Chapter 12: 'Making sense of it all'
Molly left the bathroom, with naught but a towel wrapped around her naked body. Her hotel room radiated warmth, in stark contrast to the harsh climate outside. She collapsed onto her bed and shut her eyes, allowing herself to be alone with her thoughts... Finally.
She tried to make some sense of everything that had happened to her; tonight, the past few weeks, the past year. As soft classical tones hummed in the background from the in-room stereo, she found her mind float back in time...
The past twelve months had been hell, yet the year had promised to be a great one; she celebrated six months of holding the Women's Championship and had beaten off all her competitors to prove her dominance of the division. All except one... And that one person began to systematically destroy her life bit by bit. Victoria...
She was vanquished and the title which was her lifeblood disappeared, prompting Molly to lose the plot completely. She couldn't bear not having the title, not being the best; she had to get it back at all costs.
Molly huffed as she recalled the night when Steve Austin decided to poke his nose into her business, adding the stipulation for her title match at WrestleMania. At the time it didn't seem like that big a deal, she was convinced she could defeat Victoria and regain her belt.
As the event drew nearer though, she started to realize how stupid she'd been. Each day in the run-up to the event she would stare into a mirror, admiring her hair. It was soft, shiny and healthier than ever before. It had taken her a good couple of years to replenish after bleaching it blonde for so long. She couldn't bear the idea of losing it and the humiliation of being bald. The nightmare became a reality...
Molly flashed back to the night of WrestleMania, all alone back at her hotel room, evoking memories of how distraught she was.
I dared to enter the bathroom and look in the mirror. I was confronted with the most hideous image I had ever pictured in my entire life; the light in the bathroom shined on my now stubbled scalp. Victoria shaved every last bit off, my pride and joy destroyed.
I couldn't hold back the tears, which dripped relentlessly from my eyes. What had I done to deserve this? Was I really that a bad person to warrant such a public execution?
Even though I sat alone in my room, I felt as though a thousand pairs of eyes were prying on me from all four walls. All watching me, the new freak show in town. I collapsed onto my bed, burying my face into my pillow and hoping the nightmare would fade away.
I heard my cellphone ringing, so I picked it up and checked the display... Mom. I can't face speaking to anybody right now, I hope she'll understand.
I cried myself to sleep that night...
The thought of that night still upset her to the point of weeping. The next night at Raw was no better, as she had to confront her peers; the other divas. She'd been bullied before in her life, but had always managed to stick up for herself. That time was different, she couldn't muster up anything to fight back with.
"Hey girls look, its Stone Cold! Oh, wait a second... No, it's Molly!" Trish cruelly joked.
"Nice job Vicky!" Stacy praised her friend.
"Yeah girl, you really put her in her place didn't you?" Lita added her opinion.
I expected nothing less from those heartless bitches, but it still hurt. I saw the looks on each of their faces; they all seemed to gain tremendous pleasure from seeing me in such a state. Victoria... She was the most heinous of the lot, running her hands through her hair in order to mock me. 'That's it, you make the most of it' I thought, promising to myself that I would avenge this tragedy.
Jan had been waiting for me at the entrance to the arena, she suggested I wear a wig. I wasn't too keen on the idea at first, but then realized that it had to be better than walking around bald.
I found a quiet corner of the locker room, and pulled the hairpiece onto my head. I looked up at my reflection; the long blonde hair looked horrendous and the accompanying black chinstrap hardly blended into the colour of my skin. I looked ridiculous and didn't I just know the other girls were going to let me know about it...
That situation rumbled on for a good few months, as all the girls got their cheap pops from it; even her so called friend Gail Kim. Molly knew she was in on it, but with no other friends to turn to, she had little choice but to keep it to herself.
Her performances suffered badly, as she couldn't focus on the game properly. As she was so preoccupied with her lack of hair, she made crucial mistakes and lost match after match. Falling away into obscurity, she lost a severe amount of credibility and started to wonder if her career was drifting down the drain.
Then the whirlwind of events hit her, culminating in her joining Evolution. Because of how bad her life had been over the preceding months, she welcomed that with open arms and finally thought she had found people who cared about her and who she could trust.
This brought her back to her present situation and the way Triple H had stabbed her in the back. She should have felt hatred, bitter and twisted emotions towards him. But they weren't there, they didn't surface. She still yearned for him to be by her side, she still wanted him to touch her heart, the way he had when he hugged her in the dressing room.
The only explanation she could muster, related back to the days when she teamed with her cousins. She paused for a moment, reflecting fondly on her late cousin.
"Rest in peace Crash." she whispered softly, eyeing the heavens through the window in her room. She missed him dearly.
Reluctantly getting back to her analysis, she remembered how her cousins had always taught her tough love. They looked out for her, but tried to leave her to fight her own battles in order for her to learn to look after herself. 'Perhaps Hunter is operating a similar policy.' she wondered.
The more she thought about it, the more sense it made; she envisaged that Hunter just wanted to be sure he had chosen the right girl and Hell in a Cell was the perfect test. Even the part about not accommodating losers could be rationalized. Evolution was about being the best, and losing didn't fit into that equation. She had no problem with that, she despised being beaten as much as Hunter did and wanted to uphold the prestige of their group.
She sat up and walked over to her dresser, where a percolator was stationed and fortunately for her, some tubs of milk. She was dying for a proper cup of coffee, after the sorry excuse for one that Randy had bought her earlier.
She was still mystified by Randy's sudden interest in her. For the first few weeks of her tenure in Evolution he'd taken no notice of her, then as if by magic he pretended to be her best friend or something. It seemed to be a little too fishy for her liking, she was confident he was up to something.
To an outsider her logic was completely muddled. She wanted to be closer to the man who was treating her with contempt and didn't seem to care, yet was pushing away the man who gave the impression of wanting to help; albeit belatedly. That was how mixed up her mind was, thanks to the events in her recent past.
Hunter had brainwashed her, without necessarily realizing it.