It had been almost two months since Heather had been in APEX competition. While Demon's run went like a blur, the purple and blue welts on her arms were still fresh. Luckily though the Ice baths helped along with the comfort of the bottle she had gotten used to by now to dull away the pain.
As she now sat there alone in the dark, a bottle of Jack Daniels in hand, Heather couldn't help but let her mind wander off slowly in her drunken stupor as she practically melted into her chair, her eyes fixed on the nothingness before her.
Just then Her phone then buzzed on her stomach. Heather considered doing what she'd done... letting it buzz. Enjoying and simultaneously hating the solitude. It could've been fate that made her answer. Or just pure resentment with the goals of having her tell off whoever was on the other end to just fuck off and let her be. Until she saw who the text was from.
[SMS] "Hey baby girl. call me back. Urgent. L.G". Lorne Giles. Her agent.
Heather sighed softly as she dialed back and after one ring the call was picked up almost instantly.
✲LORNE GILES ✲
"Baby Girl! You are alive! How you doin?"
She could almost envision Lorne, a 50 something-year-old smarmy short man with a bad comb over beaming with that yellow toothy grin of his, which made her cringe.
HEATHER ✲ HAZE
• • • bad girl
"Hey Lorne. How you been?"
✲LORNE GILES ✲
"I'm all better now hearing that beautiful voice. You had me all worried there, doll face. No calls from you. No texts. No nothin. Heck, even your voicemail is full. Is everything alright??"
HEATHER ✲ HAZE
• • • bad girl
"Sorry, yeah, I've been just keepin' to myself. Not much to do around with this stupid lockdown in place."
✲LORNE GILES ✲
"Thank gawd for pro wrestling though, right?"
HEATHER ✲ HAZE
• • • bad girl
"(sarcastically) Yeah lucky me I guess."
✲LORNE GILES ✲
"Anyways, I got this really cool gig for you that you gonna love. This new wrestling company, GWXP, it's new on the market but man it's blowin up big, and I am talkin' big and I was thinking maybe..."
HEATHER ✲ HAZE
• • • bad girl
"I know what you gonna say and I..am not interested."
✲LORNE GILES ✲
"Oh? You sure? But this is big money we talkin' here?"
HEATHER ✲ HAZE
• • • bad girl
"NOT. INTERESTED."
✲LORNE GILES ✲
Baby girl you kinda gettin' me all worried right now. Is everything okay?.."
HEATHER ✲ HAZE
• • • bad girl
*sigh* "Yeah...everything's swell...why wouldn't it be? I'm living the high life. I'm on top of the world."
✲LORNE GILES ✲
"I can tell there's bothering you. Y'know you can talk to me about anything."
Heather sighed softly, nursing the bottle of Jack Daniels in her hand.
HEATHER ✲ HAZE
• • • bad girl
"It's...um... my mom's anniversary today."
✲LORNE GILES ✲
"Shit. I'm sorry."
HEATHER ✲ HAZE
• • • bad girl
"Thanks. I don't mean to be a debbie downer or anything like that. It's just... I miss her you know."
✲LORNE GILES ✲
"Mother's are special...take my mother for instance. She's a sprightly 87 year old with a memory still sharp as a new blade, and best of all, she loves God to bits!"
Heather had to giggle to that as she took another swig from the bottle, remembering fond memories of her own mother.
HEATHER ✲ HAZE
• • • bad girl
"Heh... my mom all she ever loved was her booze and the long naps that came along with it, until one day she just didn't wake up at all. It's not something a 10 year old kid could forget to see their mom passed out like that on the couch and not breathing."
✲LORNE GILES ✲
"Oh jeez, that's terrible. I'm sorry that you had to go through that."
HEATHER ✲ HAZE
• • • bad girl
"Yeah well, story of my life. Guess my little sister Izzy is in the same boat now, getting herself high as a kite; probably out there laid up in some lousy motel with a needle sticking in her arm. It's a miracle how I turned out to be the sensible one. I did what I could to be a success story. Wrestling... much like everything else, was a happy-go-lucky circumstance bestowed upon me. A happy accident. Maybe that's what life is... a string of happy accidents, tying together some kind of bigger picture."
✲LORNE GILES ✲
"Y-Yeah...I uh... you did well for yourself, kiddo"
HEATHER ✲ HAZE
• • • bad girl
"Of course I did! Not sayin' that I am perfect in any way, Life is not always black and white, it's a million shades of grey, Lorne... And you need to look a bit deeper to understand that logic there. Probably in some alternate universe you might find a girl scout version of me who donates her time to the children and reads to the blind and takes care of the sick and the elderly. Then there's this known version of me, 'the depraved washed-up porn star', who had to hump her way around to stardom. To you and everyone else, the girl scout is a true version of a hero, somebody honest and forthright, but what she does behind closed doors is anyone's guess. She could probably be an impulsive gambler, a junkie addict, a habitual cheater and a liar, but she does it best to hide her vices while putting on a face to the world. And then there's the sleazy porn star who is saving up her money just to feed her own belly..to survive. Yes, she is on her back for money. Yes, she is sick and immoral in everyone's eyes. Yes, she isn’t proud of her luck in life but she has no choice because of how her crummy life wound up. Shades of grey dear Lorne... Shades of grey...."
There was a long, awkward silence before Lorne hesitantly spoke.
✲LORNE GILES ✲
"Uh yeah. Listen Heather It's getting really late. You need to um get some rest. We'll talk in the morning."
HEATHER ✲ HAZE
• • • bad girl
"Yeah...I think I've been rambling way too much anyway. Thanks for listening, Lorne. Good talk. Oh and Happy Mother's day.
Heather would end the call, tossing the phone on the coffee table where her eyes caught the latest APEX magazine with Allanah O' Connell smiling brightly on the cover front. She would grab the magazine, flipping through it to read up on an article as a smile slowly started to form up on her face.
HEATHER ✲ HAZE
• • • bad girl
"Life sure has a funny way of playing things out don't they, Allanah? It's been a year we both made our debuts with APEX. And right from day one I could see you were management's darling. You were handpicked by management from the very start to be the face of this company. Whereas I was just pegged as that 'dumb-slutty-bitch' who'd never go on to amount to anything in APEX. And it was that precise notion that made me want to work harder, to fit right in, and prove everyone wrong about me."
Her eyes focused in on the photo of Allanah, all happy and smiles on her face, which made Heather disgusted.
HEATHER ✲ HAZE
• • • bad girl
"Yeah, I'll admit you went on to kick my ass, giving me my very first loss in our debut match no less. I remember there was like this HUGE celebration party they threw for you backstage. Your 2 brothers were there, your boyfriend Jackie boy was there, your best friends Bella, Milo, and Mattie were all there, The whole Republic of Ireland was there to praise you and give you a standing round of applause for your 1st big win. Me? I was left to take that walk of shame backstage, thinking if I even had a future in APEX. I could've made a whole fuss about it. I could have cried foul and went to look elsewhere for greener pasture. But I held my emotions back. I took that beating and that loss to heart as a motivation to better my craft. From there, I continued to stay on the grind. I continued to show up and bust my ass. I continued to win matches, winning the Collateral Damage twice, and being one half of the Rising Star Winner, and do everything I can to get my face out there."
HEATHER ✲ HAZE
• • • bad girl
*shrug* "But is it ever enough? No, Not really. None of that matters as long as I am staying in my own lane while girls like you and Bella are the ones being groomed to be the next big stars to lead APEX to the future. While you got your own band of cheerleaders in your corner, I got nobody, and I don't need nobody to tell me how good or great I am. My actions in the ring speak for themselves, hun. Management may not put me up there on a pedestal with the likes of you or Bella, and that's precisely what compels me to go out there, and prove that I MATTER!"
Heather clenched her teeth as a tear escaped from the corner of her eye and rolled down her cheek.
HEATHER ✲ HAZE
• • • bad girl
"Do you honestly think I like waking up every morning, knowing that there needs to be somebody to play the bad guy role, and that just so happens to be me? No. But I know that position gets relegated to me, because when it comes to people meaning what they say and following up with action, only one person consistently gets the job done. Only one person has the power to make that happen. That's ME. My job is beyond thankless. But it is a crucial one. I'm the person who does what needs to be done. And others... they're threatened by it. They're threatened because they don't know what it's like having to scratch and claw to get to the top. So they like to point their gnarly fingers at me and call me the Villainess. So if I am the big baddie to you and your friends, then so be it. I'll gladly play the part as long as I am out there, winning matches, winning titles, and proving the fans, the higher ups, and the dweeb that signs my six figure cheques that I MATTER and that I am BETTER than you without a shadow of a doubt."
A small smile then curled up on Heather’s lip but slowly faded as quickly as it formed.
HEATHER ✲ HAZE
• • • bad girl
"We all have something to fight for. We both knew what we had come from and we both explained what we were going to stand for. So I'd suggest you get off your high horse and you start taking me serious. Screw your missing friend Mattie or whoever. Screw Synn. Screw everybody else that play a part in your boring, worthless life. I KNOW you fucking hate me with every fiber of your being, and the feelings are delightfully mutual. So Let's make this one count. Main Event: Champion versus Champion Match. Even though our precious lil' belts are not on the line, Let's make both our mom's proud and beat each other up senseless until one of us is left to walk out of there as the true, worthy champion. I'll see you in the ring this Tuesday....bitch."
Heather then ripped the magazine apart to shreds as the scene fades.