Post by Serenity Holmes on Feb 5, 2024 4:55:41 GMT
You know? I've just now been to rock bottom. I think everyone has their time when they are supposed to meet their God or their maker. Have a humbled meeting and understand exactly where life is taking them. I've always thought I was invincible and unstoppable; no one could touch me. However, that has yet to happen, so I've been proven wrong. However, maybe that's what I need to get the fire lit in me again. Shea, thank you for reminding me who I am at my core—someone who doesn't quit at all.
HOME.
Houston, Texas.
The birthing landscape of Serenity Holmes. Unfortunately, it's become nothing more than a refugee housing market for her, significantly since she's been declining for the first time in her career. Serenity's hands were grasped tightly around the steering wheel of her Mustang, listening to the predictions, podcasts, and media scrums of the worthless journalists commentating about her falls ever since the end of 2023. She leaned back in the driver's seat, stuck in traffic, taking in the criticisms, the jokes, and all the insults now that the ammunition had been given to them and who was responsible for it.
Her.
The 22nd Century Girl's time was running out. Time waited for no man- or, in this case, no woman- but who was she to give up? Serenity had been through the worst in her personal life and battled her way through the bold means of those who would try to ruin her. Hell, she gave the fight of her life against her deceased mother, who abused her during her childhood, and even combated against falling into the pit of alcoholic addiction.
But what was holding her back?
The moment the light turned green on an intersection, she pressed her Converse against the pedal, and the car accelerated down a street she turned into that she knew too well. Underneath the moon, she parked in front of an old warehouse, and the engine hummed to a silent stop. Serenity stood up from the car and shut the door, fixing her leather jacket to remain heated in the cold winds before lifting the garage door to an empty ring and old school gym. She flicked the light switch on, and the fluorescent lights above flickered before illuminating the run-down environment. However, the only thing that mattered to her was the ring.
She gently stroked her fingertips against the dusty ring apron as she walked around, remembering when her father would drill the excruciating physical torment of exercises the average person couldn't do. The nights she shared with him and her friends who would put everything they had into becoming where she is now. Serenity sighed, took off her leather jacket and studded hat, and threw them on the floor before sitting on the apron edge with her body hunched forward, her hair covering her face, and she tried her best not to get emotional.
"Serenity." Of course, the voice was familiar. He always knew when she was home.
ODDS.
Shea.
I have huge shoes to fill, as you can see. I want to ask you something. Have you ever been in a position where you thought you were invincible, and everything fell out of your hands because you couldn't believe how life could take things from you?
I know you're probably laughing with your friends, thinking you were right about me, but I'm proud to say you're wrong. I'm not the girl you think I am. I'm not the derailed hype train or the one-hit wonder. I hit consistently and hard, but I am jealous of you, Shea.
You're what I should be in the Imperial Wrestling Federation, so I need to beat you. I have lost so much in such a short time that I can't even find the words to breathe, but when I looked into your eyes, I saw what I have known. I can be the next IWF Women's World Champion, as you were twice before, but the difference is that I will eclipse you and every woman on this roster. Shea, I don't fear you, and I'm not scared of you. You have the confidence now because you're the IWF home-grown talent.
You are the Cinderella story. Graduating developmental and being to the mountaintop twice are exemplary achievements, but every time a veteran tells me what to do, I don't listen. I beat them. It's what Knox used to say to me.
Respect your elders for paving the path and beat them to create your own.
So, Shea, I respect you, but I will beat you because this means so much more to me than you can ever imagine. For the first time in my career, I have nothing. I'm reset. I'm a blank canvas with no idea what to paint, but now that I have you at Metamorphosis, I will paint my canvas foundation with your blood. I'm going to make a former two-time Women's World Champion who held that briefcase at the same time I did tap out to understand that I am not dead!
So don't fucking tell me that my life is over. I decide when I'm over, and I decide now that I am still going to fight, I am still going to battle, and when this business chooses to take me, I will go, but I am damn sure not going down without a fight.
You! You are in a position where your confidence and ego have been stricken, and guess what? I'm happy for you.
Now I am the underdog, which is where I strive to be the best damn Serenity Holmes this world has ever seen. I am that little girl from 18 years old who started with everyone saying the same thing you've said: I'm just another second-generation brat.
Shea. I'm ready. I'm not triple homicideing, I'm not half-assing, and I'm not distracted anymore.
There's a new resident, and I'm home in IWF.
FATHER.
"What are you doing here? Why didn't you call me?" He stood by the garage door after receiving a notification that an individual was in this facility. Her father, Andre, was meticulous about security measures, especially around his investments. However, he was happy to see his baby girl come home, but not under these circumstances. Serenity waved her legs back and forth as they dangled off the apron edge, hunched forward, still unable to look her father in the eyes. Andre noticed and sighed; he dropped his bags and sat beside her, where she rested her cheek onto his shoulder and held him close by his right arm.
"I missed you." She spoke softly. Andre chuckled softly in response.
"I've missed you too, kiddo. Now, you going to answer my question?"
She jumped off the apron and walked around, trying to figure out how to tell her dad about her recent controversies and downfall in her career. Not every day does a daughter publicly embarrass her family with her shenanigans of being a drunk or her career-defining moments of throwing everything in the trash. Her father was understanding, and although they had differences, he loved her more than anything. She's his firstborn child, but had to own up to her mistakes. Serenity stopped pacing and faced her dad with her arms folded, releasing a sigh before she owned up to everything.
"I'm a mess." She chuckled nervously. "I'm a mess dad. I thought I was strong enough to continue doing this, but I don't have the strength you had. I'm either hated or tested to my limits everywhere I go. My personal life is in shambles because of what I did last year, and everyone is now making fun of me. I can barely train and eat sometimes, and I have to go out in front of everyone with a smile when I'm tearing apart inside. I'm self-destructing, and I don't know how to stop."
Her lip quivered, and she did her best to hold back tears. "I'm losing everything. My career, friends, family, and now I have nothing left. I don't know what to do other than to fight, and I don't even know if that is good enough." The tears were leaking down her face. "I'm sorry, Dad. I let you down." She smiled again until it disappeared quickly. Serenity let her head down and wiped away her tears with her hands until her dad stood up from the apron to stand directly before her.
"Get in the ring." She looked at him with her right eyebrow perched up. "Get in the ring," Andre demanded, and she followed quickly. Serenity rolled into the ring and stood up with her father, climbing the steps to get inside. He walked around a specific spot on the white canvas that appeared to be a blood stain dried up. Serenity crouched down and remembered that exact stain of her blood from years ago before looking at her father.
"You never cleaned it?" She asked. Andre shrugged his shoulders.
"No need, kiddo." He paced around her. "You were scared your first time. You were only 15 when I was training my next batch of students. You sat right there." He pointed to an empty steel chair in a corner that was rusty. "You watched everything with such interest that I knew you had the look of being a professional wrestler. Like father, like daughter, right?" Serenity kept listening to his speech. "When you stepped into this ring, you didn't hesitate. You stepped through these ropes and said you wanted to try a bump until you threw yourself face first and busted your nose open. Blood poured, and everyone came to your attention."
"Yeah. You didn't." She stated that firmly. Andre squatted down to meet her.
"You're right. I didn't. I knew my daughter would get back on her feet like she did, and as you see, look where you are now. It's okay to be scared, Serenity. No one's perfect in this business, and sometimes we must fall to know how fast we can rise." He smiled at her and rubbed her forehead. Serenity let her head down again and sighed. "You're okay, love. I'll always love you. I can be a hard ass, but it's what we're made of. You need to understand what you want." Serenity looked at him with no expression, but he smiled back at her. "Anyways, I have to get home and cook. If you decide to stay, I'll make your favorite and make sure to lock up when you do." He rolled out of the ring and walked out of the building without saying anything else or looking behind him.
Serenity sat in the ring and stared at that blood stain before looking at the flies surrounding the fluorescent lights. At this moment, she rolled out of the ring and walked out of the building to her car; she grasped the door handle but didn't open it. Serenity looked back to the ring and then to her car before impulsively marching to the ring and sliding under the bottom rope before standing back up again. In an instant flash of her speed, she sprinted to the ropes and rebounded again, continuing the back-and-forth movement to hit the ropes as hard as she could.
Finally, she stopped in the center and lifted her black shirt to see bruising from the rope burn amount on her back. Serenity smiled and slowly went down on her right knee to drag her fingers on the blood-stained canvas portion of the mat. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and stood back up again to lean forward on the ropes, her eyes closed, head down, hair covering her face until looking upwards to face the empty bliss before her.
At this moment, she had to choose, which was coming very soon, but Serenity was sure about the one thing she refused to do—the one thing she could never do in her entire life.
SUBMIT.
That's what you want. Submission? To make me tap in the ring after you've been gone for five years, Shea? You know? I'm not surprised you're on your high horse and looking down on me, but let me tell you something about myself that you should pay attention to. I've never been at the mercy of submission because I chose to fight. My father was right; you know who you are when you are down on your ass, and I'm the ultimate underdog in this story. IWF unlocked something in me. Yes, your home, the place you became a martyr for, and have a guaranteed hall-of-fame spot. Your house that I barged into and almost got kicked out unlocked something in me.
Resurgence.
I've been reset. I'm back to my roots where I haven't stepped foot in so damn long, and I'm feeling every course of emotion and memory in my body, which means I have been reminded of what's important to me; You aren't important to me, the opportunity to redeem myself, pull myself out of the hole I dug in, fight through the fires of the hell I architected and step into the ring with you to look you in the eyes and tell you.
I.
Am.
Not.
Done.
Am.
Not.
Done.
I'm not done. I can't be done, Shea. I can't end my story like this when I am just getting started. When someone stumbles, it doesn't mean they've fallen.
But you know what it means to fall because you've been falling for the last five damn years, and the moment you came back, you're stuck with me. This isn't about you trying to put me down; you're trying to be my killswitch because you were the killswitch to yours. Allow me to bestow you some advice from a former two-time world champion as you've done here.
When you were gone for five years, you should have returned and said I am still alive. That's why I need to win. I'm not going to be put on a shelf for everyone to say how good I was in my prime; I want to be on the frontlines, leading people and showing everyone that no matter how hard you fall, pick yourself up and show the entire world you're not done. You. You've been done. You hung up your boots and returned, but you've been in my position since then. You've been questioning yourself, and now that you have a few wins, you have this confidence, but what happens when I take that away?
What happens at Metamorphosis?
What happens, Shea, when I'm the one who made you submit? And I don't mean tapping out; I mean making you submit to your demons. I've faced mine, and I've conquered them. Have you done the same? No.
You haven't done shit other than say the same thing everyone else has said, but the one thing you disregarded was my talent to prove the naysayers wrong, and that's why Shea, I am going to make you tap out. Do me a favor, when the match is over, and I stand before as the Queen's Gambit, don't kneel or bow to me; shake my hand, and respect me that I passed my Come to Jesus meeting.
Take me to Church Shea and show me how you face your inner demons when mine become yours.
Well howdy there pardner.