Post by Tara on Feb 2, 2022 9:54:46 GMT -5
THE DREAM
There were many children, teenagers, or young adults that had dreamed of one day gracing the combat sport with their presence. Most of them shared the dream of one day being able to hold the greatest prize over their head with the crowd roaring their name. Children would parade around the house with their plastic replica belts proclaiming themselves as the World Champion. The teenagers would begin to try to turn their dream into fruition by competing with each other in unsanctioned backyard wrestling competitions, but few would go on to truly learn the path to turn this dream into a reality. Even the young adults; the ones that were slowly giving up on their dream to work in retail mediocrity. Undoubtedly, every child had their dream of being one of the greatest sports athletes...but only few would achieve this dream, and fewer would be able to truly call themselves the World Champion.
The sport, itself, was viewed as dangerous. It was in the name: “combat”. Combat does not come without bruises; combat does not come without breaking a few bones; combat does not come without being hurt. There were children that would get hurt just by trying to play pretend; there were teenagers that would end up worse for wear because of their pretending; there were young adults that would sacrifice their bodies to make a name for themselves in this industry, and the fact of the matter is that people are going to get hurt. People could die. It was tragic every time, and it would usually happen to people that were far too young.
It was no mystery to the history of Tara; it was well-documented in her autobiography blog that she had been posting online that Tara had truly began her time in this business at fourteen-years-old...that was when Bill Dalton had agreed to take her under his wing and begin her training. She had already been part of martial arts classes, but after her own tragedy, this was something that had saved her. She had competed in her first match at sixteen-years-old; she had been trained to focus on using the speed to her advantage...she had been trained to use her opponents bodies and momentum against them to be able to complete the majority of her arsenal.
She was not the only sixteen-year-old that competed in the territory. Saul, Tara’s older adopted brother, began his journey at the age of sixteen. Two years older than Tara at the time, Saul was welcomed into the ring.
BIGGER BROTHER
September 19, 1998
Tara peered out from behind the curtains at the full house…granted, it was only a high school gymnasium, and so there were only around one-hundred people, but it was exciting nonetheless! Tara managed to pull herself away from the curtain and waltz over to where her trainer, Bill Dalton, was with her brother. He was beginning to tape his wrist while giving him some last minute instructions.
“You remember what we talked about?” Bill asked. His eyes were locked with Saul who had his own wandering eyes; there was a certain nervousness present in them that was unmistakable…Saul nodded, albeit weakly, which caused Bill to jerk his shoulder momentarily, “Saul! You know I like my students to speak when I’m speaking with them.” Bill said with a tone that easily displayed his frustration, and even made it appear that Bill was on edge just as well as he was.
Bill was responsible for his safety, and was always especially careful for his students that were legally recognized as minors; he was there with permission, but that did not exclude Bill from understanding his own responsibilities; he did not want to stop anyone from fulfilling their dream, but he did not want them to hurt themselves or anyone else in the process, and was ready to pull the plug if he deemed it necessary…he even had a replacement standing by in case he felt that Saul should not compete.
However, that tone from Bill brought Saul to full attention. There was still a long momentary silence between them as Bill seemed to search for the fire in his eyes; the passion that he wanted to see.
“Yessir, I remember what we talked about. Be aware, be safe, protect myself, and protect my opponent.” Saul said with a nod.
The way that Saul had said it made it sound as if it were drilled into him more as a lesson plan. Did he believe it, though? That was the question that Bill had to answer. This was not something where you simply fail a written exam; if Saul were to mess up, he could seriously hurt himself, or seriously hurt his opponent, and that was the concern. During the next bit of silence Tara had hurried toward her; there was a certain pep in her step that she had regained since her own tragedy that seemed to rip all of her happiness away…there was something about this environment that comforted her, and made her feel happy.
It was clear by the smile on her face; from ear to ear, she was beaming and it caught the attention of Bill Dalton as he spun in his chair and slapped his hand against his knee, “What’s got you so damn jolly?” he asked with a more upbeat tone mirroring the happiness he could feel radiating off of Tara.
She could barely stand in one place as she hopped back and forth off of her feet, “Can I do something tonight? Can I just go down to the ring with him?” Tara asked.
Bill licked his lips, and seemed uneasy…he shook his head, “I’m sorry, darlin’, but I really do not think that is a good idea.” Bill answered and feigned a smile; he then shot a glance over to Saul and with a subtle nod, Saul knew that it was time to get up and start heading for the curtain. Bill’s eyes followed Saul as he went toward the curtain, and Bill leaned in close to Tara to be able to talk to her in a whisper, “This is your brother’s first match, alright? I know how badly you want to get into that ring, and you’re going to get your time, but this is his, alright? We want the spotlight to be on him, but if you’re out there…” Bill scrunched his face up, “They’re not going to.”
“Okay,” Tara said dejectedly. She turned back toward her brother who clicked his tongue at her and shot the finger pistol before his music had filled the gymnasium.
“Ladies and gentlemen! Coming out of Anchorage, Alaska–” were the words that were heard before Tara was able to zone everything else out. She pried the curtains apart and poked her head out to watch the match… Saul’s opponent was already inside the ring, and both of them were beginning to circle the ring interior; as if they were sizing each other up. His opponent was a couple years older, but Saul had still matched him in size.
It seemed like the match had been going on for a half hour; it felt like a spectacle…but the reality of the situation was that the match was no more than six minutes. Tara was entranced by what she was watching; she was happy for her brother to be able to live out his dream in the first step toward selling out Madison Square Garden with his name on the marquee. She watched Saul dive from the top rope toward his opponent, and could see him go down but he sank from her view after that; when Tara had closed herself off to everything else except what was happening inside of the ring, and it seemed that the referee looked right at her. From their distance, she couldn’t tell too much, but he had raised his arms while looking toward her and made an “X” over his head.
She was jerked back to reality when Bill Dalton had pushed his way past her; ordinarily, he would have been gentler but he had moved her aside; he had done it in a hurry but was careful not to hurt her in the process…the commotion had built up around her, and she could see everyone behind her bursting into action. An EMT team began rushing past her with a stretcher.
“What? What is it? What’s happening?” Tara asked, almost pleading for answers.
“It’s–” one voice called out, and Tara looked up to see William glancing at her, but he quickly fixed his attention out to where Bill was; he had already gotten into the ring and was hovering over someone…Tara could see Saul’s opponent sitting in the far corner so as to not get in the way, “–it’s gonna be okay!” William said one more time and feigned a smile. He then ran past the curtains.
The entire crowd was murmuring amongst themselves wondering if this was part of the show. Tara just stared out from the curtains to see and just as she saw Bill and the EMTs pulling Saul toward the stretcher: she bolted toward them.
SOMETIMES DREAMS JUST DO NOT COME TRUE.
“This… is a dangerous sport,” Tara began as the scene faded in, and focused on the Clive Darling Memorial Cup winner, and the woman who held a key to battle for whatever belt she desired on Proving Ground. She had her head cocked to the side and licked her lips, while they curled into the traditional Docherty smirk.
“That is the thing that some of these people do not understand, and then…guess what? Bad things happen. It is absolutely tragic! It is awful! I can tell you that I have been inside of the ring and made friends with many people that have had their careers ended in the blink of an eye; I have had a few friends who have died inside of that ring…” Tara took a moment to draw in a deep breath as she considered that last statement. Her gaze did falter from the camera and she could not refrain from tearing up, but she bit down on her bottom lip and shook her head, “It is awful. I am not some monster that is going to claim that people get what they deserve… Nobody deserves to walk into the ring and wonder if it could be their last time walking into it, or their last time walking– out of it.”
Tara gave a wry smile as she fixed her gaze back on the camera in front of her, “I am a professional, okay? People look at me and they see the best, and they know they are going to get the best. I do my job. I look to see who is standing across from me on any given week, whether it is one, two, three, or more people standing across from me, and I am already putting a battle plan together to ensure that it is I that is going to walk out with my arm raised as the winner, and so it seems that one of the people that is standing across from me that has seen the ugly side of the business…and you lost someone dear to you. My condolences.” Tara paused momentarily as if to give a moment of silence for the dearly departed.
“It is easy to see why you turned against this business… That is one of the paths that some of these people have never experienced, and something that I hope they will never have to experience, but it is clear that when I look at you– and then I look at me– I see the difference at the end of each path… But there is one key difference between us, isn’t there? I may have experienced a terrible event that may have turned some people away from the business, but I was also a dreamer; you never were. I do not want to discredit you completely, Sonya; I do not want to say that you are getting into this ring with no chance of being able to walk out as the winner because I am going to tell you what I told Emmanuelle when I first met her…before I knew her…quite well,” Tara said and licked her lips; she couldn’t keep herself from retaining that smirk and even blushing slightly.
“I told her there was a difference between us in the sense that I lived for this business, and she was just doing it to catapult herself into another line of work…I did not see the same spark in her eye that I saw in mine, but go ahead and look at where she is now: the Grand Champion. She steps into the ring with some of the best that this industry knows. She steps into the ring with the likes of Arata Asakura, she is a dear friend and the tag team partner to MYŌJIN, the current X-Factor Champion. She has been the longest reigning Warrior Rising Champion. She surprised me, so I am not going to dismiss the possibility that you…may surprise me.” Tara had a nonchalant expression on her face and shrugged slightly.
“The difference that I do see between you and Emmy, though, is that she never hated this business…she never resented it. She never tried to close any of the companies. You do this because you have to, but people like Emmy– do this because they want to. They do this because they are damn good at it. You? Search for an easy way out– you pay people to get out of a competition– you paid someone to take a dive…and he took it, and believe me when I say that I will take care of that little shit all in due time, but there was another thing that you had a history of: trying to close down companies, and that is one major area where I have a problem, honey.” Tara’s tone had suddenly shifted from one that resembled empathy for what Sonya had endured, into disdain.
“People know me. Okay? People know what I bring to the ring. This business has done more for me than you could comprehend. This business has given me a second chance– at living! There are people out in the world that have experienced some of the same things that I have gone through, and they have allowed it to let them crumble…they have allowed it to break them! But this, Sonya– this is the difference that I had that some of them were not so lucky to have! This gave me an opportunity to do something that I thought I lost: control. This business gave me control over my life; this business let me change the story of my life. This business has let me conquer this world in my own fashion!” Tara cocked her head back to the side and could not even hide the anger from showing in her eyes, “But you wanted to take that away. You wanted to take away what has saved me… You want to take away what has saved so many people.”
Tara paused momentarily and took in a deep breath. She let out one more sigh before continuing, “There are many people who dream of stepping into the ring and think that they are going to have this world chanting their name…they all dream that they are going to conquer this world, but sometimes…sometimes, people get in over their head, and then do you want to know what happens to them? They get hurt. That has been what has been happening in my most recent Project: Honor matches: people like Kurtis Slayne…people like Officer Greyfield…they want to step in the ring with the greatest to ever do it, and think that they stand a chance, and then I am given no choice but to give them the reality check that is needed.” Tara said with a sneer and snickered, “I have to show them that they are in…over their head.” She finished the statement and waved her hand over her head to give the visual representation.
Tara took a deep breath and brought her hands forward, and clasped them together. She let the silence linger as she considered the last couple of matches that she has had, and was considering the one that she was stepping into this week against Sonya, Giovanni, and Johnny Levy.
“Are you going to offer me some money, Sonya? Are you going to try to give me an offer that I cannot refuse? Honey, let me go ahead and tell you…I told you that this business saved my life; this business gave me a second chance to become everything I wanted to be! It gave me more than I thought I could ever attain. I went from being a child that was given up for adoption to having more money than I really know what to do with, but you would never guess it because unlike everyone else…I do not exactly flaunt it.” Tara said with a shrug, “Granted, I have a great deal of property but most of them are in use as non-kill shelters, or animal sanctuaries. I do have a private jet, and currently in the market for a second one. I do own property in Alaska, Washington, California, Texas, New York, Connecticut, Florida, Scotland, Italy. Why am I telling you this? Because I need you to understand that with as much money as you have…you cannot buy me.” Tara let that last word sit out for a moment longer and gave a subtle shake of her head while scrunching up her face.
“I do not attain glory– I do not accomplish what I want to accomplish by being bought out…and I have no need for your money. Then what other concerns should I have since you have already used this method? Should I worry about you being able to buy out Brandon Hendrix?” Tara asked while tapping her finger against her chin, “Brandon Hendrix and I do go…just a little bit back…we did first encounter each other here at Project: Honor, but he did go on to compete at the Tara Fenix Charity Cruise, and personally…” Tara gave a slight shrug, “I really do not think that is something that I have to concern myself with. Brandon Hendrix is not just after the money: he is after glory, and he is after gold. He is not going to acquire that by being bought out. It is just not something that I see him being capable of doing…” Tara snickered.
“Lexi Gold? Lexi is a name that I have only heard from what others have told me, so I will say that there is a little bit of concern when it comes to my firsthand knowledge on her…but I do listen– I listen to what people have to say about everybody in this industry, and there has only been one common trait that people have told me about her: she lives for this business. She lives for wrestling. She is not looking at stepping out into anything else; she is not looking to get her name out in acting; she is not looking to give up her career in exchange for a modeling career. She is a wrestler. She is like me where this business, this profession, is all that matters. So I do not believe that I have to be concerned with who my partners are. This is a battle of people who want to be here versus people who are here because they have to be. The only thing that I have to concern myself with is whether they can carry their own weight because people who know me…also know about the attitude that I have when people are unable to do that. If you cannot carry your own weight, then get out of my way, and let me get my job done.” Tara’s said with a snappier tone.
“Let me go ahead and get back to the opponents and speak of someone who does not really want to be here: Johnny Levy…” Tara had a questionable look on her face as she seemed to wonder who it was that she was stepping into the ring with, “Why are you here? I mean…really…what are you doing here? I am going to give you the little bit of credit that I can in saying that at least you did go out of your way to try to get yourself trained for this, but you, like Sonya; do not want to be here. You, like Sonya; do not belong here. You, like Sonya, are going to get yourselves hurt because you are way over your head.” Tara let out a light chuckle and adjusted in her seat before continuing.
“This is a research project for you, right? All you want to do is be prepared for your next role?” Tara chuckles again, “All I want to do is be prepared for my next match, and I am…prepared for my next match. Take a good look at who is standing across from you. You sought out the best trainers to prepare you to enter our world, but you never called me? It is probably a good thing that you did not do that, because I would have told you something, and I would have made it clear…I may have had to go to the lengths of getting you inside the training ring, and breaking you to ensure that you stay out of our realm: you do not belong. I am prepared for the next competition because this is what I do…I truly do not have to even look at the name of who I am going to be getting into the ring with because there are those of us in this business who already know…prepare for everything. Be ready for everyone. It does not matter who stands across from you: be prepared. Not for them, but for yourself. You are out of your element here, Johnny.”
Tara leaned back in her seat and stretched her arms across the back of the couch that she was seated on, “Emmanuelle could not even carry you to victory on your debut. Do you know what happened to me when I debuted in the business? I won. Do you know what happened when I returned from the ring after a long hiatus? I was at the top of the company within a month. When I came to Project: Honor, I started with a win. When the odds were stacked against me, I gained another win. I did not lose a one-on-one contest until Lil’ Petey. I have defeated Emmanuelle twice. I have beaten Mark Hunter. I was chasing Ozymandias for a long time, and believe me when I say, whether he is a champion or not, whether I am a champion or not: I will get my match. I stepped into the ring, fearless, against Arata Asakura.”
She contemplated back momentarily, thinking about everyone that she has encountered since she made her Project: Honor debut in June of last year. Throughout her entire time in Project: Honor, she felt that she only truly lost to two people…one of which, unfortunately, being Lil’ Petey, and the other being Arata Asakura who was someone that she did not feel shame in losing to. She had nothing but respect for the former Grand Champion.
After several seconds of silence, Tara did shift her attention yet again back to the camera in front of her and gave a half-smile.
“Why am I telling you this? Because I need you to understand who– what– you are getting into the ring with. You are not getting into the ring with someone who takes this as a joke; this is not playtime for me…this is my business. This is my life. You are not stepping into the ring with a curtain jerker; you are entering the ring with the main event, and you are not ready for this. This…is not for you.”
Tara stopped to lick her lips one more time, and lifted her head, “Finally…we come to the last person that is going to be standing across the ring from me. Giovanni. Out of the three people that are standing across from me, I would like to say that you are probably the most talented…the most impressive, but the unfortunate part that you have to accept is: that is not saying much. You know better at what you are doing, I will give you that! You seem to have an understanding that there is more to that canvas than the ordinary person sees…some people look at it and they just see an arena; a combat; a fight, but when I have said it before, and this is where I share a common trait with you: what I do inside of that ring is art. What I create every time I step into the ring, no matter who I am standing across or with, is art. Every time that bell sounds, it is a blank canvas and we are going to try to figure out what we can do with it…people look at the ring and they see limitations. I see every little thing I can do just between those ropes.” Tara said with a chuckle as her imagination began running wild with every detail of how the match could go…it was a common thing that crossed her mind every week.
Some people may call what she had to be an obsession…but she saw it for what she called herself: a professional. Ever-changing, ever-adapting, ever-learning; she would always consider what her opponents could do, or would do, before they had even done it. She thought about how she would answer, and again how they would answer in turn. It was a Chess match taking place inside of her head at all times.
“It is an art. It is a lifestyle. What I do to the three of you inside of the ring on Proving Ground is going to be nothing short of a masterpiece. I am going to bend and break each and every one of you on a whim, turn you inside out, and into a pretzel. The only choice that the three of you have to make is: who is going to tap out. Who is going to be the one stuck in the center of the ring getting their body broken while they fight with that voice in their head telling them that…you have suffered enough. Tap out. Just…tap out.”
YOU NEED THIS.
The crowd was still roaring as they watched with their prying, invasive eyes to see what had transpired on this night; many who were still wondering if this were part of the show became visibly sick when they saw what had happened…Saul was on the stretcher with a bone protruding from his shin. He was groaning in absolute agony.
Tara tried to force her way next to the stretcher, but Bill had let go of the side and took her; he hugged Tara for the briefest of moments but despite holding her, Tara had tried to break free from his grasp and get to her brother but Bill knew that she would only get in the way of the EMTs. There was nothing that she could do. Despite being carried out on the stretcher, the audience had risen to their feet and began to applaud the sixteen-year-old but he was too weak now to be able to give any indication of how he was doing mentally.
“Tara–” Bill said, and Tara continued trying to get over to Saul, “Tara! Saul– he–” Bill chuckled nervously, “–he is going to be fine! Okay? He just– he took a bad landing, that’s it. Let’s–” Bill glanced around at the crowd with their applause drowning out his own voice making it difficult for him to even hear himself speak, “Let’s talk in the back.”
Bill stood up and gestured for Tara to take the lead; she was fighting to hold back her sobs for her concern for the wellbeing of her brother, but Bill followed behind… Upon getting to the backstage area, Saul’s and Tara’s parents were already there, and they were furious! Liliana was beside them and she had given Saul a reassuring hand squeeze before she laid her eyes on Tara, and waltzed over toward her. The mother was the first to charge forward already winding her arm back to go for a swing as Bill raised his hands to protest, “I know, I know–”
“How could you?!” she shouted as she took the first swing; Bill deflected and just drew her in and hugged her tight. The father was a bit more understanding of the fact that these things…happen. Whether it had been professional wrestling, martial arts, football, hockey, baseball, or any of the other sports that kids could attend; they could get hurt.
“I am terribly sorry that this has happened! Believe me, I am– he…he’s going to be fine.” Bill said reassuringly to her.
“She’s done! She’s not doing this!” the mother said as she pulled herself away and wiped the tears from under her eyes. Her voice was filled with fire. Liliana and Tara glanced toward each other.
“I understand how you feel, but please, your daughter is a natural talent at this and I know for a fact that she loves doing this. I think you are making a mistake if you take this away from her.” Bill said while trying to keep her calm.
“NO! She is done!” the mother insisted.
Tara was frozen in place as she watched Bill and her mother argue over what would be her future, and she began questioning it herself… After what happened to Saul, there were many questions. Would his leg ever truly heal? Would he be able to compete in sports? Would he be able to be active? Or would he be stuck to a wheelchair and crutches?
Her mother was more aggressive, while Bill seemed to talk her down; he glanced back at Tara and gave a reassuring smile to her along with a brief nod before turning back toward her mother, “And so she is. But please, let’s talk about this somewhere in private,” Bill said before gesturing to her father, “You too. We just have some things to discuss.”
“I would, but– someone– I should go to the hospital with Saul.” The father answered.
“You– you’re going to want to hear this…” Bill answered. “I promise I won’t drag this on, but you really do need to hear this. Liliana and Tara can go with him, and you can meet them at the hospital after! I really– really, they should be with him anyway.”
As they were walking away, Bill gave a nod; Liliana exchanged the nod giving an indication that they may have had their own discussion. Liliana took the first step forward, but hooked her arm around Tara’s to begin pulling her along beside her, “You need this,” Liliana said. The two sisters walked past Bill who had taken the parents to the corner where they could carry on a private conversation, while Liliana pulled Tara along at a quicker pace to catch up with the EMTs.
MY LIFE.
“There are some people in this industry that have been unjustly condemned for some of the words that have escaped… This is a sport that encompasses the globe. It is a sport that is celebrated in Japan; celebrated in Canada; celebrated in Mexico; celebrated in the United Kingdom; celebrated…everywhere…it is not a sport that belongs to any one region of the world, and that is not something that I am going to try to claim.” Tara said and scrunched her face momentarily while considering her own past.
“I have been around this world as a professional many, many times! When I first began, I was trained in the traditional sense; I had to learn how to approach a situation in a different fashion because I am a lot smaller than most of the people that I share the ring with, but that is something that I excelled with. After stepping into the ring for the first time, I became a student to the game– a student to the world. I learned from every part of the globe that would train me, and there were some that were not as accommodating as others, but because they could see the fire that consumed me– they could see the passion that drove me– I eventually won them all over, and I strived to become better…I strived to become the best. I learned.” Tara said with a nod of her head.
“This sport does not belong to one type of people; it belongs to the world, but the issue that I still have is the people that are stepping into my element…an element that they have no desire to be in, and think that they are going to be able to step in with the best to do it! I rise to the challenge each and every time! Every time that I see someone who is damn fucking good at what they do, I am immediately thinking that I want to be in the ring with them just to show them that I…am better.” Tara let the words come out slowly, as she gained that cocky Docherty smirk, “To show them that I am the best at what we do. Do you know how insulting it is to have people that do not want to be here standing across from me? Do you know how insulting it is to have people that stray away from a challenge? Proving Ground: I make the three of you pay, even if I have to do it on my own! Even if I have to break each and every one of you one-by-fucking-one. What I take pride in for my team is that we…want to be here. This is what we do. We are not aspiring to use this as a catapult to be anywhere else! We are not being told by our family that we have to do this!” Tara’s tone shifted to resemble the anger she felt.
“We– want– to be here!” she said while cocking her head to the side.
“And the three of you are going to see that that makes all the difference.” Tara made her final statement. She stood up and planted a kiss on the lens of the camera, leaving her lipstick print visible; one of her traditional gestures, but one indicated as if she were kissing the three of her opponents goodbye this time around. She shoved the camera back and made her exit, and the camera faded to black.
I NEED THIS.
Later in the evening, Tara and Liliana were seated inside of the waiting room at the Providence Alaska Medical Center where their brother had been rushed after suffering an injury during his debut in professional wrestling. Tara was hunched forward in her seat and twiddling her thumbs together, while Liliana was pacing back and forth as if she were the parent worrying over the wellbeing of her own child; she was the eldest of the three…she was about a year and a half older than Saul, nearing adulthood for herself. Despite the closeness of age, she was the responsible older sister for both of them. She would carry the weight on her shoulders to ensure that both of them were good.
“It’s taking too long,” Tara groaned while slapping her hands down against her legs in frustration. “Why is it taking so long?!”
Liliana walked toward Tara as Tara was giving indication that she needed to get up, but as Liliana walked toward her, she sat back down and locked her eyes on her.
“Everything is going to be fine,” Liliana tried to reassure her. “You know how tough Saul is; he’s going to bounce back up and be back to running circles around you in no time!”
“Can’t we just go see him?” Tara seemed to plead with Liliana.
Liliana hesitated in answering, and just as it seemed like she was about to answer whether verbally or visually, their parents burst into the waiting room. Bill walked in behind both of them. Both of the parents had tears in their eyes as they rushed forward, and Liliana took a step back; Tara’s mother threw her arms around her and hugged her tightly.
“I am so sorry! Why didn’t you tell us?” her mother said.
Tara looked confused but turned to face Liliana while trapped in the hug, and mouthed the words, “What did you do?”
“We– we should have known. That should have never happened to you?” her mother continued.
“Ma– Mom– what are you talking about?” Tara asked, trying to get her own confirmation of what she felt in her gut…she felt that Liliana had told them, or worse; she had told Bill Dalton, and Bill had just told both of the parents. Tara stifled a sob and scrunched her face to try to keep herself contained. “MOM!” she finally shouted, “What–” she began to ask but her voice trembled and came out more as a stutter.
“We know, and…we just want to help you get through this. Mister Dalton told us how good you’ve done in the ring– how you just…seem to get into a zone, and so…your father and I think…and I know it’s rough because of what just happened to your brother, but we both think that you need to keep doing this.” Her mother did her best to explain. It was clear that she did not want to admit those words herself, after watching her son get injured in the way that she did, she did not want the same thing to happen to Tara. However, for Tara’s mentality, she felt that it was best that she continue to have her escape.
Her mother hugged her tightly again, and Tara wrestled with her own thoughts at that moment. She had considered whether she would want to continue after what she witnessed, and even when she heard her mother screaming that she was not going to do it anymore…she remembered the anger that was boiling inside of her when the choice was being taken away from her, but at this moment, Tara knew it as clear as day.
I need this. She admitted to herself within the confines of her mind.
