Post by Alexandra Calaway on Nov 12, 2022 4:14:53 GMT -5
Calaway Compound
11/10/22
The loss to Emiko wasn't an easy one for Alexandra to take. Finding herself up at 2am, just a few days after the loss, her hands taped and gloved, the punching bag in front of her. Moonlight trickled into the darkened room, Alexandra stood, shadowboxing the bag a couple of times, before full on hitting it. Over and over each strike landing in a new spot. It was clear there was more than just her loss to Emiko on the woman's mind. A loss like that, easy to get over.. of course the woman was talented, she wouldn't take that away from Emiko. One of the best that Easton trained. But the days of her stepping aside or laying down for her "friends" was over.
But there was more than all that on Alexandra's mind tonight. Another flurry of furious fists, as a tear of anger rolled down Alexandra's cheek. She knew what was happening, again.. over and over.. she put her trust in people.. and they always let her down. CJ, Easton, Alice, Ed Houston.. Elijah.. all of them.. everyone she knew, from the beginning of her career, all the way up to the very man she had introduced to her family.. everyone in the end.. made her just a footnote in their life. She was done with it.
With each hit, thunderous sounds began to echo through her home. Her daughter was fast asleep in bed upstairs and wouldn't be able to hear her mothers anger. She wouldn't know what was troubling her, because children needed to be children.. not worrying about the things that adults do. Another right and a left.. The bag swung back and forth, each punch harder than the one before, until a final hit caused the bag to shake off the chain and fall to the floor, Alexandra behind it, falling to her knees on top of it. The punches still landed on the bag until she rolled off, laying with her back on the cement floor, her eyes closing.
"Fuck this.. no more being miserable.. Take back what I want.. claim my spot."
Congrats Emiko.. you got one. We are now 1 for 1, next time.. and trust me.. there will be a next time.
Craze Contender
The Craze Championship, held by some of the most elite wrestlers in OCW. It was an honor to be given a chance at capturing that title. After all, her friend Crash once held it, and after being gone for months, it was a chance she was going to let slip away. No, not now. Alexandra had been so close to championship gold before and gave up because she was more worried about those she kept around her. No more would that be what she did. No, now.. she was as she was meant to be a lone wolf.
It doesn't matter who I am stepping into that ring with from now on, friend of foe, will get the same treatment. The days of being the second string are over. The girl that once was here, died when she lost her chance. When she stifled back her dreams.. for someone else's.
Finding herself packing her daughters bags for a weekend with her grandparents, Alexandra thought about the opportunity that laid ahead of her. A chance at finally capturing gold, having been here for a while now. Her one year anniversary would be coming up in the end of April 2023, wouldn't it be great if she could say she won a title in her first year with OCW.
Tearra has no idea just what she has gotten herself into. No one here knows what fire burns inside of me now. What I am capable of doing if I really don't care anymore. I've held back for long enough and now.. enough is enough. When it's all said and done.. win or lose.. I will leave a mark on Tearra Skye that will make her remember me. Blood for Blood.. I spilt my fair share for OCW.. now it's time they bled for me, no matter the victim.
Once the bags were packed, Alexandra found herself taking a moment to look at herself in the mirror. This was going to be it. The return match she SHOULD have had last week. If she could just get over this one hump.. this minor bump in the road, it would all be worth it, when she walked in to face Harmon for the title. Blood begets blood.. You wanted the monster.. you got her.
Time to show everyone in the back, the naysayers and the assholes, that I'm here to stay. That the Killswitch, isn't playing nice anymore. It's time to put up or shut up. Those who can't stand the sight of blood.. beware.. because when I step into the ring with Tearra.. blood will be split, hers, mine.. and anyone who tries to stop me from claiming gold.
With that.. Alexandra punched her own reflection in the mirror, watching as the blood, seeped from her fingers, as it mingled with the fallen shards of glass in the sink below her. Blood.. was what would drive her now. To bleed for the sport she has given her life to.
The Falling Apart of the Paramount
Another day, another moment to think things over as I go into the Craze Contenders match. Alexandra had dropped her daughter off for a visit with her Grandfather, before she got onto her motorcycle, bag packed to get away for a few days, needing to clear her mind before the big match at Massacre. She knew where she needed to go, the old campsite, just a few things she needed to do, before she could move forward.
Paramount, something I had helped to build from the ground up. Something that was to be the pinnacle of OCW, turned into a nightmarish hellscape. But, what really was the final nail in the coffin, which was laid to rest by Crash, when he attacked CJ. Well, to figure that out, we would have to return to the beginning. It had all started when CJ approached me.. he and Alice, asking me to join them.. originally.. I had tried to bring Mark Storm into the fold.. but it seems that he only ever cared for what I could do to help him. Then.. they brought in Ed Houston.. someone who was remarkable in that ring.. but sucked at communication. Then.. I brought them Crash Rodriguez, he was a champion in the making.. a man who had more talent than most of the new comers.. a man who I was honored to watch win that Craze Championship, a man who to this day.. I still call my friend.
Pulling up at red light, she looked around, waiting for the light to change, when she saw the billboard for Alice's Mustard. She chuckled, before shaking her head. Alice and Alexandra had once been great friends. Close as sisters some would say. The one person who helped Alexandra keep going, when Mark Storm abandoned her in OCW, less than a week after having arrived with her.
Alice, dear sweet Alice.. was she to blame for the downfall of Paramount, in the grander scheme of things. No, she wasn't. Did she send CJ O'Donnell into a downward spiral, when she disappeared for months? Sure she did. Was she to blame for Paramount failing? A little. She had her faults, when she should have been standing by CJ's side.. she bolted. Not that I blame her for needing to get away, but it was poor timing. CJ had a lot on his plate and when Alice disappeared without a trace.. it was left to me to try and handle CJ and his outbursts of anger and resentment to her leaving. It left me to deal with the backlash when he'd lose a match because he was so focused on HER. For all of that I can hold her accountable.
It was in that moment the light changed and Alexandra sped off, merging onto the highway. Heading towards the lake, knowing that at her destination, she would be able to do what needed to be done to move on. To find the closure she needed.
Ed Houston, the man that when he was involved.. had the talent to sky rocket to the top.. but instead of looking CJ in the eye and telling him no.. Ed was complacent.. he didn't fight against the so called Leader. The man who could have been the best in Paramount.. became just as he had once been.. non-existent.. pointless.. and gone. Was Ed to blame? In a way.. no, on the other hand, what could Paramount have been.. if Ed had stepped up to the plate and took the lead? Paramount might still exist in some fashion, instead.. he was silent.. he took what CJ had said.. and ran with it.. a backburner.. was where he ended his time.
Stepping off the motorcycle and walking towards the edge of the water, looking out over it, her eyes focused on the vast horizon before her. The water was always calming, just as cemeteries and other places many would find.. outrageous.
Was I to blame for the fall of Paramount? Should I have stayed and fought harder, when every part of me was screaming to leave... to get away from the hellscape that my life had become. I was exhausted from living up to the expectations set down before me and I snapped, leaving Paramount without a founding member. Perhaps I was to blame for it's downfall.. then again, I had brought Crash in.. to be my replacement.. was it perhaps the wrong move? Did I know he would take the chance to show CJ that he was stronger, that he would take any title he pleased? Then again.. I should have done the very same thing, taken the world by storm, to hell with who she might have stepped on in that path to the Gold.
Crash, the man she had seen take OCW by storm, her brother in the fact that they knew what it was like to be handed a chance.. and lose it over and over. She had seen greatness him.
Crash Rodriguez, a man who took no prisoners. A man who could withstand the onslaught and take them down one by one, without blinking. He thought and acted without remorse. He took Paramount and could have lead it to greatness.. until CJ tried to do the same to him that CJ did to her. To hold them back.. to place them in the line for nothing. To hold a title, would merely be something that CJ would decide for them, unlike Ed, Crash bucked the system.. he didn't take step aside for an answer. No, he took charge of his career and his life and didn't let friendship, stop him from his goals, and Alexandra respected the hell out of that.
It was at this time that Alexandra took a bag off her bike before emptying the contents of it into a woodpile. Paramount merchandise things she had collected as a member of the team. Placing things there, wanting to see their faces burn in the light she would leave behind.
CJ, the man who I looked at like a brother. He had the strength of many men, and the rage of a God. But the temper of a two year old who didn't get what he wanted. He loved Alice.. she disappeared for months, leaving him a giant ball of turmoil, pain, regret and anger. He resented her for abandoning him, he took it out on everyone in Paramount. He pushed those who could have been great, to a nothing more than a stepping stone that he used to better himself. Was he to blame for Paramount failing? On one hand.. yes.. then again.. we all had our faults. His was his temper.. his need and drive to be the ONLY real champion, lead to the demise of Paramount, the group that was supposed to excel together, to be the best of the best.. fell into ruins, because of his greed.
She tossed the shirt and poster onto the fire, looking down at the image of she and the friends she thought she once had. CJ, Alice, Ed, and Crash.. people she saw as her family.. who only needed her.. when it was convenient for them.
Where were those friends now? The real death of Paramount, wasn't just on the shoulders of one. It was the sum of all it's parts. None of them were innocent, no one the victim. Paramount was the group that never should have existed in the first place.. and just as it had been foretold.. it died.. like all great things often do. Early.. before it's Prime.
Getting back on her motorcycle, she turned back, striking the match, before looking over her shoulder at the Paramount gear she had just doused in gasoline. For a moment, she almost regretted it, then she watched as she tossed the match onto it and it ignited into flames. She sat there on her bike, looking at it for a while, before kick starting it and speeding off. Her mind raced with thoughts of what would happen, when she won against Terra and moved on to take that Craze championship from Harmon. Bad blood can often lead one to change their ways...