Post by Hayleigh Blake on Nov 3, 2024 20:35:03 GMT
10/30/2024
West Hartford, CT
It’s been a weird few days.
Mom hasn’t mentioned Sacrifice, like, at all.
It’s anxiety inducing. Like, we’re standing across from each other in a ring at her personal gym and the only thing she's talked about is the gameplan for this week. I figured she’d be all over my ass after such a careless screw up on my part. That's how I know she's really mad, like big mad, the silence on the subject is awful.
I still can’t believe I fell for the oldest trick in the book.
Brooklyn sucks.
I didn’t have a dog in this horse race between Dean and Brooklyn before but honestly? I wouldn’t mind seeing him bloody her up a little bit.
”You ready?”
Mom snaps me out of my little day dream of Dean doing his best Desi Arnaz impression on Brooklyn.
”Yeah.”
We circle around each other a few times. Mom is clearly sizing me up. I can tell she’s mad. She wants to say something. She wants to just verbally rip me apart but instead she’s letting me stew in the wonder of it all.
What will she say?
How mad will she be?
The not knowing is honestly worse than whatever she’s actually going to do and she knows that. It’s a classic Mom punishment. She used to do stuff like this all the time when I was a kid. I’d screw up and she’d just go silent, let me think about how bad the punishment was going to be and then, eventually she’d take a subtle jab that absolutely destroyed me.
I preferred the yelling.
”Oh, hey!”
She waves behind me and I turn my back to see who’s here. My mistake. She’s on me before I even hear her feet beating against the mat. Her arm wrapped around my head as he pulls me into a side headlock.
I’m an idiot.
”Really?”
And there’s the subtle jab. Her letting me know how much of an idiot I am.
I push against her waist, breaking the hold but she bounces off the ropes with all of her weight and crashes into me with a brutal shoulder block that sends me down to the mat.
”Now it makes sense.”
”What the fuck?”
”What the fuck!?”
Her question/statement/reply oozes with anger.
I get back up on my feet. We tie up but she isn’t sparring anymore. She’s trying to teach me a lesson. I find myself back in the side headlock and then on the mat with a takedown. She’s got me in a rear chin lock with one arm and a rear wrist lock with the other.
”What the fuck was that with Brooklyn!? Are you really so gullible!?”
At least when she yells I know where I stand.
”You think I don’t know how stupid of me that was?”
”I think maybe you’re not ready for the opportunity we’ve given you.”
Oh, that one hurt.
I manage to wriggle my way back up to my feet but she still has that wrist lock. I throw a few jabs with my free arm into her stomach that breaks her hold on me. Now that I’m free, I dance around her a little bit and shoot for her legs. She moves, she knew what I was going for and she’s right on me again with the side headlock.
”You knew she was going to be there!? Why the hell would you take your eyes off April for even a second!?”
”I didn’t know what she was going to do!”
”Then she attacks you, you win by DQ and get a World title shot!”
”That’s not how I want to win.”
She lets go, pushing me away in the process.
”But you didn’t win!!”
I palm strike her dead across the face. Hard. Harder than I’ve ever hit anyone and she drops to a single knee.
”You little shit.”
She’s up in a flash. I hesitate and in that hesitation she returns my strike. It felt like getting hit in the jaw by a tank. It levels me. The room spins for a moment. The lights seem to flicker.
”Come on, GET UP!”
She hops from foot to foot as I sit up holding my jaw. The room still hasn’t stopped spinning and she’s got a big old grin on her face.
”Let’s go, Hayleigh. You’re big and bad now. Come on!”
I start to get up, heading for the ropes. Fuck this.
”Oh, is that it? You’re just going to walk away now? Is that your game plan for Odyssey too? Just run off when Sorcha hits you a little too hard? I guess it’s no wonder why I’m the only one in the family who gives a shit about your career. The rest of them don’t have time for a soft ass like you.”
Fuck her.
”SHUT UP!”
I charge her, the room has settled but the lights still flicker. I try for a front takedown but she stuffs me. I keep coming. I’m seeing red now. She seems to be enjoying the struggle. I get her off her feet but she manages to plant herself again. She breaks my S grip around her waist and connects again with a palm strike. I feel the tears welling up in my eyes. The room starts to spin again. The lights seem to be going out but I fight back.
”COME ON!”
She goes to strike me again but I grab her wrist and take her down to the mat. I wrap my legs around her arm in a figure four armbar and wrench as hard as I can. She lets out a little yelp before yelling.
”Go on! Break it! Show me how badass you are!”
I snap out of the rage. This is what she wanted. I let her go and quickly rolled out of the ring.
”Where are you going!?”
I’m done with this.
”Hayleigh! Get back in here!”
Nope, not today. I’m done. I’m so freaking done. I grab my bag and I leave. My phone is buzzing before I even reach the sidewalk. I shut it off. It’s her turn to stew in the silence.
West Hartford, CT
It’s been a weird few days.
Mom hasn’t mentioned Sacrifice, like, at all.
It’s anxiety inducing. Like, we’re standing across from each other in a ring at her personal gym and the only thing she's talked about is the gameplan for this week. I figured she’d be all over my ass after such a careless screw up on my part. That's how I know she's really mad, like big mad, the silence on the subject is awful.
I still can’t believe I fell for the oldest trick in the book.
Brooklyn sucks.
I didn’t have a dog in this horse race between Dean and Brooklyn before but honestly? I wouldn’t mind seeing him bloody her up a little bit.
”You ready?”
Mom snaps me out of my little day dream of Dean doing his best Desi Arnaz impression on Brooklyn.
”Yeah.”
We circle around each other a few times. Mom is clearly sizing me up. I can tell she’s mad. She wants to say something. She wants to just verbally rip me apart but instead she’s letting me stew in the wonder of it all.
What will she say?
How mad will she be?
The not knowing is honestly worse than whatever she’s actually going to do and she knows that. It’s a classic Mom punishment. She used to do stuff like this all the time when I was a kid. I’d screw up and she’d just go silent, let me think about how bad the punishment was going to be and then, eventually she’d take a subtle jab that absolutely destroyed me.
I preferred the yelling.
”Oh, hey!”
She waves behind me and I turn my back to see who’s here. My mistake. She’s on me before I even hear her feet beating against the mat. Her arm wrapped around my head as he pulls me into a side headlock.
I’m an idiot.
”Really?”
And there’s the subtle jab. Her letting me know how much of an idiot I am.
I push against her waist, breaking the hold but she bounces off the ropes with all of her weight and crashes into me with a brutal shoulder block that sends me down to the mat.
”Now it makes sense.”
”What the fuck?”
”What the fuck!?”
Her question/statement/reply oozes with anger.
I get back up on my feet. We tie up but she isn’t sparring anymore. She’s trying to teach me a lesson. I find myself back in the side headlock and then on the mat with a takedown. She’s got me in a rear chin lock with one arm and a rear wrist lock with the other.
”What the fuck was that with Brooklyn!? Are you really so gullible!?”
At least when she yells I know where I stand.
”You think I don’t know how stupid of me that was?”
”I think maybe you’re not ready for the opportunity we’ve given you.”
Oh, that one hurt.
I manage to wriggle my way back up to my feet but she still has that wrist lock. I throw a few jabs with my free arm into her stomach that breaks her hold on me. Now that I’m free, I dance around her a little bit and shoot for her legs. She moves, she knew what I was going for and she’s right on me again with the side headlock.
”You knew she was going to be there!? Why the hell would you take your eyes off April for even a second!?”
”I didn’t know what she was going to do!”
”Then she attacks you, you win by DQ and get a World title shot!”
”That’s not how I want to win.”
She lets go, pushing me away in the process.
”But you didn’t win!!”
I palm strike her dead across the face. Hard. Harder than I’ve ever hit anyone and she drops to a single knee.
”You little shit.”
She’s up in a flash. I hesitate and in that hesitation she returns my strike. It felt like getting hit in the jaw by a tank. It levels me. The room spins for a moment. The lights seem to flicker.
”Come on, GET UP!”
She hops from foot to foot as I sit up holding my jaw. The room still hasn’t stopped spinning and she’s got a big old grin on her face.
”Let’s go, Hayleigh. You’re big and bad now. Come on!”
I start to get up, heading for the ropes. Fuck this.
”Oh, is that it? You’re just going to walk away now? Is that your game plan for Odyssey too? Just run off when Sorcha hits you a little too hard? I guess it’s no wonder why I’m the only one in the family who gives a shit about your career. The rest of them don’t have time for a soft ass like you.”
Fuck her.
”SHUT UP!”
I charge her, the room has settled but the lights still flicker. I try for a front takedown but she stuffs me. I keep coming. I’m seeing red now. She seems to be enjoying the struggle. I get her off her feet but she manages to plant herself again. She breaks my S grip around her waist and connects again with a palm strike. I feel the tears welling up in my eyes. The room starts to spin again. The lights seem to be going out but I fight back.
”COME ON!”
She goes to strike me again but I grab her wrist and take her down to the mat. I wrap my legs around her arm in a figure four armbar and wrench as hard as I can. She lets out a little yelp before yelling.
”Go on! Break it! Show me how badass you are!”
I snap out of the rage. This is what she wanted. I let her go and quickly rolled out of the ring.
”Where are you going!?”
I’m done with this.
”Hayleigh! Get back in here!”
Nope, not today. I’m done. I’m so freaking done. I grab my bag and I leave. My phone is buzzing before I even reach the sidewalk. I shut it off. It’s her turn to stew in the silence.
”I guess I ‘earned’ a shot at the Gladiatorix Championship.”
Yay me…
”Let me just say this. April, I had you. You know I had you. The crowd knows I had you. Your sister knew I had you. But I took my eyes off the ball and you capitalized. Good for you. Congratulations.”
“It won’t happen again.”
“Next time we meet, and we will meet again, you won’t get that lucky.”
“As for your sister?”
“Brooklyn, I’m going to ask real nice that you keep this shit between you and Dean, between you and Dean. I don’t want to be involved. I don’t want to pick sides. Because if I have to pick a side? I’m taking Dean’s and I’m going to be honest with you, Brooklyn. You don’t want our family bearing arms against you.”
“Trust me.”
I smirk. Dean’s above calling in Dad but me? I’ve always enjoyed watching him work.
”Blessedly the bookers that be saw fit to move me away from that struggle and pit me against someone uninvolved.”
“Sorcha Ni Wynne.”
“I’ve got to be honest, I like this match up. She’s skilled in all the same ways I am, technical, powerful when needed, she’s spooky but not in an annoying kind of way. She speaks in riddles and rhymes but it’s all so very soothing like a good book from your childhood.”
Like a nursery rhyme.
”This is a good match up for me. She isn’t just a good worker the company keeps around to make other people look good. And she isn’t one of the absolute elite of the women’s division. She’s someone around my rung on the ladder. Yes, she’s more experienced than me for sure but I’m willing to bet we’re both batting about 500 in the wins and losses.”
I think I used that baseball reference correctly.
”This is the sort of match I need right now. I’m coming off a couple tough losses, losses that should remove me from title contention. However, I’ve got a title shot coming up all the same at Survival of the Fittest. Which means I need to snap this cold streak and fast. I can’t walk into that match with a string of losses.”
“I can’t.”
“I’m more than a warm body, I’m more than a good worker, I’m more than someone you throw out there to make other people look good. I’m not one of these performance center people who never seem to graduate to the next level. I’m not a loser.”
“I’m not!”
“I’m young, I’m learning, I’m getting better all the time. I’m someone this company and those fans can get behind. I’m going to be a champion some day. I’m going to be regarded as one of the best in the world at some point.”
“I promise you.”
“I’m so much more than I’ve shown so far. I know my record looks like crap. I know some people are already starting to question how seriously I’m taking this. I know it probably looks like I’m just here as a favor to my parents…”
I pause, looking down, my recent training session with Mom still playing in my head.
”I deserve to be here.”
I repeat it like a mantra.
”I DESERVE TO BE HERE!”
And I believe it.
”I know Sorcha is going to hit hard, I’m going to hit harder. I know Sorcha is going to try to take me to the mat. I’ll take her down first. I know Sorcha is going to test me, I’m going to test her too.”
I nod.
”I’m better than my last match. I’m better than the idiot rookie April faced last week. I’m better than any of my losses would dictate. You don’t have to believe me. You don’t have to take me at my word. That’s fine. I don’t expect people to just forget what they’ve seen from me.”
“I’m going to prove it.”
“I’m going to prove it against Sorcha Ni Wynne and then I’m going to prove it again at Survival of the Fittest. Maybe I have been just a little too happy to be here the last couple months. Maybe I have allowed my last name to speak for me. Maybe I have expected things to come a little easier for me.”
“Maybe I believed my own hype.”
“Well the hype has faded, the honeymoon period is over, I’ve made my first impression in this company and I don’t really care for it. Now I’m going to raise the bar. I’m going to change everyone’s expectations of me. I’m going to turn things up a level.”
Hell yeah.
”Sorcha, this isn’t just going to be a match. This is going to be a fight. A fight for my survival. A fight for my future. This is going to be a fight that defines my path. A path that will go through you to the Gladiatorix Championship.”
“You’re going to hit me.”
“I’m going to hit harder.”
“You’re going to knock me down.”
”I’m going to knock you out.”
“I’m my own worst critic and I’m not proud of my current body of work. I know I’m better than what I’ve shown so far. I know I’m capable of so much more. I know I can be one of the best.”
“I KNOW IT!”
“But me knowing it doesn’t make it reality. I make it reality. I make it real one match at a time. One opponent at a time. I make it real at Odyssey against you. The training wheels are off. No one is holding my hand. There’s no one in my corner this week. It’s me against the world and at Odyssey?”
“I pave my way through you.“
Well howdy there pardner.