Flashback: The Last Day

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Flashback

September 1991

Off Camera

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Sunlight streams in through a bedroom window on a bright and beautiful day in Boston, Massachusetts.  The warm rays beat down upon the body of Angelica Jones, Sister of Our Lady of the Annunciation Convent.  Jones is lying underneath a white comforter in a rather simple room with pale blue walls with only a few pictures hanging on the walls and those pictures are of religious significance; namely a few of The Virgin Mary, a few of Jesus Christ, and one crucifix hanging on the wall.  The warmth of the sun's rays eventually give rise to Angelica fluttering her eyes open as she slowly but surely wakes from her slumber.  The redhead pushes the white comforter off, revealing that she is wearing a white nightgown that extends well past the knee.  She swings her feet over the side of her bed and then gets up to the floor.

Jones reaches over to the nightstand next to her plain single bed.  She opens a drawer and pulls out a set of rosary beads.  She kisses them before closing the drawer of the nightstand.  Angelica approaches the crucifix and kneels down before it.  Her hands fold together, enclosing the rosary inside, and she bows her head to prepare for prayer.

“Hail Mary, Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.  Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”

She makes the sign of the cross over her chest.

“Holy Michael, the archangel, defend us in battle.  Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil.  May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do you, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who wander through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.”

Angelica reaches underneath her bed with her right hand.  She produces a small photograph of a redhead girl.  The girl appears to be pre-teen and she has hair as red as Angelica’s.  She stares at the picture for a moment before tears well up in her eyes.

“Holy Michael, the archangel, defend my baby sister, Kayla Marie Shawna Jones, wherever she may be right now.”

A tear falls from her eye and lands on the picture.  Angelica reaches up and wipes the tears from her eyes.

“I will find you, I swear to God that I will find you.  We will be together again, Kayla.”

A knocking at her door interrupts her private prayer time.  Jones stands up and walks over to the door. She opens it up and standing there in the hallway at her door is her friend and fellow nun, Sister Maria.  The younger woman only recently arrived, six months ago.  She and Angelica quickly bonded.  Maria, though, has clearly been up for a while, based on the fact that she is already fully dressed in her nun’s habit, whereas Angelica is still in her nightgown.  Maria waves pleasantly at Angelica.

“Good morning, Sister Angelica!”

Angelica smiles pleasantly.

“Sister Maria, sweetie, you don’t have to be so formal with me.  Call me, Angelica.”

“Oh really?  And yet you call me Sister Maria?”

Angelica chuckles.

“Ok, you got me there.  Sister Angelica it is.”

“So, as I was saying, good morning!  Are you ready for our morning routine?”

Angelica nods her head.

“Sure but isn’t it a little early?”

Maria smirks as she motions to the clock on the wall.  Angelica gasps.

“Oh dear…I slept late!”

She looks horrified at Maria.

“I slept through Lauds!  I SLEPT THROUGH LAUDS!”

“Don’t blame me. I tried to wake you up but you were sleeping like a rock.”

“Mother Superior…”

Angelica’s voice trails off.  Maria shakes her head.

“She didn’t even notice.”

Maria looks over Angelica and chuckles.

“Now get dressed.  You missed Lauds, don’t miss coffee.”

“Like I would ever miss coffee with you!”

Angelica shuts the door and goes to the routine of getting dressed.  What no one knows is that today is Angelica’s last day at the convent.  Mother Superior does not even know, let alone Angelica’s closest friend here at the convent, Sister Maria.  But why is she leaving?

The truth be told, convent life was never Angelica’s choice.  She was encouraged to join by her father, Bart Jones, right before he left. She does not know where Kayla ended up but she does know her sister was placed in foster care.  Now Angelica has learned that Bart Jones has recently returned to Boston.  And that is her cue to leave the convent.  She wants to bring her family back together.  That means finding Kayla.

She will let her father know how she felt about what he did, about how he abandoned the both of them, but first she wants to find her sister Kayla and she also wants to find her children, her beautiful Marie and Kim, the twins she left in the care of Emma Storm, who had already left the convent years earlier.  So much to do, and so few resources for a soon-to-be former nun.  Thus the teenager has already been secretly looking into training to be a pro-wrestler.

Between Lauds (early morning prayers at 3 am) and Sext (midday prayers at 12 noon) Angelica’s routine had been simple; go to the coffee shop with Maria, another young nun who had been forced into this by her parents.  Angelica had been easing her transition into the lifestyle of a nun and they quickly bonded and became friends.  But recently Angelica has added a new part to her routine.  While Maria returns back to the convent after coffee, Angelica would go to training sessions as she learned the trade of how to be a pro-wrestler.

Now is the time for her to put her entire focus into her new life of pro-wrestling.  Being a Sister in the Our Lady of the Annunciation Convent isn’t the life for her.  It would be a much easier life, truth be told, but she cannot and she will not abandon her family.  She will reunite them, in some way.

“Are you decent yet?”

That’s the voice of Sister Maria, still standing outside the door.  Angelica grins as she looks at herself in the mirror, now fully dressed in her nun’s habit.

“Yes!”

The door opens.  Maria comes walking in.

“So, are you…”

She looks down on the bed and notices the picture of Kayla Jones lying there.  Maria looks at and smiles warmly.

“…uh, ready?  Uh, Sister Angelica?  Who is this?”

“Who are you?”

Angelica approaches Sister Maria and notices that she’s gazing at the picture.  Angelica sighs.

“That’s my sister…as in my actual sister.”

“Oh, you never told me about your family before.”

She places the picture back down on the bed.  Angelica just shakes her head.  She walks over and sits down on the edge of the bed.  Maria looks at her with an odd look on her face.  She has never seen Angelica look like this before.  Maria sits down next to Angelica.

“Sister?  Is everything ok?”

“I haven’t spoken about my family because it’s too painful.”

Maria reaches out and places her hand on Angelica’s knee.

“I’m here for you, Sister.”

“Sister Maria, my…my mother was...she was…”

“What?”

Tears form in Angelica’s eyes.

“…my mother was raped, and then she was killed.  She was murdered.  And I was forced to watch the whole thing happen while I was tied down to a chair.”

Maria gasps.

“I…had no idea…”

“That’s how I got here.  My dad practically made me join because he claimed he couldn’t raise me.”

“And your sister?”

Angelica nearly growls.

“In his infinite wisdom, my father thought it was best to put her in foster care as opposed to keeping us together.”

Angelica stands back up and walks back over to the mirror.  There is a rage in her eyes, a rage that will become all too familiar a couple decades from now.

“But my sister and I will be reunited.”

“Yes, God will make it possible.”

Angelica rolls her eyes and scoffs.

“Yeah, right…God…”

She spins around and angrily points a finger at Maria.

“God allowed this!  God allowed that monster to take my mother and that idiot of a father to tear my sister and I apart!  God…God…”

Sister Maria stands up and bravely approaches the enraged Angelica.

“…God gives us all crosses to bear, Sister.  Some crosses are bigger than others, but He will not give you a cross that you cannot bear.”

Angelica is about ready to explode but, as she stares into the honest, heartfelt eyes of Sister Maria, the older nun starts to cry.  Maria approaches Angelica and embraces Sister Angelica in a hug.

“It’s ok, Sister.  It’s ok.”

“No, no it’s not!  I’m going through hell and I’m taking it out on the wrong people…you, God…”

“It’s fine, because God will take of you.”

Angelica looks into Maria’s eyes.  She wants to tell her that SHE will take care of the situation herself.  She wants to tell her that today is her last day at the convent and she is leaving tomorrow to find her sister and start her new life as a pro-wrestler.  But she can’t bring herself to do it.  Maria, who she helped through so much, would be heartbroken.  Instead Angelica just nods her head in agreement.

“Yes, you’re right Sister Maria, God will take care of me.”

“I’m glad you see it that way, then.  So why don’t we go for our daily coffee?”

“Yes, let’s.”

It will be the last time Angelica and Maria have their daily coffee for over twenty years.

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On Camera

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We open in front of…well…we don’t know.  We don’t know because, as of right now, everything is in pitch black darkness.  Nothing can be seen.  But noises can be heard.  The shuffling of feet and the sound of voices.  One voice in particular sounds out above the rest.  A loud feminine voice that exudes confidence and intensity.

“Darkness has become an overused gimmick lately.  It seems that every single time I turn around there is a new dark, twisted, psychotic character emerging on the scene.  But they don’t know true darkness.  They’re just using it because it’s a cool gimmick.  And they’re turning darkness…true darkness..into nothing more than just a gimmick.”

A snap of the fingers can be heard and suddenly the lights come on.  We now see that we are in front of a UWA logo backdrop.  Angelica steps into the scene wearing a black sleeveless jumpsuit with a surplice neckline that pleated with a self-tie sash belt at the waist.  It has a wide leg but you can barely make out her toes peeking out from underneath the wide leg, her toes painted a dark red.  Her long gorgeous red hair hangs unrestrained to below the shoulders.  Her fingernails are painted the same shade of dark red as her toes.

“Darkness has been my entire life since I just thirteen years old.  To be quite honest, I would much rather have a normal life like each and every one of you.  I would rather be happy but grief and the only way for me to deal with that grief has been to make others feel the same pain that I have felt.  That’s how The Dragon was born.”

“So to Selena Frost, who cheaply ripped it off from me because she thinks it’s a cute gimmick just like so many people rip off the notion of the darkness because they think it’s a cute gimmick, and to my opponent at Sectioned, Victoria Salinas, who think that this is just about a name for me, understand that The Dragon is not just a name.  The Dragon is the dark, evil side of myself that thrives upon hurting people.  It’s the side that lusts after causing pain, heartache, and destruction.  It’s a side of me that even I am afraid of.”

“Do you think I want to be The Dragon, Vicky?  Do you think I want to be the psychotically violent bitch who will hurt anyone and everyone who stands in her way?  I don’t want this, Vicky.  I would kill to get rid of The Dragon once and for all and be normal…”

She points at the camera.

“…normal like you.  You should count your blessings, Vicky.  You have a normal life, with a normal boyfriend, with a strong support group of people who trust you.  I have a support group but I don’t have any delusions about them trusting me.  They know just as well as I do that if I lose control and The Dragon comes out to play, then all bets are off.”

“This isn’t just about a name for me.  This is a curse and you should be damn thankful to be in the position you are in today.  All you had was the gimmick of a self-absorbed bitch named “Vainglorious” that you had to get rid of.  And while it took several disappointing losses in a row and a forced hair dye job from Ginger Nation to do it, you still managed to ditch that gimmick, and I am happy for you, I truly and genuinely am.  You are a friend of my sister, Kayla Jones, and a friend of Kayla’s is a friend of mine.”

“But at the same time let’s make no mistake about it, what you ditched was still just a gimmick.  The Dragon is much more than just a gimmick.  The Dragon is my reality and I cannot get rid of it.  I need it.  Especially now.”

Angelica sighs.

“Our match isn’t any ordinary match, Vicky.  If it were, we could just give the fans a hell of a show, may the best woman win, call it that.  But some genius thinks it’s awesome to have a pay per view called Sectioned, a pay per view full of barbaric matches…”

“…the types of matches The Dragon feeds upon.  And our match at Sectioned, Vicky, is a first blood match.”

“I won’t ask the stupid questions typically asked for a first blood match.   There’s no need to ask if you’ve had to bleed for this sport.  Obviously, as a former world champion, you’ve had to bleed.  You don’t get to that position in this sport unless you are willing to bleed.  And as a former world champion you are definitely up to facing Angelica Jones.”

“But which face of the three faces of Angelica Jones are you going to get?  Well that depends, doesn’t it?  Which of the three faces is ready for a first blood match against Victoria Salinas?  Is it Angelica “Firestar” Jones?”

She shakes her head.

“No way.  Firestar is far too weak.  She cares too much about the rules and tradition and doing what’s right.  She’s what some might call a goodie-two-shoes.  She’s what some may call a prude.  Someone like Firestar can’t fight you at Sectioned in a First Blood Match.”

“Neither can The Golden Goddess.  The Golden Goddess is definitely more ruthless than Firestar  but she’s also far too arrogant.  She thinks she’s the hottest thing since sliced bread.  The Golden Goddess would just underestimate you and it’d be a walk in the park victory for you.  I know you want a challenge, and I know I want to win, so I can’t bring The Golden Goddess either.”

She holds up one finger.

“That just leaves us with one option, now doesn’t it?”

The UWA logo goes up in flames.  It is replaced by an image of a red Dragon surrounded by flames.

“The Dragon is my sadistic side, it is the part of me that loves what I do simply for the fact that I can inflict punishment and pain and get paid to do it.  It’s the part I am genuinely afraid of because I cannot control it and I do not know what I am capable of when I am in that zone, in that Dragon zone.”

“I genuinely hope we can have a great match out there at Sectioned.  I KNOW we’ll put on a hell of a show for the fans, because you’re great, I’m great, and when you put us together you can’t lose.  And I genuinely do hope that after this is over, we can just shake hands, showing respect and sportsmanship, because just as I said earlier, any friend of my sister’s is a friend of mine.”

“But I’m sorry, Vicky.  I truly am sorry.  I wanted to apologize in advance for what The Dragon might do to you at Sectioned when…not if but WHEN…I release it upon you in the First Blood Match.”