Invasion - Texas

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Off Camera

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Kimberly Williams walked past the heavy gates and closed so no one would suspect that she has entered this place. If you do not have anyone to mourn upon, you must not disturb the peace that hovers above the death bed of many or you will be haunted but she did not care, as if they would do any harm to her.  The sun was sinking fast below the horizons, giving her hair more reddish hue.

Gravestones lined the eerie graveyard, some recently placed, whereas others, cracked and crumbling. Mold covered the engravings dedicated to the dead, trees leaning towards the stones, branches reaching out to each other. Spiked, black fences surrounded the graveyard almost like it was a prison. The smell of old stone filled the dry air, weeds covering the graves of the dead, loved ones long since stopped visiting. Gravel paths weave through the maze of graves, allowing passersby to pay their respects to the people lined up in the earth’s embrace.

Rows of tombstones stood erect in silence to the left and right, in front and behind, like a sea of the dead. Some were crumbled with the weathering of centuries, some were smooth marble with new black writing and laid with floral tributes. Most though, were overgrown and unkempt, for now even their mourners had joined them under the clay soil.

Kimberly scans the creepy graveyard as she walks through the headstones.  Finally she spots it.  It is a small headstone, most would not even notice it exists.   That was the purpose.  Kimberly did not want anyone to know it was there.  She turns and heads towards it immediately.  She stops in front of the tiny headstone and kneels down.

“Hi there; it’s been awhile since we last talked.  Granted, you can’t do much talking anymore now can you?” She snickers knowing but not really caring about how dark her humor just was. “And still, you and I end up in the strangest of places.”

She motions to the surroundings. “How could a place be so full and empty at the same time? Some mushy goodie-goodie like my sister Marie may say something like the souls of our loved ones are here.”

She rolls her eyes. “Bullshit.  Empty corpses and tombstones with their faded etching; that’s it.  A roll-call for the people who cannot answer. For when their bodies became still and cold they became a cadaver, not a person.  They have no life…”

Her voice trails off and she chuckles lightly “…life; it is nothing but a roaming shadow, a pitiable thespian. Who struts and frets his few moments upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale imparted by a foolish wit, full of noise and fury... yet meaningless nonetheless. A beautiful lie. A depressing truth.”

“That was poetic.  Even if it was a little dark for my taste.” The voice doesn’t startle Kimberly one bit.  She recognizes it and she was expecting it.  She smiles as she turns to find her mother, Angelica Jones, standing behind her.

“Right on time.  I’m impressed.”

“Kim, I’m always happy to get to spend time with you.  But you always pick the strangest places to want to meet.”

“That’s one thing about me, mommy dearest.” She winks at her mother. “I’ll never be known for being normal.  That kinda happens when you’re raised by a sociopath.”

Kimberly waves for her mother, the infamous Angelica Jones who recently rejoined the SCW roster, to kneel down next to her.  Angelica obliges and then stares at the headstone.  She can barely make out what it says and her eyes grow wide when she does read it aloud.

“Emma…”

“Yup, Emma Storm, ex-wife of pro-wrestler Jake “The Heartthrob” Storm, known sociopath and the same sociopath who happened to raise your lovely daughter.”

“Is she buried here?”

“No.” Kimberly shakes her head. “I buried her in an unmarked spot a long way from here, not even in Massachusetts.  To be honest, I don’t even remember where I buried the bitch.”

Angelica arches a brow. “That sounds rather harsh.”

“May be, but she is the one who twisted and corrupted me.” She points at the headstone. “She fucked me up, mom.  I could have had the life Marie has right now; happy and fulfilled.  But I spent time in an institution.  My mind was like its own prison, locking me away in an asylum of insanity.”

There is a pause as Angelica stares into her daughter’s eyes, eyes that are filled with an intensity and rage, maybe even a mix of sadness that she hasn’t seen from Kimberly in a long time.  Angelica reaches out and places a hand on her shoulder.

“Why did you bring us out here?”

“I am competing for the Emerge Championship coming up in Texas. I face Peyton Rice.  As far as in-ring ability, I know I can match her move for move.  Hell, in a pure wrestling match I know I am one of the best.  There is no doubt in my mind that I have the ability to win.  I am that confident.”

“So what’s wrong?  If you’re confident you can win, why come here?”

Kimberly sighs and once again motions to the headstone, the one marked ‘Emma’.  “Being raised by a sociopath was tough, it’s even tougher when that sociopath is Emma.  She always drilled into my head that I was an outcast; that no one would ever want to be around me or want to socialize with me.  She convinced me that there was no role for someone like me in the world.”

“That’s…” tears form in Angelica’s eyes “…that’s horrible.”

“That’s why I tracked down Marie and kidnapped her.  That’s why I tried to take her place.  That’s why back then and still to this day I envy her and wish I had her life.  A part of me still believes that Emma was right about me, that there is no place for me in this world.”

“Those were lies, Kim.  Lies told by a horrible person.”

“My mind believes that but my heart says something different.  If I do defeat Peyton Rice and become Emerge Champion, I will be more than just simply the best wrestler in Emerge.  I will be the face of the company.  If I win, I will finally have purpose and meaning.  I could have a role in this world.  If I win…”

“You will win.” Angelica insists. “I know you can. You have Jones blood coursing through your veins.”

“I know I can win.  Hell, I know how I could guarantee a victory.” She casts another glance at the headstone. “If I give in and become the person Emma claims I was born to be, if I become the monster she said I was, I can win.”

“No, Kim.” Angelica shakes her head vehemently at her daughter. “Don’t do that.  If you give in then yes, you may guarantee yourself a win, but you’ll let Emma win.  You can win this as a Jones, being simply the better pure wrestler.”

“But wrestling as a Jones, trying to be the better pure wrestler, that’s not a sure thing.  I know I have superior mat based skill than Peyton, but she has that x-factor that has allowed her to overcome obstacles in the past.  She could beat me.  But being a monster?  That’s a sure thing.  I KNOW I can win if I tear into Peyton like the sociopathic monster I know I can be.”

Kimberly stands up, as does her mother Angelica.   “That’s why I brought you out here, mom.  I do want to prove that I’m a better person than what Emma thought I was.  I want to prove that I have matured beyond that and that I can be just as good a face of Emerge as Peyton Rice was.  But if I cannot hold it in…if I unleash the beast that I know is inside, just waiting to get out…”

She embraces Angelica in a tight hug “…I want to apologize.  I want to apologize for letting you down.  I want to apologize for throwing away all of the hard work both you and Marie went through to try and help me become a better person.”

“Don’t say that…” Angelica’s voice trails off as tears roll down her cheek.

“I’m sorry, mom, but I may have no other choice.”

Kimberly walks away, leaving her mother in doubt and in fear.

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On Camera

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There’s an old saying in sports…well, specifically American football…that goes like this: “Any Given Sunday”; because on any given Sunday, no matter how talented or how good a certain team may be, that team could go down in defeat.

Peyton Rice has been the unstoppable face of Emerge since its inception.  She has proven time and time again that she is among the best to set foot inside an Emerge ring.  And the scary thing is that she is only just getting started.  She’ll get better as time goes on.  Peyton Rice will improve because she’ll constantly be tried by fire.  She won’t always win, because on any given Sunday anyone can be beat.  But I am confident that when her time with Emerge is through, regardless of how sparkling or spotty her win-loss record may be, Peyton will emerge from the fire stronger than ever.

Well Peyton, one such trial by fire is coming to you in the form of yours truly, live and in Texas.

Now some might point out that we’ve had this song and dance before.  And that’s true; we competed against each other in the Emerge Championship Tournament.  I thought my concept of pure chaos would be enough to overcome your concept of pretty perfection.  But you beat me.  You put me down on that night and what that did was force me to reevaluate things.  It forced me to reevaluate myself, because I knew that wasn’t going to be the end of our little song and dance.  It was merely act one in a multi-act play.

This match at Invasion isn’t the end of it for us. I see an act three and maybe even an act four after this.  We’ll always be in each other’s orbit, Peyton.  We’re opposites and opposites tend to attract one another in this crazy world of professional wrestling.

You’re pretty and attractive.  Far more so than little old me.  I’m a tomboy who you will rarely see in a dress.

You’re a good person through and through.  The locker room loves you, the fans love you.  But me?   The locker room doesn’t trust me and the fans only like me when I’m targeting assholes they hate.  No one trusts me and that’s because of a reputation that I have earned. People know that I have a history of being very violent and aggressive.

People know that I have a history of being chaotic.  That’s why I went with the chaos frame of mind in our first encounter.  I wanted to go with what I knew and what I knew very well was chaos.

But there’s another thing I know just as well as chaos and that’s pure technical wrestling.  I know how good I am, I know what I am capable of, and I know that on my best day I can outwrestle anyone in the world.  On my best day, I can take your legs apart, piece by piece, and make you tap out to Scorned.

Problem is that you always seem to have an answer for everything.  When your back is against the wall, you manage to find something to pull your pretty little ass out of the fire.  It didn’t matter whether it was Dylan Cent or Kandis, you’ve always managed to find a way to win.

You always find a way to survive.

So therein lies the trick to beating you and becoming the Emerge Champion, am I right?  It’s making sure you DO NOT survive.  The solution is making sure you DO NOT walk out under your own power in Texas.  And you know damn well that I am capable of making that nightmare a reality.  Everyone knows that deep down inside of me is a beast waiting to be unleashed.

The last time we fought I kept that beast in check.  I wanted to beat you straight up to prove how good I was.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t good enough.  I still am capable of beating you straight up; I know it.  But if I unleash my darker, sociopathic tendencies; if I unleash that beast, then I know I will win.  And you, Peyton…you won’t walk out of Invasion Texas at all…

The temptation to just give in and unleash the darkness is great, especially when I try so hard to become a better person only to have each and every individual out there doubt my good will and good intentions.  Benjamin Flynn says I’m an accident waiting to happen.  You yourself think I intentionally allowed you to get pile driven by Mika Kozlov.

Could I have reacted better?  Damn right I do.  I still feel guilty.  But I am NOT an accident waiting to happen.  I have been trying so damn hard to be a better person and I know I have become a better person.  It’s just a matter of proving it to the world.

So now I have two prizes I’m fighting for at Invasion Texas.  The biggest prize of them all is the Emerge Championship and a secondary prize is the respect of my peers and the acknowledgement that I am not that monster I once was.

Here’s what’s going to happen, pretty little Peyton; I could guarantee myself victory by stooping to those lows but I won’t do it.  I refuse to become that person again.  I am going to beat you and I will become the new Emerge Champion but I am going to do it the right way.  I am going to beat you straight up.  I will earn your respect.  I will earn the respect of the Emerge locker room.

Because on any given day, even someone like you can be beaten by a loveable lunatic like me; and that’s exactly what will happen at Invasion Texas.