Getting your blood pumping
Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal City, California
Halloween, Alexandra’s favorite time of the year. One of her favorite things to do, Halloween Horror Nights, it promises thrills, chills and a chance to get her blood pumping. This year however was different, she invited LJ Kasey, her brother Damien and his wife her bestie Mika to join her. Normally she went alone every year before the big halloween party at her old estate. However, now that she lived in Las Vegas, she was sure things would change. For now, she would enjoy her time with some of her favorite people. Her daughter had opted to hang out with some friends in the park, which Alexandra agreed to.
Fog rolled over the entrance gates of Universal Studios Hollywood like a living thing. Lights pulsed red and violet against the haze, and the air buzzed with chainsaws, laughter, and the occasional, genuine scream that sliced through the music.
Alexandra Calaway stood just beyond the archway, her dark halloween horror nights themed jacket buttoned tight against the slight chill. The air smelled faintly of kettle corn and fog juice. Beside her, LJ adjusted the hood of his Camp Crystal Lake sweatshirt, the flicker of his phone screen lighting his grin.
“Are you filming everything again?” she asked.
“Evidence,” he said. “In case I die in there.”
Behind them, Damien and Mika emerged through the crowd, arm in arm, drinks in one hand. Mika’s skull-shaped cup glowed neon green; Damien had a churro in each hand and a look of amused caution.
“This is already chaos,” Mika said, taking a long sip. “We haven’t even entered a maze yet.”
“That’s the fun,” Damien said. “Right before the fear hits. Come on, you and Alexandra have been doing this spooky shit long before you drug me into it all.”
“Speak for yourself,” Alexandra murmured, scanning the fog-drenched midway. “Okay. We start with the Jason Universe house. It’s new. It’s brutal. We go hard early.”
LJ’s eyebrows lifted. “Straight to the machete guy? No warm-up?”
“You’ll thank me later.” He didn’t look convinced.
“Anything you want, Angel.” Truthfully LJ needed this break to not think about Law School or his upcoming match, at least for the time they were here.
The group walked towards the line and conversed before too long it was their turn. The moment they stepped inside, the air changed. It was cooler, heavy with the smell of wet wood and moss. The path wound through a mocked up summer camp, rotting cabins, flickering lanterns, the faint rasp of crickets. Water dripped from somewhere unseen.
A scream cut through the stillness, far too close for comfort.
Then Jason Voorhees appeared. Massive, sudden, and silent, machete glinting under the strobe. LJ swore and ducked; Alexandra grabbed his arm, laughing breathlessly. Behind them, Mika shrieked and shoved Damien forward as a second Jason clone stepped from the fog, blood on his mask. They bolted through the cabin corridor, slamming out into open air and the distant roar of the crowd beyond.
LJ was laughing now, wide-eyed and exhilarated. “That really was something, okay, okay, that was actually insane.”
“You screamed first,” Alexandra teased.
“I’ll take that L,” he said, catching his breath. “But it was worth it.”
“Hopefully you are up for what’s next, because I know I’m not.” Mika chimed in, burying her face against Damien’s chest. “Fucking Clowns.”
They crossed into the next section of the park, where smoke and neon painted everything in carnival colors. The Chainsaw Clownz scare zone was bedlam — broken rides spinning lazily under strobe lights, metal barrels burning blue flames, laughter from unseen corners. A clown with a spark-spraying chainsaw lunged, inches from LJ’s legs. He jumped three feet back, clutching Alexandra’s hand.
Mika cackled. “I swear they can smell fear.”
Damien leaned close to her ear. “You first next time.”
She shot him a look. “Not a chance. I don’t do fucking clowns.”
The line for Five Nights at Freddy’s wound through dark hallways, walls plastered with torn pizza posters and flickering monitors. Inside, the air smelled of dust and grease. The set hummed with mechanical life. The animatronics were too real. Freddy’s head turned with a grinding sound. Bonnie’s eyes flashed red. Somewhere, a child’s laughter played on a loop. Alexandra’s pulse quickened. LJ, usually unflappable, was pressed tight against her side, phone forgotten in his pocket. A spotlight flickered. Foxy the Pirate lunged from behind a door, shrieking static. The group bolted through the next hallway, laughing, yelling, unable to tell if they were terrified or delighted.
When they stumbled out into the open again, Alexandra doubled over, laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes. “That was ridiculous. But I fucking loved it.”
“Never trusting a pizza place again,” LJ said, grinning.
“Keep that attitude up and she’ll make you go to Chuck E. Cheese.” Damien laughed.
“Oh HELL no.. that mouse scares me.” Alexandra laughed. “Reminds me too much of my opponent Crystal.”
The Terrifier house was a different breed of fear. The entrance was a cracked circus tent streaked with a red viscous liquid that smelled faintly metallic. Inside, the world was drenched in crimson. Mirrors fractured faces, laughter echoed, and the infamous Art the Clown appeared and vanished in flashes of strobe light. Mika screamed, Damien laughed, and Alexandra shoved LJ forward as the clown stepped out from behind a curtain, tilting his head with eerie calm. They ran for the exit, stumbling into the night with the sound of distorted carnival music chasing them.
“Okay,” Damien gasped. “That one actually got me.”
“Fucking clowns.. I want to get away from here.” A clown came near her and she drew back to prepare to punch it.
“Same,” Alexandra said, shaking her hands out. “Too much red.”
LJ exhaled. “Too much everything.”
They needed a breather, so they went into Poltergeist. It was quieter but somehow worse.
Suburban living rooms gone wrong. Television static filling the air. Furniture that moved when you weren’t looking.
“Don’t blink,” Mika whispered.
A child’s voice echoed from the next room. Then a chair slid across the carpet, causing Alexandra to shriek. There were no strings visible. LJ grabbed Alexandra’s hand. She felt his pulse racing against hers, and she squeezed back until the lights flickered off, plunging them into blackness. When they finally escaped into the cool air again, none of them spoke for a moment. Just the sounds of the park, the music, screams, laughter, washing over them. A brea before the long nights to come.
Later, they boarded the Terror Tram. The old movie sets stretched ahead like a ghost town under floodlights. As they walked through the backlot, scenes from M3GAN, The Black Phone, and The Exorcist: Believer came alive around them, possessed dolls dancing, masked figures whispering, phones ringing in the dark with no one on the other end.
Mika and Damien stayed close, half laughing, half holding their breath. LJ’s arm was looped around Alexandra’s shoulders, the weight of it grounding her. A scare actor dressed as M3GAN tilted her head unnaturally and whispered, “Smile for me.” Alexandra nearly did. They boarded the tram again, adrenaline still thrumming, the ride rumbling back through the fog.
Once the screams were over it was time to relax and they ended up at a snack cart near the exit, paper trays of churros and butterbeer between them. The night had cooled. The fog hung heavier now, turning the lights above them into soft halos.
“That was,” LJ started, shaking his head. “I don’t even have words.”
“Perfect,” Alexandra said. “Terrifying, exhausting, perfect.”
Mika stretched her arms. “I screamed enough for a lifetime.”
Damien smiled, brushing powdered sugar from his shirt. “We survived Jason, Freddy, Art the Clown, and demons. I’d call that a success.”
They fell quiet for a moment, the night breathing around them. The park was still alive, screams in the distance, bass from a stage show vibrating faintly underfoot. Alexandra glanced at LJ, who was watching her instead of his phone for once. His grin was smaller now, softer. She reached for his hand.
“Ready for one last scare zone?” she asked.
He groaned. “You’re insatiable.”
“Always.” Alexandra gave a laugh.
“Anything for you Angel.” LJ leaned down and kissed Alexandra, in front of her family.
Mika laughed and Damien stood, offering his hand to her. Together, the four of them disappeared once more into the fog and sound, the laughter and the screams blending into something like joy.
The Hard Truth
Undisclosed Location
Santa Clara, California
Alexandra found herself thinking about everything that had led her to this, another chance to get her hands on Gold. It’s true, she had been focused on everything except that, but now that her life was calming down once again, she knew she could focus, there was no crime there, nothing to worry about. Yes, she was concerned that someone would try to pull the trigger on Vincent's offer on Alexandra’s head. For now though, she could only focus on what was in front of her currently, that being Crystal Caldwell. Again, she was facing off against a woman she had won over repeatedly. And there was always the possibility that Mercedes Vargas would get involved to help her “client” win. The camera clicked on and she began to speak.
“Crystal, you and I have done this song and dance before. It’s getting to the point where I am seeing you more and more every week. Great, that’s good. When you actually can do something on your own. Every week, I see you talk about how you are willing to step on whoever you can to get ahead. Including your own wife. So that proves you are nothing more than another narcissistic bitch. But honestly, I saw that in you LONG before your poor wife became the victim of your own bullshit.”
She took a deep breath. Crystal really got under her fingernails. She knew if she let her get too deeply under her skin, that everything could come crashing down around her. She wouldn’t allow that to happen.
“Here we are in California, Hollywood land. The place where dreams are made and broken. Okay big shot, isn’t this the land of the stars? So tell me Crystal, if you are such a big name and the woman who should be at the top of the food chain here in Sin City Wrestling, why is it that every time a new champion is crowned, it’s not your name that’s called? Huh? What’s with that babydoll? Look at what I’ve accomplished in my time here, look at the nominations, whose name is there more than yours? Oh wait, that’s right, it’s mine. You aren’t the name you seem to think you are. You are letting people like Mercedes fill your head with bullshit. I can’t wait until she gets tired of her back hurting from carrying you to victory and she drops you on your head.”
She gave a moment to let that sink in. The thought that Mercedes could screw Crystal over made her smile. Hell, even Harper could screw Mercedes this time around, after all, she had made quite a stir against Harper lately.
“You know, you had my attention last week, all that talk about Harper. I’ve lost to Harper, I find no shame in that. You had to have help to beat her. Between the way you trashed Harper, get Mercedes help to win matches and betrayed your wife for a spot at the glory is, well, it’s utter fucking bullshit. But go ahead darling, step on everyone you need to and you’ll find out that it’s cold at the top. The past two shows, I’ve done what I’ve always done, protected the people who are important to me. That pissed off Vincent Lyons, someone who is trying to do the same thing you do, step on people to get to the top. I stood up to him, just like I will you.”
Another deep breath and Alexandra’s mind continued to swirl at the thoughts of what she was walking into. A proverbial Lions Den, where either woman who will be out there, could be the one to answer Vincent's call.
“And it’s very possible you could attempt to be the one to collect the bounty on my head. But remember just what it’s been like in the ring with me every single time. If you think that I’m going to allow you to steal my shot to High Stakes you are dumber than you look. I don’t care if I have to spill every bit of your blood or my own, I will. That shot is mine. And when it comes down to next week, I’ll fight like I always do. Everything has been building up to this moment, since I lost the Bombshell Roulette Title, every shot I’ve taken and lost, the nights I’ve sat up telling myself I’d get another chance, that I could get back on track. It brought me here. The only thing I have left to do now is get through you. And I will. Just like Victoria Lyons has always been my achilles heel, I’m yours. Your shot ends here.”
With that Alexandra shook her head and took a deep breath, time to wrap this up and get back for some rest and relaxation, before she had to prove her words by punching this bitch in the face.
“Crystal, bring your best, hell bring Mercedes. I can’t wait to see what chaos you two will attempt to use on me. I can’t wait to see just how badly Harper makes you pay for what you have done to her. And when the match is over and you lay down on the mat, looking up at the lights, you’ll hear the name Alexandra Calaway is your winner and advancing for a chance at World Bombshell Championship. Then I can get my chance to once again face Victoria and dash her chances of advancing to the top.”
She turns away from the camera and then turns back to say one last phrase.
“Welcome to Primetime BITCH, see you in Hell.”
With a chuckle she fades into the darkness and fog.
