SOLACE CHOICE PART II

It was the hardest choice Solace had made in the eight years of her existence, and after months had passed since choosing to live with her mother over her father, she was depressed wishing she had made a different choice. This was because her mother was a vindictive and merciless woman of authority that lacked even the minimal amount of empathy a person could have. It was something she knew before she made the worst choice in her life and she paid for it daily.

At eight years old, she was aware that something wasn't normal about the way her mother would treat people, and not even she was immune to the unforgiving wrath of her controlling nature. In more times than she could count, an innocent cry for affection would be met with a rolling of the eyes, a scoff, sometimes even a good verbal lashing about "needing to stop acting like a child one of these days." Even Solace knew that it was normal for girls her age to require the nurturing only a mother could provide, and yet, all of her most compassionate and warm memories were of her father filling that void.

She made her decision, and although she hated herself for it, she would honor her choice by being the best daughter she could be. There were times that she would hold the Unicorn her daddy got her a bit tighter than usual, her eyes closed, pretending it was her father she was hugging. Other times, she would draw and color a picture of how things were in the beginning, a little Solace and at her left and right, Mommy and Daddy. A perfect family... and when she proudly presented this artwork to her mother risking a lashing when she turned into the kitchen and saw she was on a phone call.

Mother: The Gala better be as nice as last year! I might not even come home until the next day! Oh, yes, sweetie?

Solace holds up the picture quietly.

Mother: Wow! Did you draw that? Kat, I have to go. I will see you tonight at the Gala. Alright. Ta-ta.

Solace smiled at her mother's sudden affectionate response, she nodded proudly with a glowing face as her Mother leaned down to her knee.

Mother: Let me see what you did here...

Solace handed her the picture and watched her mother's eyes move up and down with her own smile.

Mother: This is very nice, Solace! Oh, but you know what... let me just fix one little thing...

Solace: Okay, Mommy...

Mother: We just have to alter one little bit here...

Her mother gently began to peel from the top of the page and down until the drawing of her father was severed from the rest of the image. Solace's smile fell as she ripped it from the Solace depicted as a happy daughter of two parents, and once again, reminded of her loss.

Mother: Now, it's perfect! Let's put it on the fridge, shall we?

Her mother stood back up with the picture and crumpled up her father's drawing, tossing it into the wastebasket in the kitchen. Solace watches it hit the edge and fall in, continuing to stare at it instead of her mother supporting her side of the paper with a magnet.

Mother: Perfect. Just like you.

She boops Solace on the nose as Solace fights the urge to cry. As her mother walks out of the kitchen, Solace cautiously reaches into the trashcan and retrieves the crumpled ball of her father's image. She unfolds it and sees that her father's image has become warped and wrinkled... a reminder of how torn up he must have felt when Solace chose her mother over him back in that courtroom.

Her mother departed that night, leaving Solace to the whims of Nancy, a trusted baby-sitter that would make sure she got to bed on time, but beyond that, would spend her time drinking the expensive wine her mother makes available for all of the help. It was a lonely life for Solace, sometimes, she thought she could talk to her pink unicorn, Frankie, and her father might hear her.

While her mother was at a Gala with her business associates, Solace was put to bed before dark so Nancy would get started on the free wine. Solace didn't mind though, she was free to spend her night however she chose, so long as she stayed out of Nancy's sight.

She did find herself bored after a while, tired of reading the Wonder Woman books her mother had forced her to memorize. She told Solace that "Wonder Woman was a lady of power like her Mommy" and she should be modeling herself off of those kinds of women. Solace agreed to a point, but found Wonder Woman to be too ridiculous to take seriously. Invisible jet... but we can still see her, she thought.

In this particular issue, Wonder Woman was attacked by Osira as she attempted to force the world to be peaceful against their own will. She found this issue to be a bit less interesting than the others, most likely because this Osira character was bland, boring, and almost put Solace to sleep after the first few pages of her story. She barely finished the story before the night had fully fallen and she found herself dozing off by the end of it.

She just began to sleep when she was startled awake by a deep vibration outside. She woke up fearing that the house was crumbling to the lawn before being startled again by a blinding light beaming into her room through the window. With Osira in her mind, she immediately thought she was being abducted by an alien spacecraft and froze in place as her fight or flight made the choice for her.

Solace stood back as far as she could to shield her eyes from the penetrating white light when the light began to break up. She looked while she could and saw a shadow of a man coming to form and panic entered her mind.

Solace: Help!!

She held Frankie the Unicorn tightly as her window began to open. Solace wanted to scream but she couldn't seem to breathe and as the window lifted, her heart nearly stopped as a dark-dressed man stuck his foot in, followed by his masked head.

Man: Solace! Don't be afraid!

Solace begins to shriek in terror and the man quickly peels his mask from over his head to reveal himself.

Solace: Daddy?

Daddy: Yes, baby. Come on!

Solace doesn't hesitate to move towards her father, climbing into his arms as he begins to carry her out of the window, but before he can.

Solace: Frankie!

Daddy: What?

Solace: My unicorn!

Daddy: Hurry up, go grab it. We don't have much time!

He allows her back into the room to grab her stuffed animal and she makes it quick, returning to his arms again once she has it.

Solace: I missed you...

Daddy: I missed you too baby. I'm going to get you out of here. Are you ready?

Solace: Where will we go?

Daddy: Somewhere far, far from here...

On her father is a harness that supports his weight as a wire lifts him and her up to a hovering helicopter. Solace is terrified, but in her Daddy's arms, she knows she is safe. They successfully enter the chopper and he immediately buckles her up.

Daddy: Go!

The operator makes the helicopter jerk sideways and then they are off. Solace, with Frankie in her arms, watches her mother's large estate shrink in the distance as they leave into the darkness of night. She feels a sense of relief all while experiencing the fear of her mother's retaliation.

She looks to her father who is already looking at her. It's far too loud to speak to each other, but their mutual smiles speak louder than any words ever could, the bond between a father and daughter is unbreakable.

They arrive at a small runway, unlit, and seemingly in the middle of nowhere. As they unbuckle themselves, the propellers begin to slow down.

Solace: Are we here?

Daddy: Only making a quick stop. We have to take a plane from here to get where we are going. Let's go.

Operator: Hold up...

Daddy: What's the problem?

Operator: Radar picking up activity right outside of the landing zone. Multiple vehicles.

Daddy: Shit! How did they find us!?

Operator: Not sure, is she chipped?

Daddy: Did your mother have you chipped?

Solace: What? What's that?

Operator: What about the stuffed animal? We have to open it up.

Solace: Frankie! (Solace grabs it tight to protect it.)

Daddy: Baby, I am sorry. I just have to make sure Frankie is safe to come with us. Is that okay?

Solace: I guess so...

She hands Frankie over to her father.

Daddy: Now, I'm going to have to open Frankie up okay? I promise we'll get him fixed.

Solace: But Daddy...

Daddy: Sol, trust me...

Solace nods, refusing to watch as her father begins to rip open Frankie's neck to stick his hand in. He moves it around feeling for anything that shouldn't be there when he finds exactly what he is looking for.

Daddy: It's in here.

Operator: In a little girl's animal? Is she sick?

Daddy: To say the least...

Her father tries to pull it out but it is tangled inside, unable to be removed without compromising the rest of the stuffed animal.

Operator: We got headlights!

TO BE CONTINUED...

---------------------------------PRESENT DAY----------------------------------

Solace Tatum looks at her watch. She rolls her eyes as she sees the time but instead of numbers, she sees the visualization of a window closing between the present and her anticipated debut match against "The Russian Queen Bee" Anya Sharpova. She has dedicated her focus and time to an unknown opponent that she really couldn't find much research on from the IIW or anywhere else, for that matter. Nonetheless, just as her research had been conducted in the years prior, it only served to form a full picture of just who Anya, as a person, would be... only a tool used to size up her opponent before laying them down on her surgical table before doing what she does best... surgery; and she was a true master in that aspect.

Spending her time with Katia over the years, as well as, opposing formidable certain foes in the ring, Solace had a pretty extensive knowledge on Russian history, as well as Russian culture, language, and especially professional wrestling. The accent, to Solace, was a sexy sounding wave of articulation that, sometimes would polish someone's lack of intellect, luckily, she wasn't superficial enough to fall for it. This was the first thing she noticed when observing Anya's promos pre-Solace. The second thing was the shallow depth of substance that Anya seems to wave like a flag of pride as if everyone in the world only heard that sexy accent, and wasn't listening to how nonsensical her chosen words actually were... but, every dog has it's day and at First Class, Solace knew in her heart of hearts that Anya was about to be opened up, exposed, and dissected for the IIW and the entire world to see.

Solace would spent the hours before the event visiting a local Russian museum that she found in a small town near Manchester. It wasn't well known, and she only found it by accident while researching Russian Caskets; she wondered if Anya would prefer Metal or Wood. Anyway, this small place had a website that would pop up on the tenth page of a google search and when she found it, she just had to visit it when she saw their tagline: LARGEST ASSORTMENT OF HISTORICAL RUSSIAN CASKETS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD... (other than Russia), and some reviews referred to it as "The Only Russian Graveyard in the country."

"What a strange place." Solace thought, "I must go!"

So, Solace asked Katia and Crimson Lotus if they'd want to ride with her, but they declined... Katia saying "Why are you so morbid?" but, with Katia, Solace chose to only hear the accent.

Solace brought her phone out as she paced the small room of this hidden gem, dismissing the lovely husband and wife who owned it, and decided to record a video of her self-guided tour in preparation for her Queen of the Ring match with Anya.

BEEP.

Solace positions the camera of her phone on her radiating smile as she makes sure the video had gone "Facebook Live"

"Hello guys! How are you? I'm doing excellent! I'm sorry that Katia and Lien weren't into it, but maybe you guys would like to join me on my fun little tour today. Oh, where am I? Take a look for yourself!" Solace says, turning the camera's lens away from her and at the entire wall of Russian coffins, scaling to and from in a fast motion that induces motion sickness before returning it back to her face.

"I know, I know..." Solace bats her eyes, "Who even seeks this kind of place out, right?" A small voice from the far background cries out, "We have a lot of guests, actually!"

Solace's face shrivels as her eyes widen.

"Oh my god, they heard me." Solace whispers before laughing, "I'm absolutely sure! I mean look at this awesome place!"

Before returning her face close to the camera again.

"Oh my god that was embarrassing." Solace whispers again trying not to laugh, "Anyway... I'm not here for just any reason! I'm here because I want to make this message extremely clear for my girl Anya come First Class. I was looking at these Russian styled coffins, some old, some new, but hey, once it's in the ground... who cares about aesthetics right? I just thought maybe since Anya is a "Girl who gets what she wants" she might like to have a say in what kind of casket she'd prefer, ya know, being Russian and all that jazz."

Solace moves her camera to see a small red one.

"This one is a bit small, but I really, really like the color." Solace says, "Really rings out 'Russian Red" if you ask me, more like the size for a dog though... maybe the top dog, right Anya? Anyway..."

Solace moves the camera to see a larger one, mahogany, and beautiful.

"This is more your speed, I think." Solace narrates over the image of the shiny brown texture of the casket, "I think given your history of criminal activity back in ol' Mother Russia, you could afford this one for sure. I mean, I don't know how successful your criminal lifestyle was, and that's not really my business... I just know that here you are at IIW, not very successful here... so, given your work ethic, there must be a reason you left one life to start another... and if you were making a great living doing whatever it is you were doing before, you must be regretting that decision every day considering how little you're making it here... Ooh. How about this one?"

Solace moves the camera to the next casket, a mid-sized wooden box, clearly a relic compared to the others.

"This is the one. This one has your name written all over it. Bland. Cheap. Utilitarian with nothing special about it, and oh, it looks pretty weathered... oh yeah, this one is the perfect box for you after Superstorm Solace shreds you at First Class."

Solace turns the camera to her own face for a final time.

"Look, don't take it personally." Solace forces the smile off of her face and replaces it with a 'serious' one. "Of course, this little skit I put together here is in jest. I don't wish death on you or anyone else, I mean, c'mon... that's messed up... well, I mean, I don't literally wish you death... but when it comes to your lifespan in this Queen of the Ring tournament... this is the end. I know it's not what you want... but look, Anya, this is real life... we don't always get what we want... and that Queen Bee stuff... that's going to die with your chances of getting to the second round of this tournament... I'm talking career extinction... I'm talking collapse of your entire colony... you're going to call home after like "Mother Russia... the red scare didn't make anyone afraid, what do I do now???' and hopefully she treats you better than your biological mother did, and offers a sympathetic, albeit constructive, dose of the truth: You aren't worthy of being the Queen of IIW... because Solace Tatum just put the nail in your coffin."

Solace turns off the camera at her final word. No smile given this time... it's all focus, and it's a promise to leave Anya behind in the Queen of the Ring tournament. Solace says thank you to the museum owners and makes sure to leave a very, very positive review on their website.