2.Naive
The one who laughs last….
When i last left you people I had revealed the first time I knew something was wrong. The first vivid memory I had of a realization that my father was not a good man. I was 5 turning 6. I was just a child and while I had other memories before that they were happy ones. Looked through the eyes of a child who had not yet lost her innocence. Rose tinted glasses as it were. At that age you can’t fully comprehend the things in front of you. And as I continue my story I want to make one thing perfectly clear to every single one of you.
I am not looking for pity.
I am not looking to have my sins absolved because of the trials I have been through and the atrocities I was forced to endure. See I am not a product of my past. I am not a fragile little snowflake that was hurt and melted down till there was nothing left. No I am not a fucking victim. So if that is what you’re looking for, if you think this is a sob story told by someone who deep down just wants to be loved and accepted you can stop following me right now, turn your ass around and fuck right off.
As I continue this it’s to just give a glimpse of who I am. It’s too show why I am so strong and why I’m too be feared. I’m not like everyone else.Hell I explained it once before. You look at what my sister was. She felt very little. She was an unfeeling destroyer who was simple in her own creation, who was a beautiful artist. I called her the savant of violence. Me?. I absolutely feel everything. I feel sadness, happiness, pain, sorrow, guilt. I know the difference between right and wrong.
I just don’t give a shit….
My sister grew up to hate her past, to blame every single little thing on our father. She blamed the abuse on him and blamed everything that came after. Even today as she sits happy and pregnant with her new husband Amber has said many times she’s lucky to have broken what she calls “the cycle”. Remember when I told you she walked a different forked path from me?. That is what I meant. She walked a righteous path where all her mistakes weren’t her own. She never took possession of them.
You see while Amber had the talent and ability to be a brutal badass bitch she never had the drive or lack of morality. She could break someone’s skull open but she never enjoyed it. That is where she and I differ. That is why I’m perfect for Finn Whelan. . I don’t blame anyone for my mistakes. I blame myself. I own them, I admit to them. I admit to a lack of understanding when I was younger….before I knew what he did...and I remember the day I first misunderstood and made the worst mistake…
“This is a battleground
I'm caught in the crossfire
My words are weaponry
And I'm waiting patiently
You win the battle now
But I will return the fire
Cause I'd crawl on broken glass
To be the one who laughs last”
Norwich England
19 Years Ago
Mother wasn’t home. She had gone out with Jackson and taken Tasmin with her. Amber and I were left in the house alone with him. I sat on the floor of our bedroom playing as Amber now 9 years old paced back and forth across the rug. I rolled my eyes and made noises as I played. Amber looked down at me catching my annoyance but she didn’t seem to care. I had no idea why she was so nervous. The events from that cold winter's night last year had all but faded from my memory. Part of me believed it was a bad dream and that it never really happened.
Ambers actions made me re-think it and I didn’t like that. I just wanted to forget it all. I wanted to forget our father in our room touching her, her hands gripping the sheets, our mother arguing with him, Jackson being hit, our mother being hit. Amber forcing me back into bed when I had a bad feeling that something was going on. All that stayed in my head because she wouldn’t let me forget. I just wanted her to sit down….
She paced again and looked towards the door swallowing hard as she heard his footsteps. A door closed, a few minutes later we heard the sound of the toilet flush, the tap turn on and his footsteps disappear back down the hall. I didn’t care I was in my own little world but Amber?. She seemed relieved. She finally sat down next to me indian style, crossing her legs over as she stayed with one eye on the door and the other on our game. We played happily. The clock ticking down as Amber kept looking towards it.
We laughed, we had fun and then it happened. The footsteps came towards the door. Amber turned her head, the doll in her hand shaking along as her body did. The door opened and our father stood there, his arms crossed over his chest. His deep brown eyes darting back and forth between Amber and myself. He hummed and put his finger to his lips before stepping forward, his hand reached out and came to rest on my head. He lightly stroked my hair and I smiled. Amber turned pale as her eyes darted back and forth between us. Our father whispered in my ear lightly.
He was going out, he said.He would be home later. Wanted us to behave, be good, be respectful.. I was naive, he never paid much attention to me. It was always Amber. Always perfect little Amber.
She knew what it meant when he was going out. The mood in the house changed. Amber wouldn’t play with me anymore. We had to stay in our rooms, pretend we were asleep. I questioned it, wondered why Amber was so angry and sad with our father leaving. Why he would be different when he came back? I didn’t understand. I didn’t know why he was so loud, why Amber would sit up in her bed, hug her legs and cry. Our mother came home, smiled at our father as he moved passed her. The second the door closed, the second he was gone, she swallowed hard and looked defeated and fearful.
I look back now and wonder how and why I was so naive and how I couldn’t have seen what he did back then. The reason why Jackson ran away, why Amber was so protective and frightened.
The truth is harsh, the truth is painful…
But it is my truth.
Going to the Greek.
”Yes I am still employed.”
Was that sarcasm? It sounded like sarcasm. Kayla Richards, arms folded over her chest, a sneer on her face as her lip turns upwards. She seems angry, what else is new?
”I know. A shiver just went up the spine of so many of you didn’t it? See, I called my shot, I beat the hell out of Bea Barnhart, and I was up and ready to go, ready to take over SCW and the bombshells division. Then. Nothing. I didn’t get booked, no phone calls, no contracts. Nothing. I got signed and was treated like a shiny new toy for one week and then promptly forgotten. Me, Kayla fucking Richards. Treated like a nobody…”
“Do any of you understand how angry that made me? How furious I was? And then to sit there and watch Bea and her moronic husband scheme, plot and bullshit their way through a possinle title opportunity at Finn, I couldn’t just sit back anymore. And I get it, I’m not the most popular person in any lockeroom, most people hate me. Most people want me gone. But Finn isn’t one of them, and I wasn’t going to let Bill and his wife steal the Roulette title from him. So yeah I stepped in, yeah I got in the ring and blasted Bea with a knee to the face. And while I can sit here and say I did it just for Finn…well..”
“That is a little white lie.”
“I do care about Finn Whelan, and I do HATE Bill and Bea Barnhart. But, part of the reason I got involved was to remind everyone, the lockeroom, the fans, the office…EVERYONE that I was still here. That Kayla goddamn Richards is still a part of this company. And where does that leave you all hmm? Well I am still starting from the bottom and working my way up, and the evidence of that is all over my match this week. And boy do I have alot to prove and alot of damage to inflict…”
She pauses, stepping forward and unfolding her hands before stepping to the side, her hand moving up and across the room showing the beautiful apartment that does indeed belong to Finn Whelan. An apartment that, for lck of a better word, Kayla has been squatting in.
”I look around this division and so many have made the excuses about me being forgotten, saying that I have yet to make an impact, that Bea Barnhart is noone to care about, that my accomplishments have bot been respected by SCW and of course, the biggest reason they have given…the SCW Bombshells roster is so “stacked” with talent”
“Stacked…”
“Really?”
“That’s cute…”
“You all want to sit there and blow each other in a giant circle jerk and give off that karen book club coupon clipping party vibe, then go right ahead. But that isn’t the kind of person I am. Saying this division is stacked with talent is a blatant lie. This division is stacked with has beens and people living off their own faded glories. And the biggest threat in the division, that isn’t me, is a dominant former champion who would rather play at being a queen…”
“We have a pretentious gimp in a mask as the internet champion, an aging legend as the Roulette champion who only has that title because Diamond Steele and Keira Fisher played hot potato. Mixed tag titles that are, for all purposes, dead in the water. And then a Bombshells champion who seems to have the contra code for infinite opportunities tattooed somewhere that only her wife…and Mark Ward…get to see…”
“And who else do we have? Has been old hag Vargas? Who can’t be bothered to turn up to work? What about Tempest? The giant woman who gets deeper in her feels than the “chunky” emo bitch that quit? Oh but what about Mikah and Alicia Lukas? The bad asses who held the Bombshells title for years combined? Both of them living in the past and acting like they’re still relevant instead of a paif of bottle blonde airheads stomping their feet like children…”
Her voice deepens, her accent gets stronger and her hands slide into the front pockets of her tight black jeans.
”But me? I have been at the top of my game for a while now and I decided to grace SCW with my presence only to be shuffled aside, while all these undeserving morons take my spot. And I was fine with starting from the bottom, I was fine with carving a path to the “best” this division has to offer while destroying the lower names that SCW has sitting around. But to not be used? That was insulting. So that “clerical error” bullshit can get ready to be stuffed right down my opponents throat.”
“And atleast SCW gave me someone on the…lower end..of the totem pole. An opponent I can go out there and beat the shit out of just so I can remind everyone how good I am, how much of a glorious artist of violence I have always been. And in stepping into the ring and destroying the little Greek bitch I will make damn sure that It isn’t another month before SCW fans get to see me in the ring. And that, really isn’t the best news for Ariana Angelos.”
“See Ari, I can call you Ari right? Not because I want there to be some kind of false familiarity or friendship between us, I just can’t be bothered to say an extra syllable when addressing you. So Ari, how does it feel knowing you’ll be stepping in the ring with me? How does it feel knowing that you’re going to be facing the most hated woman in the company. Or, rather, the soon to be most hated.”
“You’ve started making a name for yourself haven’t you? A few wins, a few big matches and actually getting to appear o0n a supercard. Wow, amazing, impressive. Congratulations. It’s just a shame that the only time you’ve been tested was also your biggest failure. But, while you can learn alot about an opponent from their losses you learn more from their wins.
Kayla scoffs and shakes her head, her long black hair flowing down framing her face and allowing her emerald green eyes to shine.
”And with names Like Chloe Benton, Kaiju Rainbow and Char Kwan? Well, doesn’t that just send my heart running and my fight or flight response spinning?. Chloe Benton, the rookie who constantly makes herself look like a moron. The woman who can’t wrestle a way out of a paper bag. Great win there. What about Kaiju? Actually..what [about[/b] Kaiju? Has anyone seen her? Is she still employed? Or is it another clerical error?...”
“But hey then there was the win over Char Kwan. Damn Ari, that was impressive, beating one of the most delusional bitches in this company, someone who likes to count her name and her history up there with the greats while being one of the biggest jokes. That win right there was the cherry ontop of the shit cake…beautiful…”
Kayla places her fingers on her lips doing a “chefs kiss” before shaking her head and rolling her eyes.
”Your loss, it was expected, you can’t face real challenges. Your wins? Unimpressive. And the fact is you have this entire persona, an entire vision of yourself built around one thing. Heritage. In fact when SCW announced they nwere going on a Greek tour, or “Odyssey” you were so excited, because you thought it gave you the inside scoop on all of this, to make your name matter, all because we happened to be in the part of the world your family hailed from. But here’s the problem Ari, when you craft an entire persona around a culture that is long dead and buried…you look like an idiot…”
“Leonidas is dead, Themistokles is dead, Herakles is a name in a story book, Alexander the greats empire is now a separated state of modernized countries.”
“Greece is now a rotting shithole obsessed with the past and an economy that fell in the toilet.”
“And that is all you can focus on. Hell before you faced Char you mentioned how you wanted to do an “epic promo” from a gladiatorial arena…I have no ideas why since Gladiators were a roman thingl, not a greek thing, but sure we’ll go with that as an example of how unbelievably boring, bland and annoying you are. And you think you're the future of the division? Ari…are you high?...future? Of the company or division? Ari…honey…you don't have a future in this company that isn’t followed up by the word “endeavored”...”
“You are going to be my second victim, and when I’m done with you, I’ll make damn sure there is no “clerical error” when you get your release papers…”
