“Do not lose hope. Please believe that there are a thousand beautiful things waiting for you. Sunshine comes to all who feel the rain.” - R.M. Drake
I am beginning to think 2020 is just one of these big long drawn out horrible jokes. Except, I’m not fucking laughing....AT ALL!
Let’s flashback shall we?
In the last 2 weeks I have lost Mal and I a shot at the Mixed Tag Champions, I went thru a mental meltdown for the first time ever in my career, because I just couldn’t shake that something was very very wrong, I backed out of a match that I was very much looking forward too AND how right I was because that lead to one of my best friends being taken and is still missing. Nothing is worse than feeling completely helpless.
Call me Queen Elizabeth II because I am not amused.
~*~*~Future Sisters~*~*~
Las Vegas...cause where the fuck else would she be?
10am
Scene opens up on the patio deck of the hotel room where we see Bella Madison sitting in a wood chair. Her hair is in a messy bun, no makeup...looking like she hasn’t slept in days. In front of her, on a table sits a book and a travel mug filled with coffee. This book though is a beautiful leather bound book with a lot of the pages filled with handwritten scribbles. She may be one of the few left in the world to truly write her own thoughts on paper instead of taking to social media like many others.
“I cannot believe you are still using those!” a female voice chimes in. One with an Irish accent.
Bella looks up and slightly smiles as she sees Alanah O’Connell standing there, “Still one of the best gifts I ever got. I actually should tell you this is book 3. I went out and found an exact copy and bought a couple more.” Bella motions Alanah to have a seat, Alanah is looking a bit disheveled herself, after all....Mattie is her friend too. “I figured coming out here, getting some fresh air was better than sitting in that hotel room with Mal and still feeling guilty as hell for what happened at Blaze of Glory.”
“Still kicking yourself for that?” Alanah says as she sits down, sitting her cup on the table as well.
Bella shrugs slightly, “Not the only thing but I can’t help it. We were so damn close and once again, I tripped up at the finish line like the running gag that I am.”
Alanah just sighs, “Bella, you can’t be serious...”
“Oh but I am...’Lanah it is just....I look at you, and Jack, and Mal, and Candy, and Mack and I see all this amazing talent that hard work and sacrifice has done. I feel like I’m just left holding the bag and disappointing the ones that talk me up.”
“Uh huh...hold up....” Alanah reaches across the table and grabs her coffee cup and sniffs it, “Well at least it’s not Irish Coffee, maybe it’s just the lack of sleep we all have been getting since Demons Run but you need to stop and hear yourself talking right now. A year ago, you were ready to conquer the world...you practically dared Levi Russow, of all people, to face you and call you a ‘whore’ to your face. Since then you have faced your monsters, you are impressing a lot of people...”
“Impressing and winning are two very different things in this world of ours.” Bella interrupts, snatching her mug back from Alanah.
“That may be, but you can’t tell me that after one loss that you and Mal are just giving up just like that on the idea of being a Mixed Tag team?” Alanah looks around for a moment, “In fact if I know my brother like I’m sure I do, he’s not going to let you give up on this. It’s a trip at the line...but I’ll give you a line that I got from a very knowledgeable woman when I first faced for the United Title in APEX and didn’t win, “In this business, it’s not a sprint...””
“....”It’s a marathon.”” Bella smirks and just shakes her head, “My mother, she does have a way.”
Alanah reaches out and gives her friend’s hand a squeeze “Exactly, and if we can all learn anything from what is going on with Mattie’s disappearance and what you have been dealing with is that this is just a moment in the marathon where you need to gather what you have done and realize that you will get there and the victory in that moment with Malachi or in singles is going to be worth ALL of this.”
Bella stares at her future sister-in-law’s hand holding hers for a moment, “Maybe Jack’s right...maybe I am selfish.”
“Nah, there’s just a lot going on in the world and after what I witnessed with you, you are feeling every bit of this. It’s hard not too honestly.”
“I still have a stack of books in the room that you guys dropped off when you got to Vegas....I can’t even bring myself to look through them.” Bella says sitting back, “I can’t til she’s safe...”
That sparks something in Alanah and she practically jumps from it, “...OH, that reminds me....I need to tell you something....” she says practically whispering.
“Why are you whispering?” Bella says laughing.
“Cause...it’s a secret.” Bella leans it but before Alanah gets another word out Jack Russow comes through the doors to the patio. “Dang it...” she whispers, “Hey honey!”
“There you are. Been looking all over the place for you.” Jack says almost relieved to see the girls safe.
“Just out here talking to Bella. Sorry, I should have messaged you to let you know where I was.” Alanah said as she hopped up and gave Jack a hug.
“Well we just don’t want you girls to be by yourselves during this. Mal was looking for you too.” Jack said almost solidly as he looked down at Bella’s book which she immediately closed up.
“Right...I guess I should get back to the room and try and get some more sleep...only been up since 3am.” Bella unravels her legs and grabs everything and smiles at Alanah, “Thanks for the talk Alanah, I’ll see you guys later.”
As Bella leaves Jack and Alanah, “I really wish you two would just solve your problems already.”
Jack just sighs, “And I wish you wouldn’t leave my sight.”
~*~*~Sometimes What You Need Is A Long Look In the Mirror~*~*~
We see Bella back in the room, all by herself. Malachi must have taken Luka for a walk or she escaped again but either way Bella finds herself alone in the room. She just sighs and drops her items down on the table and plops on the couch. She leans back and covers her face with her arms.
“I cannot even begin to tell you the hell that is going through right now. I’ve barely slept, this whole situation with Mattie...how I feel about myself after Blaze of Glory....I have never in my life felt so lost in what I am doing. BUT!” And with that she raises her arm up to make a point, “What I do know is that I am pissed off at myself because I KNOW deep down that I am better than my situation.”
Bella sits up and looks across the room at a mirror and tilts her head to the side for a moment as she stands up from the couch, “What did you learn Bella? What did you learn from the last couple weeks? You learned that you aren’t perfect. You learned that you still have a long way to go. And you are pissed the fuck off because what you need to do now is welcome in the new blood of SCW in the form of Myra Rivers.”
Bella makes her way over to the mirror and stares at it, “See...here’s the thing that I’m going to point out. Bless whoever writes up these match lead ins. Trying to say Myra has this advantage of study...the problem is with that, with EVERYTHING that I have been going through lately, all that tape study in the world doesn’t mean a fucking thing. Why? Because I am feeling this change within myself. I have put up with a lot lately, most would let it take them into this darkness. I gotta be selfish because I have let things happen and I have felt handcuffed to not be able to fix them...but not anymore.”
“No more will you see me give my opponent the benefit of the doubt. No more will I let people think they have the answers to getting to me. Myra, welcome to Sin City...but boy, oh boy did you pick one HELL of a time to take me on in that ring.” Bella brings up her finger and shakes it, “Because now, I have no issues in doing what I need to do. I can be the best of friends but this...this is something different. I don’t know if it’s just me waking up to a lot of things but I know this, veteran of the ring or newb to the scene, I will make sure that come hell or high water I finally get what I want....that all the blood, all the sweat and all the tears will finally start paying off for not just myself but for Malachi.”
Before Bella can get another word out the door opens and we see Malachi enter with Luka, “Hey, there you are. Everything ok?”
Bella smiles and walks over to her gorgeous fiance and gives him a kiss, “Better than they were.”
Time to give whatever karma I pissed off a swift kick in the balls.
