower into the fist.
Seleana Zdunich: What if I am nothing and you still could not flush me away?
The hand lowerras out of the shot as Seleana leans.
Seleana Zdunich: I am coming to Henderson and I am walking out the same way I walked in. You will not break me, you will not destroy me and you will not end me so one last time I ask…
The camera zooms in tightly on Seleana’s face.
Seleana Zdunich: What if?
Seleana steps back and nods grimly just as before.
Seleana Zdunich: And what will you do about it when you fail again?
