==========
Sins of the
Father
Act 3
Off Camera
==========
T.S. Eliot
once said “what we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a
beginning. The end is where we start
from.” Well, one Marie Annabelle Jones
is about to experience a combination of beginnings and endings in the very near
future as her entire life as she knows is about to be changed forever, in ways that she can see
coming and in some ways that she cannot see coming, ways that will take her by
complete and total surprise.
Dean Stanley
once said “a happy marriage is a new beginning of life, a new starting point
for happiness and usefulness.” This is
the beginning point that the young Jones is looking forward to the most right
now. All throughout Marie’s life she has
known nothing but the turmoil and the drama that went with being not just the
daughter of a famous wrestler like Angelica Jones, but also of being the
daughter of a sociopath like Sean Williams.
The poor girl had to deal with her father and mother’s tumultuous break
up and the pain that went with it, including Angelica trying to steal Marie
from Sean, Sean in turn stalking Angelica, and then the final act being
Angelica putting a bullet through Sean’s head.
It is a
disturbing trend of children going through life with only one parent, so that
much wasn’t too terrible for Marie. There have been many children whose mother
or father have been murdered before, so that also was normal in a way, if not
also a terrible circumstance. But what
child has ever had to live with the knowledge that their father was murdered by
their own mother?
Marie,
though, had to deal with all of that and the repercussions that came with
it. Those repercussions came in the form
of Kimberly Williams. Kimberly, as it
turns out, was also a child of Sean Williams and whatever made him into a
sociopath made her just as psychotic and sociopathic. Kimberly felt an incredible loyalty to her
father and wanted to get revenge against the Jones family for what she
perceived as a crime, an injustice done against him. That led to Kimberly taking up arms against
Marie and Angelica both in a war that would last years and would include some
of the most dangerous and some would even say hair-brained schemes on the part
of Kimberly.
And yet now
the two have mended fences and are at peace.
Kimberly, in fact, is to be one of four bridesmaids at the joint wedding
of Marie Jones to Arthur Pond and Corey Jones to Kyle Butler.
That’s
right, after all of the grief and turmoil, after all of the ups and downs that
has been the roller coaster ride of Marie Jones’s life, finally the red-headed
Boston, Massachusetts native will get a happy ending that she never thought
she’d receive. She finally found the Mr.
Right she had been searching for all of her life.
Finding “Mr.
Right” was another problem for the young Jones.
Marie had been raped several years ago and got pregnant as a
result. Most women would have aborted
the pregnancy but Marie, oddly enough, refused that option. She wanted to give this child, her child, a
good life. She wanted to raise him and
give him everything he needed. Marie had
always wanted to be a mother. And what
was a horrible crime done to her and to her body, a glimmer of hope and light
did come from it. And thus her son was
born. She named him Sean Connor Jones
after her biological father, Sean Williams.
Marie wanted
to give Sean the one thing she had never had growing up; a father figure to
look up to and model his life after.
Unfortunately for Marie, every single man that came into her life turned
out to be a flop. One was abusive
towards Marie and she had to escape that situation. Another dumped her quickly after finding out
about Sean. Time and time again, Marie’s
quest for Mr. Right came up short. It
got to be very discouraging for Jones and she began to think that she never
would find that right guy to be a father figure for Sean.
Then Arthur
Pond came into her life.
Marie had
her doubts, doubts that came as a result of disappointment after disappointment
from the men in her life. Arthur,
though, proved that he cared about Marie not just for her looks but for who she
was as a person. To top it all off, as
icing on the cake, Arthur seemed to gel with Marie’s son Sean. Sean adored Arthur and Arthur enjoyed Sean.
Arthur and
Marie’s relationship even proved to be strong enough to sustain the trying
times; they were assaulted in a park in Boston by a gang of thugs, Marie later
learned about Arthur’s time in a mental institution and how he hid it from her,
this and other instances and yet the relationship held steadfast and
strong. They worked through it and grew
to love one another even more.
It seemed to
be a perfect match and so it wasn’t a surprise to anyone that Arthur would
eventually pop the question and that Marie would say “yes”. What makes this unique for the entire Jones
clan is that Marie’s sister, Corey Jones, was proposed to around the same time
by her longtime boyfriend Kyle Butler.
It just seemed too perfect for the family to pass up. Thus a joint wedding was arranged. Marie would get married to Arthur and Corey
would get married to Kyle on the same exact day in one big ceremony.
“Where is she?!”
Ah but
despite the fact that this is supposed to be the happiest day of her life,
Marie is still allowed to be panicked by even the smallest of issues. Marie Annabelle Jones finds herself standing
just outside of the door of Our Lady of the Annunciation Catholic Church in
Boston, Massachusetts. The red head has
her long gorgeous red locks of hair done up nicely while the rest of her body
is clad in the long flowing white wedding gown that symbolizes purity, a purity
that Marie admits herself that she probably does not deserve to wear. Next to her, similarly attired in the same
type wedding gown, is Marie’s sister Corey Jones. Behind them stands Summer Newman, Corey’s
Maid of Honor, and Kimberly Williams, Marie’s Maid of Honor. But there is one person missing from Marie’s
wedding party….
“Where is Sophie?!”
The Sophie
that Marie is referring to is Sophie James, Marie’s tag team partner in
UWA. Together they make up Ginger
Nation, the UWA World Tag Team Champions.
Sophie was one of the few people willing to give Marie a second chance
after she chose to turn over a new leaf and Sophie has remained steadfastly
aligned with Marie ever since. Marie felt she could not have a wedding without
Sophie playing a role, even if Sophie isn’t exactly the girly-girl wedding
type. But the mere fact that she isn’t
the type to get all dolled up and trussed up for events like this makes Marie
worry if Sophie ditched. And it’s up to
Summer Newman and Marie’s sociopathic maid of honor Kimberly Williams to try
and calm the firey red-head down...
…a task that
is easier said than done.
“I’m sure she’s on her way, Marie.”
Summer’s
words try to echo the calm, soothing tone of voice that Marie needs to hear
right now. Corey Jones, Marie’s younger
sister, nods her head in agreement.
“Yeah, it isn’t like Sophie would ditch you
on such an important occasion. You know?”
Kimberly
Williams, who had been quiet up until now, suddenly bursts into laughter. This
draws quizzical glares from both Summer and Corey.
“What’s so funny?”
Corey
asks. Kimberly just snickers in
response.
“You don’t know Sophie that well, apparently.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that she would definitely ditch
our little Marie here in her time of wedded bliss.”
Corey and
Summer both let out sighs in unison as they watch hopelessly as Marie snaps,
letting out a squeal of fear before shouting out in an exclamatory fashion.
“My life is over!”
Kimberly
shakes her head and places her arm around Marie’s shoulder in a vain attempt to
comfort her.
“Oh, sis, don’t be so melodramatic! Your life is most definitely not over.”
Marie shakes
her head and points towards the doors that lead into the church.
“My mother is in there. My entire family is in there. This is supposed to be the happiest time of
my life and one of the most important people in my life isn’t here to share in
it and take part in it!”
Marie buries
her face in her hands.
“Yes, my life is over!”
Kimberly
again shakes her head.
“No, darling sister, your life is not over. Now if we were all gunned down in the
crossfire of two warring street gangs, then yes, your life would be over. But I don’t think your life will end simply
because Sophie James doesn’t show up today.”
Marie looks
up at Kimberly, tearing her face away from her hands long enough to glare at
her. But that glare quickly turns into a
light-hearted chuckle.
“You really do take things way too
literally, Kim.”
The other
bride-to-be, Corey Jones, takes Marie’s hands and squeezes them tightly.
“You need to calm down, Marie. You seriously do.”
Marie sighs
and nods her head in agreement.
“I know, sis, and I wish I could. I really wish I could just forget all of my
troubles but you know me and you everything that I have been through all of my
life, all of the trials and tribulations, all of the troubles I’ve dealt with…”
Kimberly
raises her hand as if she were a child in class waiting anxiously to be called
upon. Marie rolls her eyes upon seeing
this.
“…what is it, Kim?”
“I just want to apologize.”
“Apologize for what?”
“I was among the primary individuals
responsible for the troubles you’ve dealt with so…um…yeah, I’m sorry…”
Marie sighs
and shakes her head.
“…look, just forget it, Kim. I don’t want to focus on the past
anyway. Today is supposed to be about
the future. Today is supposed to be
about my future with Arthur.”
Corey nods
her head in agreement.
“That’s right, and my future with Kyle
Butler. Don’t you see? That’s what this is all about. Those trials and tribulations you spoke of,
that’s over. This is a new beginning for
both of us.”
Marie smiles
warmly and pleasantly.
“You know, you’re right.”
“Of course I’m right.”
“And you know what else? As painful as the past may have been, the
past did help shape who I am today and the past did help lead me to
Arthur. And that past, that painful
past, that is one journey that has come to an end but today a new journey
starts. Your journey with Kyle begins
and my journey with Arthur begins.”
Marie and
Corey embrace for a brief moment. But
they stop as they lay eyes upon Kimberly Williams, who is using a sharpie
marker to write something on her hand.
Marie frowns.
“Kimberly, what the hell are you writing?”
“Oh I’m just quoting you.”
“Why?”
“Because what you just said was so
meaningful I had to capture it for posterity.”
Marie grins.
“Thanks.”
“And I want to make an internet meme out of
it.”
Marie rolls
her eyes. Corey points to the marker.
“Where did you get that marker? It isn’t like these dresses have pockets.”
Kimberly
grins with mischief in her eyes.
“But I do have cleavage.”
Marie shakes
her head with disgust.
“T…M…I!”
Kimberly is
laughing hysterically while Marie and Corey, along with Summer, just look on
with disgust. It seems as if, despite
the absence of one of the bridesmaids, that maybe Marie’s wedding will go off
without a hitch after all. At the very
least, Marie has been calmed down. Peace
has finally been achieved. That is the
important thing. But then the peace is
abruptly ended.
“Am I late?!”
Marie, Corey,
Kimberly, and Summer all turn and look as, a few yards away, they see a figure
dashing towards them. It becomes clear
that this is none other than the missing bridesmaid, Sophie James, one half of
the UWA World Tag Team Champions. But
this current bridesmaid is definitely not dressed for the occasion. James is wearing denim jeans, flip flops, and
a plain black t-shirt. As soon as she
arrives, breathing heavy from running, she is scanned heavily by Marie and
Summer, Corey and Kimberly. Sophie notices
this and blinks a few times quizzically.
“What’s wrong?”
She opens
her mouth and uses her fingers to pick through her teeth.
“Is something in my teeth?”
“Sophie, where is your dress?”
“Dress?”
Marie nods
her head.
“Yeah, dress, as in the BRIDESMAIDS dress…”
“Oh that thing…”
Marie sighs
and again nods her head.
“Yeah, that thing. Where is it?”
“I forgot it.”
Ok, now
Marie is incensed.
“YOU FORGOT IT?! WHAT?!”
Sophie grins
knowingly.
“Did I do something wrong?”
“Oh you most certainly did…”
Kimberly,
surprisingly the voice of reason here, steps in between Marie and Sophie.
“Whoa, hold on there, Marie.”
Kimberly
turns to face Sophie.
“Marie is just nervous. Why don’t you go inside and we’ll be there
momentarily?”
Sophie
shrugs her shoulders.
“Sounds cool to me!”
Sophie opens
the doors and bolts inside the church.
The doors shut behind her. Marie,
meanwhile, shoots Kimberly an angry glare.
“She’s not dressed appropriately!”
“Just let it go, Marie.”
Corey nods
her head in agreement.
“Yeah, let it go. There are bigger fish to fry today.”
Corey looks
over at Kimberly.
“Shall we?”
“Marie and I are ready whenever you and
Summer are.”
Corey turns
back to face Marie and grins.
“Then, time to get married to the loves of
our lives!”
Marie is
still somewhat shaken and upset by what has happened but she forces a smile on
her face, for she knows deep down inside that this is the end of this journey
and the beginning of a new journey; a journey with Arthur Pond by her side.
The doors to
the church are opened. Summer Newman
leads Corey into the church and Kimberly Williams leads Marie into the
church. The first sight that Marie sees
as the door is opened is the scene at the front; a priest, Arthur Pond on one
side of the priest and Kyle Butler on the other side. Also standing up near the front is Angelica
Jones, Corey and Marie’s mother. Marie
can also see Kelly Jones, Corey and Marie’s youngest sister, as well Kayla
Jones, Marie and Corey’s aunt.
The elder
Jones sibling wants to be certain that she soaks up the atmosphere, for this
hopefully will be a once in a lifetime experience. She looks to her right and spots a baptismal
font in the back of the church. Marie
then turns her head to the left, and she spots some visitors and guests in the
back pew…
…and
standing up in the corner, crouched down low, perhaps to avoid being seen, is a
man who has been haunting Marie’s dreams and vision for weeks now…
“NOOOOO!”
The wedding
march stops dead in its tracks.
Kimberly, Summer, and Corey all turn to stare with concern at
Marie. Corey is the first to break the
silence.
“What’s wrong?”
Marie
seemingly ignores he question. She just
shudders with fear as she points ahead of her, towards the corner.
“HE’S HERE!”
“Who’s here?”
Kimberly
asks pointedly. But again, Marie ignores
the question.
“HE’S HERE!”
Marie pulls
away from Kimberly’s grip and takes off out of the church. As she bolts out the door she trips over her
wedding gown and falls forward. Her head
bounces off of the concrete. She turns
over onto her back and stares upward into the sky. The last image she sees as things start to go
black, as she slowly slips into unconsciousness, is her father, Sean Williams
staring over her.
==========
On Camera
==========
We start in
what is clearly nothing but pitch black.
Lucky for the viewer, the darkness slowly gives way to light, a light
that begins as a spotlight shining in the center of the scene. We can see nothing but a wood floor and what
could be an off-white wall in the background.
The sound of clicking can be heard off in the distance. The sound grows louder until, eventually, the
lovely female figure of Marie Annabelle Jones steps into view, stopping in the
center of the spotlight. The fact that
she is wearing a pair of stylish red high heel pumps tells us that she is the
one behind the clicking noise. The
beautiful red head is also wearing a nice fancy pair of black pants paired with
a dark crimson red blouse. Normally the
eyes are the window to the soul, but a pair of sunglasses that cover Marie's
eyes hides that soul pretty darn well.
One cannot tell what is going on in her head right now. It isn't long, however, until the self-proclaimed
Crown Jewel of Professional Wrestling spills her guts to the entire world.
“This
journey is nearing its end. Finally,
after over two months of running off at the mouth, over two months of
shenanigans, over two months of war, we are about to end this tournament and
find out the names of two more of the participants who will go on to Olympus
and compete for the UWA World Heavyweight Championship.”
A half
smile crosses her face.
“For me, I
look at this journey as going all the way back to the days before the
Independent Wrestling Cartel went on hiatus.
I go all the way back to the day of the IWC draft and the Uprising brand
of wrestling was born. You remember who
the number one overall draft pick was, don't you?”
Jones nods
her head and then points to herself.
“That's right.
It was me. And I did not, nor did
I appreciate then, the amazing journey I was about to embark upon. To be totally honest, I acted like a spoiled
little brat. My actions were those of a
snot nosed little punk bitch who did not deserve to be number one overall draft
pick to the new Uprising Brand.”
She
snickers.
“Hell, I was clearly proving to the entire world
that I didn’t deserve to be in this sport to begin with, and I didn’t deserve
it because I didn’t appreciate it. I
didn’t appreciate all of the opportunities that Uprising provided. I looked at Uprising the same way so many in
IWC and, to be perfectly frank, so many all over the wrestling world looked at
Uprising; a little upstart group that wouldn’t amount to much. Riot was the premier brand, Riot was the
original show, as they all loved to point out.
Uprising would always be second best.
And then when Drew Bryant decided to take this supposed ‘second best’
brand and branch off into a federation of its own, the world laughed. The world laughed and said we couldn’t
succeed.”
Marie
shrugs her shoulders.
“So what did the Uprising brand do? What else could we do? The UWA superstars went out to the ring week
in and week out and we proved our worth.
We busted our asses and proved that the Uprising Brand was just as solid
a show as the Riot Brand. And then when
we branched off and became our own promotion, we proved that we could compete
with anyone, whether it was with IWC or SCW or GCW it didn’t matter. We could compete with anyone. Oh and by the way, those who did doubt us, those
who claimed Riot was superior, those who claimed IWC was superior, tell me one
thing…which company is on hiatus and which company is about to host its first
major pay per view? Answer that
question!”
There is a
hint of intensity in the voice of The Crown Jewel of Professional
Wrestling. And yet that intensity
subsides as she takes in a deep breath and lets out a big sigh.
“I was wrong too. I was wrong for thinking that I had been
drafted to the second best brand. I was
wrong for thinking everything should be handed to me on a silver platter. And just like how the superstars of Uprising
had to prove themselves to the rest of the wrestling world, I had to also prove
myself. I had to set out to prove that
this Phoenix was a brand new bird who had turned over a new feather. Very few people were willing to give me a
chance but one person who did give me a chance was Sophie James. She gave me a chance and thanks to her giving
me a chance, we are now the UWA World Tag Team Champions.”
Jones
shakes her head.
“But that’s not enough. I want more.
I want more because I still think back to IWC Invictus where I came so
close to becoming IWC World Champion. I
think back to fighting Vanilla Skyy and Alana Starr in a triple threat match
and once again coming within a hair of becoming UWA World Champion. I have come so close on so many occasions and
each time I get a shot I keep getting closer and closer to achieving my goal
and I know that all I need is just one more shot…”
She holds
up a finger.
“…just one more opportunity is all I need and I
know I will become the UWA World Champion.
I just need that one more chance and, lucky for me, in this lethal
lottery of a tag team tournament, I was paired with someone who, like Sophie
James, was willing to work with me, someone who was willing to give me a chance
in the hopes that together we can achieve our common goal.”
A grin
forms across her lovely face.
“Willow Wilkes, we’ve walked through what can
honestly be described as a twisting, turning, roller coaster of a ride in this
tournament together. From Benjamin Flynn
and Gavin Taylor, to my own tag partner Sophie James and your former lover
Serenity, we’ve faced all comes and we’ve knocked them all down. Now it comes down to the finals. Just two people stand in our way and those
people are Myra Lynwood and Alana Starr.”
A light
chuckle escapes the lips of the Boston native.
“Now I have a history with Alana Starr but no
history with Myra Lynwood, but from what I’ve read on social media, it appears
as if you’re ready to bust Lynwood in the mouth. But none of that matters right now, does it? All that matters is if you and I can get it
done one more time and quite frankly, I think we can. As a matter of fact, I think you would have
to be really dumb to bet against us right now.
We are on a roll, Willow, and nothing short of an apocalypse and a
hellacious amount of bad luck can stop us now!”
The red
head points at the camera.
“Speaking of luck, Myra Lynwood has to be the
luckiest person in the UWA right now because, let’s face it, you weren’t even
supposed to be in this tournament. You
just walked right into the world title picture while people like myself and
Willow have been busting our asses for a long time to put ourselves in and keep
ourselves in the world title hunt. Not
to discount your talent, but had it not been for an injury that sidelined
Jessica Wilde, you would be mid-carding Outbreak and you would have no shot at
getting anywhere near the UWA World Championship match at Olympus. You would just be an outsider looking
in. You know it, I know it, the entire
world knows it.”
The Crown
Jewel shakes her head.
“Enjoy the spotlight while you can, sunshine,
because when Outbreak comes around, me and Willow are going to put an end to
your title aspirations and we will put you right back in your proper place; on
the outside looking in, right where you belong.”
She smirks.
“Oh but don’t get too down on yourself,
Myra. Since you won’t have the world
championship hunt to distract you, you’ll have ample amount of time to post pointless,
unnecessary tweets that no one really gives a shit about. You can become the Queen of Social
Media! Isn’t that nice? Now as for you, Alana…”
Jones takes
off her sunglasses and tucks them in her pocket. This reveals the intensity brewing inside of
her.
“…you have had your opportunity and you blew
it. Granted, I have had my opportunities
and I, too, have blown it. One of us
will get another opportunity to become World Champion…”
She shakes
her head.
“…and it won’t…be…you. You want to be a tag team with Kennedy
Street? Go and be a tag team. Make up as many fake ass championships as you
want. Declare yourselves tag team champion
of the universe. Go play house with
Ethan and have a slumber party with Keenie for all I care. But the adults, namely me and Willow, are
going to Olympus. The adults, meaning me
and Willow, are going to get a shot at the UWA World Championship and that
means children like you are going to be left out in the cold.”
Marie
raises up her right hand.
“The race is nearing its completion. The quest for success is almost over. Soon this tournament will come to an end and
it will come to an end at Outbreak. But
Outbreak won’t be an end for me and Willow.
For us, it will just be a beginning as we then shift our focus towards
one of us becoming new UWA World Champion.
And for you, Alana and Myra…well…we will just simply…”
She snaps
her fingers and the lone spotlight in the room goes out, leaving the room in
total darkness.
