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#Post#: 2863--------------------------------------------------
Haunted by the Past - Chapter 02 - Role Reversal
By: RampageSports Date: February 4, 2016, 9:47 am
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Haunted by the Past - Chapter 2 - Role Reversal
All of us have skeletons in our closet, but I found it very hard
to believe there could be anything in Danni's past that was so
bad it couldn't be dealt with.
I guided her into one of my guest chairs, then sat in the one
beside it.
Still grasping her hands, I said softly, "Tell me."
She shook her head, unwilling to raise her eyes from the floor.
"I don't think I can," she said. "I feel like an idiot for
getting myself into this."
"I'll do my best not to be too judgmental," I said calmly.
"What with me being so perfect and all."
That didn't even get a hint of a smile.
"You don't understand," she said. "What I did... it was before
I was... me."
I smiled softly and said, "I actually understand very well."
Danni and I were both older when we met. Not old, thank you
very much. But, older. We had both already found our shape,
for lack of a better phrase. There comes a point in life where
you realize who you are and you understand how to be you, and
Danni and I were both past that stage before we knew each other.
You're never too old to learn, though, and we've done our share
of growing since then. But that learning process is much
different from the chaos that comes before.
The confusion of the teenage years is well documented, and a
great amount of effort is expended on trying to help young
people cope with that tumultuous period. Schools offer classes
to help teens figure out what the hell is happening to their
bodies, and why it is that they no longer think boys have
cooties or that girls are icky. Parents are on high alert for
signs of depression and whatever the hell teen angst is. By the
time it's over, everyone is thankful to have survived and the
mission is declared a success.
There is no help for the battle yet to come.
Yesterday's teens are suddenly today's grown-ups, and they're
considered ready to face the world. Though they're still
woefully unprepared for what lies ahead, the rest is left for
them to handle on their own. It's a time of limitless
opportunity, when nothing seems impossible. But it's also a
time of great fear and uncertainty, when failure is definitely
an option. Fear of failure can make a person desperate, and
desperation can make you do things you'll regret for the rest of
your life.
Whatever it was that had Danni so distraught had slithered it's
way out of that time before she had the confidence of knowing
she could make her way and succeed. It was a time I remembered
all too well, myself, and I had plenty of regrets to show for
it.
Regrets, and even a recurring nightmare or two.
We waited as she tried to decide what she wanted to do.
There's been a lot of trust in the relationship she and I share,
and the fact that she was holding back on this had me more than
a little worried. After all this time, what could this be that
she felt she couldn't tell me?
In the end, that shared trust won out over whatever reservations
she had.
"Richelle, I..."
She brought her eyes up to mine as she tried to speak, but
emotion cut her off.
As she struggled, I just sat quietly and watched her, willing to
wait as long as I had to for her to be ready.
She drew a deep breath, then let it out slowly.
"There's a video," she said.
"What kind of video?" I asked.
She waited for it to sink in.
"Oh," I said as the realization hit me.
She looked away again, the shame evident on her face. But I was
having none of it.
"C'mon," I said. "This is me you're talking to. It might
surprise you to know that I've done quite a few stupid things
over the years."
She wiped away a tear and said, "No, that's really not
surprising, at all."
The tears kept trickling down, but her voice was slowly gaining
strength.
I put on an exaggerated frown.
"Even in your darkest hour, mocking me still comes naturally,
huh?"
"Sorry. I just can't help it."
I laughed softly and shook my head. A small smile appeared on
Danni's face, and I knew we were starting to get somewhere.
After a few moments, I gave her hand a firm squeeze and said
again, "Danni... tell me."
She shrugged. "It's the same old story, I guess. I was
young... full of dreams... blah, blah, blah. I was also stupid
and naive. I went to California thinking I was on my way to
success. Met an agent that promised me fame and fortune. I
fell for it... and for him."
I nodded. I had done so many stupid things when I was younger,
my life story could be used as a cautionary tale for subsequent
generations. I had no trouble understanding how a younger, more
insecure Danni could have let herself be taken advantage of.
"Where does the video come in?" I asked.
Her eyes narrowed as she growled, "The little f*ck had a camera
hidden in the bedroom."
Her face transitioned from shame to a look of anger and
betrayal, and I felt it right along with her. To be taken
advantage of in that way... it's almost unthinkable.
After a beat, I shrugged and tried to defuse the moment with
humor.
"I wouldn't mind seeing that video," I said.
My attempt didn't play the way I'd expected. The anger left her
face in a hurry, replaced by a look of pure shock. She stayed
that way so long, I was convinced I'd made a terrible mistake.
Just as I went to apologize, she smiled and said, "Don't f*ck
around with me."
I felt the air return to my lungs, as relief washed over me. I
moved quickly to advance the conversation before I could blunder
again.
"This agent have a name?" I asked.
"Dickie Smalls," she said.
I almost fell right out of the chair.
Every thought in my head came to a screeching halt... the ideas
crashing together in a jumble. She waited to see what my
response would be, but I couldn't pull myself together. I
opened my mouth to speak, then closed it again when I realized I
had no idea what I was going to say.
As my mind ground back to life, I took stock of my dilemma.
Here I was, trying to console Danni and help her work through
her problem, and she drops something like this on me. What was
I supposed to do? I was actually too shocked to laugh, but was
I just supposed to pretend I hadn't heard her? How?
She enjoyed my struggle for a moment or two before she set me
free.
"Go ahead. Say it," she said.
I spread my hands in front of me and said, "What the f*ck,
Danni?"
"I know," she said flatly.
"You slept with a guy named Dickie Smalls?"
"Yeah," she sighed, "I know."
"I mean, was the name accur..."
"Don't!" she cut in, raising her index finger in front of her.
"Just don't."
I wanted to let it go, but I couldn't. I pulled on my lower lip
with my teeth... willing myself to just move on. But it was no
good.
"How did you..."
"Let's just agree that I don't know how, OK?" she said. "I
honestly don't know how I let it happen."
What I was going to ask is how she ever thought sleeping with a
guy named Dickie Smalls was a good idea.
Somehow, I think her response was referring to a deeper, more
troubling question.
Just like that, moving on became a whole lot easier.
"He kept the recording a secret all these years?" I asked.
"No," she said. "He told me about it a while back. Right after
I made the move from One Life To Live to One Tree Hill."
"Well, at least he felt you had potential. He waited until you
made the big time instead of hitting you as soon as you made a
few bucks."
She just rolled her eyes.
"How'd you get rid of him?" I asked.
"I threw some money at him," she said. "Told him if I ever saw
him again, I'd go cops and lawyers... the whole deal. It seemed
to work, and he disappeared."
"But now he's back."
"No," she said as a puzzled look came across her face. "Someone
else got hold of it, somehow."
"You know the guy?" I asked.
She shook her head.
"Never saw him before, but he definitely seemed more...
professional."
The way she said the word made my stomach do a flip.
"How do you mean?" I asked.
"He just seemed to know what he was doing," she said. "He walked
right up to me in broad daylight, like it was no big deal.
Then, he just casually mentioned that he had the video, and that
he'd release it if I didn't do what he asked. Simple as that."
"How much did he want?"
"He wasn't looking for money."
"Then what did he want?"
She looked me straight in the eye and said, "He wanted me to
cheat."
"What?"
"He wanted me to throw fights," she answered.
The flip turned into full-blown nausea. What she was describing
sounded like it was part of a bookmaking scheme. One where the
bookie wanted to have control over the action. In many
respects, Danni was the perfect choice for such a plan. She was
one of the best fighters in her weight class. In fact, there
were only a small percentage of welterweight fighters in the
UMMA that were on her level. If she deliberately dropped an
easy match-up, the unwitting marks who bet on her would lose a
fortune. But it wouldn't take much for her to get back to her
winning ways and restore the bettors faith in her. After a
while, she could do it again. And it was highly unlikely anyone
would ever figure out what was happening.
But there was one aspect that didn't fit.
"I don't get it," I said. "Anybody who knew anything about you
would know you weren't going to go along with this. How bad is
this video?"
She narrowed her eyes at me, but I motioned for her to relax.
"What I mean is, is it really something he thought he could use
to force you into this?"
She waved her hand dismissively.
"I could give a sh*t about the video," she said. "I'm far more
pissed that I left myself open to this kind of bullsh*t."
I wasn't really buying all of that.
"If you don't care about the video, then what was with the
envelope? Why quit if you weren't worried about it?"
"I wasn't going to embarrass the stable that way," she said, "or
you."
Now that I believed.
"You can be such a fool sometimes," I said with a smile. "After
all this time, if you think you could do something to make these
girls ashamed of you, then you're just not getting it."
If Danni's teammates knew she was in trouble, I had no doubt of
what their reaction would be. They would be ready to go to war
for her.
I think Danni knew it too, but she just shrugged me off... a
move which is also pretty typical of her.
I thought about the situation a little more, then shook my head.
"It doesn't make sense," I said, "but I do have good news."
"Oh?"
"I can help."
"How?" Danni said, making no attempt to hide the fact that she
didn't believe me.
I rose and made my way around the desk.
"Let's just say I know someone who can help us figure out what
the hell is going on," I said, "and then help us deal with it."
Though she didn't appear overwhelmed with relief, she did seem
happy to have some new hope to cling to.
"I'll take whatever help I can get," she said. "This thing
seems to have quite a few layers to it."
"Layers?" I asked as I reached for the phone.
"Yeah. Whatever is going on is not just one guy," she said.
"What makes you say that?"
"I got the feeling there was someone higher up pulling the
strings. The guy who approached me warned me that I'd better do
what I was told. He said it wouldn't be smart to cross the
prince, or something like that."
My grip on the receiver tightened involuntarily and I could
actually feel the blood drain from my face.
"The King?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
"Yeah, that was it."
My vision blurred as the room started to spin. I suddenly lost
all sense of where I was, or what I was doing.
Danni saw that something was wrong, immediately.
"Hey," she said as she jumped to her feet. "Hey, what's wrong?"
I continued to squeeze the phone as I collapsed into my chair,
suddenly aware of common things you don't ordinarily notice.
The sound of my own breathing. My heartbeat pounding in my
ears.
I remember knowing that Danni was trying to get to me, but my
mind was racing so fast, I couldn't make sense of anything.
The only thing I knew for certain was that it wasn't Danni's
past that had come back to haunt us.
It was mine.
[hr]
Character Reference
HTML https://aade768506dacb303a01a361d3dc0d27209a5ec4.googledrive.com/host/0Bz8YsEjMxOhMMXhVcF82aG5SXzA/Richelle_100x120.jpg
Name: Richelle Winterfeld
Nickname(s):
Background: Owner of the RSI stable, former underground fighter
HTML https://aade768506dacb303a01a361d3dc0d27209a5ec4.googledrive.com/host/0Bz8YsEjMxOhMMXhVcF82aG5SXzA/Danni_100x120.jpg
Name: Danneel Harris
Nickname(s): Danni
Background: RSI stable leader, reigning DEF welterweight
champion
#Post#: 2864--------------------------------------------------
Re: Haunted by the Past - Chapter 2 - Role Reversal
By: BadAssBunnies Date: February 5, 2016, 2:13 pm
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OK. Now I'm hooked. Don't know if I can wait for the rest. Wish
it was like Netflix and I could binge read it. Excellent work.
I'll take this down later so the story flows better but had to
let you know that I'm enjoying it.
#Post#: 2865--------------------------------------------------
Re: Haunted by the Past - Chapter 2 - Role Reversal
By: RampageSports Date: February 5, 2016, 3:00 pm
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Thanks, Becca. And no worries about taking anything down.
Every chapter will get it's own post, so it's NP.
On top of that, I'm not ashamed to admit I live for feedback.
So, please... comment away.
You've got me thinking, though... I should put 2 digit chapters
in the subject, so someone can sort it that way and get it all
in order, if they want. I'm glad you made me think of it now,
so I only have 2 to fix.
Oh, and what's with the OFN 2015 Drama story? Almost two weeks
with no post? What? You have some sort of real life that 's
taking up your time, or something? :P
Obviously, I'm kidding, but I am looking forward to more.
Besides... I know the delay is all Dragon's fault, anyway. ;D
#Post#: 2866--------------------------------------------------
Re: Haunted by the Past - Chapter 02 - Role Reversal
By: Dragons Den Date: February 6, 2016, 6:59 am
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Holy shit... brilliant! I'm with Becca... hooked. I'm still on
the edge of my seat. Well done. I'm invested and I'm worried and
I'm rooting strongly for the both of them, and I'm not sure if
that has anything to do with my pre-investment in the characters
or just due to how well these first couple of chapters have been
done. I think both of those things count, but either would be
enough, due to perfect execution on your behalf. Love it,
Richelle!
As for Becca and my story... that is completely, 100%, on me. In
fact Becca has the next part ready to go between her girls.
She's waiting on me to get Sophia and Dragon into it. Whoops,
spoilers.
But, yeah, my fault, that one. Again. This week, I promise!
(With luck, within the next couple of days.)
Looking forward to your next chapter, Richelle!
#Post#: 2867--------------------------------------------------
Re: Haunted by the Past - Chapter 02 - Role Reversal
By: RampageSports Date: February 6, 2016, 9:47 am
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Thanks again, Dragon. ;)
And that stuff about delay was just me messing around. I know
full well what it takes to do this stuff, and all the things
that can get in the way. When it's ready, it's ready. And it
will be worth it. :D
#Post#: 2869--------------------------------------------------
Re: Haunted by the Past - Chapter 02 - Role Reversal
By: awesome aries Date: February 8, 2016, 3:54 pm
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:o now this is starting to get interesting. :) :)
#Post#: 2870--------------------------------------------------
Re: Haunted by the Past - Chapter 02 - Role Reversal
By: RampageSports Date: February 8, 2016, 4:29 pm
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Glad to hear you like it. :)
Chapter 4 should be up tonight, so hopefully I can keep things
interesting. ;)
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