Nadia felt like her heart had ceased. It was him. Bray was here, right in front of her.
She expected anger. Rage. She wasn't completely delusional. She had some feeling that he knew of her betrayal.
She deserved his scorn and hatred and she would take the punishment.
The truth of the matter is, was that she still cared about Bray. During that time in the compound, they fell in love. He was her safe place from the darkness and pain that she had been through. He was her light. And he was equally passionate about her, if not more.
Even during his darkest periods, she understood him and knew of Bray and his vulnerabilities. They consoled each other and healed each other in many ways.
But it wasn't before long until the accident. They lost a child. An ill-fated miscarriage due to uterine abnormalities. Nothing but sorrow and pain, both of them grieving over the loss of their unborn baby, but Bray never blamed her.
He blamed the world and reveled in the anger itself, enraged that so much pain was rained down on himself, his sweet little lamb, and their innocent unborn that was taken from them.
To be fair, she did too. She lost it, and set one of her enemies on fire, with the power of Sister Abigail and the darkness that had circled them both.
The world was a cruel place. A different world in many aspects but still cruel.
It can be truly a fucked up place when you had society itself, treat you like scum from the kitchen sink.
She looked at Bray and swallowed hard, her nerves fluttering deep within.
He knows...you know that he knows...he's not an idiot.
"Bray, I'm sorry." She blurted out, her guilt haunting her conscience. She wanted to get away from the family. She wanted to forget the darkness that had consumed her one time.
She wanted a different world. It wasn't easy to come to terms with that.
She was still torn over hurting Bray. He was a skillful if not yet, a dangerous individual if you were not careful. She could see the tormented emotions in his eyes. Even with that sweet smile, she could sense a deeper and darker sensation that was lurking within.
"Sorry for what, Little Lamb?" He beamed at her, despite the uncanny feeling that was slithering up her spine for some reason. "I only came to see you because...wow you still look amazing. And I heard about your engagement with Ricochet right?" He said, sounding a little too eager.
"Um well. We're married now. Newlyweds." She said, licking her dry lips. Damn it he looked good still but she had to focus. He was a dangerous diabolical man. She wasn't...she wasn't that person anymore.
She wasn't sick again. And she couldn't stop thinking about the doll. She gave it to one of the WWE managers and they said they would look into it. It seemed like things have just been a bit weird as of lately.
She definitely didn't want to remember that dream ever again. She thought about telling Ricochet when they were on the road earlier but the last thing she wanted to do was worry him. He was already dealing with enough backstage heat with WWE management and a few WWE superstars. And he was engrossed into shaping his career to be the number one WWE superstar.
She loved him and as a wife, your job was to support him and be there for him. She was only trying to be the woman for him. It's what you're supposed to do right? When you marry someone, you love and support one another through all their faults.
"It's great to see you again." She faltered a bit. She looked at him closely. He was sporting a red sweater, black jeans and his hair was pulled back, with his beard trim and he kept himself still fit just like he had done years ago. He was still handsome from the first time she met him.
"It's great to see you too." He chuckled. "And Nadia, the past is in the past. I know you have to do what's best for you." He said, half heartedly. "It's just...well...I wish things didn't end like the way it did. I wish I could understand why you left me the way you did. Why did you hurt me the way you did?"
Nadia could see he was trying to have conversation, not confrontation. But she didn't ignore that quiet tone of hurt, sadness and anger.
She added to his pain, and it was something that she could never fix or erase after her actions.
Nadia sighed, twitching with the ends of her red blouse. "Bray...I…" What could she even say?
Sorry I worked with your rival to burn down what was so important to you and oh by the way, married another man with no thought of you whatsoever because I was selfish to want a life and that it wasn't who I was anymore? Sorry that I betrayed you and stabbed you in the back? Or sorry for working with out of all your rivals, I chose to betray you with Randy Orton so that I could escape?
"Bray, I know words don't mean anything and I know for you to be smarter than that." She started off as he paid attention to her. "And I won't disrespect you or patronize you in that way."
"I"m listening, Little Lamb" He looked at her.
"It just wasn't who I am anymore. I couldn't continue with that life. It was deranged and I am not one to give into my darkness. Not again. After we...after we lost our baby. I knew that it was time for me to leave. I'm not that person anymore.."
She blinked back tears, thinking of their unborn baby. It was a pain that she carried in her every day. She knew Bray felt that equal pain, but this was supposed to be her first child, and the universe just ripped it away from her in a flash.
Bray looked at her thoughtfully, his eyes flashed more with the pain, as he rubbed his chest. "I admit losing our child; It damn near killed me, Little Lamb. It tore my fucking heart in two. But I never left you, like you left me. Once you left me, and once my family left me. Everything went to shit. I wanted it all to burn."
Nadia knew she shouldn't be afraid of him. He's never raised a hand to her no matter how angry he's gotten with her and vice versa. She was more concerned with how much further the darkness had taken him.
She was a little startled as he went back to being friendly and smiling again after a dark moment. "But the past is in the past. And it's time for a fresh start. I think we both deserve one. Especially for you." He reached over, taking his large calloused hand in her small one.
"Yeah, right." She smiled tentatively, but also squeezing Bray's hand too, as she may or may have not missed his comforting touch. "I want you to find your peace and comfort."
"Oh I already have. He fixed me right into a new man."
Wait, who was He? What kind of weird game was this? This was not the "Eater of Worlds" Bray.
"You are happy, are you?" He asked gingerly.
She nodded, answering too quickly. "Yes, of course."
She then saw Ricochet come up as he hugged her and she kissed his cheek.
"Hey man, what's up?" He greeted Bray, as he was completely oblivious to the odd look that he gave Ricochet.
It disappeared though as it went back to the friendly smiling cheerful Bray.
"Just catching up with an old friend." He grinned at Nadia, who returned his smile, despite her nerves messing with her insides.
"Well, see you out there man. Great to see you." He smiled as he put his arm around Nadia as they walked off.
Nadia looked at Bray briefly before she headed in the opposite direction with Ricochet.
If she didn't know any better, underneath all of that cheerfulness, she could still feel his energy surrounding her.
Who was the "He" that was referring to?'
"Baby, you seem spaced off right now more than you usually are." She heard her husband say.
"Nadia...NADIA!" He yelled to get her attention.
She blinked back a few times, realizing she zoned out once more.
"Baby, come on we have to get going. Our match is up. I need you to focus." Ricochet scolded her, sounding a little annoyed.
"Yeah, right."
She really needed to stay out of her head more and focus on the existence of what is going on. Things were fine. Things were ok.
Bray headed back to his special place. It was one that no one knew about. Well, actually, "He" was the one who made it all into an apparition.
The anger, hurt and rage was still burning inside of him, like the fires that would blaze and spread across the forest. He was still angry and hurt from Nadia's actions regarding Randy. He wasn't an idiot. He knew she double-crossed him and covered it up to save herself and away from the life that she believed was ill and evil.
He couldn't put the sole blame on her. Sure, she was just at accountability as Randy was, but he didn't blame her. She was confused. Led by lies of the "good" ones. He knew it was all bullshit. Randy and Ricochet were all to blame for taking his precious little lamb from him.
The whispers. The voices punctured his skull as he wanted to tear out his own eyes to make them shut the fuck up. It's like they wouldn't fucking stop.
Every morning, noon, and night it was the same fucking screams, taunting and torturing him. The voices just only grew so much louder, knowing he couldn't fight them off much longer.
The voices from hell. The voices that encouraged and even created the abomination that was in him.
Bray knew he was deranged and he accepted it. It was who he was. The darkness was what showed him the truth. It showed him the side to him as to where he could be anything he wanted to be. He would right the wrongs.
Nadia still had a light to her inside, and she thought that by escaping him, that it would be a happy ever after for everyone.
Not for him. And damn sure not for her, whatever this version was for her. He wasn't buying it.
He loved her, but only HE had to be the one to hurt her. To make her accept the darkness inside herself. What she lived was a false fairytale. The life she was living now was a facade.'
He would never take that light away from her. It was a beautiful light that brought even him back to that shred of sanity, but she also accepted his demons and soothed him like he always had done for her.
Her new husband didn't know shit about her. She was playing a foolish role just to appease him to make this idiot look good. This wasn't the real her. It was just a public display to make everyone accept the fake version of herself.
And it was even worse when she believed it herself.
She came from a broken place, a broken home. She sought out solace and someone to accept her.
A lost firefly searching for a home to be herself.
And he welcomed her with open arms when she was unsure of herself, who she was. She was an outsider and he didn't want her to feel like that.
But the hurt and anger was still there. He wanted to hate her. But unlike the others who crossed him, he could see genuine remorse for how she hurt him, even though she told him that she wasn't that person anymore.
It was a lie. It was all a lie. Nothing but fucking lies that were told to his lamb, manipulated and deceived by the Viper himself for his false promises. Darkness never left a person. It was still within them no matter how many smiles and sunshine and fucking rainbows were glowing everywhere.
The whispers continued as he proceeded throughout the hallway, into the place he built from the ashes. That HE helped to restore.
The Firefly Funhouse.
He smiled, coming into the Funhouse. Abby the Witch, Ramblin Rabbit, Huskus The Pig, and Mercy The Buzzard.
And then it was HIM.
He smiled at all of his fireflies, his special friends, and then him. The demonic whispers swirling through his mind. He took an inhale of breath, walking over to a box as he pulled out a dress that was in the blood.
The blood of the sacrificed sheep, the day that Nadia decided to join the Wyatt Family. Where he had a special ceremony for her. She was special to him. She always was.
Ricochet was a fool. A Liar. He took his cherished lamb away from him. She would never leave him.
Bray promised himself that while the old him was dead and gone back into the swamp at the Wyatt Compound, a new form of him was alive and well.
He knew that the doll he sent to her would be a reminder, that soon it would be time for her to come back home.
She didn't belong in that delusional world. They would never accept or see Nadia, the way he did.
And HE would make sure that she would come to terms with her sins, to help cleanse her of her guilt. To bring her back home.
He saw the demon and he laughed joyfully as he heard its whispers.
The whispers of death, pain, and fury.
The old Wyatt may have failed to keep Nadia where she was supposed to be, but HE would make sure where her home truly was, and to fully embrace the side of her that she kept locked away.
He would make sure the truth of it all would be exposed, and then she would come back home.
She would LET HIM IN.
A Few Days Later…
Nadia knocked on the door to WWE management, asking for Andrew who was the executive Vice President who handled the talent relations. She brought the doll to him out of concern, not revealing her real suspicions. She didn't want to jump to conclusions and make things bigger than what they are.
She knocked on the door to his office.
"Andrew?" She knocked on the door. "It's me, Nadia."
No response.
He would open the door for her at any time, and it was only 9 am. No one has heard from him in a few days.
"Mr. Andrew?" She knocked on it again.
She almost left until the door creaked open on its own. Curiosity, and being nosy got the better of her as she walked inside. She looked around to see that everything seemed to be in place. His books, files, desk, and all of his knick-knacks were in perfect condition.
He was sitting in his chair, but something was off.
"Andrew…" She went over to him slowly, as she pulled his chair around and she damn near fell in hysteria, and with no words, as if someone cut off her voice pipe.
Andrew had his eyes carved out, as well as his throat was slit, blood pouring out of him.
It was then that "Andrew" sat up at her and smiled, the blood still oozing from his injuries.
He grinned at her, which was even more fucking creepy.
"LET HIM IN, NADIA!" "Andrew" chortled, the eyes soulless. "Just Let Him In…"
Nadia then heard the voices of children singing "Ring around the Rosie" as Andrew's corpse laughed at her.
Nadia struggled to unlock the door, as she felt her palms sweating, seeing the corpse slowly walk towards her.
"Please, Please unlock the door. Please God just unlock this door!" She begged before she finally got it open and fucking ran.
She ran all the way to her car as she unlocked it, not even fretting to check if the corpse was following her.
All she knew was that she had to get home. Instantly.
After driving almost haphazardly home, she hopped out of the car, wanting to make sure that her husband was ok. After seeing Andrew's dead body come to life, she couldn't exactly decipher what was real and what wasn't.
All she knew was that she had to warn Ricochet.
She burst inside the house, almost falling to her knees as she called out for him.
Unluckily, he wasn't home yet. He took one of his cars with him, seeing a text that he was going to the Performance Center to train with Otis, Keith Lee and Damien Priest.
She turned to see the doll was back in its place, sitting in its little rocking chair just poised and perfect. Her black hair was perfect and the eyes were still looking at her. Although now it had curly hair, a beautiful white dress with some blood on its edges and she had black streaks down her eyes. Her eyes were pure white.
Was this doll...changing? This was not the same doll. And how the fuck did it wind up back in her house?
She grabbed the damn thing and chucked it outside as she slammed the door and locked it.
Maybe a shower and some music would help her.
No, she needed to call the fucking police, after seeing Andrew's dead body with his throat slit and cut out eyes.
But then the corpse came to life. Who in their right mind would even believe THAT? Even she wouldn't believe it.
She couldn't say anything for now. She was in too much shock and wanted to block out what she just saw.
Sure Andrew was a bit of an asshole to her sometimes, but even he didn't deserve to die this way. This was just beyond sick.
She made it to her bedroom, as she sat down on the bed, rubbing her temples as she said a silent prayer.
"What's going on? What is going on?" She kept saying over and over, rocking back and forth.
A weird video played on her phone suddenly.
What fresh hell was this?
"We're really glad that you're our friend. And this is a friendship that'll never ever end!"
The Fiend from in the shadows was watching her. He felt no emotion whatsoever for anything or anyone other than rage and anger.
Something touched him. Something about this woman, that Bray told him about, has also affected him. Nonetheless, work was to be done.
Once the work would be done, she would be in a much better place. She wouldn't hide anymore.
Ricochet would be taken out of the picture and their fairy tale marriage would disintegrate bit by bit.
He would show her the truth of it all, and that she couldn't escape from HERSELF anymore.