Unfinished Business: Part 3

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Fall of 1993

Off Camera

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The office was painted grey, and it had only one floor-to-ceiling window, which faced the main road. On the grey desk sat a desktop computer, a notebook lying open, and a stack of papers sitting under a turtle-shaped paperweight. In a corner, the air conditioner was blasting at medium, and there was a swivel chair in the middle of the office. A bookshelf, bursting with books was in a corner, with yet another stack of papers under a paperweight that was shaped to look like a tuft of grass. A few pens were lying on the papers, but some had fallen onto the top of the bookshelf.

A young eighteen year old Kayla Jones sits in this office a few feet from the swivel chair.  She had blue eyes, and a fair, highly-colored complexion; she wore a strapless cocktail dress made of a silky black fabric. It shimmered the same color of her nail polish if the light hit it a certain way.  She’s dressed like this because she wants to impress the gentleman she is prepared to meet with today.

She’s not alone.

With her is her guardian, her legal father Oliver Hardy Sr.  He is dressed nowhere near as good as she is, wearing only a pair of jeans, black boots, and an un-tucked button up blue collared shirt.

As soon as the door to the office opens Kayla stands up and greets the older gentleman who walks inside.  The man’s silver flecked hair had a military look about it but the skin on his chin was as smooth as a twelve year old.  His collar was always pristine white without the tell-tale brown lines and his suit was neat pressed and his golden tie a perfect knot.

“Hello Roy!” Oliver says, shaking the man’s hand.

“Greetings, Oliver.” The man, Roy, says as he shakes Oliver’s hand.  He then turns and shakes Kayla’s hand.

“Hi, Mr. Jenkins!”

“Ms. Jones…correct?”

“Uh…” Kayla ponders this for a few moments before looking over at her father, Oliver, who glares at her.  Kayla shakes her head “…actually, no.  My name is Hardy.  Kayla Hardy.”

“Odd.  I thought you told me over the phone your name was Jones?”

“Well, I…”

“Don’t mind her, Roy.” Oliver says with a smirk. “My daughter is a hot piece but she’s dumb as hell.  Right, Kayla?”

A forced smile spreads across Kayla’s face as she nods her head. “Yeah…that’s me…”

“Well, please,” Roy motions to the seats “have a seat.”

Oliver and Kayla sit down.  Roy sits down in the swivel chair. “So, Ms. Hardy, I take it you have had no experience in the modeling industry, correct?”

“That’s correct, but I’m willing to learn, Ms. Jenkins.” Kayla remarks quickly. “I’ll do anything to make it.  I just need the chance to make it and to make money for myself.”

“And she means it too, Roy,” Oliver says with a nasty guffaw “she’ll do ANYTHING…”

“That’s nice to know.” Roy says with a knowing grin at Kayla. “Lucky for you, all I need you to do is strike pretty poses for the camera.  Maybe if you get real good walk a runway or two.  Can you do that?”

“Looking good is one of the few things my daughter is real good at.” Oliver remarks rather coldly. “So I think you’re fine there, Roy.”

“Well, I have to say,” Roy looks over at Oliver and then back at Kayla “I normally don’t like hiring girls straight out of their home, right at eighteen, especially one who hasn’t finished high school yet…”

“But I will finish!” Kayla remarks in a pleading tone. “I’m almost done!”

“Calm down.” Roy remarks.  He looks back to Oliver. “Oliver, I owe you a favor, so I’ll give this doll a chance.”

“Thank you, Mr. Jenkins!” Kayla’s face lights up like a Christmas tree. “Thank you!”

“Right, well,” Roy stands up and walks towards the door “I’ll go retrieve the proper paperwork.  I’ll be right back.”

Jenkins exits the room.  Once he is gone, Oliver turns towards Kayla and sneers. “I hope you’re appreciative.  That man is a good buddy of mine and he owed me a favor.  I pulled some major strings to get this for you.”

“You know what I appreciate?” Kayla snarls. “The fact that I will finally be away from you!”

“Ungrateful, bitch!” Oliver rears back and slaps Kayla across her cheek. “Yeah, you’re out of the house.  You’re on your own.  You want it and I’m not going to press the issue.  Not like I can, you ARE eighteen after all.”

Oliver stands up. “You may not be appreciative of me and everything I did for you since I took your ass in, you little whore, but remember this, I got you this modeling gig, and me and Roy are buddies, so I can take it away as well.  Since I got you this gig, you will do it as my daughter; as Kayla Hardy.  Got it?”

“Yes…daddy.”

Oliver Hardy Sr. walks away, leaving Kayla behind.  She isn’t sure what will happen now.  She knows she will have to find somewhere to stay, but she does have a career; a modeling career.  She is away from the abuse of Oliver Hardy for good.

Or so she thinks…

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Present Day

Off Camera

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“I had no idea…”

That’s the voice of Oliver Hardy Jr., the biological son of Oliver Hardy Sr.  He and Kayla both suffered under the physical and emotional abuse of Oliver Hardy Sr., and both managed to escape.  Kayla’s “brother” would become an enemy later in life, and Kayla would have no idea why until they reunited years later when Kayla was wrestling for Supreme Championship Wrestling.  Now they are allies and Oliver Jr. even assists Kayla as her lawyer.  He chuckles sardonically as he runs a hand through his blonde hair.

“It kind of makes sense, though.  I mean, that’s how dad got to me, that’s how he twisted me and corrupted me…”

“What do you mean?”

Kayla and Oliver are in his office.  Oliver sits behind his large oak desk in his black swivel chair with his feet propped up lazily on the desk.  Kayla sits a few feet away in a comfortable black leather chair.

“Dad told me that you hated us, that you ran away and abandoned us.” Oliver sighs with a sense of shame in his voice. “That hit home to me because we…well…we both were experiencing his torture, his abuse, and I thought I had a friend in you; someone I could relate to.  And when you left…”

“He lied, Oliver.” Kayla states definitively. “He lied and you know it.”

“I do,” he says nodding his head “in fact, I would’ve helped you get away myself if I knew I could help.  But my mind…he got to it…he…”

Oliver’s voice starts to break.  Kayla reaches out and touches his hand. “It’s ok, Oliver.  It’s ok, I know how it is.  Trust me, I really do.”

“Do you mind telling me something?”

“Sure.”

Oliver swings his feet back down onto the floor. “How long did you go by Kayla Hardy?”

“Technically…” Kayla leans back in her chair and sighs “…technically I stopped going by that name when I married Jason Redfield, my first husband.  I went by Kayla Redfield at that point.  But I didn’t reassume the Jones name until Jason and I broke up in 2012.”

“Why didn’t you change it earlier? I know your history. You were a wrestler for years before meeting and marrying Jason Redfield.  Hell, you were a successful model for a good period of time before you were a wrestler.  You could’ve resumed the Jones name.”

“No I couldn’t.” Kayla stated, shaking her head. “You heard what I said, didn’t you?  Dad was going to pull some strings and get me blackballed from modeling if I ever dropped the Hardy name.  I had to maintain it, at least until I got a solid foothold in the wrestling industry.”

Oliver frowns. “Kayla, did you mean to do that?”

“Do what?”

“You just called him ‘dad’…ever since we reunited he’s been ‘Oliver’ to you.” He smirks. “That or jackass.”

“Well he was a jackass.” She retorts. “And I did not call him dad.”

“Yeah, you did.”

“Whatever.” Kayla says, rolling her eyes.

“Listen, Kayla,” Oliver says as he leans back in his chair “I know this is easy for me to say, considering I’ve been a Hardy my entire life and I am one by blood.  But you were only one for a painful part of your life and you were only one legally, not by blood.”

“What are you getting at, Oliver?”

“What I’m trying to say is that this is just an issue over a last name.” He remarks coldly. “You can be anyone you damn well please.  Your cousins, the Braddocks, once had their last names legally changed to Noel.  Why?  Just because they wanted to.  So my dad wanted you to go by the Hardy name?  Big deal.  He’s dead now.  You go by whatever name you want.”

“This is more than just about a name!” Kayla pounds her fists angrily on the desk as a flash of rage crosses her face. “He made an heir! He wrote me into his damned will as an heir!  Not just an heir but as one of his ‘surviving children’…he wanted one more way of shoving himself and his God-forsaken name back in my face and this was it!  Now his relatives want his ashes?”

She shakes her head. “No way.”

“I think you’re making a mistake, sis.” Oliver responds. “I don’t want to sound like an apologist for the monster, but believe it or not, he used to be a good person.  He was a good father up until mom died.”

“Your mom?” Kayla asks with arched brows out of curiosity.

“Yes; you never got to meet her, as she died before you came along.  He started getting angrier and angrier when she died.  He took down all pictures of her.  It was almost as if he blamed her for leaving.  Then you came along and, to be honest with you, sis…except for the red hair, because she was a blonde…you looked a lot like her.  Maybe he saw you and started taking some of his frustrations out on you?”

He shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t know, I’m a lawyer and not a psychiatrist.  But what I can tell you is a fact I do recall and that’s that he always wanted a daughter.  Mom gave him a son before she died but that’s it. Maybe…and again, I’m only guessing here…but maybe right before he finally snapped, in his last lucid thoughts, he wrote you into his will because he cared about you as the daughter he never had.”

“Are you serious, Oliver?” Kayla asks as a grin forms on her face.  A few chuckles escape her lips. “Oh wait, I get it!  I get what you’re trying to do!”

“Huh?”

“You’re using this sob story to try and convince me that it’s ok to sign those papers and give dad’s relatives his ashes.  Nice try,” she shakes her head “but it won’t work.”

Oliver sighs and shakes his head. “First of all, I’m not trying to deceive you or manipulate you.  I would never do that to you, sis.  Second of all, you did it again.”

“Did what?”

“You called him dad.”

“No I didn’t.” She says, shaking her head.

“Yes, you did.” Oliver leans forward. “Kay, are you alright?”

“No, I’m not alright.” She says, shaking her head. “This shit dealing with a dead jackass’s ashes is distracting me from my wrestling career, which is currently hitting the toilets and needs a massive pick me up.”

Kayla leans forward in her chair. “Modeling introduced me to wrestling, which saved me from that abusive asshole.  I owe everything to professional wrestling and will continue to compete and to give my all to this sport until I cannot give any longer.  I feel lately as if The Sisterhood have been half-assing it in SCW.  The fact that we couldn’t beat The Brotherhood is evidence of that…”

“But both Valentine and Starr are good athletes…”

“Good athletes who haven’t done shit as a unit in God knows how long!  We lost to Adrenaline Rush…”

“A team that has been working quite well as a unit for a long time.”

“You exaggerate.” She says, shaking her head. “Adrenaline Rush are mediocre at best and we allowed ourselves to get beat by them.  Finally we had a chance with Scaffold Scramble but Angelica, MY DAMNED SISTER ANGELICA, attracts trouble from everywhere and she attracted that psychotic Sophie O’Brian and her brother Mark.  Had it not been for them targeting us the entire match, we might’ve walked away with a briefcase.”

She points at herself. “I can really count on myself in the wrestling world, that’s about it.  Angelica is my sister, I love her, but she’s been making questionable decisions lately.  Bart Jones, my biological father, he abandoned Angelica and I.  Honestly, you and I can say some pretty nasty things about dad, but at least he got shit done.  And he got me hooked up with a modeling career that allowed me to find professional wrestling.”

“You did it again, sis…you called him dad…”

“Shut up!” She shakes her head.  She’s ignoring him by now. “And I am NOT going to let that wrestling career go to waste because Angelica is making bad decisions.  Coming up on the next Breakdown, I have Ace Marshall one on one.  Ace is a former two time SCW World Champion.  Beating him will put me back on the map.  But I have to be at the top of my game.  I cannot let anything distract me.”

She shoots straight up out of her chair. “Especially not this bullshit over dad’s ashes!”

“Kay, you…” he decides against pointing out that she, for the fourth time, called Oliver Hardy Sr. dad, and instead just asks a question “…so I take it you still don’t want to give them my dad’s ashes?”

“No!” She shakes her head vehemently. “Absolutely not!  Never!”

Kayla turns and storms out of the office.  Oliver Hardy Jr. then sighs and shakes his head. “Kayla, what’s happening to you?”

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On Camera

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Kayla Jones steps out into the scene in front of a SCW logo back drop.  She is wearing a long sleeve black dress that boasts sheer mesh with perfect polka dots that covers long sleeves, décolletage, and a sexy back panel with a large open keyhole and top button closure. Textured black knit sculpts a subtle sweetheart silhouette on a darted bodice, before flaring out at a flirtatiously full skirt.  Leather-covered stiletto heel black pumps encase her beautiful feet.  The lovely woman has a stoic gaze etched across her face as she stares into the camera.

“SCW Breakdown, from Omaha, Nebraska, and lo and behold what do we have?  You have me, Kayla Jones, competing in a singles match.  One on one, standard, singles match.  No random bullshit where I’m being paired up with Ravyn Taylor for the tag titles…a circumstance where I could’ve won the tag titles had little miss bad girl actually bothered to carry her load in the match…but I’m not going to hold any grudges.”

She shakes her head. “No, you won’t even see me in a tag team match as part of The Sisterhood.  You get to see me, Kayla Jones, all by herself, against former two time SCW World Champion and most recent Taking Hold of the Flame winner, Ace Marshall.”

“I’ve been teaming with Angelica for so long now that you may not even remember, or realize, that I have a sparkling singles record as well.  Yeah, I am a ten time tag team champion throughout my wrestling tenure.  But I have nearly matched that with nine singles championships, two of which are world championships.”

A low snicker escapes her lips, finally breaking the stoic gaze. “Now I know what you’re thinking, enough with the championship boasting, right?  I don’t do this to pat myself on the back or to impress my opponent Ace Marshall or anyone else for that matter.  To be honest, I think Ace Marshall would be more impressed with my ability at playing beer pong than he would be at my wrestling ability, but that’s beside the point.  I mention this simply as a reminder of who I am and what I am truly capable of.  I am capable of being more than just a sidekick to Angelica Jones.  I am capable of defeating a former SCW World Champion and yes, I will defeat a former SCW World Champion.”

She shrugs her shoulders. “Hell, some of you may not even remember me at all.  You may only know me as Angelica’s sister.   It’s ok if you do, I’m used to it.  But you, of all people Ace, you should know who I am, or at least know my family.  You fought my sister for the SCW Television Championship.  And yes, I even have heard about your hijinks with my niece Kimberly.”

 “Yes, I will claim Kimberly as my niece, even if she a little crazy in the head.”

“As most of you know, and as I’m sure you know, Ace, I was a model before I was a wrestler.  I still have my hand in the modeling industry today, no longer as a model myself but as an agent.  I didn’t use modeling as a mere stepping stone to get to wrestling.  Modeling saved me from a truly horrific situation I found myself in.  But modeling did introduce to professional wrestling, and together with my modeling, it saved my life.”

Kayla nods her head. “Yeah, it sounds dramatic.  I’m sure you can come up with a million jokes about that, Ace.  But it is true, modeling and wrestling saved my life, but I am most passionate about professional wrestling.  I truly love what I do and nothing will keep me from doing what I love.”

“Not even a broken neck.”

“It’s no secret, I have a history of neck problems and it dates back to my first neck injury, the worst of my neck injuries.  I suffered a broken neck in the middle of a match, Ace.  Bet you didn’t know that one.  Do you want to know something else?”

“I finished the damn match.  I finished the damn match and after I healed up I returned to professional wrestling, picking up right where I left off.  I continued to fight the good fight because I love this business.  I love what I do.  But you…”

She points a long slender finger at the camera, as if pointing at Ace Marshall himself.  Kayla, though, just shrugs her shoulders and looks on in puzzlement and curiosity.

“…I honestly don’t know.  I mean, Kelcey Wallace and Selena Frost clearly think that you don’t give a shit about this industry.  Others think that lying underneath that joking, scummy exterior is a person who does care, maybe just a little bit, or at least is proud of his accomplishments in SCW.  And you definitely should be proud.  Being a two time SCW World Champion speaks a great deal about what you are capable of.”

“Do you care?  Or are Kelcey and Selena right and you don’t give a crap?  I don’t know the answer to that.   Only you can answer that, Ace.  But if you ask me…”

She shakes her head “…I honestly do not care about that.  I do not care whether or not you do or do not care about this industry.  You can go ahead and mock and ridicule it all day long in your promos, in the ring, whatever you want to do.  It does not make a difference to me.”

“That’s where others make a mistake.  At least, I feel it is a mistake.  They get worked up over what you do and your crazy antics with Cassidy or Ravyn or whoever it is at the time that you’re playing around with.  You do a striptease for the announce team, you try to seduce Mr. D, you try and convince Cassidy to breastfeed the championship belt.  And people get so worked up over that.  It bothers them. You get under their skin.”

Kayla shakes her head. “Not me.  I could complain about you making mockery of this business, about you turning it into one great big joke, but I honestly don’t care about you or what you do.  Go ahead and make a mockery of it for all I care.  I care about one thing right now and one thing only and that’s turning my own career around.”

“I have had success everywhere I went, as you may remember, but just speaking of SCW success alone, I am a two time SCW World Tag Team Champion.  And now I’m getting pretty sick and damn tired of losing to people who, quite frankly, I shouldn’t be losing to.  I am getting sick and tired of seeing my career go down the tubes.”

“Now I’m not going to pass the blame right now onto anyone.  I’m not going to live in the past.  Instead I look towards the future because I have one hell of a chance to turn things around.  All I have to do is kick your fucking head clean off its damn shoulders!

“So no, Ace, I don’t care about any of your crazy games.  Play any cute game you want at Breakdown.  Wrestle in women’s lingerie for all I care.  It doesn’t matter.  All I care about is me and my career.  I care about my business and right now defeating you on Breakdown is MY business.  And make no mistake about it, Ace, I will do whatever it takes to get that win.”

Kayla shuts her eyes, pausing dramatically for a moment. “Whatever it takes.”

She reopens her eyes and stares intensely into the camera. “I will do whatever it takes to win and I will kick your teeth right down your throat!”

The camera fades to black.