“Here’s hoping everyone is still following along on this crazy journey because this is where the twists and turns start to get really strange.”
Betsy Granger announces this to the webcam she’s still live-streaming from. Her troubled expression grows deeper as she searches her mind.
“It’s happening faster... my memories of these worlds, they fade as they wink out of existence. But I have to finish... This needs to be documented.
You need to know why I have to end this pointless feud with Kayla once and for all.”
****
In a rage after her fight with Xaria, Betsy had raced home after the party and locked herself away in her room. Unable to control her anger, she punches the concrete wall and immediately regrets this decision. As she hops around in pain hanging on to her knuckles, her eyes land on her closet. As she shifts through her clothes, she purses her lips and shakes her head. For someone with her growing reputation, she sure did have the most boring wardrobe to show for it. Snatching up her purse and the emergency credit card from her parents, Betsy heads out for a day of shopping as an idea enters her mind...
And suddenly, a flash runs through it like a jolt of electricity. Visions of her and James in each other’s arms... Tangled up in one another in ways that turned her cheeks to crimson. It’s pushed aside quickly as another vision enters; this time she’s with Shawn Warstein and they seem to be laughing over something. He throws his arm over her shoulders as they walk towards a locker room together, as familiar as family. Falling to her knees, she gasps as another lucid vision pushes its way through. This time she finds herself caught up with Kayla, who was in the process of costing her the opportunity to become the first Excellence Champion. As Damien Ayla pins her once again, Betsy grabs at her head and cries out loudly. “Stop, STOP!”
Her thoughts are still loud enough to block out the world around her; it wasn’t until Xaria was shaking her roughly that she came back to. Her eyes pop open and take in the exasperated woman before her. “XARIA!” Betsy shrieks, getting to her feet and reaching forward to hug her friend.
“Just what do you think you’re doing out here?” Xaria asks coldly, still wearing her clothes from the party.
“I was just... kinda bombarded with a string of really weird thoughts...” Betsy muses but allows her voice to trail off when she catches Xaria’s icy gaze.
“That’s nice... Have you started making arrangements to leave? The sooner you’re out of here, the better, don’t you think?” Before Betsy could formulate a reply, Xaria pushes past her and walks briskly to her bedroom. The slamming door is all the prompting Betsy needs; as her anger fills her again, she forgets the odd vision and stomps out of the door, slamming the door as hard as she could behind her.
****
“That was the first time it happened, the flashes of memories within the tear of reality. It usually happens after a while, but that’s one of those weird side effects of entering into a different universe. It’s like space sickness, it just affects your cognitive skills, especially the short-term memory. Almost like getting sucked into a book and written in on the fly. You blend in and adapt until your brain clears and you try to piece together what the fuck actually happened.”
Betsy twirls her finger in the air to signify the confusion of the logic.
“I didn’t make the rules and I don’t know how to explain them any better than that. The point is, once the flashes come, it isn’t long before the wonky brain sickness wears off and you become aware. And once you become aware, you only have so long to get out of where you are before you destroy that reality.”
She slashes her finger through the air in an unmistakable gesture.
“No do-overs, no fixing it; once reality has been altered, the universe begins to implode. That’s putting it simply.”
With a heavy sigh, she leans back in her chair.
“My travels have taken me to a lot of places with little to no backlash on our universe. It wasn’t until recently when I realized just how many time and space travelers found themselves taken in by the allure of professional wrestling that the problems started. At first, I thought it was just Excellence having a meltdown or two; why on Earth would my trusty girl ever intentionally take me to a timeline where I would run the risk of a paradox?
I never thought all that temporal energy would create the number of rifts it has. But more and more, Excellence has shown me alternate realities...
OUR realities, Kayla. Yours, mine, Pinkie, and so many others; so many different lives and stories, and yet one thing remained a steady constant, one little detail never changed.
Us, Kayla; what we are, what we’ve become, and what’s ahead of us come Annihilation.”
****
Days had passed since the party and Betsy had never felt lonelier in her life.
During training hours, Betsy often found herself sitting alone as she watched Xaria and Kayla form a friendship over their mutual disdain of her. Even Lewis had actively started avoiding her ever since Ophelia had started giving him the time of day after the party.
She caught Kayla’s eye and received the nastiest of smiles for it. Glaring at the vile brunette, she allows her gaze to drift over to Xaria, who was watching her with disgust. When their eyes met, Xaria turned her nose up in the air and picked whatever conversation she’d been having with Kayla back up. Her expression is smug, Kayla turns her head away from Betsy and engages fully with Xaria. Sighing, Betsy drops her head into her hands and squeezes her eyes shut tightly.
“Chin up Granger, you’re on deck.” Shawn’s voice says to her sternly from above. Lifting her head up, she reveals her tear-stained face, earning her a hard look. “Tears, Granger? What did I tell you about crybabies on the first day?”
Shaking her head as she runs the back of her sleeve over her nose, she manages to whisper. ”It’s not the training, sir... it’s personal. Sorry, I know I’m supposed to leave it in at home, but...” she stops, not wanting to give away too much. Her eyes betray her as they sweep back to Kayla and Xaria, who are both watching her like hawks.
Shawn follows her gaze and as his icy eyes land on the unlikely duo, they walk off, looking away innocently. “Come on, Granger, let's have a chat in my office.” Her heart sinks as she follows him to the small study he seldom used. Pushing the door shut behind them, he pulled out the cheap folding chair and invited her to sit. As she slid down into the seat, he sat behind the desk and glanced at her. “What’s going on?”
“What do you mean?” She asks innocently.
“Don’t play dumb; the clothes, the hair, the attitude around the guys as of late. You’ve never been that chick, so why the sudden slutty switch-up?” He asks of her bluntly.
“Just thought I’d try something new,” she mutters, tugging at the hand-crafted corset top she’d fashioned for herself. Suddenly feeling exposed, she crosses her arms around herself as she stares sullenly back at Shawn. “May as well give the people what they want.”
“Fuck that.” Shawn snaps, earning a gasp from Betsy. “You get to decide who you are, and not a damn other person gets an opinion. So, some sour cunt spread a shitty rumor about you; you’re better than her. Square your shoulders and toughen up.”
Betsy looks down as her lip trembles again. “I never meant for any of it to go this far; now I don’t even have Xaria and in a couple of days, I won’t have a place to live.”
“You stay here in the apartment above the gym until you find a new place. You can help Kasey and I keep the place clean as part of the deal. As for Xaria... You two will have to work that out on your own terms. I don’t get involved in that drama, especially girl stuff.” Shawn holds up his hands and shakes his head. “Good luck, though. Xaria will come around, she’s a sweet kid; Kayla though, she's... Well, anyway, don’t wreck her too badly in the ring today.”
Relief floods through her as Shawn rises to his feet, ending the conversation. Following him back out to the gym, Kayla is already in the ring, ready for their spar. Filled with temporary vigor, Betsy bounces to the apron and with a grin towards Kayla, climbs between the ropes to begin the session.
****
“No matter where I go, what time we’re in, or what reality we’re living; the stars of every constellation have marked Kayla Richards and Betsy Granger as perpetually star-crossed. We were born to be perfect opposites, destined for nothing but a trail of violence and destruction.
Does that please you to know, Kayla? Do you revel in the idea that no matter where you are, you eventually become a thorn in my side? Or does it fill you with bile and piss to know that our destinies are so closely linked? That you are eternally fated to the Penguin to my Batman. The Dracula to my Van Helsing. The Master to my Doctor.
I think you get the picture by now.”
Betsy looks exhausted, the dark circles under her eyes growing deeper. Her hair lacks its usual luster, tied in a loose, messy knot on the top of her head.
“You can pick me apart verbally in every way you can think of. Go on and list a million reason why you have to hate me; none of it matters in the big picture. There’s always a reason, in every version of our story, why you inexplicably hate my guts. In this one, I can only assume it’s my plucky nature and the fact that one of your sisters likes me more than you. Not only that, one of my best friends in the entire world put it to her so well, she’s good and pregnant with his kid. Imagine Sanders blood mixing into that Richards bloodline; I can almost see the Exorcist style projectile vomit flying out of your big mouth from here.
Then again, I’m starting to stop giving any fucks about it. I just want to rip out your tongue and finally make you shut the fuck up.”
She giggles as she sets her arm on the desk and rests her head against it.
“I’m getting sleepy, which is no good to any of us. Once you fall asleep, you wake up with your memory clean as a slate. I have to stay awake until I finish telling this story and I mend what I can of this reality...”
****
Weeks had passed now and life hadn’t gotten any easier.
Even once the side-hustle had started two weeks ago, it wasn’t enough to keep the empty feeling away. Having heard about her deal with LCP, several other of the young men had approached her for similar arrangements. At first, she had refused, but when they started offering to pay, Betsy had become a bit more willing to play along in their charades. Soon, an influx of students from other gyms in the area had arrived; it hadn’t taken long for anyone to figure out why. As Xaria watched with rage and Kayla with malicious amusement, Betsy was approached almost daily by desperate men who wanted a “date”. As rumors flew of Betsy’s indiscretions with all her callers, the alienation between her and the original students who had remained friendly grew more evident.
It wasn’t long before they avoided her altogether as they continued to gawk openly.
About a week ago was when Kayla and Xaria began to get loud about rallying against her “wickedly sinful ways”. Betsy listened in shock as the girls drew a crowd, loudly explaining that Betsy’s loose behavior was setting a horrible example and tarnishing the school's good name, and by proxy, PWE’s, reputation. Much to her shock and disappointment, many of the students seemed swayed by the fire in Kayla and Xaria’s anger and started banding behind the girls.
Needless to say, things were getting a bit warm under the collar.
“You look ready to vomit up every meal you’ve had so far this week.” A warm voice from behind her remarks.
Turning, she finds herself face to face with a smiling James. Normally, her heart would race and her cheeks would grow pink just being near him; today, she could barely force a smile as she looked at him. “Nah, I’m great; what could possibly be wrong right now?” she asks, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
He looks slightly taken aback by her harsh tone. “Sorry, you just looked like you could use a friend.”
“You should be careful about hanging around with me; I’ve been labeled as enemy number one around here,” Betsy remarks, tipping her head towards her lynch mob.
“Eh, who gives a shit what they think, right? Fuck all of them” James says, attempting to be encouraging.
Betsy can only let out a short, mirthless laugh. “Haven’t you heard? I already did.”
She brushes past him quickly, hoping to hide the crippling shame and self-loathing she felt; incidentally, she also misses the disappointment in his eyes as he stares at her retreating back with something that resembles longing.
The chilly air hits her bare skin, the warm rays of the sun unable to penetrate the brisk air. Desperate to be away from the always-watching eyes of her peers, Betsy rushes down the street towards the market district. Losing herself quickly in the crowd, she takes a look at the different vendors, wondering how she and Xaria had never made it to this part of town. A pang of sadness stabs at her as she thinks of all the fun she and Xaria used to have; now the French beauty wouldn’t even look her in the eye.
And then it happened again.
As she cried out, flashes flew through her mind at a break-neck speed. Kayla stood above her broken, bloodied body, basking in the destruction she had caused. Her, licking Kayla’s blood off her fingers as the brunette lies still beneath her boot. Kayla and Billy laugh together as they send Betsy’s body flying from the roof of a high tower. Betsy, James, and Shawn close in on Kayla as Billy sits helplessly in the background, tied to a chair. She could feel her own rage in each scenario fill her, fueling the hate she already felt towards the woman. Looking up, she glances over her shoulder in the direction of the school, unaware that her eyes had begun to glow.
“Ma’am, are you hurt?”
Deaf to the concerns of those around her, Betsy gets to her feet and begins to march with purpose towards the school.
****
“I was always meant to be your downfall, Kayla.
Or... Perhaps you were always meant to be mine?”
Betsy grins as she shrugs her shoulders.
“It’s fading faster every second, but I can still feel it... The rage that filled me. I understand now, Kayla:
This was always bigger than you and me. Our fight, our innate hatred of one another transcends beyond this one little planet. We’re merely an echo of some bigger cosmic battle that once took place, and forever are we destined to clash as soldiers for opposite sides. You just happen to be a force for the darkness that wishes to spread its oppressive hand across the universe. You step on the necks of those you consider beneath you and make way for a greater evil through your actions.
Forgive them, for they know not what they do. Isn't that what they say I'm supposed to do in a situation such as this?
Here's the thing: You've always been very aware of what you do. You revel in the chaos you create. You seek to destroy all that shines brighter than you.
Our interweaving futures remain in flux; new strands to our web are created all the time. The string that connects us has become a tangled mess of chaos across the entire universe.
It's time for me to cut that threat permanently and let you hang from the noose of your own creation.”
Her eyes darken taps her pen on the desk.
“This world has enough vile, pretentious, narcissistic, selfish, toxic fucking cunts destroying the little bit of good that remains.
I’m just here to help take out the trash, so if you would be a good little bitch and get into the bag quietly...
No way? No problem, I’m done playing nice with you anyway. I suppose I’ve reached the point in the conversation where I really don’t give a fuck why you don’t like me. It took me a minute to reach this point, I admit, but it’s not just you who can lick every inch of my asshole. Anyone who has a problem with me can step up and attempt to solve it.
I’ll just use you as the first example of why this is a suicide mission.”
She stops tapping the pen, her eyes taking on an ominous glow.
“There is no getting through to the likes of you, Kayla; I learned a long time ago that you aren’t worth the effort. You’re a shit human being, you suck at being a competent wrestler, and you’re the absolute worst sister anyone could have. You only stopped me from taking the Excellence Title that night because you couldn’t stand to see me prove, once and for all, that I’m better than you.
In every conceivable way.
Think about it.”
A malicious grin spreads across her face.
“We both know Billy almost chose me over you; if I had known he made your vagina tickle, I would have flirted a little harder. Just to piss you off, because there’s nothing like Kayla Richards showing her hand on a bluff. Seriously, the way you came in hot for him was some of the funniest shit I ever saw from you. He’s cute and all, but I was fingertips away from snagging my dream guy; I wasn’t about to trade down James Raven for Billy Danielson.
So, if you think about it, if it weren’t for me stepping aside, you wouldn’t be looking wedded bliss in the face right now. Look at Stupid Cupid Betsy, casting off her arrow's willy-nilly once again and hitting the mark.
I guess what I’m trying to say here is... you’re welcome. For now.
Much like the other ships I’ve had a hand in creating, I’m certain that eventually, this too shall end in disaster.”
Betsy glares into the webcam before looking down to write on a notepad. As she scribbles away, the hard glare fading into grave concern.
“Have to finish...”
****
Everyone in the gym turned as the doors were slammed open wide and Betsy stood outlined by the sun in the doorway. Without hesitation, she marches straight up to Kayla, who just looks at her and laughs. “Oooh, someone’s feeling like a badass today.”
“In the ring, Richards. Now.” The demand is made in a guttural tone that attracts the attention of a few students.
Kayla’s eyes widen as she watches Betsy slide under the bottom rope and roll into the ring. She remains crouched in a three-point pose, facing Kayla and grinning at her wickedly. Kayla inches closer to the ring, stepping beside Xaria, who is slack-jawed by Betsy’s sudden shift in confidence. “Why should I get in there with you, Backseat Betsy? I have nothing to prove.” Kayla crosses her arms, flicking her eyes around the room in search of support.
“You talk a lot of garbage Kayla; now I’m going to show the world why.” Betsy gets to her feet and beckons. “Come on, you ratchet piece of over-recycled shit, time to back up all those words you’ve been spewing. You want me out of here, come take your best shot at kicking my ass out of the door. If I lose, I’m gone. But if you lose... Out you go.”
Kayla’s eyes widen as she looks around the room; now everyone was watching, waiting for Kayla to make her move. Nervously, she laughs and flips her hair over her shoulder, putting a hand on Xaria’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s get out of here. We don’t have to listen to this.”
“Uh... She laid out a challenge. What are you, a coward?” Xaria inquires, removing Kayla’s hand and taking a step back. “This is what you’ve been running your mouth about; now she’s handing you the opportunity on a silver platter. Get in there.”
The crowd begins to vocalize their agreement, causing Kayla to turn and glare in their direction. “Any one of you could go in there and get the job done.”
“Yeah, but she’s calling you out, Kay.” Raven chimes in, stepping up to stand beside Xaria.
Betsy begins to smile as James looks up at her with a wink. Catching this, Kayla points and laughs. “Oh, figures; don’t listen to him, he’s just another one of her one-and-done deals.”
“Funny thing about that, Kayla...” Lewis says nervously, stepping forward. “It’s sort of...Not true.” Everyone swivels to stare at Pinkston, who looks unhappy. “The first time, with me, it was just a façade. I asked her to pretend to have sex so that I could impress Pheely. The others... same deal, I sent them all to her. All Betsy tried to do was help out a few of us shyer guys get laid by making us look like studs.”
There's an excited tittering through the crowd as James and Xaria both look up at Betsy in surprise. She shrugs helplessly while Kayla starts backing away in a blind fury. It doesn’t take long for everyone to realize what she’s trying to do; soon the gym is filled with the sounds of taunting words and bawking like chickens. Kayla uses her acid tongue as loudly as she can, but is drowned out quickly by the overwhelming ridicule. Billy appears by her side, grabbing her arm and helping her outside as a few students chase them onto the sidewalk.
As Betsy hops out of the ring, she’s hugged tightly by Xaria, who has tears in her eyes. “Please forgive me Betsy; I never actually liked her and missed you like crazy. I knew the rumors couldn’t be true, but after the party, I just thought...”
“I know... I’m not mad at you, bestie.” Betsy says, hugging Xaria back as tightly as she could.
“Come home... We’ll talk more tonight. I think someone wants to get you alone.” Xaria says, a grin spreading across her face.
“Huh?” Betsy asks, but a moment later, she feels herself being pulled aside by a pair of strong arms. Looking up, her heart races as she locks eyes with James. “Hi!”
“I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time.” Is all he says before his lips crushed hers.
Her eyes widen in surprise before they start to slide shut as she sinks into the kiss. But a hole like a cigarette burn had formed in the air; before she could react, it expanded, eating everything around it...
****
Betsy watches as the crack, in reality, grows smaller, eventually fading from existence altogether. When she turns back to the webcam, she looks surprised to find that it’s still recording.
“Oh, hey guys. How long have I been at this for?”
With a confused grin, she shrugs her shoulders.
“I’ll see you at Annihilation, Kayla.”
