The Nightmare

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The Nightmare

Off Camera

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It’s been quiet in the Jones familial household ever since the family found out about the death of their patriarch, the eldest Jones still living, Bart Jones.  That can be understood.  Bart Jones was the father of Angelica and Kayla Jones and while Bart had been estranged from his children for many years, they had only recently begun to reconcile.

Funny how it sometimes takes tragedy for a family like theirs to come together?  Funny how it takes tragedy for Kayla and Angelica to see the error of their ways, and for Bart to see the error of his ways, and thus force the three to come together and be a family again.  And what’s even funnier, or perhaps even more tragic, is that the tragedies began even before the death of one Bart Jones.

Kayla Jones sits silently on the edge of what used to be her bed in the Jones Household in Boston, Massachusetts.  This home is now owned by her older sister Angelica, who has lived her all of her life and jokingly has named it Purgatory.  But for Kayla, this home has and always will hold a special place in her heart.  She has so many wonderful memories of her mother, the original Kelly Jones.  Kayla also memories of her father, Bart Jones, and of the times when she used to look up to him.

Unfortunately all that Kayla has are memories.  Both of her parents are dead now and coming here to this family home doesn’t just bring back memories but emotional pain and turmoil as well.

The beautiful redheaded Bostonian is wearing a long black dress, ankle length, with black high heeled pumps and a half-sleeved black jacket.  Her long red hair hangs down to below the shoulders and in her hands she holds an old picture of her mother and father when they were much younger and only recently married.  Kayla stares at this picture with a sense of longing and a tear in her eye.  She wishes they were here but now, thanks to events outside of her control, both are gone.

Ironically enough, you can blame the deaths of both Kelly and Bart on the same group: The Bratva, also known as the Russian Mafia.  Now you may wonder how the Jones Family got mixed up with the Russian Mafia but when you learn that Bart Jones, that patriarch of the family, was a high-up FBI agent then it begins to make sense.  It makes even more sense when you learn of how Bart Jones led the FBI in its crusade against the Bratva.

Anyone who knows organized crime knows that the mafia typically won’t let anything like that go unpunished.  Bart Jones took the fight to The Bratva so The Bratva made him pay.  They wanted to just kill him but instead they ended up catching his wife Kelly instead.  They raped and murdered her.  They wouldn’t kill their real target, Bart Jones, until decades later.

Kayla Jones is the one taking this the hardest.  She and her sister Angelica found out just a few days ago, the day of Marie Annabelle and Corey Jones’s joint wedding, that the body of Bart Jones had been found and that he was now officially confirmed dead.  The police and the Jones family know that the Russian Mafia are behind it because they know The Russian Mafia were the ones who kidnapped Bart Jones.

So why would Kayla blame herself when it clearly the Russian Mafia are at fault?  The Bratva had kidnapped Angelica’s youngest daughter, the second Kelly, and was holding her hostage.  They didn’t want Kelly.  They wanted their original target Bart and they would return Kelly in exchange for Bart turning himself over to the Russian Mafia.  Bart was insistent that they take the deal but Angelica refused to let him.

It was Kayla who caved in and helped Bart turn himself over.  Kayla drove Bart to the prescribed meeting place and assisted with the trade-off.  Yes, Kelly was safe and sound, but Bart was sent off to his eventual death.  In a way, Kayla is partially to blame for his death.

At least, that’s how Kayla sees it, and that’s why she currently is so down and depressed.  Those emotions are just the beginning.  Add to that the sadness and grief she feels about never again being able to see her father again, that she and her sister Angelica truly are now alone in this world, and you can see how she is having a hard time dealing with this.

“Kay?”

The sound of the voice disrupts Kayla’s intense concentration.  She turns her head towards the sound of the intruder and she spots her older sibling, Angelica Jones, standing in the doorway.  Angelica is wearing a similar long black dress, also with half-sleeves.  Angelica is forcing a smile upon her face.  She is trying to be strong for Kayla right now.  God only knows Kayla needs strength.

“Hi, Angel.”

“Everyone is downstairs waiting.  We’re all kind of worried.  Are you ok?”

Kayla shrugs her shoulders.

“I don’t know…”

She sighs.

“…just tell them to wait.”

What’s going on downstairs is a visitation.  The entire Jones family is gathered here, from the immediate family members Angelica, Kayla, and their children as well as the extended family; Monroe Jones and Vanessa Jones, the cousins.  Marie and Corey’s new husbands, Arthur and Kyle, are both here as well as Angelica and Kayla’s own love interests, Lindsey Carter and Trenton Snow respectively.  Friends of the family are also dropping in to pay their respects to the fallen Bart Jones.

“Kayla…”

Kayla just shakes her head.  She doesn’t want to hear anything out of Angelica right now.

“No!  I’m not coming!  I’m not ready!”

Angelica steps away from the doorway and enters the room fully.  She approaches the bed and sits down next to her sister.  She looks are her smiling.

“You can’t delay it forever.  You have to come down eventually.”

“No I don’t.”

Angelica rolls her eyes.  Clearly she is beginning to lose patience with her sister.

“Damnit, Kayla!  What’s wrong?!”

Kayla turns and glares at Angelica.  It almost appears as if she is incredulous, upset that Angelica would get upset at her or question her like this.

“You mean other than the fact that our father is dead?!”

Sarcasm is dripping from Kayla’s voice as she says this.  Angelica doesn’t buy it and shakes her head.

“You’ve always been the stronger one emotionally between the two of us, Kay.”

“Huh?”

Angelica nods her head.

“It’s true, emotionally you’ve always been stronger than me. Something like this shouldn’t phase you and yet here you are having an emotional break down.  Something is wrong and damnit I want to know what it is.”

There is a long tense stare down between the two sisters.  Kayla tries to steel herself but she knows she can’t last forever.  She holds out for only a few more moments before sighing and nodding her head.

“it’s my fault…it’s all my fault…”

Angelica blinks a few times out of curiosity, not quite sure of what her younger sibling means.

“What do you mean?  What’s your fault?”

“Think about it, sis.  It isn’t like this is too difficult to figure out.  Who killed our father?”

Angelica sighs.

“The Bratva kidnapped him and murdered him.”

Kayla shakes her head.

“No…”

“No?”

“The Bratva didn’t kidnap him.”

Kayla pats herself on the chest.

“I GAVE our father to The Bratva!  I handed him over to The Bratva!”

Kayla buries her face in her hands and begins to cry.  Angelica pats her sister on the back in a vein attempt to try and calm and comfort her.

“Yes, and they had my daughter.  God only knows what they would have done had you not traded our father for my child.  You did what you had to do.”

Kayla’s head jerks up out of her hands.  She stares at Angelica, her face and eyes clearly red from the tears and from crying.  Despite this she looks incredulous, as if Angelica would dare question her and question her grief.

“You say that…the police have told me that…and hell, I’ve even tried saying that to myself, I have tried using that logic to justify it, but it doesn’t work…”

She shakes her head.

“…I still feel guilty, because let’s face it, I did hand him over to The Bratva.  And just think…think…”

Kayla’s voice trails off.  Angelica, furrows her brow.

“…think about what?”

“Think…”

Kayla sighs.

“…think about what our father must have endured.  Think of the torture they put him through…”

“We don’t know that, Kay.  All we know is that they killed him.”

Kayla shoots her sister a dirty glare.

“Be serious, Angel…our father quite literally took their organization apart piece by piece and they hated him for it.  Do you really think they would have made it quick and painless?”

Angelica sighs and bows her head.

“Probably not…”

“Exactly.  And I’m…”

Kayla wipes a tear from her eye.

“…I’m responsible for it, for all of it, because I handed him over.”

Angelica leans over and embraces her sister in a tight, sisterly hug.  After breaking the hug, Angelica grabs Kayla by her head and guides her face so that she is looking directly into her eyes.  Angelica’s stare is stone cold serious.

“Listen to me…”

Kayla shakes her head as she interrupts her sister’s thoughts.

“There is absolutely nothing you can say, Angelica.”

Angelica slaps Kayla across the face to get her attention.  Kayla, for her part, is shocked that she got slapped by Angelica.

“Kayla Marie Shawna Jones, I want you to listen to me!”

It isn’t often that Kayla gets called out by her full legal name.  That combined with the slap and she is in shock.  Kayla only simply nods her head as she remains quiet and listens intently to Angelica.

“You want to claim responsibility for our father’s death?  Not just no, but hell no!  You are nowhere near responsible for his death.  You played no part in this.  This was the doing of the Bratva and of no one else because they put us into a position where we had no other alternative.”

“But how…how can you say this?”

“Do you really have to ask?  Kayla, you know that I murdered my own daughter’s father in order to ensure I’d maintain custody of her.”

Kayla bows her head as she feels almost a sense of guilt now, not due to the death of Bart Jones but instead directed towards Angelica.

“I…I’m sorry, sis.”

“Don’t apologize to me, Kayla.”

Angelica embraces her in a hug.

“You have absolutely no reason to apologize.  Just understand that I am a murderer, Kayla.  There is nothing good about me.  I am and always will be an evil person.  But you…”

Angelica smiles as she runs a hand through Kayla’s long red hair.

“…you are a good person.  You always strive to do what’s right.  You never have to question who you are or whether or not you are a good person. And do not question this…”

She shakes her head.

“…you had no choice.”

Kayla and Angelica stare at one another intensely for several moments.  Kayla then buries her face in her older sister’s shoulder and begins to cry.  Angelica pats her on the back gently.

“It’s ok, sis…it’s ok…”

Kayla looks up at Angelica.

“I’m going to miss him.”

“So will I, Kayla.  So will I.”

Kayla shakes her head.

“But for me it’s different.  Everything I could have had with our father over the years, all of the memories we could have had, they are non-existent because I threw away any opportunity to have a relationship with our father.  And why?”

Kayla wipes tears from her eyes.

“I rejected him because I blamed him for everything bad that happened to me.  My step-father beat and raped me while dad was gone and I blamed him as if it was his fault.  But now I’m beginning to wonder did he have a choice?”

“I don’t think he did have a choice, Kay.”

Kayla nods her head.

“And therein lies another reason I feel guilty.  I never got to really know dad like I could have because I hated him for something that may not have been within his control.  He was being chased by The Russian Mafia at the time.  If he stayed around, we would have been at risk.  He was protecting us the best way he knew how.”

Angelica nods her head.

“Just as you protected my daughter the best way you knew how.”

“Yeah…”

Angelica pats Kayla on the back.

“So, are you feeling ready to go downstairs and see our guests?”

Kayla lightly chuckles.

“I guess now is as good a time as any.  I need to face this eventually, right.”

Angelica nods her head.

“That’s right.  We can’t run from this.”

“And I refuse to run from anything.”

Kayla stands up.

“Let’s go…”

Kayla leads the way as Angelica follows her out of the door.

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On Camera

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Our scene opens with a golden throne seated atop red carpeting.  The room itself looks extraordinarily regal in appearance, as if it belonged to some monarch.  We don't have time to find out as suddenly this exquisite room is engulfed completely and entirely in flames.  The flames burn out of control so intensely and so immensely that we can no longer make out the room itself.  Only the flame itself can be seen.  Then, just as quickly as the flame started, it dies down and comes to a stop.  Now, we are greeted with a new sight to behold.  Standing to the right of the gold throne is none other than Kayla Jones.  She is one half of The Sisterhood and she is ready for the upcoming Taking Hold of the Flame rumble, dressed to kill in a high-low faux wrap dress with a surplice neckline and cap sleeves.  The skirt of this dress stops right at the ankle.

“The SCW Taking Hold of the Flame rumble.  This year the magic number is forty. Forty wrestlers, forty men, women, and Red Rayne all fighting towards the same goal but all with different motivations driving them.”

“Now there are those in this rumble that are in it only for personal glory.  They want to win this rumble, they want to defeat all thirty-nine other opponents, all to prove that they are the best in SCW.  They want to go on from there and become SCW World Champion at Rise To Greatness.”

Jones smiles.

“Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.  I, for one, want to win Taking Hold of the Flame.  Performing well isn’t good enough for me, because I want to go to Rise To Greeatness and prove that I am still a world class caliber competitor in this industry and that I can be SCW World Champion.”

Kayla chuckles lightly.

“Now not everyone has that kind of motivation.  Let's be honest with ourselves; there are those who feel they shouldn’t even have to endure Taking Hold of the Flame, they feel entitle to Rise To Greatness and the SCW World Championship.”

She points at the camera.

“Kennedy Street, Kellcey Wallace, I'm talking about you.”

Kayla turns her head from side to side, analyzing the regal looking room.

“Those types of people may feel entitled to a throne such as this.  The funny thing about fire is that it is not discriminatory.  The entitled will be burned to the ground just as quickly as the humble.  Everyone's dreams are engulfed in the flame.”

“Others still just want to test themselves against the very best SCW has to offer in the absolute most challenging match of endurance that SCW has endured.  For them, for all of us, Taking Hold of the Flame is about competition.”

The redhead walks over and sits down on the gold throne.

“Whether you're in it for the thrill of the competition, just to prove yourself to the wrestling world, or for personal glory, at the end of the day all forty want to win…”

She holds up a finger.

“...but there can only be one winner.  Thirty-nine dreams will go up in flames.  So the question is, if I want to win, am I prepared to destroy the dreams of thirty-nine other competitors?”

She nods her head.

“You are damn right I am! I am ready and I will because I want this flame win.  I need it.  And I will go through anyone and everyone who gets in my way…”

“...yes, even you, Angelica.  We’re sisters and we’ve been through a lot.  We’ll be competing for the SCW World Tag Team Championships that same night.  No one knows you like I do, so I know how much being the best means to you.  Winning Taking Hold of the Flame would go a long way towards proving you are the best.”

“But you won't win the flame.”

She pats herself on the chest.

“I'm going to win the flame, and if that means going through you, Angelica, then so be it.  The honest to goodness truth is that this really is every man, and woman, for themselves.  No friends and no allies.  If you ask me, and granted I’m biased, but I think that makes me a favorite.”

The younger Jones sibling nods her head.

“In recent years I may have had a friend, supporter, and tag team partner in my older sister Angelica, but for the first few years of my professional career I was on my own fighting and struggling to make my way and to make my mark, just as I will be on my own in this rumble, fighting and struggling to get through thirty-nine other competitors who want to kick my ass and take what I want.  And in recent years, Angelica and I may have been a well-oiled machine, winning tag team championship gold in three different companies, but it wasn’t always like that.”

Kayla sighs and shrugs her shoulders.

“Sorry sis, but I have to be the snitch here, though I’m not telling the world anything they don’t already know, am I right?  Just looking at your reputation and your career and the wrestling world should recognize that you have had a spotty career when it comes to trustworthiness.  You have stabbed people in the back in order to get ahead in this game and to get what you want.  Now yes, we have made up and are together, united as The Sister, but am I criticizing you for your past?”

She shakes her head.

“No, of course not.  As a matter of fact, that’s the attitude you need to have if you hope to survive and win Taking Hold of the Flame.  That’s why, as I get prepared to step into this rumble match, I will be modeling myself and my actions after my big sister in the sense that I will do anything to win this thing and that means no allies.  None.  Zero.  It’s Kayla Jones versus the world and by God, if me and my right foot have anything to say about it, Kayla Jones will win!”

“But some would say no…”

Kayla Jones lightly chuckles.

“...some would say that maybe my older sister Angelica would have a good shot at this thing but me?  Kayla Jones?  The sister who came in to help Angelica against Silas World, the sister who came in to team up with Angelica as part of The Sisterhood...can she really get it done?”

“Those who are asking questions like that are the same ones who feel entitled to Taking Hold of the Flame greatness and they feel entitled to the Rise To Greatness main event.  We’re just supposed to assume that Kelcey Wallace is going to win it all because she’s been in the main event more times than God is mentioned in church.  Or we’re supposed to just give Kennedy Street the main event slot because she whines about it all the time.”

“There are those who don’t necessarily feel entitled but we are supposed to just assume they are favorites, they are the ones to watch.  Competitors such as Regan Street, Amy Chastaine, and Ravyn Taylor are favorites just because they’ve been to the top before.  But what about newcomers to this business like an AJ Helms or a Catalina Herrera?”

Jones smirks.

“And what about me?  Anyone can win this thing, boys and girls.  The wild and random nature of Taking Home of the Flame makes it impossible to predict.  The obvious choices are not necessarily quite as obvious.  So I don’t care if your last name is Chastaine, Taylor, Street, or Helms, because at the end of the day who can survive...who can endure thirty-nine other competitors…”

“...and that person is me.  I have had to endure unimagineable trials and tribulations throughout my career.  I have had to overcome unimagineable obstacles in my career just to get to where I am today.  I suffered a broken freaking neck and I came back from it because I love this sport and I want to compete, I want to be the best.  I suffered a broken freaking neck and I came back to become a world champion in an organization.  And now I’m ready to Take Hold of the Flame, the Flame that belongs to me, and go on to Rise To Greatness and once again be a world champion.  And as far as Red Rayne goes...”

Kayla Jones shakes her head.

“...the script says that I’m supposed to fear you.  I fear nothing.  And I damn sure don’t respect someone who resorts to cheap mind control parlor tricks in a sick, pathetic attempt to ruin a man’s life.  And why?  Because you want to be world champion?”

Jones rolls her eyes.

“Yeah, I’ve run across your type before.  You are not anything new.  And your magic tricks can intimidate some people but they don’t intimidate me.  You’re starting this whole damn thing, that’s a guarantee, but running into you isn’t, though I will say this, if I do run into you in Taking Hold of the Flame, I will gladly kick your teeth down your throat and do the honor of throwing your red ass over the top rope and eliminating you.”

“That goes for the rest of the field of competitors in Taking Hold of the Flame, as well…”

She pats her right leg.

“...my right foot is primed and ready to kick thirty-nine people in the jaw.  So just accept it, accept that Kayla Jones is going to kick her way through Taking Hold of the Flame and right into Rise To Greatness where I will go on to become SCW World Champion.”