Post by Jacki O'Lantern on Jan 7, 2023 12:32:07 GMT -5
It was day two of Jacki spending the night at her parent's house, which wasn't too far from her residence. The reason for her stay was nothing serious, but rather feeling a sense of loneliness and disconnection from them, so by staying there for a few days she believed it would help her fill the void she'd been missing in her life, opting to stay in the guest bedroom for the night. She was dressed in a matching black t-shirt, shorts set that had cats printed on them and even rocked the face paint still.
Going to sleep was not an option. Instead, she decided she would play some heavy metal music in the background while sitting on the edge of the bed while thoughts about life consumed her mind. Mainly about her brother Erik. Unfortunately, her parents referred to him as an accidental born. Long story short, they couldn't raise him as good as they thought, so they agreed to let their crazy aunt Dani adopt Derek when he was four years old.
It was difficult to watch her brother leave the house, especially in the care of an aunt who was very strict and never allowed contact with Jacki. She got up from the bed, walked over to her Duffel bag that was sitting next to the door, then crouched down and dug inside of it, eventually pulling out a small picture as she sat on the floor with it and looked over it.
The camera zoomed in on the photo and in black sharpie were the words Erik written at the bottom. It must've taken place around Christmas, he was sitting on Santa's lap. You couldn't see much of it due to the face paint hiding it, but Jacki teared up a little while continuing to look at the picture, quickly wiping her tears. It was rare to see Jacki O'Lantern in this current state of emotion. The world is only used to seeing the happy side come out. She tried to regain her composure sitting there, then once she did she got up and placed the picture on the nightstand next to the bed and returned to sitting on the edge of it, then reached for a comb beside her and started brushing through her colored hair. A knock on the door startled her in the process and made her stop what she was doing.
“Can I come in?”
Her mother, who went by the name Faye, asked from behind the door.
Jacki cleared her throat and responded back.
“Yeah, sure.”
Her mother sat next to her and smiled, wearing the same face as Jacki which begs the question: does all her family wear it? Nevertheless, the two shared a hug before it was eventually broken up when her mother came across the picture. I swear, the woman always found a way to notice everything.
“Where did you find that photo of Erik? I've been searching for it for years. I thought I'd never find it.”
“It was in the attic under a pile of old newspapers. I just assumed you purposely hid it there so no one could find it..”
Her mother's mouth opened wide, shocked she would say those words.
“Ashley, dearest, I would never hide anything like that from you. I knew how much your brother meant to you. In fact, if I had found it, I was going to let you keep it.”
Jacki felt angry and confused over her decision to leave her brother in her aunt's hands, and the worst part of the situation is it felt like her mother felt nothing. No emotion, and occasionally swept it under the rug when he's mentioned. Jacki refused to make eye contact with her and instead shook her head and looked the opposite way.
“He must have meant nothing to you if you were willing to let him go like that. Do you know how hard it was on me knowing he would walk out the door and never be seen, or heard, again? We don't even know whether he is alive or dead right now.”
Her mother placed a hand on top of hers, but Jacki quickly removed it and crossed her arms.
“Did he mean anything to you or not? I want to know.”
“Of course he did. He always will till this day. He is my son after all, but in life sometimes you have to make tough decisions even if you don't want to. This was one of those instances. There is so much you don't know. One day I'd like to share more, but for now, I do believe he is out there alive and well. I just hope he holds no remorse for what me and your father did. I hope you don't either.”
Her mother tried to give her personal space and simply nodded, hoping what she said would not affect their relationship.
“I will say this whether you or anyone else likes it or not, I will make it my goal to find him even if it means, and when I do, I'm not going to make the mistake of letting him walk away for good. I want him back in my life and make up for lost time.”
“I won't stop you. I hope you do find him out there if it brings you happiness, and peace, just be careful out there.”
“I will be fine, trust me.”
Jacki knew this would be a tough task to handle all on her own, but she was willing to go through with it despite that. Her mother gave her a quick hug before leaving the room, leaving her with more thoughts than before.
“Another year has gone by, and I'll admit 2022 was good for your pumpkin. I won some titles in other places, got to work with some talented individuals and even debuted here, so I don't see a reason to not be happy and grateful. Now last time you saw me compete in an OCW ring was on my debut match in which I was able to come out of that with a win against Leviathan, but let me tell you buds it was not an easy win.”
“His strength far exceeded my own. Despite that, I kept pushing through and getting up. Once I hit my finishing move and I secured that one, two, three, it was over for you, Leviathan. Better luck next time.”
“Moving on, I set my sight on new competition. Tag team action to be correct. I'll be the first one to admit I haven't had the chance to compete in a lot of tag team matches in my career, but I've seen enough, and it makes me believe it's cursed. However, maybe my partner is the one to prove me wrong.”
“That being said, if Ollie and I can work together successfully, we can make a great team on Massacre. Bud, you have family that's been in this business before you, so I'm sure the vast knowledge they have been taught has been passed down to you, which gives us the advantage.”
“Now I want to mention our opponent's Haven. These two women joined the company a month before I did, and the only thing all three have in common is our inexperience within OCW. Other than that, we are like night and day. You chose to put your partner in a cage on a leash, but hey, no judgment on my part.”
“I believe your focus will be elsewhere and won't lie in this match, therefore will cause you both to lose. It will be a repeated loss, similar to the tag team title match you had at Hardwired to Self-Destruct against BOB.”
“Luckily, Ollie and I are driven and a hundred percent ready to steamroll the competition. That will be an unfortunate time for the ladies of Haven though when they are staring up at the lights with defeat in their pretty eyes, wishing they opted to stay in the back getting dolled up and making cute faces at a camera instead of accepting a challenge they won't be able to overcome.”
“Most wrestlers will claim they want the gold, and the success story to go with that. Haven's path of claiming these things will be disrupted by the pumpkin and friend, and instead our success will be put in our hands. We will prove why on Massacre.”
“You know people are wondering if I set any resolutions for myself and the answer is simple, I have the same one as last year and the year before that and that is to simply evolve into a better me, someone worth keeping around.”
“Most pumpkins are likely to rot and be thrown away afterwards. However, this pumpkin is not like all the rest. Jacki O'Lantern is determined to endure as long as humanly possible, and be the light and the necessary driving force for all to see. See you in a few days for one hell of a fight, my Lanter Army.”
Going to sleep was not an option. Instead, she decided she would play some heavy metal music in the background while sitting on the edge of the bed while thoughts about life consumed her mind. Mainly about her brother Erik. Unfortunately, her parents referred to him as an accidental born. Long story short, they couldn't raise him as good as they thought, so they agreed to let their crazy aunt Dani adopt Derek when he was four years old.
It was difficult to watch her brother leave the house, especially in the care of an aunt who was very strict and never allowed contact with Jacki. She got up from the bed, walked over to her Duffel bag that was sitting next to the door, then crouched down and dug inside of it, eventually pulling out a small picture as she sat on the floor with it and looked over it.
The camera zoomed in on the photo and in black sharpie were the words Erik written at the bottom. It must've taken place around Christmas, he was sitting on Santa's lap. You couldn't see much of it due to the face paint hiding it, but Jacki teared up a little while continuing to look at the picture, quickly wiping her tears. It was rare to see Jacki O'Lantern in this current state of emotion. The world is only used to seeing the happy side come out. She tried to regain her composure sitting there, then once she did she got up and placed the picture on the nightstand next to the bed and returned to sitting on the edge of it, then reached for a comb beside her and started brushing through her colored hair. A knock on the door startled her in the process and made her stop what she was doing.
“Can I come in?”
Her mother, who went by the name Faye, asked from behind the door.
Jacki cleared her throat and responded back.
“Yeah, sure.”
Her mother sat next to her and smiled, wearing the same face as Jacki which begs the question: does all her family wear it? Nevertheless, the two shared a hug before it was eventually broken up when her mother came across the picture. I swear, the woman always found a way to notice everything.
“Where did you find that photo of Erik? I've been searching for it for years. I thought I'd never find it.”
“It was in the attic under a pile of old newspapers. I just assumed you purposely hid it there so no one could find it..”
Her mother's mouth opened wide, shocked she would say those words.
“Ashley, dearest, I would never hide anything like that from you. I knew how much your brother meant to you. In fact, if I had found it, I was going to let you keep it.”
Jacki felt angry and confused over her decision to leave her brother in her aunt's hands, and the worst part of the situation is it felt like her mother felt nothing. No emotion, and occasionally swept it under the rug when he's mentioned. Jacki refused to make eye contact with her and instead shook her head and looked the opposite way.
“He must have meant nothing to you if you were willing to let him go like that. Do you know how hard it was on me knowing he would walk out the door and never be seen, or heard, again? We don't even know whether he is alive or dead right now.”
Her mother placed a hand on top of hers, but Jacki quickly removed it and crossed her arms.
“Did he mean anything to you or not? I want to know.”
“Of course he did. He always will till this day. He is my son after all, but in life sometimes you have to make tough decisions even if you don't want to. This was one of those instances. There is so much you don't know. One day I'd like to share more, but for now, I do believe he is out there alive and well. I just hope he holds no remorse for what me and your father did. I hope you don't either.”
Her mother tried to give her personal space and simply nodded, hoping what she said would not affect their relationship.
“I will say this whether you or anyone else likes it or not, I will make it my goal to find him even if it means, and when I do, I'm not going to make the mistake of letting him walk away for good. I want him back in my life and make up for lost time.”
“I won't stop you. I hope you do find him out there if it brings you happiness, and peace, just be careful out there.”
“I will be fine, trust me.”
Jacki knew this would be a tough task to handle all on her own, but she was willing to go through with it despite that. Her mother gave her a quick hug before leaving the room, leaving her with more thoughts than before.
“Another year has gone by, and I'll admit 2022 was good for your pumpkin. I won some titles in other places, got to work with some talented individuals and even debuted here, so I don't see a reason to not be happy and grateful. Now last time you saw me compete in an OCW ring was on my debut match in which I was able to come out of that with a win against Leviathan, but let me tell you buds it was not an easy win.”
“His strength far exceeded my own. Despite that, I kept pushing through and getting up. Once I hit my finishing move and I secured that one, two, three, it was over for you, Leviathan. Better luck next time.”
“Moving on, I set my sight on new competition. Tag team action to be correct. I'll be the first one to admit I haven't had the chance to compete in a lot of tag team matches in my career, but I've seen enough, and it makes me believe it's cursed. However, maybe my partner is the one to prove me wrong.”
“That being said, if Ollie and I can work together successfully, we can make a great team on Massacre. Bud, you have family that's been in this business before you, so I'm sure the vast knowledge they have been taught has been passed down to you, which gives us the advantage.”
“Now I want to mention our opponent's Haven. These two women joined the company a month before I did, and the only thing all three have in common is our inexperience within OCW. Other than that, we are like night and day. You chose to put your partner in a cage on a leash, but hey, no judgment on my part.”
“I believe your focus will be elsewhere and won't lie in this match, therefore will cause you both to lose. It will be a repeated loss, similar to the tag team title match you had at Hardwired to Self-Destruct against BOB.”
“Luckily, Ollie and I are driven and a hundred percent ready to steamroll the competition. That will be an unfortunate time for the ladies of Haven though when they are staring up at the lights with defeat in their pretty eyes, wishing they opted to stay in the back getting dolled up and making cute faces at a camera instead of accepting a challenge they won't be able to overcome.”
“Most wrestlers will claim they want the gold, and the success story to go with that. Haven's path of claiming these things will be disrupted by the pumpkin and friend, and instead our success will be put in our hands. We will prove why on Massacre.”
“You know people are wondering if I set any resolutions for myself and the answer is simple, I have the same one as last year and the year before that and that is to simply evolve into a better me, someone worth keeping around.”
“Most pumpkins are likely to rot and be thrown away afterwards. However, this pumpkin is not like all the rest. Jacki O'Lantern is determined to endure as long as humanly possible, and be the light and the necessary driving force for all to see. See you in a few days for one hell of a fight, my Lanter Army.”