A Living Nightmare

It had been two months. Two months, four days, eight hours, twenty-seven minutes, and forty-three seconds of pure hell. Only two months ago she had been dancing with a margarita in her hand at one of the hottest clubs in all of Boston. Only two months before she had been laughing with two of her best friends. Only two months before her life had come completely crashing down around her. As she looked in the mirror at the person she now was, she wondered how things could have possibly gone so wrong so quickly. She had been happy. Her career was starting to take off…she was becoming one of the most popular divas in the organization. People were finally starting to notice that, yeah, maybe she really was one of the best at what she did. And then it all came crashing down – in one night her life would be forever changed.

Flashback

"Guys – I think I'm gonna head back to the hotel. It's getting late and I want to get to the arena pretty early tomorrow."

"Oh come on! Don't go yet – it isn't even midnight. At least stay for two more songs. PLEASE?" yelled her friends.

"Fine! Two more songs, but then I really am going to leave."

She smiled at her friends as they grabbed her hand and led her out onto the dance floor. The bass was pumping and she could feel her heart beating in her ears. As the second song came to an end, she waved to her friends and yelled over the music that she would see them back at the hotel. Grabbing her coat, she exited the club and began to walk the short distance back to the hotel.

Suddenly, she felt a hand pulling her backwards. She tried to catch her balance, but whoever had grabbed hold of her would not let go and she slowly began to fall towards the ground. But that did not stop him – he simply continued to drag her towards the darkened ally. She began to frantically look around at her surroundings as a scream rose into her throat. By this time, she was kicking and punching him the best she could in her current position. But he didn't even seem to notice. He just kept walking towards his desired destination – her living nightmare, her hell on earth. When he had finally reached his destination, he pulled her back onto her feet and looked into her eyes.

"You scream, you die." Tears formed in her eyes as she noticed the knife he held in his other hand. Beginning to shake uncontrollably, she looked with pleading eyes at her attacker. But she saw no feeling, only hatred, contempt, and emptiness. As he slowly trailed the knife down the front of her blouse, cutting away the buttons, she knew what was going to happen and she also knew that backed into a corner, surround by boxes and a trash dumpster, she had no real way of escaping.

"Please…" she whispered, "Please don't rape me."

He simply gazed at her with absolutely no human emotion registering on his face.

The tears finally started to fall as he pushed her down onto the cold hard ground, hiking her skirt up around her waist. Glaring down at her, he held the knife menacingly in her face, using that very same hand to cover her mouth and muffle her cries. With his other hand, he ripped her panties from her body, then moved his hand to grasp her wrists and hold them above her head. Giving her a sickening smile, he began to make her nightmare a reality…

End of Flashback

Now, two months later, she stood in another hotel room, in another city, and looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. She had dark circles under her eyes, eyes that used to be so alive with passion and caring and desire, but now seemed dead. She rarely slept more than two or three hours a night, usually waking up in a cold sweat hearing his words over and over again in her head. Her friends had noticed the change in her too, and of course had asked if everything was all right. Not wanting to, no that wasn't right – she had wanted to tell them, but she couldn't. Not being able to face the truth of what had happened to her, kept her from telling her secret. She had even stopped rooming with them on the road, not being able to take their questioning stares or identical expressions of worry. She was alone – completely and totally alone. Shaking her head, she turned and walked out of the bathroom, grabbed her jacket and her duffel bag before carefully opening the door to her hotel room. She looked around the empty hallway as she always did before bolting towards the elevator. Pressing the down button repeatedly, she scanned the area always watching, always waiting. But no one was there, and eventually the elevator doors opened and she stepped in heaving a sigh of relief.

Later that Night…

After quickly walking from her rental car into the arena, she made a beeline for her locker room. Stepping inside, she immediately turned and locked the door, finally able to breath normally again. It was the same everywhere she went – fear and terror gripped her soul and she could never escape it. She sat down on the couch, closed her eyes, and tried to focus her attention on her work. She began thinking about her match tonight against Molly Holly, mentally going through the different moves in her head, until she was suddenly interrupted by a knock on her door.

"Who's there?" she cautiously asked.

"It's just me, Stacy!"

"Hey Stace. Did you just get here?" she asked as she opened to the door to let in her friend.

"Yeah, a few minutes ago. Hey – are you okay? You look like you haven't slept in days."

"I'm fine. I had a bit of a stomach bug the last couple of days. Any excuse just so she doesn't ask me anymore questions! But I'm fine now. So – what's on schedule for you tonight?" she asked her friend as they made there way to the couch.

"Not much. A short promo and that's about it. A bunch of us are planning on going out tonight though. There's this new club that just opened a few blocks from the hotel. Come out with us – you haven't been dancing months. I promise it'll be fun!" exclaimed Stacy.

"Oh, um, uh, no, sorry, I-I can't. I, uh, have a bunch of stuff I need to do tonight. Thanks for asking though Stace. I have to finish getting ready for my match, okay?" she stammered.

"Uhhh, sure. Okay – listen, you're sure you're all right?"

"I'm fine! I just have a lot on my mind right now, least of which is my match against Molly tonight."

Stacy just shook her head sadly and stood up to leave the locker room. She knew something hadn't been right with her friend for a couple of months now, but she didn't know exactly what had happened. All she knew was that she was worried, and there was nothing she could do to make it better.

She smiled as she walked back up the ramp, having just left Molly Holly laid out in the ring – flat on her back. As soon as she got backstage, her smile quickly became a frown and, without so much as glancing at the hustle and bustle going on around her, she made her way back to her locker room. She knew she had to stick around until the end of HEAT, so she quickly showered and changed and then stood fidgeting around in the center of her locker room. One eye warily watched the monitor, while the other kept watch as the seconds ticked by on the clock. When it was finally 8:30, she grabbed her duffel bag and made a run for the parking lot. Reaching her car, she hopped in, immediately locking the doors and quickly scanning the parking lot. Putting the key in the ignition, the car just made a clicking noise, before going silent. Cursing, she tried again, and again, panic starting to rise. Tears were starting to form in her eyes as she pulled the key out of the ignition and put her head down on the steering wheel, beginning to cry. Trying to get control of herself, she unlocked her car door and took off running across the parking lot back towards the arena.

Suddenly, she crashed into something hard and felt herself falling backwards.

"Hey…are you okay?" asked a deep voice.

She looked up and almost smiled at the person standing in front of her, but then the panic took hold again, the tears welling in her eyes. She needed to get back to the arena, back to her locker room, back to where it was safe, but she seemed paralyzed by her fear.

He noticed her irregular breathing and the tears that were starting to trickle down her cheeks. He noticed the panicked look in her eyes and how they kept darting back and forth as if she was looking for something. He stooped down to where she still sat on the ground and took one of her hands. It was ice cold and trembling. He didn't know what was wrong with her, but he did know that he wanted to, for whatever reason, help her. Grabbing her duffel bag, which had landed near his feet when she fell, he slung it over his shoulder before picking her up in his arms and carrying her towards his car. He kept waiting for her to say something, to protest, to slap him, to anything. But she didn't. Instead she just stared blankly ahead, listening to the sound of her own heartbeat roaring in her ears, just wanting this nightmare to end. Finally reaching his car, he placed her feet gently on the ground hoping she would be able to stand, as he threw their bags into the backseat. He carefully led her to the passenger side of the car and opened the door. At this point, she finally looked up at him, but didn't seem to register who he was or that he was trying to help her. He gently helped her into the seat and placed the seatbelt around her waist. Closing the door, he made his way around to the driver's side, all the while wondering what was wrong.

At the Hotel…

Parking the car, he looked over at her, still sitting silently next him. She hadn't spoken a single word on the ride from the arena, and had just continued to stare blankly ahead. Unhooking her seatbelt from her waist, his hand brushed against her arm. This seemed to spark some sort of recognition, as she slowly turned her head towards him with a look of terror on her face. As her face contorted with pain, sobs began to rack her body. For a moment, he was terrified, but then maybe this was better than the blank vacant stare she had worn the entire car ride. Opening his door, he rushed around to her side of the car and quickly opened the door. He gently put his hand around her waist, and pulled her from the car. Before he knew what was happening, she had wrapped her arms around his waist and was holding on for dear life. Harsh sobs racked her body as she buried her face against his chest. He was taken aback, but he slowly began to stroke her hair.

"Umm, maybe we should go inside. I, uh…" Helplessly, he ran his hand up and down her back – anything to get her to stop crying. Finally, he felt her body stop shaking and her breathing becoming more regular.

"Stand right here. I'm going to get our bags from the backseat," he said in a worried voice as he gently leaned her against the side of the car. She just nodded, but didn't really seem to register what he was saying.

Grabbing their bags, he slammed the car door and pressed the lock button. Ever so carefully, he once again scooped her up in his arms and carried her into the hotel, making his way quickly over to the elevator and then waiting, for what seemed like an endless amount of time, before the doors finally opened.

"Uh, what floor are you on? I'll bring you to your hotel room," he asked. When he got no answer, not that she had said two words to him this whole time, he looked down and noticed that she had fallen asleep in his arms. Sighing, he got off the elevator and walked to his hotel room. Opening the door, he carefully positioned himself, so he could hold the door open and at the same time, get into his hotel room without waking her. Walking over to one of the beds, he gently laid her down on the comforter. Grabbing a blanket from the closet, he placed it over her. He stood there staring down at her for a minute before moving to place their bags in the corner of the room. He suddenly realized how tired he was as his entire body began to register the punishment he had taken in the ring earlier that night and then the stress he had felt afterwards. Taking a pair of track pants and a t-shirt out of his suitcase, he made his way into the bathroom to change. Coming back out, he once again stood looking at the woman asleep in the bed next to his. Gently pushing a strand of hair away from her face and pulling the blanket more tightly around her, he whispered softly to himself, "I don't know what happened to you and I don't know why I feel this need to protect you, but I will. I promise you…Lita." And with that, Randy Orton climbed into bed and turned on his side so he could watch her sleep.