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Sam Marlowe walked out of the building and towards her car parked near the entrance. With her head down and duffle held over her shoulder, her demeanor was the total opposite of her usual bubbly self. Still dressed in her ring clothes and wrestling boots with a hoodie thrown over her shoulders, she didn’t look anything like the champion of a wrestling company let alone THE bombshell champion of Sin City wrestling.
As she reached the car, she looks up to spy a figure sitting on the hood, leaning back on her elbows as her red curls fall over her shoulders. Cyn Marlowe smiled at her little sister in a cat that ate the canary look she wears so well. Sam brushes past to get to the trunk of the car as Cyn just lets her go.
“Soooo Sammi, how did it go tonight?” calls out Cyn as she raises one hand holding a cell phone. If you looked closely at it, the logo of SCW could be seen behind dark script. Cyn’s catlike smirk widens as Sam mutters something from behind the open trunk. “What was that Sammi? Did you say something?”
“I said Cyn that I lost tonight, I got eliminated from the Blast from the Past,” Sam says in a dead voice that only makes Cyn roll her eyes as she grins before the look is erased by one of patently false concern. “Isn’t that what you want to hear?” adds Sam as she slams the trunk, a spurt of defiance coming from the woman.
“You know Sammiwich, I don’t like to hear things like that,” begins Cyn in a soothing tone as she slides down the hood, the barest screech of metal along metal heard as Cyn adds a long thin scratch to the car. She stands and motions for Sam to join her. The younger Marlowe slams the trunk closed and walks along the side of the car and into the hug that Cyn is offering. “Awww Sammiwich, you know I only want what’s best for you right? And I believe that I tried to offer my advice,” adds Cyn before turns Sam towards the car door and pats her on the back. “I believe the words are I told you so,” she adds from behind Sam’s back as Sam puts her key in the car lock and unlocks the door.
Sam freezes for a moment, tensing under the hands of her sister. “It wasn’t like that Cyn,” she says as her head turns slightly. “I did my best and…”
Cyn stops her there with a well-placed manicured finger over her lips as she leans against the car. “I may have been ejected out of the building but Sammi, I was still watching the show. Your match just ended and here you are leaving the arena, tucking your tail between your legs and running away just like you always end up doing. How predictable.”
Sam’s lips compress in a line as she gives her sister a hard stare. “I’m not leaving Cyn, I just needed to get out and take some time for me,” Sam states. “I wanted to play some music and then get my equilibrium back before I went back inside.”
Cyn nods sagely as she grips her sister’s arm and straightens up. “I know Sammi I know. You will go back in there, take the blame for the loss and try to make sure everyone is taken care of. And well you should, after all it was because of you that Rage isn’t getting his shot,” Cyn taunts in a voice that sounds sympathetic to Sam’s partner. “It’s not like Rage would blame you Sammi but seeing it was the fact that you were distracting the referee that allowed Spike and Lucy to pull out the win and cost Rage his title shot against J2H...”
Sam turns to look over her car, eyes slightly glazed as she processes the comment. Cyn herself fights to keep the sympathetic look on her face as she watches the play of emotions cross her sister’s face at her barbs. “And you, I am sure that all your friends backstage were there to offer you their sympathy and tell you that it wasn’t your fault. I imagine Ben would offer you a hug because you would have had that woe is me look of Bambi’s mother for being eliminated,” she adds almost matter of factly.
“Ben was probably busy getting ready for his match that was coming up next,” says Sam in a distant voice.
“Oh yes, too busy for a friend I am sure,” taunts Cyn. “Right now he is in the ring fighting for the heavyweight championship isn’t he?”
“Yes he is,” says Sam with a ghost of a smile.
“And here you are only thinking of yourself and getting a bit of time for YOU,” Cyn comments. She peeks at her sister to see if the barb had hit home. “You know I am right Sam but if you feel that you NEED this, who am I to stop you?” Sighing almost disheartenedly, Cyn moves back from the car and around the door that Sam has managed to swing open. “I will leave you alone to your thoughts Sammiwich. Besides I don’t want to be around once the show is over just in case that man Underwood takes it in his head to have me arrested.” With that parting shot, Cyn backs away, turning and heading towards another area of the parking lot. Once she thinks she is far enough away, she turns back to see Sam slide into the car, tossing her cellphone into the passenger seat. With a soft roar, the engine is brought to life and Sam pulls out of the parking spot. Cyn’s smile widens as the green car pulls out of the lot and into the street only to disappear around the corner. Continuing to walk along the pavement, Cyn purses her lips and begins to whistle.
Behind the wheel of the Chevy, Sam doesn’t look back as she drives along the street. The prismatic rainbows of unshed tears tease at the edge of her vision as she slows to pull up at a red light. Almost distractedly, she reaches across the seat to the glove box and pushes the button to open it and reach inside. Pulling the cassette out of it, she slams it home into the stereo and then spins the volume button to begin blaring the music. “ALL ABOARD!” and the maniacal laughter that begins ‘Crazy Train’ barely drowns out the voices still spinning the vitriol through Sam’s thoughts as the light flashes green and she slams her foot down on the gas. The throb of the guitar solo matches her heartbeat as her focus narrows to just the road and the beat. Sam’s head begins to move with the beat as her voice rises with the lyrics, singing along in a mindless escape for only the moment.
The streets out of the city pass in a blur of music. The final exit onto the interstate is achieved as the cassette once again resets itself to play from the beginning of the second side. Sam seems not to care, her eyes blank but focused on the road. An hour later, the green car pulls to the side of a very deserted stretch of the highway and stops. The lights shine into the darkness for only a moment before the engine sputters to a stop and the door is pushed open. Getting out of the car, Sam walks to the side of the road and stares into the blank vista of darkness lit up with pinpoints of stars. The only sounds are nature’s creatures calling out to one another as Sam looks around herself. Spinning in a slow circle and seeing that she is alone, a quick smile is replaced with an angered grimace that is broken by a primal scream.
“ARGHHHHH….WHYYYYYYYY?!”
Sam stands there, the wind barely ruffling her curls as she waits patiently for a response that she is pretty sure isn’t coming. In the distance, a lone coyote’s yip seems to mock her which only makes her laugh.
“Thanks, at least someone is trying to give me an answer,” she calls out to animal. Turn back to the car, she moves to the passenger side and reaches inside for her telephone that is lying on the passenger seat. Pulling up Twitter, she lets her fingers fly over the keys. Leaning against the car, she looks up before clicking on tweet that is wishing the twitterverse good night. With that done, she tosses the phone back into the seat then moves to the front of the car and climbs on the hood. Lying back, she stares up at the sky as if she was looking for the wisdom of the ages.
“How much is it my fault that we were eliminated tonight?” she demands. Even the vocalization sounds self-blaming Sam thinks as she brings her hands to her temples and rubs at them. “I know that we had them, we were this close,” she mutters crazily as if trying to escape the blame which squarely refocuses on her. “Then I saved Rage only to have it turn on me and cost us the match,” Sam sighs as closer, a coyote agrees with her. “Yeah, what do you know,” she calls out. “It took Lucy hitting Rage with a chair to get the win. I wasn’t even in the ring and I lost it for our team.”
Sam lets her eyes drift closed as the wind tickles at the tears she is fighting back. A howl closer to the car opens them again and forces Sam from the hood of the car to the inside. Rolling up the driver side window, Sam mutters something almost under her breath before leaning across the seat to roll up the passenger side window. The litany of phrases repeats themselves, each one rising in volume.
“It’s not my fault…it’s not my fault…IT’S NOT MY FAULLLLTTTTT!”
The final snippet rings off the interior of the Chevy loudly as Sam fights the losing battle against frustration before collapsing in sobs against the seat, her red curls hiding the rough shaking of her shoulders with each gulping breath…
The sound of a soft buzz is heard mixed with the insistent knocking on the window of the silent car. Sam startles awake and lifts her head to sleepily figure out where she was. The knocking on the window is added to by a State trooper who calls out to her.
“Are you okay miss?” he demands as Sam fights herself into the driver’s seat and upright. Tear stains mar her dusty cheeks as she swipes at her hair to fight it into some semblance of order before she begins to roll the window down.
“I’m fine officer, I must have fallen asleep. I was driving home last night after the wrestling show I took part in. Sin City Wrestling Climax Control in Tempe last night,” says Sam before yawning slightly as she lets her head fall into her hands, the heels of which wipe the remaining sleep from her eyes.
The officer continues to give the car a once over as it looking for evidence of something not right but he finally nods and smiles at Sam who offers him a returning grin. “As long as you are all right Ma’am, I’ll be on my way then.”
Sam waves him off with thanks as her phone begins to buzz again on the seat beside her, lighting up to show the time of just after ten in the morning. Reaching for it she swipes her fingerprint against it allowing the window to light up with her twitter account. She scrolls through her twitter feed, barely glancing at the comments until she reached the comment she remembered tweeting before her breakdown. Reading it she half chuckles to herself.
Samantha Marlowe @sammi_which
g'night twitterverse from alongside the interstate as I watch the stars from the hood of my car. #zenonthesideoftheroad
“Look at that,” she muses. “Not one reply. Not one ‘are you ok?’ or ‘where are you?’ comment. It’s like I am tweeting to see myself tweet.”
Sam stared hard at the screen for the barest of moments before letting her fingers fly over the keys; a soft beep with each letter typed the only sound in the interior of the car.
This is Sam Marlowe signing off, signing out and saying goodbye twitterverse !
With one last tap, she was ready to hit the tweet button. For the past couple of months she was living her life one hundred and forty characters at a time. Maybe it was time she focused on something else. Maybe what she needed to do was focus on the important things in her life like defending her title and being the best wrestler she could be.
Sam looked out the windshield then down once more at the tweet waiting patiently for her to hurtle it into the ether that was the Internet. Taking a slow deep breath, she hovered over the tweet button for the barest moment then shifted her thumb to the delete button watching passionlessly as each character was erased. Once the screen was blank once more, she tosses the phone to the side and reaches for the key in the ignition. Turning it, Sam inhales as the engine comes to life. A small smile plays around her lips as she shifts into gear and leans on the gas that sends a small shower of gravel spinning behind her as she pulls back on the interstate in the direction of Vegas and home.
Pulling into her driveway, Sam slides out of the car and grabs her bag as her elderly neighbor is outside watching the action on the street. With a friendly wave and smile, Sam heads to the door and inside her home. Taking only long enough to shower and change (no peeping pervs), the young woman escapes the house again to find her neighbor has moved down the drive and towards the redhead’s car.
“Good morning dearie,” she says as she takes in the jeans, sneakers and tshirt on Sam. “Is everything all right with you? You were wearing some very strange clothes young lady.”
Sam has the grace to blush and nod as she once more opens the car door. “Yes it is ma’am. Those were just my work clothes.” The elderly neighbor’s sparse eyebrows rise alarmingly as Sam realizes what the woman might be thinking. Moving to meet her at the fence, Sam puts her hands on the top of the metal bar. “I’m not in that line of work. I’m a wrestler. We tend to wear gear like that for our matches. I just didn’t have time to change before I headed home.”
The elderly lady smiles as she pats Sam’s hand. “Well I am glad to hear that dear. It looks like you are heading out again. I won’t keep you.”
Sam waves at the neighbor while backing towards her car. “I’m just heading to the mall,” she says as she opens her car door and then stops. “Is there anything you need while I am out?”
The neighbor shakes her head and waves off Sam. Getting into the car, Sam pulls away and heads towards the mall. Once there, she pulls into the parking lot, grabs her bag and then locks her car before she heads inside. Walking along the hall of the mall, she moves confidently towards the food court spying out a Starbucks and moving into the line, she reaches into a pocket and pulls out a wallet. Finally she makes her way to the front of the line and steps up to the counter.
“I’d like a cool lime refresher and a lemon poppyseed slice,” orders Sam. Told the total, she pulls a debit card from the wallet and slips it along the debit machine and then pushes her pin numbers in. Turning to look over the food court, she moves to the end of the counter to wait on her drink. Once the barista is finished, she hands the faintly green drink to Sam who thanks her and moves towards an empty seat. Sitting down and setting her drink to the side, Sam pulls her ever present book out of her bag and sets it and a pen down on the table in front of her. Opening it, she writes for a moment then looks up to find a young boy looking at her. She smiles shyly and waves a bit at the little boy who smiles himself and ducks down behind the seat.
Sam once more looks down at the book on the table then sips at the drink before noticing that the little boy has once more popped up but has moved closer. She watches out of the corner of her eye as he leans over the seat, his hand reaching out slightly towards her as if he wanted to tap her on the shoulder but was too afraid to. Sam says nothing as she seems to focus on the paper in front of her but wiggles slightly closer to the little boy. She sees him turn to his mother so she turns to face him. As he turns back, her smile widens as she speaks to him.
“Hi there, I’m Sam,” she says as she holds out a hand.
The little boy squeals in excitement which gets his mother’s attention. She turns to see her son about to launch himself at Sam and quickly grabs the back of his shirt. “I hope he isn’t bothering you too much miss,” the mother says with a loving glare at the little boy who is almost bouncing in his seat as he keeps saying ‘it’s her it’s her’ and pointing.
“It is perfectly all right ma’am,” offers Sam as she ruffles the little boy’s hair. “I bet he doesn’t even know me.”
“I do so know you!” he exclaims as he jumps down from his seat then moves to where Sam is sitting and sits right beside her. “You are Sammi Marlowe and my favoritest wrestler in SCW! Daddy lets me watch with him sometimes. But he says I can’t watch Blaze of Glory because it is past my bedtime.” That comment is followed by a pout of sadness that just makes Sam reach over and hug the little guy.
“That is so not right,” says Sam as the little boy gets comfortable beside her. “Maybe you could talk to your Dad and he can let you watch the replay the next day.”
“Can I Mommy? Can I ask Daddy to watch the show?” he asks his mother.
“Well…” she begins before having to laugh at the way her son had gotten on his knees and was giving her the Puss in Boots big eyes and hopeful pout. Sam plays along and offers her own pout to match the little boy’s. The mother waves her hands in surrender.
“Thank you Sammi, thank you,” says the little boy as he turns to wrap his small arms around the neck of Sam who is bowled backwards. “Daddy is going to be sooo mad he wasn’t here to see you like I am,” he adds proudly.
“Tell you what, why don’t I give you something for you to show him?” asks Sam as she looks around for her pen that had rolled along the table. Taking it, she opens her book to a blank spot and pulls a piece of the light pink paper from it. Closing the book, she leans over towards the boy. “What’s your name by the way?” she asks as the pen is poised over the paper.
“I’m Keith,” he says proudly as he pulls on his shirt. Sam leans over the paper and begins to write, speaking the words outloud for the boy.
“To my besterest fan Keith,” she begins. “From the SCW Bombshell champ…Sam Marlowe.”
Once she finishes it, she hands the paper to Keith and then is overwhelmed once more by a hug from the little boy. As he joins his mother, Sam stuffs her book, pen and the slice of lemon poppyseed loaf into her bag and pulls it over her shoulder. With one final wave for Keith, she disappears into one of the stores near the food court.
Walking along the store, Sam’s attention is on the row of sweet smelling soaps and candles of Bath and Body Works. As she leans in to inhale the scent of Honolulu Sun, her ear perks up as if hearing her name called. Looking around the shop, she shakes her head and moves deeper into the shop. After spending a while in the shop, she exits to find Ben standing on a table, his voice raised as he complains to the security guard. Sam rushes over and calls up to her friend.
“Ben, what are you doing up there?” she asks as she gets his attention.
“I was looking for you. Did a bear eat ya phone or something?” he demands while still on the table. Sam turns to the guard who still has an eye on Ben.
“Don’t worry,” she offers with an apologetic smile. “I got it from here.”
Sam stands there as Ben leaps from the table and begins to rattle off how he tried to get a hold of her. He mentioned carrier pigeons and ravens which only makes Sam smile. She wanted desperately to tell him what had happened that night but she falls back to the usual excuse she would use to brush off the blame. “I just needed some time alone after Sunday,” she admits.
Ben continues to give her trouble as Sam stands there, her mind screaming and wanting to tell him just what it was that sent her fleeing Sunday, how talking to Spike and Cyn had driven all thought of being present in the moment was the last thing she wanted to do. She managed to keep that scream from escaping and only managed to say that she needed to get away. And that was when Ben offered to whisk her away which only makes her stop and stare at him.
“Why?” she asks only to have Ben inform her that he needed to go to New York to film something with his partner and did Sam want to come see it.
Did Sam join him in New York…and what was he doing there anyways? Go check it out…But don’t forget to come back
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Days later, Sam and Ben have returned to Vegas. Sam pulls up to her home and stops the car. Getting out of it, she smiles at the elderly neighbor. Ben slides out of the car to wave as well but his smile fades a little as the lady lets her eyes narrow slightly and her two fingers move between her eyes and Ben’s. The Cockney king quickly follows after Sam who has reached the door and opened it with her keys before grabbing her mail. Walking inside, she tosses the keys into a small porcelain bowl sitting on the table by the door and then turns to wait as Ben walks inside. Shutting the door behind him, she calls over her shoulder.
“Did you want something to drink?”
She continues on into the kitchen as she flips through her mail. Reaching the fridge pulls open the door and pulls out a small bottle of ice tea and sets it on the counter by the mail and then reaches into the cupboard to pull out a glass and sets it down as well. Lifting the bottle, she pours a tall glass of the light golden liquid and then sets the bottle down again. Picking up the glass she glances down at the pile of letters, her empty hand pushing each out of the way as she reads the address.
Suddenly she stops stock still as she sees the logo of the University of Nevada. She lowers the glass almost nervously, a slight hitch in her breathing the only indication of her nervousness. Once she sets down the glass she reaches for the envelope and pulls it towards her.
“Oh gosh, this is nerve-wracking,” she mutters as she flips it over and then slides her nail under the lip of the envelope and runs it along to open it. Gasping at the bite of a paper cut, she finishes opening it and then sticks her finger into her mouth as she flips open the lips and pulls out the letter inside.
Ben finds her standing in the kitchen, one finger in her mouth and her other hand holding onto a piece of paper.
“What is it darlin’?” he asks as he reaches for the paper and tugs at it lightly.
“I got accepted,” Sam says almost unbelievingly. “I applied to go for my Masters and I got accepted.”
“Congrats Sam,” replies Ben as he reads the letter. “But isn’t this going to put a crimp in your plan to be champion?”
Sam turns to look at him, the realization hitting her. “Oh god, I totally forgot I had applied before I won the championship. But I think that I can do this…just going to have to keep focused. After all, I focused on Mikah and won the title in the first place. Besides I can take my Masters slowly if I need to.”
“Then congrats love, I’ll drink to that,” Ben says with a smile as he reaches for her glass and drains it as Sam gives him a glare before grabbing her glass back.
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Samantha Marlowe Video Diary…
Blaze of Glory is coming up fast and I am walking into the match of my life. Well the second match of my life.
At the last supercard I won the Bombshell championship from someone that everyone thought was unbeatable. I focused and I pushed myself further than I have ever pushed myself before and I won the title. And for the past month I have been focused on the Blast from the Past and making my way all the way to the semifinals where my trainer’s husband and his partner needed to cheat to win the match and eliminate me and Rage. And for the past two weeks I have blamed myself for that.
But I realized something from that. I won the Bombshell championship and as champion, I need to defend that title. I need to prove that I can remain one of the leading bombshells in SCW. Otherwise I am nothing more than a paper champion and I refuse to be one of those. So I am more than willing to step up to the plate at the Show of shows for SCW, Blaze of Glory five.
This night will be two firsts for me. The first first is that it will be my first ever Blaze of Glory and I am ready to stand there at Blaze of Glory and go toe to toe with anyone in the business. The second first is that I will be defending my first title for the first time and it is in a match against one woman that I know has been a driving force and champion before in Sin City Wrestling. Am I ready for this? You are darn right I am!
Before we go any further, it isn’t the rematch with Mikah that I am having to deal with at Blaze of Glory. It is facing Melanie Gabrielle, former Bombshell Roulette champion. And my friend…
I know we can’t always have it where you can have a friendly match in a business like ours but when it comes to this match at Blaze of Glory, I know I am going to be in for the fight of my life. I have seen what Melanie can do with her opponents and I have lost to her before but that isn’t what I am thinking right now. As a matter of fact I am using that as motivation to push myself further.
My rise in SCW has been meteoric some say and I am setting myself up for a fall but where I have done that is when I doubt myself and I can’t let that stop me in Phoenix. I have to have faith in the fact that I am the Bombshell champion and that I won it from the woman that everyone said no one could beat. But I beat her. I am the one that holds this belt and I am the one that will be defending it. And believe me when I tell you that this belt is going to be defended with every fiber of my being…
But Melanie, I have to give you every respect in this match. You are a machine when it comes to wrestling and on any given day you would be able to win title after title. That is what I know I have to be ready for and I have to prepare to bring the fight to you.
I have to fight my kind of match in the way that I haven’t ever done before. I can’t just sit back and let you bring your fight to me. If I did that, I wouldn’t have this title long so when it comes to the match and the bell rings you aren’t going to be facing a friend. You will be facing the Sin City Wrestling Bombshell champion and as such, I am not going to give you the chance to take my title. People are saying that it is your match to win and my match to lose however, at Blaze of Glory five I am not going to lose.
That is not meant to be a threat to you Melanie, it is meant to be a promise to myself. This is going to be the night that I prove to all the naysayers and especially my sister that I am the Bombshell champion for a reason. And after the match, when I am still Bombshell champion, I am going to offer you my hand and give you the props you deserve.
We will blow the roof off the GCU Arena when we step inside that ring. I expect nothing less Melanie because I am not going to give you anything less than my best in our match.
I’ll see you in Phoenix and may the best woman win friend.
