Off-Camera
Friday, July 19, 2019
Los Angeles, California
Hollywood Hills
The Home of Christina and Seleana Zdunich
7:05 AM PDT
Seleana Zdunich sits on the couch looking over her travel bag as she gets ready to head out first for a football game and then for her match at Climax Control with Kate Steele and Daniela V. Rodgers. She starts to nod in succession as she goes down her checklist in her head. As she finishes and reaches or the zipper, she hears a deep sigh behind her. Turning to see the source of the sound, she finds her wife, Christina “Crystal Hilton” Lopez-Zdunich, moving closer to the couch but doing so in an uncharacteristically tentative manner, as if she’s waiting for Seleana to object.
Christina Lopez-Zdunich: Heyyyy
Seleana smiles sweetly for her wife. She knew it wasn’t likely to do any good with the mood Christina was in but she would try anyway.
Seleana Zdunich: Hej
Christina forces a small smile.
Christina Lopez-Zdunich: Hows my baby doing?
Taking the initiative, Seleana’s smile grows.
Seleana Zdunich: So proud of Halo!
Christina barely nods, moving in closer and taking a seat on the every edge of the couch next to Seleana on the right hand side.
Christina Lopez-Zdunich: I meant you…
She pauses, seemingly fumbling for what she really wants to say.
Christina Lopez-Zdunich: As my baby…
Fighting herself, Christina starts to tear up.
Christina Lopez-Zdunich: I…
Shaking her head, Christina grits her teeth, trying not to just lose herself in the moment.
Christina Lopez-Zdunich: I’m sorry for everything.
Seleana frowns in confusion.
Seleana Zdunich: For... everything?
Christina manages a nod and Seleana’s frown deepens right along with her level of confusion.
Seleana Zdunich: ¿Por que lo sientes?
Christina nods ever so slightly.
Christina Lopez-Zdunich: Yes.
Taking a deep breath, Christina sighs heavily.
Christina Lopez-Zdunich: Hurting you. Not being emotional enough. Being an awful wife.
Seleana takes her wife’s right hand into her own.
Seleana Zdunich: Christina, you need to stop worrying about being perfect. No necesitas ser perfecto. Para mí, ya lo eres. Te amo...
Christina looks away and Seleana squeezes her hand gently.
Seleana Zdunich: No necesitas darte una zapatería.
Seleana nods pointedly to her wife.
Seleana Zdunich: ¿Entiendes?
Christina’s jaw clenches, still unable to look back at her wife. Seleana nods slowly to herself and takes a deep breath.
Seleana Zdunich: Jag vill älska dig, dela glädje och sorg med dig, och vara dig trogen, tills döden skiljer oss åt.
A tear rolls down Christina’s cheek and Seleana squeezes her hand again.
Seleana Zdunich: I meant it when I said that at our wedding. It has been a year’s time and I’m still here. Through everything that has happened, through everything you have had happen to you. I did not say I would love you only when it was easy. I did not say I would only remain here as long as there was only good things in it for me. I am not everyone else, Stjärna. I’m not abandoning you.
Seleana raises Christina’s hand and kisses it.
Seleana Zdunich: You are my quarterback. Throw me the ball, I will catch it. Together we get touchdown! No matter what team we play for, I wear same jersey you do. We are team!
Christina turns and throws herself onto her wife, her face landing on Seleana’s chest as tears rush down her cheeks. Seleana wraps her arms around her now-sobbing wife and cradles her head gently.
Seleana Zdunich: Det är okej. Det är okej...
As Christina continues to sob uncontrollably, Seleana kisses the top of her head and then starts to gently sing.
Seleana Zdunich: Sov på min arm! Natten gömmer
Under sin vinge din blossande kind.
Lycklig och varm snart du drömmer
Flyr mig i drömmen som våg flyr vind.
Fångas igen. Flämtar. Strider.
Vill inte. Vill. Och blir åter kysst.
Slumra min vän! Natten skrider.
Kärleken vaktar dig ömt och tyst.
Christina looks up to her and Seleana smiles sweetly.
Seleana Zdunich: Heeyyyyy…
Christina shakes her head.
Christina Lopez-Zdunich: I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!
Seleana kisses her on the lips.
Seleana Zdunich: You have nothing to be sorry for, Estrellita. You’ve been through quite a lot lately. I would be gutted as well. I would not be keen to see others and have to act like everything was as it was always before.
Christina sniffles and looks into her wife’s eyes.
Christina Lopez-Zdunich: I love you!
Seleana smiles back.
Seleana Zdunich: And I you.
Christina snuggles in against Seleana’s chest just as before.
Christina Lopez-Zdunich: Can… can you sing that again?
Seleana smiles and begins singing, this time gently rocking Christina as she goes.
Seleana Zdunich: Sov på min arm! Natten gömmer
Under sin vinge din blossande kind.
Lycklig och varm snart du drömmer
Flyr mig i drömmen som våg flyr vind.
Fångas igen. Flämtar. Strider.
Vill inte. Vill. Och blir åter kysst.
Slumra min vän! Natten skrider.
Kärleken vaktar dig ömt och tyst.
On-Camera
Friday, July 19, 2019
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit Metro Airport
10:05 PM EDT
The camera opens on Seleana Zdunich as she sits on a bench in the airport terminal as she awaits her flight out of Detroit following the football game with the Detroit Rampage. Seleana sighs as she sits up straight to look into the camera.
Seleana Zdunich: I really do not know sometimes…
She folds her hands together, lowering her head and nodding slowly at the floor.
Seleana Zdunich: First, I was set to wrestle Daniela V. Rodgers and I was excited. This would be something new, something I had never done before. It was a new challenge and one I accepted and embraced without hesitation. Daniela looks to be a great talent with a pedigree and a résumé that says she is not to be taken lightly.
She glances up to make eye contact with the camera again.
Seleana Zdunich: I have never faced her and I always look forward to matches like that.
A small wan smile comes across Seleana’s face as she contemplates the now lost opportunity there.
Seleana Zdunich: And then the match was changed as Kate Steele was added to make it a triple threat match.
The smile fades away as quickly as it had arrived.
Seleana Zdunich: I don’t know if I should see this as a blessing or a reason to curse because if my own divided feelings on Kate.
Her head bows as she nods to herself all over again.
Seleana Zdunich: It was not that long ago that Kate Steele was like many others. She was selfish, she was arrogant and she tried to hurt my wife and my stepdaughter just because she could and because she had some manufactured claim against them, which…
She almost laughs before looking up to the camera.
Seleana Zdunich: Let us be honest here, claims against them usually do not need to be manufactured. Both Christian and Brittany do enough to have legitimate claims against them, they do not need others to force new ones upon them.
Nodding slowly, she looks back down to the floor.
Seleana Zdunich: That went on for a time and then, suddenly and without warning, Kate Steele starts texting, and messaging me to say she is sorry…
Her right hand shoots up as she shakes her head incredulously.
Seleana Zdunich: She even tweets it out and then says in wrestling promos. She said it again in preparation for this match but it seems every time she says it, something just makes it seem as if she either does not truly mean it or she pairs it with some other derogatory statement that renders its power incomplete and causes the need for an addendum or additional apologies that she does not seem to notice, or…
Seleana pauses.
Seleana Zdunich: If she does notice, she does not care to make these additions because it is possible she never cared in the first place and this was all a smokescreen designed to make her seem to be more sympathetic as her husband continued down the other road, seemingly forsaking their sacred vows in the process.
She looks away, glancing at the windows in the distance.
Seleana Zdunich: I half expect there to be a Time Lord to pop out of a phone box any time now and start saying it’s all timey wimey and somehow Teddy will be redeemed without actually doing anything redemptive and just…
She puts on an exaggerated fake smile.
Seleana Zdunich: “Sorry! I fucked up!”
The smile fades away and she shakes her head in disgust.
Seleana Zdunich: Like all they need do is say the fans should love them now and the fans will do so because they waved their hands and…
She trails off as she waves her hand dismissively.
Seleana Zdunich: You know, many people accuse my wife and daughter of doing the same but they both have something you do not Kate. Christina has a documented mental illness and Brittany is a teenager and thus prone to uninformed and rash decision-making. What is your excuse aside from your husband is a curse so vile it is unmentionable in any language?
She shrugs as she looks into the camera.
Seleana Zdunich: Now, I understand wishing to remain loyal to your vows and stay in your marriage. I had to do the same earlier this year as you mentioned yourself more than once. The difference seems to be in our respective reactions to said marital problems. You call me unfocused but i am not the one who spent all of my time moping about. When my wife caused a problem for us, I simply did not go home until we were ready to actually speak on things. Until that could happen, I focused on work be it in the ring or at the zoo. I spent time with friends in need and every so often I allowed the waters to be tested with Christina but I never did anything to provoke the situation like you have.
Sitting back, her hands spread to ask a question.
Seleana Zdunich: So how are we to know if you are truly sorry?
Her hands drop to her knees as she stares straight into the camera.
Seleana Zdunich: How are we to know if that word coming out of your mouth actually means what you say it does or if it just means you think it will get you more than what you are really thinking about all of us?
Her right hand raises up and her index finger extends out to point accusingly into the camera.
Seleana Zdunich: Just today, you blew off both Daniela and I as unworthy without even saying the word. You barely paid Daniela any attention and you gave me a backhanded apology that was followed with a slap to the face.
Shrugging disgustedly, Seleana cocks her head to the left, annoyance flowing off of her.
Seleana Zdunich: You know, Alicia Lukas and Mercedes Vargas do that as well but at least they are straight forward about it. Neither hides anything behind flowery words so that when they give credit, compliments or respect, you know they actually mean it because it does not come often. Daniela and I should just turn to face you when the bell rings and see which one of you has shown up, the one Griffin Hawkins stands by and says is worthy of spect and admiration or the one that tried to sneak around behind my wife’s back to go after her daughter for no real reason?
She nods as her hands land on her knees again.
Seleana Zdunich: I truly hope it’s the one Griffin speaks of because if it is, this match will be a wonderful contest and a challenge befitting all three of us. If it is not, I weep for all of us because it means you took what used to make you everything he says you are and flushed it for five minutes of fleeting glory that Alicia already made sure was worth nothing!
Seleana stands up, glaring into the camera.
Seleana Zdunich: I want to like you, Kate. Please stop making it so damned hard to do! Please stop making, “Sorry,” be so necessary that it loses all meaning when coming from you! Please show up and be that girl that everyone truly wants you to be!
She nods as she glances away momentarily to hear an announcement inside the airport.
Seleana Zdunich: Daniela, I look forward to locking horns with you and I hope you are everything I have heard you can be and more. May Kate do us the respect of being better than she has been in many months’ time and may the three of us have a battle for the ages that will make the champions sit up and take notice!
She leans over to pick up her travel bag and nods to the camera.
Seleana Zdunich: I really do not wish to have a need to hear, “Sorry,” again.
