"Through the Smoke"
Wednesday afternoon
Madison Home
Laura Madison stood at the broad living room window, gazing out at the hazy skyline of New York City. The acrid smell of smoke filled the air, a constant reminder of the wildfires raging across the Canadian border. She sighed, torn between a few pressing concerns.
As Laura's four-year-old son, Aaron, tugged at her hand, she knelt down to his level. His bright eyes pleaded for adventure outdoors, but the smoke-laden air made it impossible to grant his wish. She explained, "I know you want to play outside, buddy, but the smoke is too dangerous right now. We have to stay indoors until it clears up."
Frustration welled up inside Laura as she watched Aaron's disappointment as he yelled out, “But mommy, I wanna go swing and play in the pool!”
The skies over their home was orange between all the smoke and the sun. It was bad enough that Nick had to be out in this. She wanted nothing more than to protect him from harm, but the circumstances made it challenging.
Determined to distract him, Laura finally got an idea, “Hey, bud I have a suggestion. How about we build a fort in the living room? We’ll get it just right where we can watch any movie off of Disney+ and we can bring all kinds of snacks in with us.” Hoping that promising to make it an adventure of their own would be incentive enough to keep the youngest Madison from getting a bad case of cabin fever.
“Will daddy join us?”
“When he gets home, you better believe it. He’d never say no to a Disney marathon.” Laura said with a smile before nodding towards the stairs that led to his bedroom upstairs, “Come on, let’s go pick some fun blankets and pillows.”
Aaron cheered loudly, taking off well ahead of his mother shouting at the top of his lungs, “I’ll grab Stitch too!”
The laughter of her son as he made his way up the stairs made this gloomy day a little brighter but before she could follow him up the doorbell rang, “Hey bud, someone is at the door, just bring it to the top of the stairs and wait for me, okay?”
“OKAY MOMMY!” Aaron let out before he got to the top of the stairs and ran down the hall to his room.
After she made sure to check the video at the door, she smiled and opened the door to the smiling face of Spinelli along with his young daughter Rose, “Well, hello there.”
“Gracious greetings, Valkyrie. I’m sorry to come by without calling,” Spinelli said boosting his daughter up on his hip. Little Rose giggled, as her blonde pigtails bounced.
“Oh Spinelli, you should know by now that it’s perfectly fine for you to stop by and of course getting to see your little one is always a plus. I take it you are looking to get out of the smoke?” she said moving aside to let them in and closing the door tight.
“Unfortunately, we were at the park when the smoke moved in. Breeze had an appointment across town, so I got an uber for us and this was the closest place I could think of to take refuge.” Spinelli said as he grabbed a pack of wipes out of the bag that he carried to wipe his daughter’s face off.
“Well, it just so happens that Aaron and I were about to make a big ole blanket fort and make it a day. You’re more than welcome to join us...” just as Laura looks up and blanket come flying over the railing along with a few pillows to follow, “Aaron Levi! I told you to leave them at the top of the stairs!”
“It’s faster!” Aaron let out as he looked down through the railings, “HI UNCLE SPINELLI! HI ROSE!”
Laura just drops her head and mumbles “I swear that kid gets more like Nick every day. Why don’t you guys head into the kitchen, get cleaned up while I help him before he ends up breaking something expensive.”
“I’ll message the wife and the White Knight to let them know as well, save you the hassle of worrying about that and who knows, maybe they’ll grab us some substance.” Spinelli says with a grin.
“Perfect!” Laura laughs out, “We’ll convene in the den in 10 minutes.”
Within the next hour or so, Nick had made his way home to the surprise of the blanket fort, in the middle of Rose’s choice of Encanto. Aaron had given his guest the choice to go first. It was the first time in a while that the Madison crew got to hangin out with Spinelli and his family and once Breeze had joined them, it was a real party. While Laura got to really devote her time to Aaron, her mind wandered to another pressing matter—the upcoming matches that loomed in her future. In the den that had been dedicated to her and Nick’s careers, a faded wrestling poster hung on the wall, showcasing a photo of Laura in, what some would consider, her prime, the true height of Laura Phoenix.
An interesting chance for redemption had arrived, when she qualified for the Roulette Ultimate X match for Summer Xxxtreme. But Sunday marked a pivotal match against the formidable Seleana Zdunich. The former champion's dominance in the wrestling world cast a shadow over Laura's hopes of reclaiming her former glory. Her ticket may have been already punched to the cruise, but there sometimes, claiming dominance would prove to a few people that she was still a force to be reckoned with.
Training and Preparations
The next day
Laura's determination surged within her as she mentally prepared for the upcoming battle. She had spent months honing her skills, pushing herself to the limit in grueling training sessions. Muscle memory began to resurface, reminding her of her once-formidable prowess in the ring.
But doubts still gnawed at her. Would she be able to regain her past glory? Did she have what it took to defeat an opponent as seasoned as Seleana Zdunich? The answers lay within Laura's unwavering determination and the fire that burned within her. It was bad enough that the loss to Kayla was still gnawing at the back of her head. But this...this was something different.
As the days ticked down to the match, Laura's home became a sanctuary of physical and mental preparation. From her improvised living room fort where it turned into late-night sessions studying footage of Zdunich's matches with Nick and Spinelli, who had a keen eye for things that she may have missed, all the way to the converted detached garage that became an on ground personal gym, she poured her heart and soul into her preparations just like she was taught.
Above the door to the outside of the building hung a sign that she took from her first training facility, the one that she had almost died in more than once but the one big moment was truly a moment that defined her career when her own trainer tried to burn it down with her inside it. The sign managed to survive the fire somehow and she kept it as a reminder. It hung over what was called “Wash-out Lane”. Course times were different then, it was harder to push through and she watched many give up and take a trip under that sign. But for her it held a whole other meaning, she had to be forced to go down it to survive.
“You know there was a period of time that every time I took a long look at that sign and I remembered about every single person that punched down on me. And it motivated me to pick myself up and swing back even harder. There was even once that I used it to let it fuel my absolute hate towards a lot of people that made me feel less and inferior. When Bombshell Roulette Champion, Jessie Salco brought up this whole thing going on with Krystal, it brought back all these memories of that time.”
“Now I know what some of you are thinking- What the hell does this have to do with Seleana? Damn good question, Seleana obviously has that same ability about her but she, like me, is looking for that next chance. It was even made known that a victory for her at this Climax Control meant that she would be added into the Bombshell Roulette Championship match. And as much as I wanna see her do it, I can’t let that happen.”
“You know, part of me is still feeling almost like a rookie in some ways. Yeah I have the resume a mile long but at the same time that was in places that a long time ago, and in a land far away and I still feel like I have so much to prove when I know that a lot of people would tell me that I have nothing left to prove. But beating you Seleana, that you make an amazing impact and denying you that chance at Summer Xxxtreme. But look, no matter what, I wanna see you bring that fire that I had then and I can feel building week after week. The muscle memory is returning and I know that it is only a matter of time til it all clicks just right.”
“You all know the story of the Phoenix right, burns bright, burns to ashes and then once the smoke clears...it’s reborn. Well the smoke is clearing, everyone. Be warned, it’s about to get really hot.”
