Post by Admin on Dec 10, 2022 0:14:19 GMT
Flying J Travel Center
Houston, Texas
The sound of the rain coming down on top of Veronica’s midnight purple-coloured 1970 Pontiac TransAm soothes her, and she looks up to watch the rain bead off the glass of the T-Roof. “Don’t Let It Bring You Down” by Annie Lennox plays over the sound system, and the tears roll down her cheeks like the rain does of the glass roof of the car.
“I’m sorry, Christian. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to save you.”
Placing her hands on the steering wheel and laying her forehead between her hands, she begins to sob. Her iPhone 12-Mini starts to ring, breaking her trance. Looking at the screen in its Mophie wireless charging holder, her Auntie Tamika is smiling back at her in the goofy face she likes to make. Grabbing the phone from its holder, she presses the speakerphone and turns the music down.
“Hey, Auntie Tee, what’s up?”
“Shittin’ with the door open, ya know, same ol’thang, haha. How’s Texas? You seen Gran yet?”
“Texas is Texas. No, I haven’t been back to the estate,” she can’t hide the sniffles in her reply, and the empathetic Tamika picks up on it.
“Are you sitting alone in your car listening to love songs and thinking about Christian?”
Veronica can’t help but chuckle through the tears with her aunt hitting the nail right on the head.
“I feel like I let him down… twice.”
“You can’t blame yourself, Veronica. Both times he went missing, you scoured the earth for him. If only everyone had a partner in life that was as devoted as you are. Quit beating yourself up. You know he would want you to get on with your life. You are twenty-two and every single day is a gift.”
Leaning her head back against the leather headrest, she sighs, knowing her aunt was absolutely correct in her assessment.
“I know; it just breaks my heart not to be able to be there at the Hall of Fame ceremony when he was taken. How alone he must’ve felt being held captive. I can empathize with that feeling of dread, loneliness… all of it. I love him, but he’ll never be back in my arms. I’ll never be in his arms again.”
Tamika knows she can’t say anything right that will help, so she changes the subject.
“CU:LT called, by the way.”
Veronica sniffles and wipes the tears out of her eyes with the sleeve of her denim jacket.
“Oh yeah? What did they have to say?”
“Well…” Tamika trails off for a second before answering, “... they want you on the roster!!!”
“Yeah?! Really? Awesome!!” Veronica exclaims. The tone of her voice is of excitement instead of sadness like it had been since she found the dead body of her boyfriend, Christian Cain. He went by Outcast in the ring; he is a legend and OCW Hall of Famer.
“You shouldn’t be surprised. After all, you are a Strader… and a Knox as well, I guess….” Veronica chuckles at the begrudging way her aunt said the name Knox as she wasn’t the biggest fan of her sister Meghan’s baby daddy, The Raven.
“If I can come around about the old man, you can too. He’s kinda like Grandpa Scott, minus the motorcycle club and sleeping with his grandkid’s girlfriend.”
Tamika starts to laugh.
“You have a point,” she responds at the end of her laugh. “Try and cheer up, kid. Christian would want you to be excited about the new opportunity and get on with life.”
Veronica grips her steering wheel with both hands.
“I know, I know. I’m gonna head to the Estate; tell mom I will call her when I get to her ranch. Thanks for the talk and the good news, Auntie Tee. Love you.”
“Keep your chin up. Talk soon, kid. Love you too.”
Veronica placed the phone back in its wireless charger and turns the music back up as she fires up the Ram-Air 345 Horsepower V-8. Slipping the stick, shift into first and heads back onto I-45 toward the exit leading to the Strader Estate and Compound.
Meghan Strader’s Ranch
Strader-Estate
Veronica stands out under the porch listening to the cold December rain rattling off the roof towards the barn and the three-dozen cattle mooing inside of it. She sits back along the railing, looking around the porch to an old coffee table that looks like it came out of the 80s that sits in front of an even older-looking couch that one might call a chesterfield.
“(Sighs) Alright, Ronnie. This is the start of something new for you. A new company, new opponents, a new future without the love of your life and as well as your mom, soon.”
“Just A Girl” starts to play out of her iPhone, nestled away in her back denim pocket. She’s confused as to why her twin sister, the OCW Commissioner Victoria Strader is calling, as they haven’t gotten along since Vee came back out of the portal in May. Long story but maybe Veronica will tell it one day, just not today.
“Vee, what do you want?”
“Well, that’s one way to greet your flesh and blood, but I guess I deserve it.”
“I am not gonna throw stones when I have spent time livin’ in a house made of glass. But, again, what do you want?”
“I want to fix things between us.”
Veronica looks skeptical and pulls the phone away from her ear to look at the screen to make sure it is Victoria that called her.
“Cat got your tongue, Ronnie?”
“Maybe a bit. Why do you suddenly want to fix things?”
The line goes silent for a few seconds, and Veronica figures that her twin is trying to come up with the right words.
“I had no love for Out- - -”
“Tread carefully, Vee,” Veronica replied, cutting Victoria off. Victoria had tortured Christian Cain, keeping him in a time loop for months for them but years for Cain. Another long story for another time.
“Please don’t interrupt; I really am trying here. We all know how I felt, but mom told me what happened and that you think I helped Solomon kill him….” Victoria trails off, trying to gauge Veronica, but like herself, she was challenging to read, especially without seeing her face. “I know it was you that had my body preserved if I emerged from behind the Black Wall.”
“Rogue finally came clean?”
“She did. I went back for a couple days to see Brooklyn and found out the truth. I’m sorry about keeping Christian in that time loop. I kept him from you.”
“So, what, you put me in a coma for shits and giggles then?”
“That was twisted payback for Cara and- - -”
“Cara and I are good. Here’s the thing, Vee… mea culpa isn’t exactly your thing, so I am having a tough time believing this sudden change of heart.”
Silence fills the air, and Veronica clearly doesn’t want to break it. The irony didn’t escape either woman that Veronica was like Victoria of yore and vice-versa.
“I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t either but tune into Massacre on the 12th, and you’ll see how serious I am. Goodnight, Veronica.”
“Alright, I will. Go see mom; it would make her really happy. Goodnight.”
Veronica sighs as she turns around to watch the rain fall from the night sky, sliding her phone back into its denim holder.
“Is she for real? Has the hatred finally diminished? I hope so; I want my sister back.”
Meghan Strader’s Ranch
Veronica sits atop a fifteen-foot ladder, watching her sister Cara set up the camera. Cara was there to film the promotional video for CU:LT’s December event “The People versus Casanova English” against “The Whole Cogan” Craig Cogan. Cara and Veronica didn’t always get along (Veronica threw her off the OCW Arena a year ago), so for her to be there was a major step in building a relationship. Veronica couldn’t get over how much she looked like their mom, minus the icy blue-coloured eyes.
“Almost ready, homeslice! Excited?”
“To be honest… yeah, I am. Haven’t felt this way since preparing my first TransAtlantic title defence in Detroit.”
“Just a month after you gave me a flying lesson, right, bruh?”
Veronica shakes her head and starts to laugh with Cara, trying to keep a straight face.
“I do enjoy fuckin’ with ya,” Cara says, looking up at Veronica. She pulls out a giant spliff and lights up. “Alright, let’s get this party started!”
“Alright, let’s do this,” tapping the ladder in her reply.
~ START TRANSMISSION ~
Veronica looks side to side as the cattle slowly enters the frame chewing on the greenery growing from the ground.
“Unlike many people here in CU:LT, I have only ever wrestled in one promotion. While the rest have bounced around, lacking the loyalty that is rare in wrestling.”
“But I know what you are thinking, ‘If you are so loyal, Ronnie, why are you here and not OCW?’ and the answer is simple…. My sister fired me and our aunt. So now I am here, and I am going to do exactly what I did there; take names and kick asses.”
“They asked me who I wanted to face coming in, and I had three names for them. One is on an indefinite absence (who makes me question my sexuality). The other is doing a Celebrity Big Brother. The last one, however, hasn’t been doing too well but at least he’s available.”
Veronica brings her hands together on the top of the ladder where she is seated, pushing herself up and forward off of it, dropping fifteen feet down to the ground in a squat. She stands up, flicks her back with a snap of the neck, and the hereditary Strader Sneer is on her face.
“The ‘Whole Cogan’ Craig Cogan. That’s right, you were one of the three wrestlers I asked for when I signed the dotted line. Most, not all, but most look at the win-loss of someone to make their judgments. So if I look at your record, I notice a lot more losing than winning. I see you were tossed out of the ring by Chronic-Arthritis Chris Page at What Happens in Vegas. You won a Funhouse Hardcore Match by DC Comics Lobo, then go on to win the tag straps in a ladder match. However, you didn’t grab the belts, but you did get put through tables to lose them at Summer of Slam by Bacchus, the self-righteous jackassy boyfriend of Lissie Hope. Then you failed to recapture them at Gringos, but you did get it all turned around with the win at Deathmatch Does Dallas.”
“Why bring this all up? I don’t use that to make a judgement. It’s a warning of sorts. It demonstrates that I do my homework and I ALWAYS know what I am walking into. I plan on starting my CU:LT career on a high note. I don’t care if it’s a title shot, a lump of coal, money or feminine hygiene products like my Auntie Tamika thinks…. I just care about climbing that ladder and winning whatever is in that box.”
“I enjoy your goofiness, and you genuinely make me laugh, but I won’t for one second take you lightly, Craig. But if you take me lightly? Well….”
Leaning against the ladder, the sneer burns hotter, and a fire burns behind her glasz-coloured eyes.
“You will learn a valuable lesson: God forgives.”
“I don’t.”
The scene fades to darkness.
