Post by Ashley Mastrangelo on Jun 22, 2014 0:35:56 GMT
The world isn’t as it once was…and neither am I.
As the scene fades in, the rustling of the wind against the leaves of the trees is all that can be heard. Back and forth each limb blows until there’s a loud “snapping” sound, followed by a “thud” as the rather large limb hits the ground, sending bits of debris everywhere. As the hard wind dies down, the sound of footsteps can be heard making their way through the heavily wooded, darkened area.
Once before I was the one that everybody loved. I bounced around looking “pretty” and while the world noticed my looks, they didn’t notice me as a person. They watched me like one would watch a lioness in her cage at the zoo, going about the script nice and tamely because the wilderness, the savageness of the wild had escaped her. You treated me like a side show and I’ve now decided that you will do so no longer.
We see Ashley, in her now more casual attire. After all, a “Dark Princess” still has to somewhat blend in with society, right? She finds a nearby stump and has a seat in her black pants and leather jacket, shielding her paler skin from the wind that blows.
This week, in an Heiress to the Throne match at the Bloody Assizes Pay Per View, I make my name known once more. I do so as the powerful, dominant woman I am now as opposed to the weak, want to please everyone, little girl that I was. It just so happen that in this cruel world where fate has its way of making jokes, that I take on one of the rivals from my past. A rival who like I, has gone through a bit of a change. Her problem is that her change is a reversion.
She shakes her head in disappointment as she thinks of her opponent at Bloody Assizes, Amber Richards.
Poor Amber. You’ve been through so much while I was gone. You were taken in by Angel, used like a vapid whore, and treated the same, then discarded when you became…
Useless.
She looks up at the branch that had previously snapped, and then looks back down at the camera in a slow-paced manner, pointing up at the broken limb.
You’re just like this branch Amber, and the tree is the superior beings who ruled over you as you tried your hardest to please them, but in the end, you just couldn’t quite measure up.
She brings her arm down and uses her hand to stabilize herself on the stump.
When I left, I did so for a reason. I did it for a reason that your feeble brain just can’t possibly comprehend no matter how hard you try, just as you couldn’t satisfy Angel, no matter how hard you tried.
She sits there for a moment in silence, looking up through the canopy of the trees to the darkened sky above as a flash of lightning tears through the sky. She watches and looks upon the heavens, presumably thinking of her now deceased older brother, as would be confirmed by her words.
Let me send words of wisdom in your direction Amber. Let me explain to you why I left, because maybe then, and I stress the word maybe, you’ll understand.
She stands from the stump and starts walking along the dirt path.
To some of the hordes of people that grace this miserable world, a brother is merely a family member. He is merely there and serves no purpose other than the fact that he has the same genetics as you.
My brother was more.
In a world where so much was twisted, and facts were skewed, he was there to lead the way through the wastelands of this world. He kept me from becoming scum. He stopped me from walking the corners at night. He was always there when I needed him most.
And now he is gone, causing a scene of chaos in my life that perhaps makes me beckon for him most. The cold hard truth, the reality of the situation Amber is…he’s not here to help me anymore. I’m left in the darkness…alone. I’ve come accustomed to my surroundings Amber and I have embraced the power that solitude can give a person.
And I cherish that power. I covet more. I look to take that power and unleash it’s furies like no man or woman ever has, and unfortunately for you, I get to do so at Bloody Assizes.
The rivalry in the past has fierce Amber, now the stakes are raised and it’s time we take our relationship…to the next level.
A loud crack of thunder is heard and with another flash of lightning, the feed cuts out.
*********************
“Chaos That Ensues”
Though you were left with a lovey-dovey scene, that isn’t how things ended up. The toll of Ashley’s brother’s death was a hard pill to swallow for the family. Even though the rest of the family tried, Antonio, Ashley’s father took the death hard. His wife’s pleas fell on deaf ears and usually resulted in the normally calm elder man turning into a raging alcoholic. Ashley’s first glimpse of this version of her father was a horrid one indeed.
She had waited a little bit, giving her father time like he had asked her to grieve a bit on his own. Antonio wasn’t one to wear his emotions on his sleeve, in fact showing how hard his son’s death was taking a toll.
As Ashley walked up to the house, she heard yelling inside. She rushed to open the door and as she did so and stepped inside, her mother ran by her and down the hall toward the bedroom, crying her eyes out as she scampered off.
”Mom?”, Ashley said with a concern in her voice, only to be interrupted by the yelling of her father that caused her to snap her head in his direction.
”YOU NO GOOD FILTHY SLUT! YOU POISONED HIS BRAIN! YOU MADE HIM WEAK! TO HELL WITH YOU!”, his screams loud and determined like a drill sergeant, soon muffling as he turned the corner and walked back into the kitchen.
”No good bitch.”, You could hear him mutter as he disappeared.
Ashley looked on, she was confused and even managed to let the words slip from her mouth. ”What the hell was that?”
She walked down the hall to her mother’s room and knocked on the door, only to be yelled at by her mother who believed her to be her father. ”Go away you scumbag! Who the hell do you think you are berating me like that?!”
Mom, it’s Ashley., Ashley interrupted, immediately stopping the screaming, quickly replacing it with what sounded like that gathering of objects, followed by the roar of the sliding mirror door of her mother’s closet along the track. Her mother then cracked the door and looked around the opening.
”Hi sweetie. How much of that did you see?, her voice clearly rattled as she tried to hold back the tears. Ashley thought something was off based on the fact her mother wouldn’t open the door all the way. She asked her to more than once and when her mother refused the third time, Ashley reached forward and stepped in as her mother turned away.
”Is that a…”
”No, don’t look. Turn away., her mom’s voice came through as she tried to hide what ended up being a huge bruise on the side of her face. Ashley looked on appalled, her eyes wide.
”Did he do that to you.”, her voice toned and as serious as a heart attack. Her mother, failing to hide anything, gave in and started sobbing as Ashley took a seat on the bed.
Through the sobs you could hear the jumbled story. ”The death has been really hard on him. At first he seemed like he was coping, but soon he hit rock bottom and just completely fell apart. He started drinking more and more, and working long hours, sometimes not coming home until the middle of the next day. When I ask him about it he tells me to mind my business. Today, he took it too far and so I yelled at him and in a fit of rage he swung his hand across the air and smacked me to the ground.”
Hearing this for the first time, Ashley’s heart fell to the floor, shattering into thousands of pieces. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This had never, EVER happened before.
”And why didn’t you call me?”, she asked with a quiver in her voice. She wanted to sound concerned, but it was hard with the rage built up inside.
”I…I…I thought he would get oooooover iiiiiiiit…”, there was no stopping the tears. She could hold them in no longer and cried as she leaned into her daughter who received her with open arms and rocked back and forth in an effort to calm her mother down. As her mother cried in her arms, this is perhaps the first time the new “Dark” Ashley made an appearance as a narrow glare shot from her eyes toward the door way as she knew what she had to do.
”Mom, stay here.”, she said as she got up from the bed.
Her mother, tears still streaming down her face, made several attempts to get her to comeback, but Ashley was hearing none of it as she left the room and headed back down the hallway.
The blood was pumping. A body temperature hotter than hell itself had taken over the young lady as the anger and emotion welled up inside her. She turned the corner and saw her father, in an alcohol induced stupor.
He looked up from the table and a smile graced his face.
”My baby girl. Welc…”, he was quickly interrupted and it was done with malice.
”Shut your mouth.” The words flew from her tongue with a sharp venomous jab as her father’s brows raised quickly as he was surprised by the words of his daughter. Never once had she spoken to him in such a manner. Even drunk, he knew something was going down.
”What the hell is your problem? You think you can beat up my mother and get away with it?” She scolded him like a child sitting before her.
”What makes you think you can do something like that? What makes you think that is right? What the hell has happened to my dad?”, her words dug deep. Her tone got more and more concerning with each and every spoken syllable. Then in the drop of a hat, she was forced to duck as he threw his glass at her.
”You want to know what happened little girl? You want to know?”, slamming his hands down on the table sending the salt and pepper shakers tumbling over. ”I failed as a father, as a husband, and as a leader of this family. Your mother’s an idiot, your brother is dead, and now I have you, my daughter, dressing me down as if I were the child and she the adult!? What the hell has the world come to, to make you think you can waltz on in here and talk to me…ME…THAT WAY!?”
Her heart skipped a beat. She trembled as his voice got louder, but she knew she couldn’t let it show. She had to stand up to him.
”You think that you’re the only one hurting? You think that because you hurt you can take out your sorrow and anger on the entire world like it’s nothing but a GOD DAMN PROP FOR YOU!? YOU THINK WE’RE HERE TO TAKE THAT KIND OF ABUSE!? IF THAT’S WHAT YOU THINK, THEN YOU’RE A DAMN FOOL AND I’M ASHAMED TO CALL YOU MY FATHER!”
He was taken aback by the words. There was a silence. She stared intently, but on the inside she was confused herself. Should she go on, or should she give him a chance to respond. Did she mean what she said, or was it just in the heat of the moment? The latter proved to be true as she slowly stepped toward him, eventually kneeling by his side. The smell of alcohol on his breath was horrid but she managed to ignore it as he sat there, stunned, staring at the only offspring he had left in this world. Before she could speak, he muttered a question.
”So that’s how you really feel?”, sitting their shocked. There wasn’t much else he really could say. The words she shouted at him pierced his heart as if someone was driving a cold steel blade right through it.
She grabbed his hand, he didn’t blink. ”Of course that’s not how I feel daddy.”
Still nothing.
I love you. I love you and Mom but to see you like this, binge drinking, hitting her, those are disgraceful things. It’s simply and bluntly put, wrong. You need to stop with this stuff. We’re all hurt by his death. It punches me in the stomach every time I wake up in the morning. All we can do is cope and live our lives.
She lifts her hand to his heart and presses against his chest. ”He’ll live on here. If he saw you like this now, he wouldn’t be too happy.”
He shakes his head in agreement, ”You’re right.”
She stands to her feet as he looks up at her.
”Now you owe an apology.” She turns her head toward the hall. ”Mom, come here!”
Slowly, her mother peeks around the corner, her hand pressed against the entranceway. ”Yes?”
Ashley motions to her to come into the room, and slowly she obliges. Ashley turns to her father and gives him a slap on the shoulder. ”Go on.”
He looks down at the table before taking a deep breath. He seems somewhat sober, and possibly genuine. ”Honey…I…I’m sorry for hitting you. It won’t happen again.”
Her mother stands there for a moment before stepping forward and hugging her husband, crying on his shoulder. The two sob back and forth as Ashley watches from behind.
*********************
This is the scene of that dreadful day.
Ashley walks along a sidewalk. The sun from earlier is gone, and the street lights illuminate over her head. The orange glow barely illuminates her face as she stares forward.
That loss that I suffered Amber, is more than a loss. The loss of my brother set in motion a lot of events that swirled into one big whirlpool of disdain. The happy ending as it was…was not mean to be. Though I calmed the situation at hand, it evolved and drove my family into the spiraling abyss of madness. There was a wound that couldn’t be healed, and in the end nothing was salvageable and everything perished.
She looks over her shoulder. Half of her face was brought to light as she shook her head in a negative manner before facing forward once more.
You see Amber, that’s the world we live in. The happy endings are few and far between if they even exist at all, and all we can do is adapt. That is why I was gone for so long. That is what I was doing during my hiatus.
While you changed before the eyes of the world from competitor, to puppet, to whore, and back again, I was making sure that I would never be hurt by the pain again. I changed my hair, I changed my attitude, and I changed my outlook on life.
She brings her hands up to her chest, palms down, and drags them along her body in a show-off fashion.
This you see before you is the new me. It is no longer what you once remember Amber. I am improved beyond your wildest dreams. You will see me enter the arena, I will step between the ropes, and you will look me in my cold green eyes, and only then will you see the true transformation that has taken place. Everything you think you know about me, all the so-called lessons that you learned from our past encounters, you may as well burn them because they will not help you. They won’t help you, the people won’t help you, and Renee won’t help you. Above all that, resonating in the back of your pale little head, I want you to also know that not only will nobody help you…I will show you no mercy.
I’ve returned as an evolved individual with my sights set on the ultimate prize. I will win the Heiress to the Throne, and I will take out the insidious face-painted current champion, or her slightly crazy challenger, whichever holds the championship. It will be MY title, and not you, or anybody else in this tournament will be able to deter me from my destiny.
She glances over her shoulder and again shakes her head. She turns to the side and slowly walks away as the scene fixates on a sign in the front yard of the house her parents lived in. The sign reads:
FOR SALE!
As the scene fades in, the rustling of the wind against the leaves of the trees is all that can be heard. Back and forth each limb blows until there’s a loud “snapping” sound, followed by a “thud” as the rather large limb hits the ground, sending bits of debris everywhere. As the hard wind dies down, the sound of footsteps can be heard making their way through the heavily wooded, darkened area.
Once before I was the one that everybody loved. I bounced around looking “pretty” and while the world noticed my looks, they didn’t notice me as a person. They watched me like one would watch a lioness in her cage at the zoo, going about the script nice and tamely because the wilderness, the savageness of the wild had escaped her. You treated me like a side show and I’ve now decided that you will do so no longer.
We see Ashley, in her now more casual attire. After all, a “Dark Princess” still has to somewhat blend in with society, right? She finds a nearby stump and has a seat in her black pants and leather jacket, shielding her paler skin from the wind that blows.
This week, in an Heiress to the Throne match at the Bloody Assizes Pay Per View, I make my name known once more. I do so as the powerful, dominant woman I am now as opposed to the weak, want to please everyone, little girl that I was. It just so happen that in this cruel world where fate has its way of making jokes, that I take on one of the rivals from my past. A rival who like I, has gone through a bit of a change. Her problem is that her change is a reversion.
She shakes her head in disappointment as she thinks of her opponent at Bloody Assizes, Amber Richards.
Poor Amber. You’ve been through so much while I was gone. You were taken in by Angel, used like a vapid whore, and treated the same, then discarded when you became…
Useless.
She looks up at the branch that had previously snapped, and then looks back down at the camera in a slow-paced manner, pointing up at the broken limb.
You’re just like this branch Amber, and the tree is the superior beings who ruled over you as you tried your hardest to please them, but in the end, you just couldn’t quite measure up.
She brings her arm down and uses her hand to stabilize herself on the stump.
When I left, I did so for a reason. I did it for a reason that your feeble brain just can’t possibly comprehend no matter how hard you try, just as you couldn’t satisfy Angel, no matter how hard you tried.
She sits there for a moment in silence, looking up through the canopy of the trees to the darkened sky above as a flash of lightning tears through the sky. She watches and looks upon the heavens, presumably thinking of her now deceased older brother, as would be confirmed by her words.
Let me send words of wisdom in your direction Amber. Let me explain to you why I left, because maybe then, and I stress the word maybe, you’ll understand.
She stands from the stump and starts walking along the dirt path.
To some of the hordes of people that grace this miserable world, a brother is merely a family member. He is merely there and serves no purpose other than the fact that he has the same genetics as you.
My brother was more.
In a world where so much was twisted, and facts were skewed, he was there to lead the way through the wastelands of this world. He kept me from becoming scum. He stopped me from walking the corners at night. He was always there when I needed him most.
And now he is gone, causing a scene of chaos in my life that perhaps makes me beckon for him most. The cold hard truth, the reality of the situation Amber is…he’s not here to help me anymore. I’m left in the darkness…alone. I’ve come accustomed to my surroundings Amber and I have embraced the power that solitude can give a person.
And I cherish that power. I covet more. I look to take that power and unleash it’s furies like no man or woman ever has, and unfortunately for you, I get to do so at Bloody Assizes.
The rivalry in the past has fierce Amber, now the stakes are raised and it’s time we take our relationship…to the next level.
A loud crack of thunder is heard and with another flash of lightning, the feed cuts out.
*********************
“Chaos That Ensues”
Though you were left with a lovey-dovey scene, that isn’t how things ended up. The toll of Ashley’s brother’s death was a hard pill to swallow for the family. Even though the rest of the family tried, Antonio, Ashley’s father took the death hard. His wife’s pleas fell on deaf ears and usually resulted in the normally calm elder man turning into a raging alcoholic. Ashley’s first glimpse of this version of her father was a horrid one indeed.
She had waited a little bit, giving her father time like he had asked her to grieve a bit on his own. Antonio wasn’t one to wear his emotions on his sleeve, in fact showing how hard his son’s death was taking a toll.
As Ashley walked up to the house, she heard yelling inside. She rushed to open the door and as she did so and stepped inside, her mother ran by her and down the hall toward the bedroom, crying her eyes out as she scampered off.
”Mom?”, Ashley said with a concern in her voice, only to be interrupted by the yelling of her father that caused her to snap her head in his direction.
”YOU NO GOOD FILTHY SLUT! YOU POISONED HIS BRAIN! YOU MADE HIM WEAK! TO HELL WITH YOU!”, his screams loud and determined like a drill sergeant, soon muffling as he turned the corner and walked back into the kitchen.
”No good bitch.”, You could hear him mutter as he disappeared.
Ashley looked on, she was confused and even managed to let the words slip from her mouth. ”What the hell was that?”
She walked down the hall to her mother’s room and knocked on the door, only to be yelled at by her mother who believed her to be her father. ”Go away you scumbag! Who the hell do you think you are berating me like that?!”
Mom, it’s Ashley., Ashley interrupted, immediately stopping the screaming, quickly replacing it with what sounded like that gathering of objects, followed by the roar of the sliding mirror door of her mother’s closet along the track. Her mother then cracked the door and looked around the opening.
”Hi sweetie. How much of that did you see?, her voice clearly rattled as she tried to hold back the tears. Ashley thought something was off based on the fact her mother wouldn’t open the door all the way. She asked her to more than once and when her mother refused the third time, Ashley reached forward and stepped in as her mother turned away.
”Is that a…”
”No, don’t look. Turn away., her mom’s voice came through as she tried to hide what ended up being a huge bruise on the side of her face. Ashley looked on appalled, her eyes wide.
”Did he do that to you.”, her voice toned and as serious as a heart attack. Her mother, failing to hide anything, gave in and started sobbing as Ashley took a seat on the bed.
Through the sobs you could hear the jumbled story. ”The death has been really hard on him. At first he seemed like he was coping, but soon he hit rock bottom and just completely fell apart. He started drinking more and more, and working long hours, sometimes not coming home until the middle of the next day. When I ask him about it he tells me to mind my business. Today, he took it too far and so I yelled at him and in a fit of rage he swung his hand across the air and smacked me to the ground.”
Hearing this for the first time, Ashley’s heart fell to the floor, shattering into thousands of pieces. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This had never, EVER happened before.
”And why didn’t you call me?”, she asked with a quiver in her voice. She wanted to sound concerned, but it was hard with the rage built up inside.
”I…I…I thought he would get oooooover iiiiiiiit…”, there was no stopping the tears. She could hold them in no longer and cried as she leaned into her daughter who received her with open arms and rocked back and forth in an effort to calm her mother down. As her mother cried in her arms, this is perhaps the first time the new “Dark” Ashley made an appearance as a narrow glare shot from her eyes toward the door way as she knew what she had to do.
”Mom, stay here.”, she said as she got up from the bed.
Her mother, tears still streaming down her face, made several attempts to get her to comeback, but Ashley was hearing none of it as she left the room and headed back down the hallway.
The blood was pumping. A body temperature hotter than hell itself had taken over the young lady as the anger and emotion welled up inside her. She turned the corner and saw her father, in an alcohol induced stupor.
He looked up from the table and a smile graced his face.
”My baby girl. Welc…”, he was quickly interrupted and it was done with malice.
”Shut your mouth.” The words flew from her tongue with a sharp venomous jab as her father’s brows raised quickly as he was surprised by the words of his daughter. Never once had she spoken to him in such a manner. Even drunk, he knew something was going down.
”What the hell is your problem? You think you can beat up my mother and get away with it?” She scolded him like a child sitting before her.
”What makes you think you can do something like that? What makes you think that is right? What the hell has happened to my dad?”, her words dug deep. Her tone got more and more concerning with each and every spoken syllable. Then in the drop of a hat, she was forced to duck as he threw his glass at her.
”You want to know what happened little girl? You want to know?”, slamming his hands down on the table sending the salt and pepper shakers tumbling over. ”I failed as a father, as a husband, and as a leader of this family. Your mother’s an idiot, your brother is dead, and now I have you, my daughter, dressing me down as if I were the child and she the adult!? What the hell has the world come to, to make you think you can waltz on in here and talk to me…ME…THAT WAY!?”
Her heart skipped a beat. She trembled as his voice got louder, but she knew she couldn’t let it show. She had to stand up to him.
”You think that you’re the only one hurting? You think that because you hurt you can take out your sorrow and anger on the entire world like it’s nothing but a GOD DAMN PROP FOR YOU!? YOU THINK WE’RE HERE TO TAKE THAT KIND OF ABUSE!? IF THAT’S WHAT YOU THINK, THEN YOU’RE A DAMN FOOL AND I’M ASHAMED TO CALL YOU MY FATHER!”
He was taken aback by the words. There was a silence. She stared intently, but on the inside she was confused herself. Should she go on, or should she give him a chance to respond. Did she mean what she said, or was it just in the heat of the moment? The latter proved to be true as she slowly stepped toward him, eventually kneeling by his side. The smell of alcohol on his breath was horrid but she managed to ignore it as he sat there, stunned, staring at the only offspring he had left in this world. Before she could speak, he muttered a question.
”So that’s how you really feel?”, sitting their shocked. There wasn’t much else he really could say. The words she shouted at him pierced his heart as if someone was driving a cold steel blade right through it.
She grabbed his hand, he didn’t blink. ”Of course that’s not how I feel daddy.”
Still nothing.
I love you. I love you and Mom but to see you like this, binge drinking, hitting her, those are disgraceful things. It’s simply and bluntly put, wrong. You need to stop with this stuff. We’re all hurt by his death. It punches me in the stomach every time I wake up in the morning. All we can do is cope and live our lives.
She lifts her hand to his heart and presses against his chest. ”He’ll live on here. If he saw you like this now, he wouldn’t be too happy.”
He shakes his head in agreement, ”You’re right.”
She stands to her feet as he looks up at her.
”Now you owe an apology.” She turns her head toward the hall. ”Mom, come here!”
Slowly, her mother peeks around the corner, her hand pressed against the entranceway. ”Yes?”
Ashley motions to her to come into the room, and slowly she obliges. Ashley turns to her father and gives him a slap on the shoulder. ”Go on.”
He looks down at the table before taking a deep breath. He seems somewhat sober, and possibly genuine. ”Honey…I…I’m sorry for hitting you. It won’t happen again.”
Her mother stands there for a moment before stepping forward and hugging her husband, crying on his shoulder. The two sob back and forth as Ashley watches from behind.
*********************
This is the scene of that dreadful day.
Ashley walks along a sidewalk. The sun from earlier is gone, and the street lights illuminate over her head. The orange glow barely illuminates her face as she stares forward.
That loss that I suffered Amber, is more than a loss. The loss of my brother set in motion a lot of events that swirled into one big whirlpool of disdain. The happy ending as it was…was not mean to be. Though I calmed the situation at hand, it evolved and drove my family into the spiraling abyss of madness. There was a wound that couldn’t be healed, and in the end nothing was salvageable and everything perished.
She looks over her shoulder. Half of her face was brought to light as she shook her head in a negative manner before facing forward once more.
You see Amber, that’s the world we live in. The happy endings are few and far between if they even exist at all, and all we can do is adapt. That is why I was gone for so long. That is what I was doing during my hiatus.
While you changed before the eyes of the world from competitor, to puppet, to whore, and back again, I was making sure that I would never be hurt by the pain again. I changed my hair, I changed my attitude, and I changed my outlook on life.
She brings her hands up to her chest, palms down, and drags them along her body in a show-off fashion.
This you see before you is the new me. It is no longer what you once remember Amber. I am improved beyond your wildest dreams. You will see me enter the arena, I will step between the ropes, and you will look me in my cold green eyes, and only then will you see the true transformation that has taken place. Everything you think you know about me, all the so-called lessons that you learned from our past encounters, you may as well burn them because they will not help you. They won’t help you, the people won’t help you, and Renee won’t help you. Above all that, resonating in the back of your pale little head, I want you to also know that not only will nobody help you…I will show you no mercy.
I’ve returned as an evolved individual with my sights set on the ultimate prize. I will win the Heiress to the Throne, and I will take out the insidious face-painted current champion, or her slightly crazy challenger, whichever holds the championship. It will be MY title, and not you, or anybody else in this tournament will be able to deter me from my destiny.
She glances over her shoulder and again shakes her head. She turns to the side and slowly walks away as the scene fixates on a sign in the front yard of the house her parents lived in. The sign reads:
FOR SALE!
Well howdy there pardner.