Chapter 9

Jessica was exhausted by the time she had gotten home. She dropped her bag on the floor and looked to her answering machine. Surprisingly she had 10 messages, waiting for her. She pushed the button.

Message One: "You know there were rumors you had a joined a convent." She immediately recognized the voice of Amy Dumas. "Now that you're showing your face again you better give me a call!

Message Two: "Jess? It's Shane. I'm really sorry. You're not picking up your cell. Call me please?"

Message Three: "Hey. It's Matt. I know you're probably not home yet but I just wanted to check in and make sure you're okay. Later."

Message Four: "Jess? It's Shane again. Listen; call me when you get this message. I want to explain my side of the story."

Message Five: This is Brian Tollner, with Wrestling Now, we were wondering if we could get a quick comment on your return to the ring? I'll call again. Thank you."

Message Six: "Its Steph, your return was a success. Call me as soon as you get in because I want you to make a stop at RAW on Monday. Call me!"

Message Seven: It's Shane again. Where are-"She hit the delete button.

Message Eight: It's Jay. I was just calling to see if you would pick up. Later."

Message Nine: Hi Jessica. I hope its okay that I called you. Stephanie gave me your number. This is Vicky. I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to talk. I just wanted to say Welcome, and I hope we'll get to know each other a little before our next show. Bye.

Message 10: Welcome Back.

She paused at the last message. It was just an eerie voice that stated welcome back, and then had hung up. There was no name given but she remembered the voice. It was the voice that had been haunting her for more than three years. She started panicking, and ran to the door to check the locks. Grabbing the phone she called Stephanie but got no answer. She could feel the fear rising as she heard every sound running through her old house. She tried to remember back to what the doctors had taught her to calm her down.

"I'm in control. I'm in control. I'm in control." She repeated to herself over and over again. The phone rang again and she froze. She listened silently as her answering machine picked up.

"Hey Jess, it's Matt again." She picked up the phone immediately.

"Matt?"

"Hey you picked up. Cool. I didn't mean to bother you but I have two guys here who really wanted to speak to you. Hold on." She heard him hand off the phone.

"Hey sexy." She heard Shannon Moore's voice come of the phone.

"Hey."

"Man, it was so amazing seeing you run down the entrance ramp last night. I forgot how sexy you were."

"Give me that you perve." She heard the voice of Shane Helms say.

"Sorry about that babe. Some people don't know how not to be an ass."

"It's fine." Jessica said trying to control her voice.

"How is everything?"

"Uhm, okay." She heard a sound coming from outside.

"I can't wait to see you. I made plans to come down to the next taping so I can see you for myself, but I got to tell you, you look good in HD."

"Thanks." She said as she tried to peer out the window. She saw a figure standing by one of the trees. "Oh my god."

"What?" Shane asked. "What's wrong?" Matt grabbed the phone.

"Jess?" She didn't answer at first. She just hunched down in the corner. "Jessica?" Matt yelled into the phone.

"Matt, someone's outside my house."

"What? Who?"

"I don't know, but they got past the gate."

"All right listen to me. I'm gonna hang up the phone. I want you to call the police and as soon as you're done, call me back on my cell. Do you understand?"

"Okay."

"All right, hang up now." She hung up the phone and dialed 911.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"There's someone outside my house. Please, send someone over. He's here."

"Who's there?"

"I don't know. Please help me."

"All right mam, calm down. We're going to send a car to check it out. Where are you now?"

"I'm in the living room."

"Are your doors locked?"

"Yes, but he got through the gate."

"The gate?"

"I know I locked the gate. No one supposed to be able to get in."

"Its okay, Is there a way you can open the gates," The operator said. The cops will be there shortly."

"Yes," She went to the remote and pushed the button to open the gates. She could here sirens in the distance. "I can hear them."

"Okay, just wait on the line with me until they come to the door." It felt like forever but finally she saw the flashing lights pull up in front of her house."

"They're here." She hung up the phone and ran to the door.

"Mam," The officer started. "I'm Officer Barrow. You called about an intruder."

"I saw someone outside my house."

"Why don't you have a seat? We have another unit checking the property. Did you get a good look at them?"

"No it was too dark."

"What exactly did you see?"

"I was on the phone- oh my god Matt. I was supposed to call Matt back."

"I'm sure he'll understand. What happened?" The officer asked her again.

"I was on the phone and I heard a noise coming from outside. I looked out the window and I saw a figure standing by the tall elm tree. I dropped to the floor and Matt told me to call the cops." Another officer walked in.

"Check by the trees. See if you see anything." The officer left again.

"Is there anyone else who resides here?"

"No. I live alone."

"Have you had problems, before?" The officer came back in.

"I got a call from 314. They picked up some kid, who admitted to being on the property. He said he was a fan, and was just trying to get a glimpse of her."

"What do you do?" Officer Barrow asked her.

"I work for the WWE. I'm a wrestler." A car pulled up. She looked at the window. More officers came in.

"We got his school ID. He's fourteen."

"It was just a kid?" Jessica repeated with a sigh of relief.

"Yes, do you want to press charges?"

"Uhm, no that won't be necessary, thank you, officers. The cops left the house. Her phone rang again. Thinking it was Matt she picked up the phone.

"Matt?"

"Welcome back." The voice said and then there was only a dial tone.

"This can't be happening." She said. When the phone rang again, she couldn't bring herself to pick it up.

"Jess? It's Jeff. Matt called me, he's pretty panicked." There was a pause. "Jess? Pick up the phone."

"Jeff?"

"Jess, thank God. What took you so long? Did you call the cops?"

"Yeah, it was just some kid looking for an autograph."

"Thank god. Are you okay?"

"No. It's happening again." She said shaking. "Why is this happening again?"

"What's happening again?" She didn't answer him. "Jess, answer me!"

"Jeff, I can't do this again." She said. Jeff could hear the panic in her voice.

"Okay, it's okay." Jeff said softly. "Matt called Irvine after he got off the phone with you. He lives less than a half an hour away. He should be there soon."

"Don't hang up." She finally said.

"I won't. I'm not going anywhere. I'll stay until Chris shows up."

"Just talk, please. Give me something else to focus on." Jessica said to him. Jeff talked about random things until Irvine showed up. He talked about his art, the work he had done on his track, he even read her some of his poetry.

"Thank you." She said to Jeff once Chris had arrived. "I needed that."

"No problem. Get some sleep, and I'll talk to you in the morning." Irvine took the phone from her and after a brief conversation where Irvine promised to spend the night Jeff hung up. He reflected back on everything that had just happened. He had recognized her tone of voice. It was the same way she was when she had started to shut him out.

'It's happening again.' He remembered her saying. What was it that was happening again and what had Jessica gone through?

He called back Matt and told her what happened.

"Honey, are you coming in to bed?" Meg asked coming out from the bathroom. Thankfully she had been taking a bath during the chaos.

"In a minute, I'm on the phone with Matt."

"Okay." She went in the bedroom.

"What are we gonna do about Jess?" Matt asked when Jeff returned to the phone.

"I'm going to New York." Jeff said firmly.