Concerns: Part 2

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April 10th, 2019

Portland, Oregon

Off Camera

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The redhead Dragon known as Angelica Jones can only stare in wide-eyed shock at the hole in the wall of her hotel room, a hole that her tag team partner and good friend James Evans left after they had a heated discussion about his recent actions. At least, she thinks they’re still good friends.  After this most recent incident, and the others in the past, Angelica isn’t so sure anymore.  Maybe her sister Kayla was right all along?

Kayla Jones twice visited Angelica, twice she tried to convince her to abandon James Evans and ultimately leave him to his own devices.  If Kayla had her way, Angelica would leave James Evans to fend for himself against the wolves known as Bree Lancaster and Andrew Raynes at Tabula Rasa when the SCW World Tag Team Championships are on the line.  But Angelica cannot, in good conscience, abandon her partner.  She made a promise to watch his back.  She made a promise to be there for him until the bitter end.  And if the bitter end is Tabula Rasa then they go down together.  They go down fighting.

More and more, with each passing day, Angelica considers the horrible possibility that Tabula Rasa could very well be the last stand of Redemption.  She isn’t sure how much more of this James can take before he loses control.  The hole in the wall of her hotel room seems to indicate that he is, indeed, losing control.

Angelica isn’t sure what to think at this point.  She hates to admit that she is wrong but at this point, she could very well be wrong.  Who could she talk to now?  Kayla isn’t anywhere nearby and Angelica doesn’t want to eat crow anyway.  Who else could she talk to who would understand the serious mental issues that James Evans could be having right now?  Furthermore, who could understand Angelica’s divided loyalty between her sister Kayla and James Evans?

There really is only one choice.

Angelica produces her iPhone and dials a number.  She waits.  “Yeah, Kim...would you come up to my room please?”

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A Few Minutes Later

Off Camera

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“I saw James leaving.” Comes the voice of Kimberly Williams, Angelica’s daughter, as she enters the hotel room.  She doesn’t even seem to notice, or care, about the hole in the wall that James punched through, the hole Angelica is staring at this very second. “He looked like someone ran over his puppy.”

Kimberly waits for an answer from her mother who is still staring intensely at the hole.  When none comes, The Woman Scorned furrows her brow out of curiosity and puzzlement.

“What’s wrong, mommalicious?  Wait, someone DID run over his puppy?”

“Kim…”

“Oh, no!  Wait!  Andrew Raynes kidnapped his puppy, butchered him, and made him into Chinese food!  That Raynes takes the whole embrace the hate shit too far!” Kim shrugs. “Oh well, it’d better taste good, at least.”

“KIM!”

“What?” Kimberly asks with curiosity.

“It had nothing to do with a puppy.”

“A cat?  I prefer cats anyway.”

“No!” Angelica shakes her head vehemently. “No animals were harmed.”

“Oh good.  But…” Kimberly points to the hole, finally acknowledging it for the first time since her arrival. “...what made this mess then?”

“James.”

“James?  Really?” Kim feigns surprise. “Sweet, old James who couldn’t hurt a fly did this damage?”

“Your sarcasm is showing, sweetheart.”

Angelica sighs and shakes her head as she turns from her somewhat deranged daughter and walks over towards the king size bed.  Angelica sits down on the edge of the bed and buries her face in her hands.  Kimberly instinctively knows that something is wrong.  She just doesn’t know what.  The Wild Card walks over to Angelica and sits down next to her on the edge of the bed.

“So I’m a sarcastic brat?  Can’t be worse than being a sociopath or a psychotic lunatic.” Kimberly says playfully with a wink of her eye.

“Are you suggesting that James is psychotic?  Or a sociopath?” Angelica fires back.

“Nope!” Kimberly motions to herself. “I am!”

“Oh…” Angelica’s voice trails off.

“Methinks the lady dost protest too much.” A victorious grin forms on Kimberly’s face. “Maybe you secretly suspect something of James and his puppy...or kitty...or whatever the hell he has.  So dish.  What’s up, mom?”

Despite the circumstances, the matriarch of the Jones family cannot help but chuckle at least slightly at her daughter’s jovial tone and antics.

“You really are too smart for your own good.  You know that?”

“I’m a fucking genius, mom.  But I like to keep that knowledge on the down low, if you catch my drift.  I don’t want the peeps or the peepettes to know how brilliant I am.  It gives me an advantage for them to think I’m just a crazy loon like Giovanni or even, dare I say it, James.”

Angelica once again shakes her head.  A pained look crosses her face.  It was one thing for her sister Kayla to voice concerns about James.  Angelica could easily dismiss them as Kayla just trying to interfere, Kayla trying to stir up trouble between the two.  But this is Kimberly.  Angelica and all of her children are on good terms.  Kimberly would have no ulterior motives.  Maybe she should just accept that maybe James has lost control, that maybe he has regressed?

“Sweetheart, I want to tell you how proud I am of you.”

Kimberly’s eyes grow wide. “Proud?  What the hell did I do?  I sure as hell didn’t win any spelling bees in school, that’s for damn sure.”

“No, it’s not that.” Angelica chuckles. “I’m proud of you for the way you stuck by your sister.  I’m proud of how you remained loyal to her and how you tried to protect her, no matter what.  Marie was in over her head, she was being manipulated, but you were there the entire time to make sure she didn’t go over the edge.  You were there to save her from the brink of disaster.”

“Uh, yeah...sure…” Kimberly answers, sounding rather confused.

“The easiest thing to do would have been to have just abandoned her to her mistakes.  It would have been so much easier to just sit back and watch her self-destruct because of her own mistakes but you helped her.  You saved her.  I’m proud of you, Kim.”

“Yeah, well, that’s what sisters are for, right?  At least that’s the kinda shit Marie kept pumping into my thick skull when she was trying to make me normal and stuff.”

“She’s right.” Angelica says with a nod of her head.

“Soooo, what are you getting at?” Kimberly asks.

“It’s no secret that your Aunt Kayla and I have been having some problems lately.”

“That’s an understatement.” Kim says with a smirk. “I’m just waiting for the claws to come out!  ROAR, BITCHES!”

Angelica rolls her eyes. “Anyway, we have been having our fair share of problems lately.  We’ve always been able to work them out but this time we can’t seem to do it.  Last week Kayla came by for a visit and what I thought was an attempt to patch things up.”

“But instead she put an axe in your head?”

“Kim…”

“Oh, no, wait, if she put an axe in your head you’d be dead.  But you’re here so you’re not dead.  Unless you’re a zombie.  Are you a zombie?”

“Kim…”

“Tell me what being a zombie feels like?  Does it itch?”

“KIM!”

“Sorry…” Kim says with a playful grin.

“She kept telling me about how James Evans and Giovanni Aries are both bad influences.  She told me that she worries about my continued association with them and how it could cause me to regress.”

“Regress?  Like back to a baby?  Diapers and shit?”

“No,” Angelica rolls her eyes “regress back to madness.  Psychosis.”

“Oh, well that’s different.” Kimberly insists. “Look at me!  I’m crazy as fuck and I’m doing just fine!”

“You know damn well what I mean.” Angelica declares sternly. “What bothers me is that I don’t know if she’s sincere or if she’s just trying to stir up trouble.  I mean, I know for a fact that she’s upset that I returned to SCW at all.  I could have returned to team with Jesus Christ himself and she’d still be pissed.  She claims she’s sincere but…” she shakes her head “...I don’t know.”

“Well it takes a loon to know a loon,” Kimberly begins “and I can tell you for a fact that Giovanni Aries is damn insane.  And when I say it, that’s bad!”

“So maybe disassociating from him is a good idea.  What about James, though?”

“He’s harder to read.” Kimberly says with a sigh. “Sure, he has a history.  So do I.  But those who know me best, like you and Marie, know that I’m perfectly fine!  James has a history, he has a reputation, but just because he’s been acting strange doesn’t necessarily mean he’s gone nuts again.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Well consider who you and him have been fighting with lately.”

“Bree and Raynes.”

Angelica’s voice is stoic.  She knows that a tag team title defense against them is coming up.  And she knows that it will be a war.  Their previous two battles have been epic fights and this will prove to be no different.  They are a threat to her and James’s tag team championship reign.

“They’ve been pushing you guys, both mentally and physically.  Trust me, I can tell.  Especially Raynes, though.  Raynes has really gotten under James’s skin.  It’s making him lose his temper, get angry, but losing your temper doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve lost your mind.  Know what I mean?”

“I do know what you mean, and I agree completely.  But…” Angelica’s voice trails off as she points over towards the hole in the wall “...how do you explain that?”

“That is harder to explain.” Kimberly smiles sheepishly.

“See my point?  And that’s not all.  There’s my issue with Kayla.” Angelica sighs deeply. “The more I speak with her, the more we try to patch things up, the guiltier I feel.  Then I look at you…”

Jones motions to her daughter “...you stood loyally by your sister Marie.  I wonder if I shouldn’t be doing the same for Kayla.”

“Well our situations are slightly different.  For one, Marie was being played for a fool.  She needed my help.  Does Kayla need your help?”

“No, she was trying to help me.”

“So she says.” Kimberly remarks.

“You don’t believe her?”

“Not for a second.  What she was doing to you last week was typical manipulation tactics.”

“How would you even know?” Angelica asks. “You weren’t there.  I was very vague.”

“And yet as vague as you were I still know manipulation and trust me, that was manipulation.  She doesn’t want you to be in SCW, am I right?”

“That’s right.” Angelica answers, nodding her head.

“There you go.  She may think that she’s trying to help but subconsciously she wants this whole ordeal between you and James to drive you out of SCW.  There’s being loyal to your sister and being played for a fool.  Don’t be played or manipulated, mom.  Ok?”

Angelica pauses to think over what Kimberly just said.  It makes perfect sense.  She grins widely and then embraces her daughter in a tight hug.

“Thanks, Kim. I needed that.”

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On Camera

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Why?

Such a small word and yet such an enormous question.  Why?  Why do we do this?  Why do we go out to the ring each and every week?  For some it’s for the entertainment of the fans.  For others it’s the thrill of competition.

Why do I go out to the ring with James Evans as Redemption?  Because Redemption, to me, is more than just a name for our tag team.  It’s something I truly believe in.  Redemption is the idea of making things right, of turning your life around, and I honestly believe that everyone is capable of redemption.

No one is lost forever.  You can always find your way back.

Once hatred and violence dominated my life.  The darkness of The Dragon controlled me and anyone who stood across the ring from me was in danger of being maimed, brutalized, and victimized.  I couldn’t control the hate.

But I turned myself around.  I found my way back through the darkness and now I control that hate.  I control The Dragon and I unleash the hate, I unleash that Dragon whenever I damn well please.  Never again will I lose control.  Never again will I let hate dominate and control my life.

I am in control.

That was my own mental war.  I waged it within myself.  And I won.  But everyone’s war is different and sometimes people have steeper, taller mountains to climb.  Some have more difficult challenges to overcome.  James Evans has a history.  He has a past, sure.  But he’s a winner of his own war, just like me.  He fought back, he survived.  Together we are perfect examples of what true redemption is all about.

With or without the tag team championship, our primary goal in coming together was to be models of that redemption.

But why does Bree Lancaster do this?

She’s a gold digger.

And I mean that in every sense of the word.  People like Bree are never satisfied.  They get rich and wealthy and then they need more.  They get more of that wealth and then they need even more.  The more she gets the more she needs.  She’ll never be satisfied with herself or her life because she’s always wanting more.

Every single week I am subjected to having to listen to hear bitch about not getting a United States Title match and not getting a shot at the world tag team titles.  People might be more agreeable to your claims were you not so whiny about it.  Unfortunately you’ve cried about it so much no one gives a damn about you except the few friends that your money can buy.

It’s what I tried to tell my daughter when she bitched about her lack of a world title match but she didn’t listen.  At least she has learned from her mistake.  You?  You don’t listen.  You’ll continue to bitch again and again, just like a child, until you get what you want.  And then?

Then you find something else to bitch about.

People are sick and tired of hearing you bitch like a child, so just like a petulant child it’s time I put my foot up your ass to teach you a lesson.

Why does Andrew Raynes do this?

Hate.

Funny thing is, I respect Raynes more than Bree because at least he has something on his mind other than getting more and more and more pretty shiny belts.  You may not agree with his philosophy, and I certainly don’t agree with his philosophy, but at least he does have a philosophy that he stands up for.

That’s where the respect ends.

Fact is, Raynes reminds me a lot of The Dragon.  That uncontrollable rage and hatred, the violent unleashed on anyone and everyone who gets in his path; that’s The Dragon.  He enjoys inflicting pain.  He enjoys making his opponents suffer.  He enjoys punishing his victims as much as he can before finishing them off.

You’re also the antithesis of Redemption.

I’m sure that makes you proud but know this, James and I can’t let you and Bree walk out of Tabula Rasa with the SCW World Tag Team Championships.

I know, I said I didn’t care about the titles as much as what Redemption stands for.  But you and Bree represent everything that Redemption opposes and we can’t let you hold these tag team titles while one of you is embracing the hate and the other is bitching like a little child.

You’re good.  You’re definitely a threat to take the titles.  That’s why I have to do what I must.

Your hate and your envy is going to meet my Dragon.

Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?  Prepare to dance with my devil.  Because I’m bringing all of the violent and brutality buried deep down within the blackest part of my soul.  That’s what I’m bringing to the steel cage.

I’m not afraid of being locked inside a cage.  I’ve been locked up before.  I’ve survived.  I will survive this.  But can you two say the same?  Precious Bree and her entitled ass, are you ready for the violence I intend to bring?

I don’t even have to ask you, Raynes.  I know you’ll be ready.  But are you two ready to suffer disappointment?  Because James and I are leaving the cage with the tag team championships or NO ONE leaves the cage.

Period.