Post by Elena DeDraca on Dec 15, 2018 15:28:13 GMT -5
THE HYDRA on/off camera
Who are you?
More than a passport or an ID. For a long time Elena DeDraca wasn't sure of who she truly was. Mother. Sister. Wife. Ex- Wife. But all of those titles meant little in a world created all new. It would have scared the bravest of them all. Finding yourself was a struggle even if you lived a normal life, right?
She had been sitting outside the cottage for the past few hours. It was cold. Well correction, it was fucking cold, but she hardly felt it. Her focus in the far distance, watching the dark clouds forming figures. The few neighbors would wave and greet, but minding their own business. Here she was not the famous wrestler or the ditched wife. No. Just a neighbor that enjoyed a little off time.
When she felt her head getting a little heavy she closed her eyes. And there it was without a warning: Memorylane. Words from their wedding day still echoed through her head, but one specifically.
“I love you, unconditionally and infinitely, and I always have.”
Sure. What else is new?
A bitter smile appeared on her face. But it only lasted a moment before her expression went back to hard and unreadable. Often enough someone would accuse her of being emotionless, cold and unreachable. And to a degree they were right. But the real question was: Did she get born this way? Or did life make her that way? Questions she asked herself but never found the fitting answer. But there comes a time in life when you stop asking the wrong questions and concentrate on the right answers.
So what was there when looking back at the past months? Getting married. Getting divorced. Being disrespected and humiliated. Putting back the pieces of a puzzle that was meant for two. Breaking the little heart of Isabella while her own was shattered. Moving on while having it constantly rubbed in her face. And most importantly, not losing her cool in public. Keeping up the smile. Pretending everything was perfectly fine, when in reality it wasn't.
Fuck pretending.
In one second everything could change, and it did. Not in this particular moment but the outcome was still the same. Elena DeDraca wasn't a very good victim. She wasn't the type that sat around crying a river. And most importantly she wasn't the type to fake it for the benefit of everybody else. No mistake about it, she had done all of that for a long time. For her family. For her friends. For the business. And what did it get her? Nothing. Whatever she owned was the result of hard work and dedication.
“I watched them live a life that I made possible.”
Her voice was nothing more than a whisper.
“I allowed them to use me for their likings and throw me away the moment I wasn't needed anymore. They wanna deal me the bad cards, but I am not the little girl anymore. Yet, I am the bad one? I am the unreachable one? Maybe…”
Elena shook her head. Her long, black hair covering her face.
“...they are right. They can never reach me and that is why they feel threatened. That is why they have to make up their own little stories to escape my shadow. A big, fucking shadow. Brother. Husband. Friend. All meant for the same destiny. I have been patient. I have been kind. But what if…”
She swallowed hard while the cold wind was blowing right into her face. The dark clouds above her started to crash. The first sound of thunder, followed by lightning.
“...everyone was right? I only received one solid advice in my life: Only count on yourself. But I was naive enough to shove that aside. I allowed the world to put me on a pedestal they created to watch me fall. And fall I did a lot.”
Another lightning bolt lit the sky on fire.
“Too little. Too late.”
In a graceful manner she got up from her comfortable bench and grabbed the car keys from the small table. In order to do so she bumped against her teamug, spilling it over the floor. Looking down she found it broken in a thousand shards. When kneeling down to pick up the pieces she cut open her thumb, looking at the small amount of blood forming. Elena looked at it for a few seconds before the next lightning lit up the sky, showing a grimace on her face that strangely reminded you of a smile.
And I loved him like fire until it drove me insane.
YOU ALWAYS MEET TWICEon/off camera
It wasn't a very long drive, but slightly difficult in this weather. It had been raining for the past thirty minutes. Some would think that was typical English weather, but this was heavy even for their standards. She would eventually reach her destination turning off the engine, stepping out.
“Oh, fuck…”
Feeling the ice cold rain immediately soaking her into her clothes when she tried to get forward. Not too far away rested a huge tree. Despite all the other trees shaking from the weather it rested in complete peace. There was a small door right at the front, some light coming from the inside.
“You remember that place, don’t you? Or maybe you don’t as you always been good to erase unpleasant things from your memory.”
She smiled when walking to the inside of what obviously was a small chapel. It was empty but in front of the altar a few candles were lit. Although she wasn't a very religious person her whole body language changed. For a moment she looked almost reverent.
“I will write that down under coping mechanism, Cyrus. But first things first, I bought this little pot of gold. Yeah, Elena DeDraca bought a chapel. Maybe I will become a nun next, but probably like the one out of the movie. But all jokes aside there is serious business to address, right?”
Slowly she took off her jacket and hung it over one of the benches. Her wet hair attached to her naked shoulders.
“Isn’t that the showdown that everybody has been waiting for. The match up that sells tickets. Ex wife versus ex husband. Former lover. Former soulmates. Former whatever. I know what people expect from me, but I have always been a party pooper. I know everybody wants to have the shade, me washing that dirty laundry or me expressing how much I hate you Cyrus. But we both know this is not going to happen. I have more self respect and dignity than that.”
“What about you though? Will you throw in my face how much of a bad wife I was? Because I loved you so much that I kept holding on? Or because I have forgiven so many mistakes. How it was terrible of me to try and give our daughter the life she has been longing for. It could be either or all of them. But the truth is this, you fucked up. Big time. I think congratulations are in order, right? You gonna be a daddy, Cyrus. You gonna start a family, not even four months after you left your last. Am I supposed to organise a baby party for your new fling? Just asking what my correct reaction to this would be. Please don’t think that this leaves me bitter, I closed this chapter a long time ago.”
She walked towards the altar, running her fingertips over the fabric of it. It was hard and cold as expected.
“No holding back, remember? You want me to be a hundred percent honest? Fine. You broke my heart. No surprise, huh? But to top that, you broke it in a way that no other person before you managed. Over three years I have been holding on to an image of a man that I thought you could become. Of an us that I thought we could become. I was proven wrong. But while you managed to break a lot of me, you never reached what truly makes me. My spirit. I could have sat in the dark and plotted for revenge or exposed you. But darling you better than anyone should know this: I don’t get mad, I get even.”
“You ever wondered what it is like when you are on my bad side? Because the truth is, that all the time we spent together, I was loving you. You don’t know who I am without that love. You have no idea what happens inside the ring. Those that I loved the most always suffered the worst. Do you think I helped you winning this battle royal because of friendship and sympathy? My apologies but I only acted out on selfish reasons. I am a good person. I am a dedicated mother. But that is what you tend to forget, I am a merciless fighter. There comes the point of no return, Cyrus. And even though a part of me will always love you, my true nature can’t be denied. You think you taught me darkness? Or what pain means? Buttercup, you never walked a mile in my shoes.”
In a careless manner she tossed some of the candles to the floor. Her green eyes looking at the flames as they went out.
“You haven’t given me the respect I deserved, instead you went on a pussy hunt. And even that doesn’t bother me anymore. But we both know there is no way of moving on without finding a proper ending. So I say we end it like we started it: Together. We can never go back to a point where things are normal if the system doesn’t get a restart. Just keep one thing in mind, I swallowed my pride when you let me down. Numerous times. But shall you ever, and I mean ever, let our daughter down I will cut you like a fucking tumour. I don’t care if that gives your feelings an ouchie. I am sure someone will blow you.”
“Maybe to a degree I have to thank you. I was getting too comfortable in my life, maybe a little too much. I just want you to understand something, Cyrus. I am not the same person you met all those years back. I am not the one that waited and hoped. My needs changed just like my life did. You cut me to ribbons and threw me away. I was searching for the missing pieces that I always had inside myself. I am not out there because of the War Horse title. I am not out there because of Union Battleground. I am coming for your head. I don’t care about who holds your balls or who temporary has your heart. I left that person in the past, a fragment of what once was.”
Elena rolled her neck several times before she walked around the altar. She bent over and in view came a canister of gasoline. This time her smile was wider than before when she opened it, starting to soak the benches with it.
“You know what they used to do in the 1600’s when you had a wound that wouldn’t heal?”
She kept walking till the canister was empty.
“They would burn it out. No narcotics. No ways to escape the pain, love.”
Out of her pocket she took a lighter, looking at it from every angle. The well known clicking noise was heard when she enlightened it.
“You’re that kind of wound to me, Cyrus.”
Without hesitation she dropped the lighter and watched flames growing in front of her. Once more she reached inside her pockets and exposed a small, shiny thing on her palm. Her wedding ring. Feeling the heat of the flames crawling closer, Elena started to walk towards the exit.
“Not god will cut you down. I will.”
She winked before throwing the ring towards the flame, laughing.
