“It has been a while since you have stepped into the ring. Are you sure you can handle it?”There has always been something about this office that settled well with Kittie. All of her cares and worries melted away with her visits to her therapist, Dr, Tanya Liddell. Perhaps the dim mahogany motif reminds her of her father’s study. Maybe the strong aroma of roses coming from the air fresheners strategically placed around the room reminds her of the rose bushes in front of her childhood home. Or maybe it was the extra comfortable couch Kittie is sprawled out on. Any way, it is soothing her to the point that her usual guard is down.
Kittie: It’s been 4 years… I don’t even believe it. Seems like just yesterday I was celebrating my last victory for the 3WL World Championship contendership with Ny. It was the victory that was supposed to make everything better.
Kittie takes a deep breath, feeling the anger start to surface. She looks over across to a chair where a slender brunette sits, tapping her pen lightly against her notepad. Her hair is tucked neatly up in a bun, and her glasses reminiscent of a secretly sexy librarian. Sensing this tension surfacing, she extends her hand out toward Kittie.
Dr. Liddell: Katalya, you know that you are in a safe place right now, and letting out your anger would not be a bad thing. It is the best way to dig down to the deeper issue here. Don’t you agree?
The tone of her voice sounds very soothing, but also very forced. Leave it to Kittie to pick up on this.
Kittie: Do I look like a fricken five year old Doctor? Because I don’t think I do, and I would appreciate it if you would treat me like an adult.
Dr. Liddell smirks with a sense of satisfaction as she adjusts herself in her seat, crossing her left leg over her right, showing off her perfectly toned legs covered in black nylons.
Dr. Liddell Good, Kittie. Let it out. It’s only natural to hide your true feelings with anger, and to get to the root, you need to shed this anger. That is why I suggested wrestling again.
Kittie: Well, as I was saying, that victory was supposed to make everything better. I was supposed to go on and fight the champion to prove to myself that all of the scamming, all of the screwjobs I have gone through in my wrestling career were all in my head… Well, they weren’t. The place closed down before I even had a chance to wear that gold. And their reunion show? What a load of shit. I didn’t even get to face the champion, some washed up hag got to… And Ny and I were stripped of our Tag Team Championships for no reason whatsoever. *angry chuckle* And you tried to label me as a paranoid schizophrenic, but I proved you wrong…
Dr Liddell takes notes, scribbling across the paper while still looking over at Kittie. Almost a sort of taunting look is what meets her gaze. Kittie leans up from her spot on the couch, letting her long hair drape down her back freely. She adjusts her black leather studded bracelet as her blue eyes turn aflame.
Kittie: You wanted to put me on those damned medications to turn me into a robot. A manufactured bimbo like any of those 3WL hookers, or the GCW skanks, or the GXW whores!
Dr Liddell: I still maintain that you use one experience in one organization to justify your delusions, Kittie. I never said you were schizophrenic either. Haven’t we talked about putting words in other people’s mouths?
As if Kittie doesn’t even hear Dr Liddell, she stands up from the couch and begins to frantically pace.
Kittie: I will tell you this. Having to face Misty is going to be a challenge, because she is a bitch, the same way I am. It defies the laws of nature, but we get along. We see eye to eye, and we respect each other. She deserved to be a 3 time champion. She deserved the glory, unlike that….
Kittie kicks over an end table with a lamp on it, causing it to crash to the ground. The sudden outburst should affect Dr. Liddell, but it doesn’t. She just scribbles faster on her notepad and then lifts her glasses up to further inspect the rapid, shallow, angry breaths of Kittie.
Dr. Liddell: That’s very good, Kittie. I will bill you for the lamp, but it’s healthy to work through your aggressions! We need to see more of that!
Kittie:… that BITCHMUFFIN Michelle Andretti!! She comes in and runs the place. She couldn’t wrestle her way out of a paper bag!
Dr Liddell: Let me ask you this… Are you mad at her, or are you really just disappointed in your performance?
Kittie is brought back to this dimension at these words. She turns to her therapist with an angry glare on her face, until the soothing environment comes back to calm her down. She plops down on the couch the way a 3 year old pouting would, crossing her arms over her chest. However, her eyes lower in dismay, avoiding the doctors stare.
Kittie: My performances were top notch since re-entering GXW. Nothing less than stellar.
Dr Liddell: Your problem is that you think you deserve recognition, simply because all of the other ladies are getting it. You admitted to me that when you were a manager, you wanted to get in the ring. That was all you talked about for a year, that you could do what the other ladies did, only better. Then, once you stepped into the ring, you felt you deserved a win before the bell even rang.
Kittie glares up through the long strands of hair trickling down her face, biting her bottom lip in a mixture of guilt and denial.
Dr. Liddell: Once you won a match, you felt you deserved a championship. You have ambition, but you desire instant gratification. You are no better than your opponents for the opening show. You are to rage what Fantasia is to lust.
Kittie: Don’t you dare even compare me to that… tramp.
Dr Liddell takes note of Kittie’s words with the slightest of smirks, stopping what she is writing to gaze at Kittie in her fragile, childlike state.
Dr. Liddell: Lust is also a yearning for instant gratification through sexual experiences. If you think about it, you really are the same as Fantasia. She seeks out to satisfy her most carnal urges of passion and fury. You seek out to satisfy your most carnal desires of passion and fury. So, to compare you to Fantasia is really not an opinion, but a solid fact. There is a void within you both that aches to be filled through very primal interactions with other humans. Perhaps even similar reasons. Maybe she also has abandonment issues? There is a wanton need to satisfy the desires of others around you. Your methods might be different, but your passion comes from similar seeds planted in your brains.
Dr. Liddell watches Kittie while she speaks to her, noting that Kittie is now rocking back and forth, whispering to herself as she does. She clasps her hands over the notebook, as if to hopefully give off the impression that she is a friend with a sympathetic shoulder instead of a therapist making ungodly amounts of money to be there.
Dr. Liddell: Go on. Externalize your feelings. Remember, safe environment here.
Kittie continues to rock and whisper, but she soon slows down and opens her eyes once more. Eventually she stops, thinking for a moment.
Kittie: Unlike Fantasia, I don’t need to rely on my T&A to distract and reel the fans in. I don’t need anyone on my side to get the job done. My track record might not show it, but I get results. I train and work out six days a week. I perfect myself, and prepare myself for this. I obsess about winning, and since I have fully dedicated myself to this sport, I have gotten countless wins, and not with cheap tactics and illusions. I do it with pure will.
Dr Liddell: You have never faced Fantasia before. How do you know what to expect? I don’t think you have even been in the same building as her.
Kittie brushes her hair out of her face, making herself comfortable on the couch once more. She lays back, closing her eyes, taking deep, calming breaths.
Kittie: I don’t honestly know. I hear she has an impressive record, but I haven’t seen any of it. As if she has been out of the picture for too long. There is bound to be some ring rust that needs to be shaken off. I can’t count on it, but I would bet money on that.
Dr Liddell pauses, waiting for more before she continues on.
Dr. Liddell: I’m glad to hear that you have been sticking to your regimen of diet and exercise. I really feel like this is the proper outlet for your rage issues. It is like making the best of a bad situation, because you are still young, and you are in peak physical condition. Instead of wasting that, you are using it as a coping tool. It’s very admirable, and I applaud you.
With a sincere clap of the hands, Dr. Liddell notices a smile forming on Kittie’s face. This smile was not one of the desired pride, but one that secretly begged the question, “Is this chick serious?”
Dr. Liddell: Now, I want to work very intensively with your buried issues over the course of the next few months. Once we have peeled back a few layers of anger, maybe we can get down to the real issue at hand and begin working on that so your anger control issues might clear themselves right up. I will need to increase our visits to twice a week. Are you okay with this?
Kittie softly mumbles a “Yeah…” before Dr. Liddell looks to the clock on her wall.
Dr. Liddell: I know this match is important to you. Before we move on, is there anything else you would like to talk about? Maybe your feelings on going up against a good friend of yours? How does that make you feel?
Kittie opens her eyes to stare up at the white ceiling. She thinks about the question for a moment, ignoring the cliché, and she sighs.
Kittie: I really don’t know how it makes me feel. We aren’t best friends. There is a history there, some good and some not so good. But, in our off time, we have started mending those differences, and I think that we are better.
Dr. Liddell: But, I am interested in hearing how you feel about fighting a friend in a hardcore wrestling match, with weapons strewn about.
Kittie pauses once more, as if the thought of fighting her friend with weapons involved has not crossed her mind.
Kittie: I didn’t even realize it was Hardcore Rules. Misty is a mom now, and I couldn’t even begin to think what I would do if I rehabilitated her on account of her daughter. I know her, and she won’t do anything too crazy because of that. But, she won’t let up. I’m most afraid of her in this match, honestly. I have seen what she can do, especially with a weapon in the mix. She and I will do a lot of things for the win. She has so much to lose, and I only have room to gain. She has the advantage there.
Dr. Liddell: Do you feel this way because of your long-time friendship and career affiliation with her boyfriend, Spike Staggs?
Kittie: Yes, mostly. He has been there for me through a lot since I first joined this business, and because of that is why Misty and I became good friends. His son calls me Aunt Kittie.
Kittie straightens herself out and gets back to business quickly.
Kittie: I have been wrestling longer than Misty, I haven’t enjoyed the success that Misty has, but this is a new start. I have no doubt in my mind that Misty will pull out all the stops to put on a good show, just as sure as I will. If all else, the three of us could steal the night. All I know is that I will respect my friendship with Misty, I will play one hundred and ten percent fair, but I will not hold back. Hopefully that is enough to get the first win of the Women’s Division. Maybe that will fulfill my carnal desires?
Dr. Liddell: Yes, quite possibly. And, if not, it would be a great start. Now, in your personal life, have you began to heal from your break up with Nyako? Have you given any thought to where you would like to go from here?
Kittie gets restless at this question, more so than the questions about wrestling.
Kittie: I never even considered women before Nyako. We had a special bond in the beginning, and I’m just not sure that feeling would ever come back with another woman. I’m just moving on, continuing as I did before her. I don’t really know what else to say Doc.
Dr. Liddell: That is a big step from last week. I’m proud of you. Now, if we could only get to the root of your obsession with former wrestler and crush, Desperado…
Kittie’s eyes widen, and she instantly leans up from her laying position. She begins huffing and puffing, trying her hardest not to over react.
Kittie: Did… you just… say… Dessss… purrrrr… AHHHHHHHHHHDO!?
Kittie grabs the opposing lamp and throws it against the wall, clinching her fists together, trying hard to maintain what composure she might still salvage.
Dr. Liddell: Okay, that’s number two. I needed new ones anyway…
Kittie stands up abruptly and quickly walks to the door which she shoves open, and quickly disappears through. Dr. Liddell covers her mouth to try hiding her snickering as she walks over to the door to close it. Once she knows Kittie is out of hearing range, she lets herself go a little, enjoying a hearty chuckle. Walking over to her desk with her notepad, she settles in at her computer to enter her data. Giving herself a brief pause, she presses the console on her desk.
Dr. Liddell: Rhonda, please send in maintenance. My meeting with Katalya ended early again this week. Broken glass clean up. Thanks…
After just moments, a voice emerges from the console.
Rhonda: Yes Dr. Liddell. Also, you have a call holding on line 3, should I send it through. He said it was important, but would not give his name.
Dr. Liddell: Yes, please do.
Typing away at her computer, she hears the phone ring, and picks up the receiver. Taking a deep breath, she does her best to regain her own composure.
Dr. Liddell: This is Dr. Tanya Liddell… Ahhh, yes. Our session just let out a few minutes early. It was… interesting as always…. The sessions have been more and more about wrestling each week. We might have had two or three minutes of personal discussion…. Yes, she is motivated…. I know you have a lot riding on her… Yes… Yes…. Um, yes. I know you aren’t wasting your money on these sessions for nothing. We have made progress, but I have already said too much… Look, all I can tell you is this. She is more motivated than ever, and you have me to thank for that. I have fixed what needed to be fixed, and broken what needs to be broken in order to make this work. Trust me.
Still typing away during her phone conversation, she nods her head along with the person on the other line. Finally irritated, she stops typing, turns in her chair to face the base of the phone, and she rests the palms of her hands flat on her desk.
Dr. Liddell: No, she doesn’t suspect a thing. I know for a fact she doesn’t, because she would say something. She suffers from paranoid delusions, and she still doesn’t see it… Yeah, it’s kind of my job to read between the lines. So, unless you want to discuss compensation for my damn lamps she broke, then there is nothing more here for us to discuss…. Mmmhmm. You got it…
Upon hanging the receiver up, she shakes her head with a sort of irritated smile. She goes back to quickly typing as the scene fades out to black.
