thebutterflyeffect 1.0 🎔new beginnings
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It was humid.
It’s not to say that I don’t like the humidity, or that I wasn’t, like, used to it. I lived in New York City on a regular basis, humidity existed. But it wasn’t the same, because we didn’t live outside. Air Conditioning was a comfort that existed in almost every home and I wouldn’t be surprised to see towers sitting out on the balconies, trying to keep some semblance of coolness during hot summer months.
But these people lived outside.
These people were my in-laws. Aiden and I’d decided to take a trip down to the Gold Coast for one more visit before both of us were fully working again. Yes, I said that name: Aiden Reynolds. The same person that beat Justin…um….I forget the last name, on the televisions of the people who watched Sin City Wrestling’s Climax Control. It was Australia Day, and his whole family was celebrating the independence of their country like we did the independence of America. Although…I mean, they just asked politely to cede from their country while we had to fight a war.
Amateurs. Psh.
He was standing there, a Monster Energy Drink in hand, watching his family from the inside as they laughed and carried on loudly. Cheers erupted as a little baby boy held onto a sparkler with a vengeance and waved it rapidly to get attention.
It was his birthday.
My little baby, my son, was one today.
“He’s walking.” Aiden muttered quietly to himself.
“He’s walking.” I agreed, setting my hands on the counter of the kitchen and watching too. We’d been there for every milestone. Crawling. Sitting up. Communicating with things other than crying, and giggling tremendously. He’d already said our names…or maybe rather our titles, and Aiden gloated about his being first.
I think sometimes, Aiden thought he wasn’t going to be a good dad. I remember when I told him about this whoopsie. He said he could barely take care of himself, and that he was going to mess it all up. It was a rare occurrence in which he actually thought before he jumped. But he was, and he is a great dad. Just a little scatterbrained.
“Probably not the best thing, but he has a sparkler,” I commented with a smile.
“Oi fuck,” he swore, not even realizing it. “Me stupid bushpig of a cousin musta given it to ‘em. Lemme–” Aiden set down his Monster and hurried out the side door to the backyard. I snickered and grinned, shaking my head. Ultimately, it wouldn’t be a problem, but I knew he’d panic.
I followed a moment later, grabbing a water on the way out and stepping into the hot, hot sun. There was music playing from some stereo and a cacophony of voices as I entered the barbeque area. All of Aiden’s extended family was here too, and it made for a very crowded area. I smiled as my husband picked up our child and stealthily plucked the sparkler from his hands without making him cry.
“Ya did good, love,” his mother said to me, smiling brightly, with probably her third mimosa in her hand. Sheila Reynolds was a pretty woman, and she seemed to like me quite a bit. She absolutely loved Dax, but it was rare that she and I were near each other without something happening that took her attention away.
I nodded. “I think so. Dax looks more and more like Aiden each day.”
“Oh, yes…” she chuckled, “Dax is absolutely adorable, but ‘m talking about me son.” She tipped her chin in his direction, laughing. “Aiden has always been a happy-go-lucky kind of boy, but that’s just ‘is personality. He’s truly happy, and at ease. And he wants to try to do things he didn’ think he was capable of.”
I looked back at Aiden and smiled slightly, almost sheepishly. “I dunno what to say.”
“Ah, nothin’ to say! Just congratulatin’ you on a good job. And besides,” she laughed again, “you’re a damn sight brighter than his first wife, the fuckin’ rag.”
I didn’t know what that meant, but I assumed something negative.
She disappeared to go sit with her husband and Aiden handed Dax to her with a smile. In fact, it seemed everyone was smiling. Well, except for Amelia. Aiden’s younger sister was perched underneath the canopy of the deck, seated on the wide railing with a pursed lip expression. She caught my expression and then moved her eyes away. She didn’t want me to bother her, and she didn’t want to talk about it.
It was the same thing Aiden was sometimes upset about. Dickie. Aiden’s best friend. Amelia’s boyfriend. But I don’t know if those were both known to everyone else. He was missing, and no one knew where he was. He just disappeared off the face of the planet, and he stop contacting everyone. I wasn’t sure what to do about it, and Aiden wasn’t sure what to do about it. So we just didn’t talk about it.
We did, however, talk about our upcoming career matches. Aiden was just happy to be back in the ring and me? I was stoked. I’d been wrestling kind of off and on with JWBRKR to get back into it, but now was the time that I wanted to get back into it fully. We’d always talked about going together. We didn’t want to tag or anything – no, that right was specifically reserved for he and Dickie – but we did want to work together. To support each other. To pick the other up if a match wasn’t going to go our way.
So when he said he wanted to go to Sin City, wanted to be a part of what the rest of Wolfslair was…I couldn’t say no.
So I signed too.
To be honest I was nervous, but it wasn’t about being in front of the lights or anything like that. I loved wrestling. I always had, even since I was a kid. But I was nervous about the precedent set. My friends and family had a way about themselves that carried a kind of…reputation, and I was nervous about messing that up. But I couldn’t keep staying in the back, right? Couldn’t just retire and raise Dax, no matter how many times I wanted to.
That would have been easy.
Aiden noted my nervousness from a mile away as I moved back into the house. The cool air felt better than the humid heat, and I stopped in the hallway. He followed, having pushed away from whichever third-second cousin twice removed he was talking to, waving at him. He encircled me with his arms and kissed the top of my head. He knew my panic.
It was time. Time to shake off the rust, and the cobwebs, and get started. Nervousness flooded the back of my mind, and I was very much almost to the point where I wanted to walk out and not do this. It was easy just wrestling, but having to talk about it? Talk about my opponent? I hadn’t done that in a few years…or year. What if I said something stupid? Scratch that. What would happen when I said something stupid?
“Stop freakin’ out,” he whispered to me.
“‘m not,” I muttered, raising my hands and wrapping them around his forearms.
“You think I dunno ya?” He snorted, “Gimmie some credit. We live in the same house and sleep in the same bed.”
I sighed and set the crown of my head against his chest, looking up at him. “There’s just…a lot. Like I’m nervous I’m gonna screw up. I’ve been doing good, but this…this is a lot.”
He snorted, and said to me in his most Aiden way, “Kallie-Kitty, even if you do mess up, it won’t be as bad as any romantic comedy you’ve ever watched. And it’s okay. Besides, you’ve got that she-witch of a trainer – nothin’ can get ya. You’re ready. Don’t ya forget it.”
I was ready. And that’s all that mattered. ♡♡♡♡♡♡
Here I was, standing in a set-up room with a camera keeping me from my biggest supporters. On the other side, I watched as Finn pushed himself into the wall and crossed his arms. I watched as Johanna perched herself up on an equipment box and nodded her head, giving me a thumbs up. I envisioned Alex and Kayla there, Alex cheering me on quietly and giving me all of the thumbs and jumping up and down. I envisioned Kayla nodded when I said something a little scathing.
But most of all, I watched as Aiden sat down and smiled at me.
He would always have my back.
The set-up was cute, and I think that’s what they were going for when they built it. Because I’m cute, I know. I fit that bill. I mean, I’m not as stupid as my blonde hair and happy-go-lucky attire makes me look, but I am adorable and I definitely play it up.
I heard the click of the camera go on, and I took my stance. I brightened my smile, I planted my feet in the floor, and I went for it.
“There’s always, like, a lot of pressure when you enter into a new room. Everyone is lookin’ at ya, looking to see what you do and see what you can succeed with or fail ultimately at. The first impression is a new beginning for some, and it’s important. Deffo important!” I nodded. “Sin City Wrestling, I’m one of the newest signings of the twenty-twenty four year, and let me tell you that I’m puttin’ all of you Bombshells on notice.”
Okay. Not so bad. I watched as Finn’s eye twitched, and I knew I made it work.
“My name is Kallie Reznik, and I am the Butterfly of Aurora, the Wolfcub of Wolfslair and literally and possibly the cutest, sweetest and bubbliest wrestler that doesn’t sound like a dipstick you’ve ever met. Move over blondies with bad attitudes and stupid Instaphotos, because this,” I referenced to myself, pointing at me, dressed in my wrestling gear (lots of belts, ya know), “is about to make waves! I know I don’t look like a massive threat…but lemme tell you, I’ma kick butt from one corner of the ring to the other and I’ma do it with a smile.”
Now Johanna was wincing. Perfect. I wanted to make sure I was the most annoying, while also being the most accurate. Screw the angst the rest of this company had, it was time for bubbles and happiness and…butt kicks? I dunno. Plus, the cuter I sounded, the more people wouldn’t expect me to be smart.
I was. I have a degree. I am smart, and people always miss that with me. It’s absolutely fun too when they realize it too late.
“Climax Control 384 is in for a surprise in the first match when I totes knock Miss Manners’ back into the fifties where she belongs! Ya know, when I got the list of matches and I saw this….I was really super surprised, because you know…like, I don’t harass people. Finn is a mentor to me, and to have someone like Miss Manners say that I’m pestering people? The absolute nerve.”
I crossed my arms and leaned forward, pursing my lips and narrowing my eyes like some vapid high school girl with a bad attitude.
“How do you know I’m pesterin’? You don’t. You don’t know if I’m bothering anyone, and if I was, I’m sure someone would say it. But you go ahead with that, Miss Manners, and you stick your nose up at everythin’, okay? Gonna be real bad when you’ve got a brace on it when I breeeeeaaaaaakkkkkk it!”
I pause, and I calm myself down. That’s the thing about me that a lot of people don’t realize. I’ve got mean streak, and it’s really hard sometimes for me to keep my happiness. I worked for a deathmatch fed and I did pretty good at one point. I mean, I totally used a bunch of weapons in an aquarium and won a freakin’ deathmatch championship at one point too.
“See, that’s the thing. A lot of people look at me and they see my relationship with others and they think that I’m annoying. That I’m just some bubbly dumb girl with a lack of…well, anything. Funny, because I’ve been wrestling since 2021. I have a good relationship with a lot of people in this company, and I’m finally where I think I need to be.
This Bombshell Division has a lot of fabulous names in it, and I am absolutely excited to be working with all of them. However, when I got this match, I had to ask myself…who is you? Miss Manners, you signed with the company in December, and you had a match at December 2 Dismember before the company went on their usual vacation…and since then? What’ve you done? Sashayed your way around the back, makin’ people angry? Sure. That’s what happens when you tell people what to do. I mean, I had pretty strict parents, but even I didn’t become the equivalent of Stepford Wife.
But you are. You stand on your laurels and your morals and you tell all of us that we’re not doin’ so great. But you…you faced Bea Barnhart, and my good friend Kayla told me when I talked to her on the phone last night that that’s almost as bad as getting herpes.”
I leaned forward, widening my eyes.
“Herpes, Miss Manners. Herpes. But not only did you face her, you lost. Little ol’ Bea, you lost to her! I dunno how, because Bea is like…the gatekeeper that you can get past, but you did. You’re zero and one and you wanna spout off how good you are? Like?”
I raised my hand and shook my head, appearing to be flabbergasted.
“REALLY?!”
I went back to crossing my arms and planted my feet a bit harder into the ground.
“Here’s the thing, Lady Mannerly, I don’t really care what you think of me, or who ya are. You’re a rock in my path and kinda like a thorn in my side, being all judgemental and stuff. I really don’t like judgemental people, and you’re fitting the bill perfectly. I don’t get where you get off talkin’ about people’s families and stuff when you got abused by yours, but here’s the thing. Ya listenin’? Kay. Good.
I get the opportunity to do great things in front of that crowd and I promise you that tonight, you’re gonna regret any of the words you have to say about me. I am a butterfly because I move fast and I fly just as hard. I am a Wolfcub because I am a fledgling rookie with promise and a bite that is just as bad as my bark. I don’t really care if you’re here to Taylor Swift Anti-Hero yourself, but let’s be absolutely honest.
You got a bad bark and nothin’ to stand on, and after Climax Control 384 in Henderson, it’s gonna be even less of way to grr-animal yourself around. Cuz I’ma beat ya. I’ma beat ya and move up to facing Bea Barnhart and maybe like…my friends and have great matches while you suffer in your angry, old lady bitterness. The fifties are callin’, Mannnnnnnnnnerrrrsssssss. You’re gonna wish you’re livin’ in that era when I’m done with ya.
I’ll see ya soon, new frenemy! And let’s have a great match at your expense? Kay? Kay!”
I held up a peace sign and grinned, and then I heard the camera shut off.
“Absolute puke,” Johanna mutters, leaning her head back.
“Thanks!” I grin. “I was trying to make it absolutely full of unicorn sparkles.”
“You succeeded,” Finn muttered, rubbing his head. “While also sounding forced as hell. We’ll work on that, Mommy Reynolds.”
I could handle their jeers. Because I knew they only had the best in mind for me. “Okay!” I grinned and looked at Aiden. And all he did was smile at me with the biggest smile he had. He knew I was playing it up. He knew I wanted people to think I was stupid.
It would be easier to surprise them down the road.
That was the plan.
