Bears!?

[Jessica Reed]

{ Our scene opens just outside Jessica Reed’s cabin on a chilly winter night. The sound of a car locking and the flash of its headlights in recognition erupts off camera as Roberto Verona and Hannah Reed walk in from out of shot, climbing the short stair way to the front door. Hannah reaches to knock on the door as the sound of frantic footsteps can be heard inside. Jess opens the door before immediately skipping excitedly back to her worktop, pouring some champagne into a set of glasses. }

Roberto Verona: Wait… is that from my wine cellar?

Jessica Reed: Nice to see you too. How’ve you both been?

Hannah Reed: We’re fine, how are you settling in?

{ Hannah hands her a glass. }

Jessica Reed: Now that I’ve moved everything in, much better. It’s a little quiet though, what without you two bickering like an elderly couple.

Hannah Reed: We don’t bicker. Besides, I can’t say I’ve missed you blasting out video games at 3am, although I’m sure we’ll soon get a written complaint from the local squirrels.

{ The two girls laugh. }

Roberto Verona: Well, come to think of it the bears weren’t too pleased with your naked morning walks.

Jessica Reed: Hey I don’t go on… wait bears!?

{ Jess’ eyes widen as she looks at Verona. Hannah scowls as she shakes her head. }

Hannah Reed: There’s no bears here, right Roberto?

Roberto Verona: That you know about.

{ Hannah shoots Roberto a look as he chuckles to himself. }

Roberto Verona: You’ll be fine, there’s a shotgun locked in your bedroom cupboard.

Hannah Reed: You left a firearm in my sister’s bedroom?

{ Hannah turns to look at Jess. }

Hannah Reed: No offence.

Jessica Reed: I-

Roberto Verona: It’s not for wildlife, I don’t know if you’ve ever had to sift through the fan mail she receives but you’re lucky it’s only a shotgun.

Jessica Reed: Hello!?

{ The pair look at Jess. }

Jessica Reed: FYI, this is what I mean by bickering. And for your information the only fan mail I get are from parents and young girls.

{ Roberto scratches the back of his head awkwardly. }

Roberto Verona: Yeah about that…

{ Hannah glares at Roberto who immediately pauses. }

Roberto Verona: So… how about that big match this week? Are you feeling ready?

Jessica Reed: I’m not sure… I mean, I’m looking forward to it but… what if it’s just another inconclusive contest? Every time me and Paige get inside a ring we end up leaving with more questions than answers. I just want to prove to everybody that it wasn’t just a fluke that lifted me up that ladder, it’s been so long I know they’ll just keep doubting me until I prove them wrong.

Roberto Verona: You can’t keep relying on your opponents to provide you the legitimacy you’re seeking, Jess.

Jessica Reed: This coming from the perennial cheater.

Roberto Verona: Precisely. Why do you think I cheat so much? Because I need to?

Jessica Reed: Well, no…

Roberto Verona: Exactly. I cheat because placing doubt in your opponent’s head, making them question themselves, their own achievements, their ability to get the job done… that separates the wheat from the chaff. Those who keep focusing on the mind games and what I’m doing fade away, those who understand that they are the only people who can influence their own destiny…

{ Jess looks at him. }

Jessica Reed: They’re the ones who dictate how their legacy is viewed?

Roberto Verona: Bingo kiddo. There’s a reason people can look past all the smoke and mirrors and pantomime I get embroiled in and still consider me a legitimate performer… as well as a handsome devil.

Jessica Reed: Yeah that isn’t the phrase I’ve heard.

{ Roberto shrugs. }

Roberto Verona: You’ve gotta break a few eggs to make an omelette and in wrestling you’ve gotta upset a few people to reach your true potential. Always remember, you’re in the top spot right now and that’s where everybody else wants to be, they’ll concoct any story to motivate themselves to topple you. If you don’t upset anybody then you’re not doing something right.

{ Jess pauses, contemplating for a moment before nodding her head. }

Jessica Reed: I guess… I mean, no, you’re right, I can’t keep worrying about how others perceive me, I have to just focus on me.

Hannah Reed: For once, I agree with him.

{ Suddenly, a loud ping emanates from the kitchen as Jess jerks up suddenly. }

Jessica Reed: Oh shoot, the roast potatoes!

Hannah Reed: Wait… you’re cooking now?

{ Jess suddenly darts off, fumbling for a pair of oven gloves as she hurriedly pulls a tray out from the oven, steam rising up into the room. Jess fans at the smoke, coughing as the mist dissipates to reveal a cremated selection of potatoes which have wilted to rock solid blocks resembling coal. Roberto raises an eyebrow as Hannah covers her mouth, fanning away the last of the smoke. }

Jessica Reed: So… erm… shall we eat out?

{ Hannah smiles. }

Hannah Reed: Sure.

{ She turns to Roberto. }

Hannah Reed: Roberto will pay. Won’t you?

Roberto Verona: Excuse me?

{ Hannah walks over to Jess before Verona can protest, helping her scrape off the results of her endeavours into the trash as the siblings begin the clatter and bang loudly over his attempted protestations as our scene fades to black. }

So here we are.

Part III in what feels like a never-ending story, although hopefully not quite the same declining quality as the film series.

Try as I might to clinch a conclusive victory over you Paige, you continue to be a thorn in my side. One month it’s the actions of your sister calling my title reign into question, the next it’s an inconclusive brawl outside a hellacious metal bird cage. Despite our best effort we are duty bound, like it or not, to drag this out to a third, and hopefully final conclusion.

At the biggest stage of all for women’s professional wrestling no less, though I guess there is no finer platform for it.

Whatever happens, one thing is for certain.

This weekend, it has to end. Win or lose, the one thing I am going out there with absolute determination to achieve is a conclusion. For three months you and I have fought to an unsatisfying climax, over and over everybody is left doubting the validity of my continued reign and, whether you like it or not, your ability to get the job done.

Because as much as this may discredit myself, it dishonours any ability you may possess.

For every whisper behind my back about how I’ve maintained my Diamond’s championship title reign, there are ten others asking if Paige Garcia really has what it takes to be at the pinnacle of the game. Are her mind games faltering? Do her nefarious distraction techniques have a limit? Has she simply run out of ideas?

You may, or may not, admit it, but I’m not the only one who is desperate for this to end, this constant back and forth, this constant question mark and endless stalemate.

You may not care about what people think about you, Paige, but I’m pretty darn sure you care about what you think of yourself. I know, with an ego the size of yours, that you can’t just go home every month satisfied to have merely earned another potential paycheque in the main event without the gold that accompanies it.

You can hardly stand there and call yourself the best when you repeatedly fail to beat the best, myself and Eternity included.

There’s simply no way you’re satisfied with simply being the perennial challenger at the expense of inconclusive results, not if your pride is as grandiose as we’re all lead to believe. So, unless we’ve been sold a lie and you’re a lot more vulnerable under that arrogant exterior then you’ve let on, I think it’s safe to assume that you cannot be truly satisfied by another indifferent result where you walk away empty handed.

After all the months of mocking your colleagues for their collective inability to wrestle that Shieldmaiden title from your grasp, your continued inability to clinch the Diamond’s Championship can only be an increasing embarrassment for you.

A smear on, rightly or wrongly gained, an impressive CV.

If it was anybody else standing across that ring from me, I’d be sure that they could dust themselves down, walk it off and chalk it up for being too much, too soon and conveniently forget about their failure, despite everybody else’s best attempts to remind them of it.

But you?

We both know there’s no way that Paige Garcia can live down failure on the grandest stage of them all, because you’re far too invested in your own ability to succeed and continue your momentum forwards to possibly consider how to process failure, you’ve only managed it so far thanks to this constant postponement in a defining decision in who is better right now, me or you.

Like it or not, as desperate for a conclusion as I am, it is perhaps even more vital for you.

You need to either achieve the destiny you have convinced yourself is due or you need to go down that path of self-discovery and see just what sort of woman you really are when you’re finally faced with the bittersweet taste of failure after so much insurmountable success.

Being caught in a constant limbo of, whether you like it or not, near misses and failures is doing you no favours.

I’ve watched you, for months as it happens, and it’s quite apparent how seriously invested you are into making a success of yourself, at the expense of others granted, but the central point remains. You’ve worked hard for this, you have all of the exciting raw potential of a future great Diamond just without the crowning achievement to accelerate the process, from somebody who has been in a perpetual forward motion the constant stalls in our battles is only hindering you.

You have all the ability in the world, this weekend its time to test where you are once and for all.

No more near misses, no more escaping a conclusion with the sacrifice of your ever willing sibling, no more walking back to the locker room planning the next encounter.

At Diamonds Are Forever one of us is going to walk out of that ring as a winner, with the Diamond’s Championship in tow and there will be no time for another inconclusive battle, no time for more question marks, this Sunday, it ends, no matter what. You can’t simply postpone the inevitable any longer and I cannot keep chasing a conclusion from you.

There will be no Paige Garcia vs Jessica Reed Part IV, believe me, there’s a reason for trilogies.

So the question is, Paige, are you going to continue to try and keep up this charade in a desperate attempt to insure you have some form of collateral or are you going to go out there, put it all on the line and actually trust in yourself, despite the potential for failure? Are you going to go out there and be a true champion or at the very least a valiant warrior in defeat?

The choice is yours, as it always has been.

I’ve said since day one that whilst I disagree with your methods, they’re your choice to employ and if they succeed, then more power to you. Yet, we both know, nobody is going to respect the woman who, despite her best efforts to cheat her way to the top, failed at the final hurdle against the celebrated “golden goose” with a cracked skull and questionable ring rust.

All you’ll be is the girl who took shortcuts to get to a place she wasn’t ready for, rather than a crafty and cunning professional who went down in a blaze of glory, rather than a anti-climactic whimper as she was found out on the big girls stage.

For somebody so concerned with her image, the choice should be an obvious one.

Yet it’s not a choice I can make for you, although you could consider my words as a red rag to a bull. Ultimately, you need to decide what kind of woman, what kind of professional wrestler, you want to be.

Because I know exactly who I am.

I’m Jessica Reed, the IWF Diamond’s champion, and this weekend I am going to silence all of my critics and put to bed any doubts people have about my ability to continue to perform at the level I am so accustomed to.

Win or lose on Sunday, I am going to show everybody that a crack in a skull and a lorry load of demons isn’t enough to hold me down and that it is possible to come back from the brink and never look back.

I am going to show them that I am still the same woman I always was.

I am going to show them precisely why my name was the first on so many people’s lips despite long periods of absences.

I will repay their faith in me, because it is long overdue.

Can the same be said of you?