Tantruming Child

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Scene 1

Off Camera

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Thanksgiving is a day when we give thanks for what we have.  The Jones family most definitely has a great deal to be thankful for.  They’re united, they stand together as one, and they’ve never been happier.  This is despite the unfortunate tragedy of this past year; the loss of Bart Jones.  Bart Jones had, for the longest time, been the patriarch of the family.  But he sacrificed himself, his own life, to save the life of his grandchild, Angelica’s youngest daughter Kelly Jones.

Tragedy has seemed to always follow the Jones family wherever they went.  Whether it was the murder of Kelly Jones, Angelica Jones briefly losing her mind and murdering her own boyfriend, a crime that landed her in a mental institution, Kayla Jones enduring years of abuse and rape in a foster home, and most recently Bart Jones, the father, dying in a self-sacrificing manner in order to save the life of his youngest granddaughter.

And yet there is still so much to be thankful for.  The family has even grown, in recent years.  All of Angelica’s children are healthy and united; including Kimberly Williams, Angelica’s long lost child whom she long thought was gone for good.  Marie Jones is married to Arthur Pond and happy.  Corey Jones is married to fellow pro-wrestler Kyle Butler and is happy.  Even the cousins Vanessa, Monroe, and Isabella Jones with their father, Paul Jones, are there.

Then there’s Kayla Jones, Angelica’s younger sister.  Kayla has had a rough go of it in her life to say the very least. She was physically and sexually abused by Oliver Hardy Sr. when she was under his foster care.  Those memories may never be fully healed but she has, in a way, forgiven and begun to move on, as she has accepted Oliver’s biological son, Oliver Hardy Jr., back into her life after he reached out to make peace; adding yet another new member to the Jones clan.

Kayla was happily married to Jason Redfield until she was caught cheating on him with Andreas Lasiewicz and they divorced.  Then she thought she was finally happy with Andreas Lasiewicz, even getting two children from him, but she messed that up by betraying him, secretly banning him from a world title shot due to mental concerns.  An enraged Andreas Lasiewicz ended that relationship.

But now things are turning around for Kayla Jones.  She’s running a modeling agency, she’s a pro-wrestling manager, and she still competes as a wrestler herself.  And now that she and Angelica recently defeated Autumn Valentine and Gable Winchester, she and Angelica, The Sisterhood, are no doubt in line for a future shot at the SCW World Tag Team Championship.

But more important than any professional successes would be her personal life.  After two failed relationships, Kayla Jones is about to give it one more try as she is set to get married to Trenton Snow; definitely a reason to be thankful.

Thanksgiving for the Jones family is being held at Angelica’s home in Boston, Massachusetts.  Angelica jokingly calls it Purgatory but, for one of the largest and most successful families in pro-wrestling, it may as well be called heaven.  And it’s a crowded heaven at that, considering the main living area is packed full of family members and their children; Paul Jones and his children, Monroe, Isabelle, and Vanessa.  Angelica Jones and her children, Marie and her husband Arthur, Kimberly, Corey and her husband Kyle, and Kelly.  Even Paige and Duncan, Kayla’s children, are seen running around, being watched carefully by Trenton Snow.

The person who is noticeably absent is Kayla Jones herself.

And more than one person notices it.

Angelica Jones is wearing a knee length black skirt, pantyhose to keep her legs warm, black high heeled pumps to match the skirt, and a dark red long sleeve sweater.  Her long gorgeous ginger locks are hanging unrestrained to shoulder length.  The matriarch of the Jones family is playing hostess as she walks over and embraces her uncle Paul Jones in a tight hug.

“Hi, Uncle Paul!”

“Happy Thanksgiving, Angel!”

“Happy Thanksgiving, Uncle Paul.”

Paul Jones turns and walks away in the direction of the drinks. Angelica smiles as she turns to face Vanessa, Paul’s daughter and Angelica’s first cousin, who came in right after him.

“Nessa!”

“Hiya, Angel!”

The two embrace in a tight hug.  Angelica then motions towards the kitchen.

“Go get some turkey, girl!”

Vanessa nods and walks off.  Angelica is about to follow her but a hand on her shoulder stops her.  She turns around to find Monroe Jones, Paul’s oldest child and Angelica’s first cousin. Monroe is the older brother Angelica never had.  Angelica smiles warmly.

“Happy Thanksgiving, Monroe.”

“Happy Thanksgiving, dear Angelica.”

He kisses her hand, almost like a southern gentlemen.  Angelica can’t help but giggle.

“Oh quit hamming it up, Monroe.”

“I’m not ‘hamming it up’, as you so eloquently put it my dear.  I am just being polite.”

“Whatever.”

She motions to the kitchen, where Paul and Vanessa already have went.

“Go follow your family to the kitchen.  Get some turkey or alcohol.  Or both.”

“I will in due time, but first I would like to wish my other dear cousin a hearty congratulations on her pending marriage.”

“So you want to talk to Kayla?”

Monroe nods his head.

“Yes, I’d like to see Kayla.  How is she?”

“Uh, she’s good…I guess.”

Monroe grins knowingly.

“You guess?  You are only good or not good.”

Angelica sighs and shrugs her shoulders.

“True enough.  I guess she has a few pre-wedding jitters.”

“Understandable.  Still, let her know that I would like to wish her congratulations.”

Angelica playfully salutes Monroe.

“Will do!”

With that Angelica turns away from the kitchen and instead turns towards the stairs.  The Boston native walks towards the stairs.  Angelica ascends the staircase as fast and as carefully as she can in her high heel pumps.  Once she reaches the top of the stairs she walks a few feet down the hall and turns towards the right, entering the room which happens to be her own bedroom.  Inside she finds her younger sister, Kayla Jones, gazing at herself in front of a full length mirror.  Angelica places her hands on her hips and smirks.

“I told you that you could use my room to get ready but I didn’t realize you’d take this much time.”

Kayla turns around to face her older sibling.  Kayla is wearing a green ruched sweater dress that is fit to flatter, designed with smooth sides and front and back ruching.  Her feet are encased in black high heeled boots.

“Do I look ok?”

Angelica frowns.

“You look fine, Kay.”

“Are you sure?  I want to make sure everything is perfect.”

“Oh sweetie.”

Angelica walks over and wraps an arm around Kayla’s shoulder.

“You don’t need to worry about making everything perfect.  Everyone downstairs loves you.  Uncle Paul is there, your children…”

Angelica grins.

“…and of course Trenton loves you.”

Kayla sighs.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of.”

Kayla walks away from her older sister.  Kayla sits down on the edge of the king sized bed. Angelica tilts her head to one side and frowns as she studies Kayla closely and intently.  Angelica then walks over and sits down next to her.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s this holiday, you know?  Thanksgiving.  It was always mom’s favorite.”

Angelica nods her head.

“Yeah, I remember.”

“It’s tough.  You know?  It’s still tough to get over the fact that mom is gone and Thanksgiving just makes it all that much harder.  We are supposed to be happy and thankful but how can we be thankful without mom?”

Kayla smiles warmly.

“Mom was such a wonderful person.  If I could only be half of the woman she was.”

Angelica sighs.

“Kayla, there’s something I found out a few weeks ago about mom.  Something you should probably know.”

“What?”

“I met with Anastasia a few days before Under Attack.  According to her, our mother was the daughter of Russian immigrants.”

Kayla shakes her head.

“That’s impossible, Angelica.  Mom and dad never told us this.”

“That’s because they kept it hidden from us.  Mom and dad, but especially mom’s family, didn’t want anyone to know why they came to Russia; specifically to escape the regime of Josef Stalin in the Soviet Union.  They even changed their last name from Kurensky to Ford so that they wouldn’t be discovered by the KGB.”

Kayla nods her head.

“Ok, that’s believable.  But tell me, what’s the point?  What does that have to do with us?”

“Mom, she…”

Angelica shakes her head.

“…she cheated on dad with someone she knew from Russia.”

Kayla blinks her eyes furiously.

“No…can’t be true…her and dad never broke up!”

“Dad was angry at first but he and mom worked things out for our sake. Mom told her lover that the relationship was off and it made him mad.  He came over to the United States and murdered her.  Her death had nothing to do with the Russian Mafia trying to get at dad. It had EVERYTHING to do with a jilted lover.”

Kayla rears back and slaps Angelica across her face.

“No!  You’re lying! Mom wouldn’t do that!  She’s not that way!  She’s…”

Kayla buries her face in her hands and starts crying.

“…she wasn’t like us.”

Angelica gently and comfortingly pats her sister on the back.

“I didn’t want to admit it either but Sister Maria can confirm it.”

Kayla suddenly changes from crying to laughing almost sardonically.

“That makes my plan for tonight even more interesting.”

Angelica arches her brow.

“What plan?”

“I intend to privately tell Trenton everything…about me and Jason, me and Andreas, and even a few details about your past relationships…”

“Mine?!”

“Calm down, I’m not sharing everything.  Just the big stuff.  Most of it is about me, anyway.”

Angelica frowns.

“Why are you doing this anyway?”

“Because Trenton has a right to know exactly what he’s getting into.”

Kayla stands up.

“He has a right to know that women in this family…especially me…we haven’t exactly had a great reputation when it comes to relationships.”

“Aren’t you worried that you’re opening up a can of worms?”

Kayla nods her head.

“Of course I am, but it’s something that I have to do, if only to clear my own conscience.”

Angelica stands up.  Kayla stares deep into her eyes.

“I want this to work out, Angel.  I want this marriage to Trenton to work out.  That’s why I’m doing this.”

Angelica nods her head.

“I understand.  Just promise you’ll be careful.”

“I’ll do my best.”

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Scene 2

Off Camera

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The Thanksgiving dinner at the Jones household is still going on but two particular lovebirds have escaped the madhouse for a slightly more private time between the two of them.  The Boston skyline is beautiful tonight, especially the moon as it causes the water of Boston Harbor to sparkle and shine.  Standing there at Boston Harbor, looking out over at the water of Boston Harbor are Kayla Jones and her future husband Trenton Snow.

“Boston Harbor is famous primarily for the Boston Tea Party.”

She turns and looks at Trenton with a warm, knowing grin on her face.

“This is also the place where my dad proposed to my mother.”

“I can see why.”

“My mom was born to Russian immigrants, so she loved the stories dad would tell her about American history.  The story of the first Thanksgiving was probably her favorite.  Family was always important to mom.”

She reaches up and wipes tears from her eyes.

“I always miss mom, but it’s really hard on Thanksgiving.”

Trenton hugs Kayla.

“I have no doubt that your mother is proud of the woman you’ve become. How can she not be?”

Jones sighs.

“There are reasons why she wouldn’t be proud of me.”

Trenton looks into Kayla’s eyes. With a smirk on his face he tells her.

“You’re going to have an impossible task convincing me of that.”

“Yeah, that’s kind of why I brought you here.”

She wipes more tears from her eyes.

“You already know that I have had two prior relationships.  You’re guy number three and you don’t seem to have any problems with that.  I’m grateful.  But there are a few things you don’t know.”

“What’s on your mind?”

“We’re getting married, Trenton.  But you deserve to know exactly what you’re getting into.”

She pauses, shaking her head.  This is difficult for Kayla Jones, as many bad past memories are.

“Jason Redfield and Andreas Lasiewicz were my first two relationships.  For the longest time I was married to Jason and I thought I had found happiness.”

She shakes her head.

“It wasn’t to be, and it was all my fault.  I cheated on Jason with Andreas Lasiewicz, who had recently broken up with my own sister Angelica.”

She laughs sardonically.

“We really are a fucked up family, I guess, and I’m not immune to it, even though people look at Angelica as being the crazy one.  Jason, though, was furious and rightly so.  But he finally put it behind him and me and Andreas had our relationship.  Andreas was the one who gave me two children.  He made me a mother.”

A sad smile forms on her face.

“But of course I fucked that one up too.  Andreas was in the running for a world title match in GDW when it was still around.  I happened to sit on the Board of Directors.  There were questions swirling around about his mental state and I…”

She sighs, shaking her head.

“...I pushed to get him banned from the world title scene.  I betrayed him, which is as good as cheating on him, I guess.”

She looks up into Trenton’s eyes.  There is a mix of trepidation and fear on her face.

“You deserve to know that this woman you think is perfect has a history, a bad history.  I love you Trenton, and I know that we were meant to be.  You have no idea how hard this was for me to tell you, but…”

She bows her head in shame.

“...you had to know.”

“Look at me.”

Kayla looks up at Trenton, bracing herself, fearing the worst.

“So you’ve made a few mistakes in the past. Marriage is always a fifty, fifty proposition, these things happen. Cheating on Jason with a man your sister dated, in comparison to the wild adventures of the family I’m marrying into, that’s normal in comparison. It happens. Whenever Andreas has spoken to me on Twitter he’s been cordial. Shocked considering the reputation he has, don’t feel bad about pushing for him to get banned. Professionally, I heard he’s a loose cannon anyway, in truth, you should not have been put in that position. Conflict of interest. You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t. People would have said he politicized his way into the World title picture if you went the opposite direction. No win situation either way.”

Trenton grabs her hand.

“You’re the ideal woman to me, past warts and all. I have never been a saint either. I’m marrying the agent of my ex wife, that makes us even on the sleeping with someone taboo category. I can’t say I cheated on anyone, I justified a lot of my professional decisions like finding someone's ex boyfriend to terrorize them in GCW all for the sake of creating ratings. And that doesn’t cover all of the actions I engaged in to create a buzz in GCW so I doubt we’re both going to heaven anytime soon based on that. In a roundabout way I’m telling you I don’t care. Between us its three failed marriages and some questionable decisions. It’s life.”

Kayla hugs him tightly.

“I’m just scared.  Jones women don’t have good luck with relationships, you know?  I recently learned my mom cheated on my dad and were it not for my dad being far more gracious than I thought he was, they would’ve split up.  They worked it out for mine and Angelica’s sake.”

She laughs.

“God and then there’s Angelica, who spent time in a mental institution for murdering her first boyfriend, then she dated her trainer, and from there she had a series of failed relationships...Brittany Lohan, Sean McBride…”

Kayla shakes her head.

“I thought I was immune.  But I guess not, huh?”

“So is most of the world. You only need to get it right once. Thomas Edison failed ninety nine times before he finally got the light bulb right. I’m not advocating being in ninety nine relationships before you find the right one, you’d need to be Hugh Hefner or James Bond to pull that off. My point stands, all it takes is one. And I’d like to believe we are the one for each other. I do have one suggestion, hope I’m not overstepping.”

Kayla smirks.

“Anything, babe.”

“If the desire to sleep with someone ever comes to mind, make sure it’s a woman and that I can at least watch.”

Trenton laughs hoping to lighten up the mood a bit.

“That would be hot. I’m a guy, sue me.”

Trenton smirks.

“Don’t get your hopes up, smart guy.  My sister is the bisexual of the family.  Not me.”

She kisses him on the lips.

“But I can tell you this, I can’t wait to become Kayla Jones-Snow.”

Trenton kisses Kayla on the lips.

“Same here.

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On Camera

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Thousands upon thousands of empty seats fill a darkened, empty arena.   There are seats on ground level that lead all the way up to balcony and nose bleed section seats, all of which encircle what appears to be a wrestling ring set up in the center where a lone singular spotlight shines down, creating the only light in this arena at the present moment.  The camera begins to zoom in, getting a closer and closer look at the wrestling ring.  It, too, is empty.

The camera shifts to the entrance ramp and we see a lovely feminine silhouette in the shadows.  A spotlight shines d own on the female, erasing those shadows, allowing us to see fully who this is.  It’s none other than Kayla Jones.  The lovely lady is wearing an elegant knee length purple short lace dress that features a sleek form fitting silhouette with a scalloped edge on the V-neckline and sheer long sleeves.  A sprinkle of sequins are scattered throughout to add just the right touch of sparkle.  Her feet are encased in black high heeled sandals.

“It’s no secret that Angelica and I prefer to be booked as a tag team.  That’s who we are and dominating the SCW tag team division is what we want to do.  We already had our non-title match against Gable Winchester and Autumn Valentine and we won.  We beat them, placing ourselves in line for a future SCW World Tag Team Championship Match.  Going after Gable and Autumn, staying on top of them until we get those belts back, and then defending those belts like the proud champions we know we can be, that is our goal here in Supreme Championship Wrestling.  That’s what we want to do.”

Kayla Jones begins to make her way down the steel ramp way.  Her high heeled sandals click noisily throughout the arena on the steel as she goes along.

“But we understand that we can’t just be a tag team.  We’ve been there, done that, and Mr. D and SCW don’t like the idea of us just being a tag team.  We accept we’ll be booked in singles action.  But nine times out of ten it’s Angelica who gets booked and I get to watch.”

She chuckles.

“So normally it would be absolutely awesome to have the tables turned, and have Angelica sits on the sidelines while I compete one on one on behalf of The Sisterhood.  And to compete on Supreme Saturday?  Even better.”

Jones turns and heads towards the steel steps.  Kayla walks up the steps and up onto the ring apron.  The younger half of The Sisterhood steps through the ropes and into the ring.  Then she heads to the center of the ring and turns to face the camera again.

“The thing is, I’m up against an immature child.”

She shakes her head.

“Now don’t get me wrong, Jake Starr is dangerous and he is a good wrestler.  I’m not questioning his talent.  But while he may be a grown man, he has the attitude of a spoiled brat.  Anytime he doesn’t get his way, he gets a steel chair and starts swinging at whoever got the best of him.  Jake Starr is a bully.  Plain and simple.  He fails to capture the United States Championship thanks to my sister kicking his puny little ass and what does he do?  He does the only thing a bully knows how to do…”

She shakes her head.

“…he lashes out.”

She laughs.

“You know what’s funny, Jake?  You remind me of my children.  They’re at the age right now when they try to throw tantrums when they don’t get what they want.  If I don’t make the food they want to eat, they throw a tantrum.  We don’t watch what they want to watch on television, they throw a tantrum.  I don’t buy them that toy they want, they throw a tantrum.  But do you know what I do when they throw that tantrum?”

She smirks knowingly.

“I give them a spanking.  I can already tell that my children are learning that throwing a tantrum will not work with me.  And Jake, you throw your tantrums as well.  You failed to become the United States Champion so you threw a tantrum and attacked The Sisterhood.  But as you’re about to learn, I don’t tolerate childish temper tantrums from immature kids, whether it be from my own…”

She points a finger at the camera.

“…or from a full grown asshole like you.”

She shakes her head.

“You didn’t win, Jake!  Get over it!  You lost to Vixen Cain!  Get over it!  So did Angelica, but you don’t see her chasing that idiot around with a chair, now do you?  The only immature child chasing anyone around with a weapon is you, because you can’t get over the fact that you lost.  You can’t get over the fact that you were beaten.  So you attack me and Angelica, you tell us that anytime we get a title shot you’ll be there to ruin it?  Do you realize how childish all of that is?  Do you realize that you sound worse than any spoiled little toddler?”

Kayla sighs.

“No, you probably don’t realize it.  The spoiled brats, the bullies, the childish tantrum throwers, they never realize it.  My kids don’t realize the error of their ways until they’ve been spanked.  Then they straighten up.”

She smirks and shakes her head.

“No, I’m not going to spank you.  That’d be just weird.  But I am going to beat your ass from one end of that arena to the other.  And then after I’m done physically damaging you, I’m going to mentally damage you, specifically damage your over-inflated ego, by beating you in the center of the ring.  And maybe, just maybe, adding a second straight loss to your record will bring you back down to reality.”

She shrugs her shoulders.

“But it’s doubtful.  Like I said, bullies rarely realize the error of their own ways, even after they’ve had their ass kicked.  So if all fails and I can’t humble you, then at the very least I can and will kick your teeth right down your throat!”

The camera fades to black.