So instead of painting mural size banners for my cross country team at two in the morning like I was supposed to, I decided to sit down and write chapter two.
A/N: For every chapter, the year will change to two extra years. For example, in the first chapter, it was 1998, while this one takes place in 2000. Next chapter will be in 2002 and the one that succeeds that will be 2004. Eventually though, around chapter four or five, the time range will go from biyearly to daily and, if needed, monthly.
A/N: Also, for those of you who don't read or speak Spanish, the translation of the words will be at the end of the paragraphs. Another note for those that do, since Spanish is my second language, my translations are not the best. I translate them in the way I say them, not how they are properly written. If I did that, then I'd be annoying myself with sounding way to proper.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters of AJ Lee, Dean Ambrose, and CM Punk are properties of World Wrestling Entertainment. April Mendez, Jonathan Good, and Phillip Brooks own themselves.
Enjoy!
Union City, New Jersey - 2000
April opened the door slightly and peeked her eye through the small opening. It was six in the evening and she knew her mother would be pissed when she found out that she had been out so late again. She bit on her lip, briefly pondering the fact whether she should tell her mother that she had been out training. She snorted as she let herself in. If she did that, then her mother would do everything in her power to refrain her from even thinking about wrestling.
"It was a man's sport," she imitated her mother saying as she expertly hid her duffle under a pile of clothing in the closet. "It's no place for a woman." Sighing loudly, AJ just stared at the unnatural lump of sweaters in the closet, her wrestling duffle underneath them. For the past three years, she had lied to her mother and sister about where she was going after school. It would always be an, 'I have tests to study for' or a, 'I have a lot of homework', but because of her amazing success in school, they didn't question her.
But there was only so many times that she could lie to them and not get caught. She felt it in her blood that she was going to get caught soon.
She just didn't think it would be today.
"April Jeanette Méndez! ¿Dónde demonios has estado? Do you know how late it is?" She froze when she heard her mother clamor. Turning around, she felt herself relax a little when her mother wasn't in sight, but the noises of a knife meeting the cutting board signalized that she was in the kitchen. (Where in the hell have you been?)
Walking hesitantly to the kitchen, she heard the new voice of her sister pipe up. "No sabes má? She's always studying, that's why she's never here." Even though Vanessa's words acted like a defense for April, the icy cold tone in them told her that her sister, too, was angry. (You don't know mom?)
Shame filled her heart as she appeared in the kitchen where her mother and sister where chopping tomatoes and onions for dinner. Her mother looked up and glared at her, her face void of any emotion. Despite that, April could tell that she was beyond pissed. "Do you know what I have to go through? I go to work at four in the morning and come back at six," she ranted, her gaze returning back to the chopped vegetables. "¿Y para qué? To come home to a dirty apartment and two huevonas que no hacen nada!" (And for what? Lazy asses that don't do anything!)
Vanessa brought her eyes up stare harshly at April. She silently tried to beg her to not say anything, but Vanessa wasn't having it. "Don't be yelling at me mom, tell AJ. She's the one that's never here! I come home from school and I study here! I don't know why the hell she has to go to the library to study!"
This time, she couldn't help herself from butting in. Glaring at her sister, she spoke, "I go the library to keep my grades up! That's why!" she lied, "And you know what? It's working for me!"
"¡Basta! Ya no los quiero oír!" Instantly, both girls stopped talking. Giving one more look at her sister, Nessa resumed her cutting. Snapping to look at April, she hung her head as her mother's eyes bore into her head. "Sin excusas ni protesta, I want you here when school gets out. I will have Nessa pick you up if I have too, but AJ, you are no longer staying out." (Enough! I don't want to hear you too anymore!) (Without excuses nor protest,)
Even though she had absolutely no friends in the CYW locker room and they made it crystal clear that she was not welcomed, she'd be dammed if she left. While she may be dependent on her family for food and shelter, but she was not about to let Kyle Brody think that after his years of torturous abuse, he had finally won. "But ma! I need to stay! I promise I'll come home earlier to clean, but I need to stay after school!"
She instantly realized her mistake. Both mother and sister stopped chopping and looked up with questionable glances. "¿Y por qué? Why are you so determined to stay after school?" (And why?)
"I... uh.. need to stay because..." The library excuse would no longer work and her brain rambled to find an excuse that would.
She was finally thankful for her sister's phone, which rang loudly in her pants. Wiping her hands clean with a rag that her mother handed her, Vanessa picked up her phone with bright and happy tone. April scowled at her sister.
"April, come help me with the arroz. Nessa ya se va ir." Sighing, April made her way to the counter, where she picked up Nessa's previous task and resumed with the tomato chopping. (Rice.) (Nessa is about to leave.)
"Mamá, George is here. I'll be back before midnight," shutting her phone, Nessa moved to kiss her mother's wrinkled cheek. She only regarded AJ with a roll of the eyes as she made her way to the front of the door. She rolled her eyes right back at her as she went for the chilies her mother handed her.
"Take a sweater! It's freezing out!" Her mother called. Suddenly remembering where she had hid her duffle, she stopped. Her heart began to beat faster and harder when she heard Nessa's annoyed remark.
"Donde estan?" (Where are they?)
"I put all the sweaters in the closet!"
At this point, she had forgotten about the chilies. Her mind was reeling with fear of Vanessa finding her bag and she prayed that she wouldn't. They would scold and criticize her about wanting to become a professional wrestler. As the time would go on, they would speak themselves and their thoughts deep into her head and lower her already low self-esteem to an all new low. Her mother and sister had such a short temper that she never argued with them and readily agreed with everything they said, but she knew that if Vanessa found the bag, she wouldn't be able to do anything about her attitude.
The sound of the wooden door groaning as it opened thundered in her ears as she held in her breath and closed her eyes. She kept her fists tightly clenched and clutched the knife in her hand and tried to level her breathing when she heard Vanessa look through the pile and stack of once made clothing. Due to her eyes being closed, she didn't see her mother give her more stares. "What's wrong with you?"
She didn't answer though. She blocked her mother out and tried to focus on Vanessa, but she heard nothing. Not the sound of an ugly sweater or shirt being thrown out of the way or the sound of a shoe box dropping.
Nothing.
"April?" Her mother questioned again, but this time, she opened her eyes and turned to look at her mom. She smiled and shook her head before returning to the long forgotten chilies. She didn't find it. You're okay, you're okay.
Sadly, she wasn't.
"What is this?!" Her sister yelled. Snapping her head to look at her, all the color drained from April's face as Vanessa stood at the foot of the kitchen, a sweater in one hand, her duffle in the other, and an enraged expression on her face.
The bag was an army camo colored duffle, with the words 'CYW Wrestling' in thick varsity lettering on the side. Underneath it, a once white stripe where the name was supposed to be was dirtied with years of abuse. The strap that held the bag together was tapped back with duct tape and the padding was multiple sheets of bathroom paper and cotton balls tapped in masking tape that had become pliable. The duffle brought along a horrid stench of sweat and musk, but that was the least of April's problems.
In the white strip, where previous mud stains left a yellow trail across it, it read:
'Miss April Lee'.
Vanessa's dark caramel colored skin turned red when she didn't answer. How could she? How could she possibly answer her when in less than twenty minutes, they would, more than likely, verbally beat her? Then they would yell all the imperfections that she had at her before turning and judging her for her lack of respect for herself for even wanting to wrestle, and it would leave her with an aching pain in her heart that even Brody's words couldn't inflict. "AJ, what the fuck is this?"
April glanced over at her mother, who had walked over to Vanessa and took the duffle from her hands. She waited for her mother to say something, but with each second that passed, she was getting more and more nervous. Her mother just stood there, silently looking at the bag, moving it and inspecting it, before her eyes glazed over at the name tag.
"April, ¿qué es esto?" (What is this?)
Tears she didn't know she had begun streaming down her face as she dropped the knife and turned to her mother. "It's nothing mom, it's nothing!" she cried, bringing her hands together to wring them. "It's a friends! She asked me to hold it for her!" More lies spewed out of her mouth and she never wanted herself to shut more than at this moment. Her lies were what got her in this position in the first place and now they weren't going to do anything to get her out.
Vanessa caught her lie instantly and glared. "That's a fucking lie! Which one of your friends is named April? Huh? None of them! Why the hell are you lying?" April hopelessly looked at her mother for help, but she knew it was almost foolish too. Usually, her mother would berate Vanessa for swearing in front of her or for being unnaturally cruel to April, but now, it looked as though she was approving everything Vanessa was yelling at her for.
The thought alone brought more tears to her eyes. Even though fear and sadness was currently pooling in her mind, anger was quick to overpower them all. "Because I know none of you will approve! None of you would have supported me to be a wrestler!" She exploded, more tears streaming down her face, "you would encouraged me to become nothing because that's what you guys do!"
Vanessa looked taken back by her sister's outburst, but when she opened her mouth to fire right back at her, her mother cut her off. "We don't support you? We don't support you?!" Her mother's voice rose to the point of yelling as she dropped the duffle to the floor and kicked it away. "Aye hija, perdóname for having to work to the bone for you to be able to eat! I can't support you for anything porque somos pobre!" (Oh daughter, forgive me...) (because we are poor!)
April harshly turned her head to the side hearing her mother's words. She, out of all people, knew they were poor. Currently living in the tiny apartment that they were barely able to afford, it was one of the luxuries that she didn't take for granted. She remembered the days where the three of them would be forced into the tiny two bedroom apartment with her aunt and uncle and their five kids. Despite not being able to even stretch due to the place being over packed, there was no doubt that they had hit their all-time low when they were forced to live in her mother's sedan for close to two months.
"AJ," the change in tone in her mother's voice caught her attention. "Do you know that none of them are ever succeed in life? Por supuesto, estan famosos, they have their high moments in fame, but then what? They go into drugs and depression and then they're done. Is that what you want AJ?" Her mother barked at her, her dark brown eyebrows furrowing together in anger. "And you want to know what the worst part about it is? Eres una niña April! Us woman won't be taken seriously and you know that!" (Of course, they're famous...) (You're a woman!)
AJ did know that. She knew that better than anyone would of thought.
'... you know damn well that you don't belong here, so why is it that every single fucking day that I walk through those doors, I see you getting all prepped up for a match that you're just never going to get?' Brody's words rang clear in her head and it brought her already depressed state of mind lower. "There are women wrestlers and I will be one of them!"
Her mother scoffed angrily at her, not believing a word she was saying. "Oh sí, apuesto a que lo harás, but tell me April, why do you want to become a wrestler?" (Oh yeah, I bet you are...)
Hearing the question come from her mother made her confused. Why did she want to be a wrestler? She knew the answer like she knew how to count, but why did it matter? Why did they question it? "I want to become a wrestler because I love wrestling."
This time, Vanessa cut her mother off. "Wrestling? You mean that pathetic gay shit that's on T.V.?" when April glared at her, Nessa laughed humorlessly, "Are you fucking kidding me? That's not wrestling AJ, that's nearly naked men fighting to get on top of each other! That's angry women ripping each other's clothes off for the attention of a man!"
Hearing the words that would of broken her brother's heart, she completely lost it. "You wouldn't understand! None of you ever will! The only person who ever understood me in this family was Chris!" April bawled, her heart beating in her ears. Blinking away the tears that were clouding her vision, April didn't bother with the pained expression on their faces. Bending down to pick up her duffle, she pushed her way past Vanessa and her mother to quickly grab her school bag, which lay on the floor that was carelessly thrown earlier by her sister.
"Chris would have supported me," she said as she opened the front door of the apartment. Looking back at her crying mother and heartbroken sister and feeling the slightest form of regret, April couldn't bring herself to talk to either of them. "Even though none of you will."
And with that, she was gone.
Cincinnati, Ohio - 2000
Lying on his bed, his back facing the door, he quietly counted the raindrops that landed on his single pane window. The January weather was not being nice today; the snow from last week already left the apartment a whopping 34 degrees. The heavy rain that washed over them, however, did absolutely nothing good as it lowered the temperature by another four degrees.
"This is fucking bullshit man," Jon seethed, throwing the heavy blanket off himself as he padded his way out of his room and out to the hallway. Looking at the thermostat, he readily punched the wall when he realized it was broken. "And the piece of shit does nothing to fucking fix it."
Growling, he returned to his room and made sure to lock the door behind him. He walked towards the multiple black trash bags at the foot of his bed and began searching for a new pair of socks; the three pairs he was already wearing did nothing to warm his stiff feet. Mumbling incoherent ramblings, he hastily slipped on his worn out shoes and made his way to this bed.
"It's Friday night and where the fuck am I? Huddling up in the fucking corner because I have nowhere else to go," he bit, sliding under his covers and held his blanket close to his chest. At this point, the sound of the rain hitting the window was he only thing he heard.
"Be grateful you ungrateful fuck, it could be so much worse right now." He knew it was bruising his nonexistent ego when he started talking to himself, but he was literally so lonely.
But it hit an all-time low when he responded to himself. "Yeah? And what's that Good?"
He snorted. "Your beloved mother could bring another David home right now and you're going to be able to hear the money that will put food on the table tomorrow be made." He wanted to punch himself in the throat as he shuttered. It never failed to anger him beyond belief when a mental image of his mother selling her body to countless men entered his head.
Yeah, he was fifteen years old and less experience in the working world, but he knew that if David actually had the fucking brains to go to work every day instead of pissing away hundreds of dollars a day on strippers and alcohol, maybe his mother didn't have to sell her body to make sure Jon survived.
"Just shut the fuck up and try to go to sleep." He closed his eyes and muttered to himself.
"Its 5 o'clock in the evening Jon, who the fuck goes to sleep now?" He berated himself as he once again threw the covers off. Staring up at the rough textured ceiling, he allowed his own mind to wander to effectively kill time.
School today had been uneventful, as it always was. At first, when he was younger, he adored school. Back then, it was easy to make friends. Children could talk to anyone and everyone and they'd instantly become lifelong friends. Now, though, it was more of a routine for him; go to class, stare mindlessly at the board, sometimes the teacher, and repeat for the next six classes, with the twenty and half hour breaks of nutrition and lunch.
Even during the time where the students were given a break, he still sat there, with the equally bored kids that were his friends, and they just judged people. Everything from the way the uptight nerds cowered away from the presence of jocks, to the way how hideous looking girls looked in their terrible taste for clothing.
Then, school would end. Since he was then anti-social fuck that he was, he had nowhere to go. Usually, when the idea of coming home to either an empty freezing home, a drunken or high piece of shit, or a "working" mother didn't please him, he'd roam the streets of East Cincinnati.
That was as adventurous as it got. Soon afterwards, he'd come home, enter his room, lock the door, and sit down and do his homework. He might not of paid attention a good 99% of the time in class, but he wasn't about to let his failure in school become another weapon for David to use against him. The four solid A's and two B's on the printed paper his teacher gave him acted as a protective bubble when David fought to find more excuses for Jon to bring his self-esteem lower.
Aside from 'being the son of his mother', and 'an ugly street child', David usually ended with beating and violating Jon before he stalked off to buy more cocaine.
Feeling his mind fizzle out and sleep finally creep up on him, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The persistent jingling from the front door, however, brought him out of his almost stupor.
Snapping his eyes open, fear coursed through his veins. His body instantly went from an almost relaxed fetal position lying in his bed to standing upright, his shoulders and arms tense.
"Bed... where's the bed?" He heard a man moan. Feminine gasps uttered out words that he didn't catch.
And with that, all the shit that he had eaten earlier today at school was about to meet the cold wooden floor in front of him. Get the fuck out. You have to get the fuck out. He chanted to himself. He was not about to stand there and listen to his mother 'working' for the under cooked meat and raw vegetables they would most likely eat tomorrow.
"Mike, take me! Just fucking drop me and fuck me!"
No Mike, don't take her. Don't fucking drop her and fuck her. I still have to get the fuck out! He looked at the window in his room and briefly wondered if he could be able to escape through that instead of hightailing it out of the living room like a bat out of hell. Then he remembered how David busted it a couple of years ago in a drunken mess.
"You have to be fucking kidding me." He whimpered. The moans and groans coming from the living room intensified and for a second he believed that he really was going to be locked in his room while his mother had sex with another random man.
"You know what, fuck this shit." Finally deciding that the best thing to do in that moment was literally getting the fuck out, he made a mental note in his head to shut his eyes close and pray that he didn't trip or stumble into anything as he ran. He didn't want to spend another minute in the goddamn apartment.
Just as he was about to open the door, however, his mother's wanton voice literally right outside his door froze him. "Open the door Mike, hurry!" Hearing the door to his mother's room finally open, he heard her shriek and yell and the man moaning in response.
The second their door closed, he opened his.
Jon didn't bother looking at the surrounding of the living room; he knew it was probably littered with constant reminds of his mother's profession. She wasn't a legitimate hooker that roamed the streets late at night in search of men she could satisfy in exchange for money, she did have a very low paying job as some paper pusher in the heart of Cincinnati.
Jon couldn't remember the last time she literally went to work, to work. All he could remember was her dressed up like a fake Barbie doll and strutting out of the apartment like she was the richest person alive. He really didn't even know why the hell she even did go; all she did was her dignity and ruin marriages from office quickies.
Meeting the filthy air of the hoodlum area of residence he lived in, the air never seemed cleaner. Pushing the front door wide open, he ran out into the street again and just booked it.
He always found comfort in the streets, despite the obvious dangers that lurked deep within them. On every corner, every alley, there was something to be afraid of. Drug dealers, homeless pedophilic men, and the occasional trio of violent sidewalk hostesses swarmed the areas, yet Jon hardly gave a damn.
Any place that currently wasn't his home was better.
Slowing his pace down, Jon actually wanted to thank the weather now. The multiple hoodies and shirts that he had on kept him minimally warm, but they also bundled him up enough so he could press his chin in and keep his head low and avoid any unnecessary eye contact with the wrong people that might misinterpret a harmless glance.
Keeping his eyes locked on his worn out sneakers, his eyes and mind followed wherever they led him. He didn't know why, but every time that something went wrong in his house, be it a drunk and abusive David, or his high and horny mother, or just the strenuous amount life in general, he always let his feet guide him where his mind could not.
This time, however, they led him to somewhat occupied street alley. Various men and woman were clustered together, holding idle conversations, while a trio of teenagers donned a once simply ugly street wall with the beautiful form of art with the bright colors of their spray paint. At the end of the alleyway, however, two gym sized doors were wide open with the viscous intensity of indoor floodlights pouring out.
For whatever reason, he stopped at the opening of the alleyway and slightly cocked his head to the side, his eyes closing to slits as he tried to grasp if he ever saw this alley before. Agreeing with himself that it just wasn't familiar with him, it didn't stop him from pondering what why the hell the warehouse, as he came to realize that it was, would be open so publicly like this.
He heard yelling and screaming, followed by grunts and shouts, before cheering filled the abandoned warehouse. In the corner of his eye, the gentle breeze of the post rain made a paper that was taped to the brick wall sway. It caught his attention and he turned his head to meet it. Ripping the paper off the wall, his eyes scanned the contents of the paper and sunk everything all in.
HEARTLAND WRESTLING ASSOCIATION
FOUNDED BY THE LEGENDARY LES THATCHER
SEE THE MONUMENTAL MAIN EVENTS THAT WILL TAKE PLACE
FRIDAY, JANUARY 14 2000
FREE ADMISSION FOR THIS ONE DAY ONLY
The floodlights, the screaming and cheering fans, the yells of frustration from the wrestlers, it all connected together. Walking slowly across the alleyway and in toward the open doors, Jon furrowed his brows as he entered the somewhat packed warehouse. Instantly, he was hit with a wave of surprise. The two men in the ring were cut opened and bloodied, yet they were still throwing hard blows to each other's faces. Various objects littered the ring, chairs, broken tables, and even the snapped halves of a sledgehammer.
Jon couldn't help but crack a grin.
The match was incredibly fun to watch, but the reaction the crowd was giving the men was what made him smile. Without thinking, he leaned over to the closest man standing next him and asked, "Is this shit for real?" For a split second, he thought the man was going to turn around and push him the hell away, but he was surprised when he didn't.
Instead, the man turned his head and smiled brightly at Jon. "Nah, this shit is all real. Pure violence at its best." With that, the man turned back around and continued to cheer and shout for his selected fighter.
The answer, though brief, left Jon surprisingly satisfied. Watching as one man grabbed the back of a folded chair; he winced slightly as it made contact with his opponent's back. At the angle Jon was in, he could see that the shot really did knock the man out cold. Without hesitation, he dropped the chair and quickly went for the pin, turning the man over and hoisting his leg up in the air as the referee quickly went for the three count.
Jon glazed over the crowd, watching as people, young and old, gave their respective cheers for the two bloody messes of the wrestlers in the middle of the ring.
He knew right then and there, that having people give this kind of a reaction was what he wanted. He was never sure of anything his entire life, but as he looked on at the man who had just won the match, a glorified expression on his blood washed face as he held a shiny belt high above his head, he couldn't help when the smiled that he was wearing grew to almost split his face.
He knew that he wanted to become a wrestler.
Because I was so hellbent with wringing this chapter out of me, I didn't get to finish my banners. Oh well. My cross country team can survive till next season.
Because my beloved winter break is over and I have school tomorrow, I probably won't be updating soon, but that's okay. You wanna know why? I already have chapter three written! For now, I ask nothing more than ten reviews for chapter three, which is currently in the process of being revised and edited.
Aside from that, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!
