Finally
*A flashback to Melissa’s life*
May 29th 2010
“Melissa?”
A voice speaks from the corner of Melissa’s bedroom door, Melissa is resting on her bed reading a book. She recognizes the voice being from her father, causing her to sigh
“Not again….”
She whispers from underneath her breath, hoping that her father wouldn’t hear it. She slowly turns around and sees her father standing in the doorway of her bedroom, in the way she had pictured him. He is holding a bottle of whiskey in one hand and her scorecard in the other. She immediately realizes that he had been drinking once more, she hated him that way. It all started when her mother passed away several years ago, her father could never accept her death and started to grab for the bottle. She had been trying to avoid him deliberately as he did not need much motivation to start drinking.
“Dad, I…”
“Shut up!!!”
His words escape his mouth in a slurred fashion, the near empty bottle reveals that he had been drinking a lot. This caused her to tense up completely, worried what he would do to her even though he had never been violent before. But the last time that he was this drunk caused her to run out of the house out of fear. She had come back from a night out with friends and was lucky she was still wearing her jacket and shoes to escape the house. This time she wasn’t so lucky as she softly cursed to herself.
“I thought I had told you to do better Mel, but what is this crap??”
He says as he had thrown her scorecard on her bed, she looks at it and saw all of her grades. They weren’t all A’s as she never was that great in school, but she wasn’t as bad as her father had accused her of. But she knew that in this state of mind that he would not have any problems to be disappointed over something like this. Her teen face looked back up at him with fear in her eyes as she didn’t know what he would do next.
“Dad, I…”
But he had already turned around and left her bedroom, she had heard him walk into his own bedroom next to hers. For a few moments she didn’t know what to do next, the thought of running down the stairs to grab her stuff and leave the house had popped in her head. But quickly dismisses it, as she knew that the stairway was just a step or two away from her father’s bedroom door. But she knew that it would be unwise to stay rin the hope of her father falling unconscious on his bed didn’t sound so appealing either as she had known that he could withstand large amounts of alcohol.
She thought back to recent months, as he had become more and more violent because of the amount of alcohol he had drank. Punching holes into walls to unleash his rage. She knew that her father was a very strong man, realizing that he could rip her own bedroom door out of his hinges rather easily, made her decide that she had to do something. This caused her to curse at herself while she was staring at her bedroom door.
“What should I do??”
She looks down at her cellphone, wondering whether she should call for help. But immediately wondered whether they would believe her?? She had heard stories from others who had been in similar situations like the one she was in at the moment, where the authorities could only do something if there was any sign of domestic violence. And even though her father could be very menacing looking at times when he had started to reach for the bottle., he had never actually done something to hurt her. This had caused her to curse at herself, for actually wishing that he had. Only to have her shake her head afterwards, realizing that it was wrong for her to think that way about her father.
Crash
She quickly tensed up when she heard a sound coming from her fathers bedroom. She wanted to get up from her bed but stops as she starts to listen, trying to figure out what is going on next door. But ultimately she is greeted by complete and utter silence.
“D…. dad??”
She felt the need to run to his bedroom, worried that he perhaps had hurt himself severely. But decided not to as she felt her heart beat like crazy, her breathing increases as sweat pours down her face. Her fingers dig into her bed sheets while listening.
“I must do something”
She says to herself, trying to find some courage in an attempt to get up from her bed and check in on her father. The man that she had loved all of her life, even though the passing of her mother had caused tension to grow between them. It still didn’t stop her from loving the man that had always been there for her.
She stared at her own bed, remembering how often she had told herself when she was young that nothing could harm her as long as she stayed on top or inside her bed. As if it was a forcefield that could even withstand tornadoes, let alone a drunk father. But she knew now that there had never been such a thing and would never be any form of protection for her fears and nightmares.
She felt a chill run over her legs, realizing that her bedroom window had been open all the time. But for whatever reason she had not felt it before. She looks at her legs, realizing that she wasn’t wearing pants or a dress, making a possible escape very unlikely. She finally decides to just get up, put on some jogging pants and walk over towards her fathers bedroom.
Once she had arrived at her fathers bedroom she noticed that the doorway was completely open but no lights were shining. This caused her to put a trembling hand on the entrance of his doorway before slowly peaking in.
“Dad??”
There was no reaction, causing her heart to pound even faster now. The light of the hallway hines through the doorway, showing a partial view of her father’s bedroom as her shadow seems to be reaching every corner of her father’s bedroom. She finally sees her fathers feet, then his legs as she slowly looks up and sees his body motionless on the floor. The bottle of whiskey had dropped beside him as he had fallen over one of the family dogs favorite toys.
“Oh dad….”
She slowly moves over towards his unconscious body, placing a soft hand on top of his back as she sighs when she feels his muscles react towards her touch. She knows it is probably better not to wake him and let him sleep tonight. She looks up and walks over towards his bed, there she grabs a blanket and puts it over his body. She then grabs a pillow and places it underneath his head. She plants a soft kiss on his forehead. She tells him good night before leaving the bedroom with a sigh of relief.
“Please get some help dad.”
She walks over towards her bedroom, closes the door and falls on top of her bed. Tears start to come as she is struggling to stop them from coming but fails. Slowly the teas continue to come as she slowly falls asleep, wishing that it was nothing more than a bad dream.
Present Day
June 1st, 2022
Melissa woke up in her bed smelling baked eggs, sniffing her nose a few times before smiling happily. She knew that Goth had gotten out of bed early to surprise her with breakfast. She turns her head towards the empty spot in their bed where Goth had been in last night, she grabs his pillow and intently inhales his scent. Pushing the pillow closer to her as she closes her eyes for a moment.
“Should I be concerned now?”
She hears him ask as she looks up at the man she is about to marry someday. He leans against the doorpost while holding a plate in his hands for her. She smiles at him as she leans back against the bed stand and awaits him bringing her breakfast before kissing her lips. She feels electricity in the air from the moment their lips touch, after a few moments they pull back reluctantly as Goth decides to head back to the kitchen. She admires his physique for a moment as he is wearing nothing more than tight boxers. She couldn’t help but admire how good he looked at 45, she looks back at her plate and starts to take a bite from the egg sandwich she loves so much. She leans her head back against her pillow, savoring the taste that is invading her mouth while chewing slowly. She reopens her eyes as she sees Goth comes back with a plate of his own and a can of orange juice with two glasses. He sits down as he had prepared a table for both of them and pours in the glasses with orange juice. They toast each other before they begin enjoying their breakfast together.
“Ready for your in ring debut this coming Climax Control??”
She smiles at his question without answering as she takes another bite of her egg sandwich. She looks ahead of herself, contemplating how to answer the question she had been waiting for since the start of her training a while ago. That she is ready to compete inside the six sided ring against a professional wrestler? To face women that have been competing inside the ring way longer than she has been training?
She wondered whether they would accept her, wondering if they did because of her relationship with Goth and if she could change their minds after kicking their asses.
“I would think I am, but it is still as if I am invading an unknown reality for me to be honest. It was difficult orientating at first inside that six sided ring.”
Goth nods his head, he knew that she had been a part of a kick boxing school back in the Netherlands. But that was many years ago and that was inside a standard ring of four sides. But he had seen her being able to adapt quickly to the circumstances as if she had been training inside the six sided ring for years. But that was it, she was training. No matter how physical and mental it can get during those sessions, he knew that inside that ring it was to teach and never to harm and beat your opponent. He takes another bite of his egg sandwich before taking a sip of his orange juice and stares at her.
“At first, I really hated that six sided ring. You can tell from my first matches I was clearly disorientated. I was this close to tell the bosses that I wanted out after I had attacked Chris Shipman.”
Melissa raises an eyebrow at him
“Was he that violent??”
Goth chuckles as he shakes his head in disagreement.
“Violent? Not that I couldn’t handle, but I had trouble getting out of the ring after I had assaulted him. Luckily the camera’s weren’t rolling at that moment or else that would have been a very embarrassing moment for me.”
Melissa lifted a hand to her mouth, trying to hide her laugh, but to no avail as Goth already knew she would.
“You should know by now in an era of social media and youtubers everywhere that you can’t make a mistake like that nowadays. So I will be paying very close attention to how you will roll out of the ring after your match at this coming show.”
Melissa shows a mock shocked look on her face before playfully punching Goth against his shoulder. This causes him to grab the spot with a look as if she had really hurt him bad
“I need to get through this match Gerrit, just like I have done with every new passage in my life. My father who was an alcoholic…”
Her words trail off, she never liked to talk about that period in her life. Especially because she had experienced a similar situation with Goth when they had met. She had struggled with whether she would leave him as the hopeless drunk addict that he had become, mourning the loss of his wife…. Just like her father, but for some reason she had hope he would get out of it… Plus she had slowly fallen in love with the much older man. Feeling conflicted that she didn’t wanted to take advantage from his emotional situation that he was in. But in the end love conquers everything.
She sighs, she looks at him and sees his serious look on his face.
“I’m sorry… I… I shouldn’t have…”
But he quickly eases her worries by placing his hand on her knee, showing her that warming smile she had fallen in love with so many times over and over again. Causing her to nod her head in silence as she knew he had understood
“I have been through a lot that has prepared me mentally for different types of adversary throughout my life. How we overcome our fears, how I had gotten to know you and your son. How I had to accept your life as a wrestler as it taught me to value the art of wrestling in such a different fashion. I…”
she looks at her plate, as it has only a few more bites left. But first she wanted to finish what she was about to say, waiting for the right moment to say it.
“I thought wrestling was merely a show. Coming from the world of kick boxing I often laughed at those fancy moves. But since I started to learn to admire it through your eyes, I realized that I wanted to do this just as badly as I wanted to learn to kick ass in Kick Boxing… Maybe even more.”
Her face starts to blush a little as she takes another bite of her egg sandwich and awaits for another witty remark she was used from him, the man that many consider to be a living legend. But surprisingly he decides to remain quiet, this causes her to look at him with a look of concern.
“Gerrit?”
“I am so proud of you.”
The words came out of his mouth in a croaked fashion, his lips were so very dry even though he had taken plenty of sips from the glass of orange juice. She looks at him with a look of understanding as she notices that he wasn’t looking at her. Her eyes move towards the spot where she assumed that he was staring at, witnessing his wrist where he had tattooed her and Chantal’s names underneath each other. He had told her on the night that he had proposed to her that she and Chantal had meant the same to him as well as he could not love one more than the other. She knew that he was talking about both her and Chantal, smiling as she knew how much this meant to him.
“Thanks sweetheart”
She says before planting a soft kiss on his cheek, before resting her head against his shoulder as both remain silent for a moment.
“Mel?”
Melissa looks up at him, staring into his eyes as she suddenly sees that sadness has come over him.
“I wanted to apologize for what you had to go through with me… after your father… I…”
She kisses him passionately, forcing his final futile resistance to stiffen before finally giving in as the shot fades.
January 20th 2021
“LET ME OUT!!!!!”
An angry scream can be heard from Goth as he has been taken to a rehab facility once again. Melissa is leaning against the door on the other end of the room that he is forced to be in. Thanking The Lord for the fact that the little mirror of the door does not allow him to look out as she can look in. She is staring at the man that had taken her into his house a few months ago to be the nanny of his son after the passing of his wife. She had noticed empty bottles everywhere in the big house as well as Goth could have never been found while his son needed being attended to. It made her relive the past when she still lived with her father when she was younger, making her realize that she had to do something. But for a long time she hadn’t.
She turns around and leans against the wall, trying to block out the screams of the man that she slowly had fallen in love with even though she had told herself that she shouldn’t. The screams subsided after a while, only to be followed up by his desperate pleading.
“Melissa? I know you are there, I know you can hear me. I am sorry, please forgive me. I promise, I will stop drinking, I just need another chance….”
She places her hands against her ears while slowly dropping down to a sitting position. Softly crying as her hair had fallen in front of her face, she wanted to believe him. But she knew that it was the alcohol talking. She had seen him reach for the bottle in the past from the moment that she had taken him back to his home and nothing had changed…. and still, she wanted to believe him.
“Mel? Is dad bad again??”
She hears a boy’s whisper as she looks up and sees Gerrit Jr. standing there in his Pj’s and holding his favorite stuffed animal. She quickly reaches over for him and gives him one of the tightest hugs that she has ever given him.
“Your father is very sick Gerrit and he needs help.”
“Sick in like having the flu??”
Oh how she loved this young inncoent boy, she didn’t know how to tell him that his father was addicted to alcohol substances. She did not know how to tell him that she didn’t know if he would ever come out of this as a normal man. But for him she knew that she had to remain strong, to make him believe that he would come out of this
“No Gerrit, it’s a little bit more complicated than just the flu. But I am sure that he will come out of it healthy this time.”
She tells him this, realizing that she is actually trying to convince herself instead of him. She knew that he would eventually nod his head and start to play with his toys as if this was just any ordinary day. But it wasn’t, mentally she slapped herself several times in the face for being so stupid to lie at this innocent boy.
“Okay….,Mel??”
There’s a few moments of silence as she is trying to compose herself.
“Yes Gerrit??”
“Do you think dad will take us to Disney World when he is all better again??”
This causes her to smile as tears flow from her face, she slowly nods her head as she rubs his head in the way she knew he hated it.
“Yes, yes he will Gerrit. I am very sure that he would love to take us to Disney World.”
This brings a smile upon the young boy’s face as he gives her another big hug. She responds by hugging him back as the two hold each other for a few moments while the soft begging from Goth slowly subsides. Melissa releases the hug she had on Goth’s son as she stares him in the eyes before giving him a kiss on the cheek as she had noticed someone from the rehab standing patiently behind them.
“I got an idea, why don’t you run off to the restaurant next door and treat yourself with the biggest ice cream that they can make… I will come over later and pay for it”
This causes his eyes to widen with happiness before giving her another big hug. After a few moments he runs off all smiling as Melissa looks after him until he has run out of the room and stands up again.
“Soon we need to keep him here for his ice cream addiction”
Says the social worker as he walks towards Melissa.She gives him a weak smile before walking over to the chair nearest to the wall opposite the door that keeps Goth separated from them.
“I love that kid so much, just…”
“Just as much as the father??”
He says as he finishes the sentence for her, she gives him a nod as she leans her head against the wall.
“I had not expected to walk into this situation when he hired me to be his son’s nanny, I had not expected that I would fall in love with him and his son. And yet, here I am…. Any other help would just have quit or called child support…”
“But I didn’t, I just don’t know why.”
The social worker sits down on the chair next to her, listening to what she had to say before answering her.
“I think it’s the right thing that you could have done, for both of them. Because Mr. van der Krift already had given up after his wife had passed away. And then you feel that you are on your own in these situations, you often make the wrong decisions and even more often you will not come out of these situations. At least you give him hope Melissa. ”
Hope, the word echoes through her mind. She wanted to believe him, but her past with her father made it very difficult. But for Goth she would at least give it a try.
“Thanks…. ehmm..”
“Frank, my name is Frank. And you are welcome, you did he only right thing that you could have done. Now we will keep him here and will take it from here to make sure he will get back to is family a healthy man”
Melissa nods her head, letting the word “healthy” echo through her mind before decides it’s best to go after Gerrit Jr. and make sure that he doesn’t just order every possible ice cream from the restaurant.
“Thank you Frank, I hope you are right.”
With that she gets up as she walks over to the hallway. At the door entrance she looks back at the door of the room where Goth is being held and sighs before walking off.
Back to Present Day.
The debut of Melissa, Lady Goth
It’s late at night, Melissa just comes out of the shower wearing her bathrobe while drying her hair with a towel. She spots Goth watching a movie in the living room as she approaches him, planting a kiss on his lips before turning towards the bedroom. She walks over to the closet, opens the bathrobe before slowly dropping it to the floor. The camera remains on the back of her head and her bare shoulders as the rest is kept out of view. She quickly puts on one of Goth’s old shirts before putting on her panties. She turns around and notices the camera for the first time as she raises an eyebrow.
”I better not find out tat you were flashing me.”
The gaze slowly turns into a smile as the camera is shaking a little. She looks at herself in the mirror, where she can see that the shirt is covering most of her body until halfway through her long and muscular legs. She admires the sight for a moment before walking over to the king size bed that she and Goth have been sharing since arrival, leaning her back against the pillow that is resting against the headboard of the bed. She wraps her arms around her legs pushing them close against her upper body while resting her chin between her knees as she stares into the recording light of the camera.
”I guess the wait is nearly over, just mere days before I will set foo inside that six sided ring for the first time. The first time that I will have an official match in front of thousands in attendance and even more watching around the world. Do I feel pressure?? Maybe”
She gives a small smile while remaining in the same position as she continues to stare towards the camera as if she is talking to someone personally.
”he in ring debut of the partner of Hall Of Famer Goth, clearly they like to put the pressure on their newly acquired talent if they have got something going for themselves. But that’s okay, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Because that means that they knew something that others perhaps have overlooked prior to the up and coming match. The only question will be, whether I intend to deliver and am capable of doing so. But that’s merely their way of trying to get the crowd excited, make them speculate whether I have an ounce of Gerrit’s talent. Putting me in the ring with someone I have no familiarity with and see what fate has in store for me.”
“It’s funny I have seen promo’s of competitors in the past. Where they showcase to the world how far they believe their ego will take them, feeling disrespected by facing someone like Chloe Benton. But not me, I instead take this opportunity for me to see whether I do not need to look back and worry about one Chloe Benon or not. Because I only know so little about the infamous Bombshell division that this company prides itself on having. A roster filled with names that have held numerous championships, competitors that have held a long list of unbeaten streaks that made others respect them or merely despise them. I on the other hand? I just want to smile at them, before I kick their faces in with one swift move.”
She leans her head back against the pillows, staring at the ceiling of the hotel room while remaining in the seated position.
”People may attempt to put comparisons between me and Gerrit… that’s Goth for all you know it alls. But that’s only guessing yourselves until you get that first taste of what exactly it is that makes me who I am…. But then again, you cannot blame a girl from taking some of the good from those who swear by it now can she??”
She gives a smile while having her focus remaining on the ceiling.
”LIkeI said Chloe, I don’t know much about you sweetheart. But I have noticed in the short time that I have watched you on social media, where I have noticed that it makes you insecure whether people like you or not. Throwing apologies left and right, all because of what??? Scared that you have done something wrong?? If that’s the case baby girl, I urge you to reconsider whether it was a smart thing of Christian Underwood to have you stay out of the wrestling ring or not. But I guess that doesn’t matter now since it is queen Amber Ryan booked this show.”
“I have to admit, I really enjoyed watching your picture from way back when you were younger. So innocent, so pure…. Yet also so many different questions, questions like why does a young girl like that decide to take on the violent world of pro wrestling? Granted, you can argue tha I look so damn cute too. But we all know that there’s only so many different layers of cuteness that lets you pass or fail when it’s time to become someone else. Someone with a mean streak, someone that wants to prove people that he or she belongs.”
She lowers her head so she can stare back into the camera once more. Showing determination upon her face.
”There’s one thing I have learned from competing in kickboxing, that once that bell has rang that you are on your own. Fighting whatever and whomever it is that opposes you. Compare it to fighting whatever element that nature can throw at you with one perspective in mind. To overcome it and move on. And I have to admit, I had hoped that it could have been someone else inside that ring for my in ring debut. Not because that I feel tat you are no competition for me. It’s just that I’d rather prefer to have kicked someone else’s teeth in competing in my in ring debut. Because let’s face it, you are like the winner of the beauty queen pageant. Where’s the excitement for me to beat someone that isn’t in the same mold like me for crying out loud.”
“You see, I signed up to ultimately be in the ring with the very best. I’m not saying that you don’t possess any abilities. You probably do, but it would surprise me if you managed to last longer than merely five minutes in the ring with me. Now I know, I am probably not making any friends with statements like these without giving any proper clarification onto the WHY I am saying this Chloe. Because girls like you never lasted in the realm of kickboxing. Because it’s just like the saying, nice boys never last Chloe. And that is something I cannot stop believing that it also counts for your chances in beating me at Climax Control. But I am a willing person to give you one shot to prove me wrong. Because I am that kind of woman that will admit her mistakes when I realize that I was wrong. But by the nature of your reaction to my bad attempt to be sarcastic, tells me that you have a long way to go before reaching any potential to have any bad bone inside your body.
“Will I try to go easy on you? Allowing a feel out process in the hope that we feel a connection and will not injure the other by accident?? Then I will have to disappoint you Chloe. Because I intend to make my in ring debut a memorable one. I guess I feel bad to be the bearer of bad news like that. But someone has to.”
“So I hope you will be thankful for me to tell you straight up what you may expect from me. It’s up to you to prepare yourself as good as possible for what I will go and atempt to deliver, because it’s upon me o wake you up in utter realization that I am nothing like you have ever seen before and will ever see again. Until perhaps fate decides to allow us to cross paths once again… But at least then you have the realization what I am capable off and deal with it appropriately. ”
She smiles as she shakes her head
”But until that moment comes, I will wish you well during this memorable Climax Control. Because Melissa, the Lady Goth intends to make it a memorable one. Until then Chloe…. until then….”
With that the shot slowly fades
