Post by Shelly Diamond on Oct 18, 2022 23:06:46 GMT
{ The ride to the hospital was a nightmare. Hayleigh didn’t say a single word to Shelly during the twenty minute trip from their home to the New Britain Hospital. }
What the hell was I thinking!? She barely has any training, no upper body strength. There was no reason to torque her arm like that. IDIOT!
{ The thing that bothered Shelly the most was that that Hayeligh didn’t cry. She shed tears but after the initial scream of her right shoulder coming out of the socket it was all silence. Even when the intake nurse asked them how it became dislocated, Hayleigh didn’t say a word. }
Kids cop attitudes. I was a terror for mom and dad. What did she do? Tell you she was heading out without permission to go train to do exactly what you were training to do!?
{ The silent void between them didn’t get any smaller once the ER doctor had popped Hayleigh’s shoulder back into the socket or when the nurse came to set her up with a sling. In fact, Shelly could feel the void getting bigger with every passing moment. }
You’re supposed to have her back, to be there for her, to be her role model! The one normal person in her whole life and what did you do!? You decide being the best isn’t enough. You start cheating, get an ego, and when your daughter calls you out on it you pull her arm out of the socket!?
What have I done?
{ It didn’t get better when the nurse brought them their release papers. As it turns out in the state of Connecticut, Hayleigh is a minor at sixteen so this incident needs to be reported to DCF and the hospital won’t be releasing Hayleigh back into Shelly’s custody at this time. }
”Hayleigh! Are you ok!?”
{ So they called her father. And with her father came Tara. }
I want to say she has no right but… She has more right than me.
”I’ll be ok.”
{ Father and daughter embraced, Hayleigh with her free arm. Tara came to both of their sides, turning an angry eye in Shelly’s direction before making hugging them both. }
You did this, Shell… You.
{ Tara helped Hayleigh off the gurney and the two headed toward the hospital exit. Angel stuck back for a moment. He turned to look at Shelly with fury in his eyes. Their history came flooding back into Shelly’s mind. With nothing more than a look she felt like the abused, bruised, scared housewife hiding in her daughter’s bed again hoping he wouldn’t strike her in front of their daughter. }
”How could you?”
{ He asked harshly, without pretense. This wasn’t the Angel she had come to know, this was who he became while she was gone. }
”I… I’m sorry… I…”
”Don’t make excuses.”
{ He spoke in a hushed tone but the anger was there all the same. }
”You’re her mother. Act like it.”
{ There was no yelling. No hitting. Nothing of any of their past fights. Still his words hurt all the same. In the span of a month, Shelly had lost everything she ever fought for. }
I did this.
Me.
No one else.
I can’t put this on Tara. I can’t put this on Caroline. I can’t put this on Caleb or Pax.
Shelly Diamond is her own worst enemy. Shelly Diamond caused all of her own problems. If I hadn’t let ego get the better of me? Maybe I’d have wrestled better at Bloody Assizes. Maybe if I spent a little more time focusing on being the person my daughter expected me to be I’d still be a champion today?
I can fix this.
I have to fix this.
I HAVE TO FIX THIS.
What the hell was I thinking!? She barely has any training, no upper body strength. There was no reason to torque her arm like that. IDIOT!
{ The thing that bothered Shelly the most was that that Hayeligh didn’t cry. She shed tears but after the initial scream of her right shoulder coming out of the socket it was all silence. Even when the intake nurse asked them how it became dislocated, Hayleigh didn’t say a word. }
Kids cop attitudes. I was a terror for mom and dad. What did she do? Tell you she was heading out without permission to go train to do exactly what you were training to do!?
{ The silent void between them didn’t get any smaller once the ER doctor had popped Hayleigh’s shoulder back into the socket or when the nurse came to set her up with a sling. In fact, Shelly could feel the void getting bigger with every passing moment. }
You’re supposed to have her back, to be there for her, to be her role model! The one normal person in her whole life and what did you do!? You decide being the best isn’t enough. You start cheating, get an ego, and when your daughter calls you out on it you pull her arm out of the socket!?
What have I done?
{ It didn’t get better when the nurse brought them their release papers. As it turns out in the state of Connecticut, Hayleigh is a minor at sixteen so this incident needs to be reported to DCF and the hospital won’t be releasing Hayleigh back into Shelly’s custody at this time. }
”Hayleigh! Are you ok!?”
{ So they called her father. And with her father came Tara. }
I want to say she has no right but… She has more right than me.
”I’ll be ok.”
{ Father and daughter embraced, Hayleigh with her free arm. Tara came to both of their sides, turning an angry eye in Shelly’s direction before making hugging them both. }
You did this, Shell… You.
{ Tara helped Hayleigh off the gurney and the two headed toward the hospital exit. Angel stuck back for a moment. He turned to look at Shelly with fury in his eyes. Their history came flooding back into Shelly’s mind. With nothing more than a look she felt like the abused, bruised, scared housewife hiding in her daughter’s bed again hoping he wouldn’t strike her in front of their daughter. }
”How could you?”
{ He asked harshly, without pretense. This wasn’t the Angel she had come to know, this was who he became while she was gone. }
”I… I’m sorry… I…”
”Don’t make excuses.”
{ He spoke in a hushed tone but the anger was there all the same. }
”You’re her mother. Act like it.”
{ There was no yelling. No hitting. Nothing of any of their past fights. Still his words hurt all the same. In the span of a month, Shelly had lost everything she ever fought for. }
I did this.
Me.
No one else.
I can’t put this on Tara. I can’t put this on Caroline. I can’t put this on Caleb or Pax.
Shelly Diamond is her own worst enemy. Shelly Diamond caused all of her own problems. If I hadn’t let ego get the better of me? Maybe I’d have wrestled better at Bloody Assizes. Maybe if I spent a little more time focusing on being the person my daughter expected me to be I’d still be a champion today?
I can fix this.
I have to fix this.
I HAVE TO FIX THIS.
”I fucked up.”
“I’m sure you’ve all heard by now. Social media has a way of getting around, especially when you do something abhorrent.”
“During an impromptu training session I accidentally popped my daughter’s arm out of the socket…”
“Or maybe it wasn’t an accident.”
“I don’t know.”
“What I do know is I feel absolutely terrible about it. I’m heart broken. Depressed. Devastated. I feel like somehow I’ve allowed myself to become everything I said I hated when I came back to IWF.”
”I hate myself right now.”
“As I’m sure most of you do. I’ve been full of myself. I’ve been arrogant. I’ve been an absolute bitch for the better part of a year. And while I’d like to be the sort of asshole who chalks my attitude up to my position in the company?”
”I know that isn’t true.”
“And I’m not going to stand here on the eve of two of the biggest matches of my career and lie to you. Whether you love me or not, I’ve always been about telling the hard hitting truth. Sure, I don’t always sugarcoat it. I don’t put it in kind words. But I am always one hundred percent honest with each and every one of you.”
”I fucked up.”
“I fucked up against Caroline. I fucked up against the Revolution. I fucked up in the fatal four way. I fucked up with Tara. But most of all? I fucked up with my daughter.”
“I hurt the one person I relied on most in this world and why? Because she was just expressing her disappointment in me! As well she should! She’s my daughter! The light of my life! She is everything I fight for everytime I step into the ring and she tried to tell me how badly I was fucking up for months!”
”I have to change.”
“I know my words won’t mean anything to her right now. I know they will probably mean even less to all of you watching. That’s fine. I’ve earned that. I’ve more than earned your doubt but more than that? I deserve your doubt. I have given none of you a reason to believe me when I say I want to be better.”
“I know I’m the villain walking into Odyssey. I know the crowd is going to be pulling for Pax to finally get his moment in the sun. I know there will even be a portion of the crowd looking forward to Caleb giving me exactly what I deserve.”
”I can’t let that happen.”
“The Invictus Championship is something unheard of in this company. For the first time in a decade there will be a Championship that truly represents who the best wrestler in the entire company is. No gendered divisions. No two world titles. If you want to call yourself the single best wrestler in the IWF universe, you want to hold the Invictus Championship.”
”I want to call myself the best again.”
“But not for me this time. Not for the Work. Not even for the Diamond legacy. I want to win this match fairly, I want to win my match against Tara fairly. I want to go on and become the first ever intergender Champion of the IWF to show my daughter I can be the person she thought I was. She always believed in me. Even when she was screaming in my face she believed I was better than the way I was acting.”
”I am better.”
“This is my opportunity. You don’t have to like me. You don’t have to forgive me. You don’t have to cheer me. I was winning matches in this company without cheating long before I faced Caroline at Bloody Assizes. I was already on the single greatest winning streak this company has ever seen long before Legacy. I know I can reach those heights again. I know I can soar past those heights.”
”I know I’m the Best Ever.”
“Now I just have to prove it all over again. I have to prove it on a new show with a new title with new competition. And I look forward to the battle. I know it’s not going to be easy. I know it’s a long and winding road back to the top of the mountain. I know Hayleigh isn’t just going to forgive me for what I’ve done just because I’m a champion again.”
”But it’s a start.”
“I have to show her what she means to me. That I did hear everything she said. That I am truly and deeply sorry for everything I have put her through over these last few months. I allowed myself to become a miserable and rotten person. I let my ego take over.”
”Not any more.”
“I have spent nearly every waking moment since that hospital visit training. I am in the best shape of my career. My mind is sharpened, my skills are honed. I am ready to step into the ring with one of the best pure athletes this company or the world has ever known. I am ready to step into the right with a man who will steal the future, whether by hook or by crook.”
”I’m ready.”
“Because as much as this means to you? As much as being able to call yourself the first ever intergender Invictus Champion means to you? It means a hell of a lot more to me. It means more that I go through one of the best and one of the dirtiest and I do it within the confines of the rules. It means more to me to avenge my loss in a multi person match. It means more to me that when I hold that Invictus Championship over my head I pray to god to see my daughter in the front row with a smile on her face.”
”It means more to me.”
“Hayleigh. Baby. I hope you’re watching. I’m sorry. I know fighting fair isn’t enough to prove that. I know winning this match just by being better isn’t going to fix things. I know I have so much more work to do. But I promise you, baby girl. You’re going to see the me you want to see. You’re going to see the me you’ve been begging to see. You’re going to see your mother, the way I should be.”
”I will be the role model I should’ve always been.”
“And I will do it by being better than anyone I am put in the ring against. You are one of the best pure wrestlers in the entire world, Pax but I’ve long said that I’m the Best Ever. Friday night I prove it by taking an Olympic level athlete to his absolute limits without breaking a sweat.”
“I will do it by knowing every trick Caleb is going to try before he tries it. I look at you, the future and I see someone who isn’t confident enough in his own skills to just wrestle. Well I am. I’ve always been more than confident in my abilities. Friday night I’m going to teach you a lesson. The difference between arrogance and confidence.”
”You’re looking at her.”
{ Shelly is back home in her basement gym. The heavy bag is dented with the impact of her taped up fists. The floor glistens with the spattering of her sweat. She is putting in the overtime, she is putting in the work. }
You can do this. You just have to be better. Better than you were. Better than you are. Better than you’ve ever been.
{ Shelly continues to put in the work against the heavy bag when her phone suddenly chimes from the steps with a specific tone, Hayleigh’s tone. Shelly quickly pulls off her gloves as she scoops the phone up off the basement steps. }
It’s Hayleigh.
”I saw your promos. It doesn’t change anything. You fucked up. But goodluck. I hope you stay true to your word.”
{ Tears of relief began to pour from Shelly’s eyes as she read the message over and over. }
It’s a start…
You can do this. You just have to be better. Better than you were. Better than you are. Better than you’ve ever been.
{ Shelly continues to put in the work against the heavy bag when her phone suddenly chimes from the steps with a specific tone, Hayleigh’s tone. Shelly quickly pulls off her gloves as she scoops the phone up off the basement steps. }
It’s Hayleigh.
”I saw your promos. It doesn’t change anything. You fucked up. But goodluck. I hope you stay true to your word.”
{ Tears of relief began to pour from Shelly’s eyes as she read the message over and over. }
It’s a start…
Well howdy there pardner.