Home Is Where The Heart Is

It took everything she had to not blow up on social media about the insane nature of pro wrestling becoming too much for her. The entire saga between the members of the Crimson Bouquet led to heartache, anger, and so much more for Lillie Saint. The piercing eyes of Crazy Violet had gone cold, and each action had become that much colder. This was orchestrated by Kimberly Chase. Knowing that would be the easiest way to championship gold, Chase had to bring a new thought process to the blonde east of eight mile. Something had to be done, drastic measures weren’t even good enough. Would Lillie continue grasping at straws? If you need an answer to that, you may not know the girl in general.

::The St. Saint Manor::
::Culver City, CA::

Outside the door Lillie’s home, keys were jangling. One of the dogs began to bark upon hearing the door open up. A young lady slowly steps into the home, closing the door behind her. This was Tham Huynh, the comedian and aspiring professional wrestler. Upon signing with one of the wrestling companies in southern California, she was given a roof over her head by Lillie, who offered for her to stay with the young lady while she was out at Wrestleworld. Tham vaguely knew of the issues that the Sweet in Sweetwater had been dealing with. Some things were picked up on, however. Less time at home, the silence on social media, even cancelling a seminar this past weekend. It was nice of Mr. Morgan, the owner of House of Paine, to fly someone in at the last second to hold it, but there was something about Lillie’s methods that brought peace and even humor into such a stressful business.

Tham noticed something off putting about the home today. She walked toward the kitchen, setting the bag down on the table to put some groceries away. Still, something felt different. She would occasionally get goosebumps coming from a random chill, maybe a window was open. She shrugged to herself as she put everything away.

“Lillie?”

No answer, at least, not the one that Tham was hoping for. Upon reaching the living room, she noticed some noise coming from the office. Relieved, Tham walked into the office.

“Hey, you’re here! I have a lot to tell you ab..”

Another disappointment, Lillie wasn’t there. Tham slowly walked further into the room, everything seemed to be in place. Nearly a dozen pictures of Lillie and various friends & co-workers littered the wall behind the computer. She couldn’t help herself in looking over at some of the pictures to see more about the nicer days that the Sweet in Sweetwater had experienced in such a crazy first year in the business. There was one that carried a completely different weight. The sight of Lillie wrapping her arms around the necks of Emiko and Misaki while they flashed their newly adorned wedding rings. The smile was there, but Tham couldn’t help but wonder if there was any kind of resentment stemming from the picture.

Still, the image made her smile momentarily. The temporary feeling of joy led her to wonder where Lillie had gone to begin with. Oddly enough, there was a sheet of paper on the desk by the keyboard. Tham didn’t want to be one to pry, but wondered if it would explain where she was at the moment. Not like Lillie was ever home, the constant running life that was professional wrestling would make that certain. It was a life that even she was ready for.

Picking the paper up, Tham took a quick glance, finding herself lost in the opening words of somebody simply pouring their heart out to a set of ears that wouldn’t listen. She sounded hurt, desperate to find any measures to fix the problem before Arcadia were to take place.

“ Violet… Can I even pretend anymore? Ever since I was little, I always had an issue with making long lasting friendships. there was always something about trust, I don't know. While I always wanted to give people the benefit of the doubt, I always felt like I let everybody down. it's a really painful feeling, and somehow, I feel like I did that to you too.

Why did it have to be this way? Can you tell me that? What happened here? Violet, Is it something I did? Maybe I said the wrong thing? I wish you could just talk to me right now. We wouldn't have to go to Arcadia. We wouldn't have to go to war. We could just be ourselves. Maybe that's too much to ask for.

Look, I know this isn't going to go well for either one of us. I know this is going to be extremely painful, And I know I'm going to get my butt kicked a lot. I know all these things already. Every time there's a big event, the critics always swarm in. They always say the same thing.

‘Why is she holding back Violet?’

‘Here comes Lillie Saint to lose again. She’s become good at that.’

‘She is going to grow up to be a lonely cat lady.’

I hear a lot of things from people, and none of the words have really gotten to me, unless it involved you. I can take the stage fright insults all day, but every time they mention how you’re better off without me, something just sets me off.

Above anything else, I can’t accept the fact that Violent is your dominant vessel now. I know, this is terrible for me to say, Vie. When we began to team up, I needed to accept that she was part of you, but that’s the thing, it’s only a part of you.

Violent isn’t the full package, I know this. You’re so much more than that, you’re this incredible person who always supported me in the same way I’ve always supported you. For a while there, all we had was each other. Ugh, I feel like this is that crazy ex who desperately wants to rekindle that lost love.”

Tham frowned upon reading this desperate act. While it wasn’t in good taste to pry, she couldn’t stop reading the painful pouring of the heart from Lillie. Was it just Violet? Was it the failed relationships, or family hardships? She couldn’t get her head around all the words being written.

“How do I even say this without sounding too needy? We were drawn together by the World’s Finest. I wasn’t even supposed to be there, I get it. We found each other though and despite being separated from the rest of the group, we still came together. We took the ‘I’ and made it a ‘We’. When one of us would get an opportunity, we’d talk each other down on the phone or over lunch. Always ending it with ‘Go get ‘em, Rosebud’. We said that a lot to each other, and sometimes, we didn’t reach our goal. It was our hearts, our fights to succeed, that is what drove us to those title matches. Our support of one another led to so much. Now, it’s an empty shell, and that completely sucks.

Violet, I need to fix this. I’m sorry, but this isn’t right. WE need this, right? Together, we can be unstoppable, but I have to face your most powerful attribute..Even if it is your greatest threat.

I need help.. Please…

Please, help me.”

Even more haunting below the initial letter was an attempt to write something else.

“I need a way to ma”

It was cut off, by what though? Tham tried reading through that last line several times before sitting down in the chair. While not the world’s greatest detective, the student shifted herself in the seat to try and find anything that would have stopped her from writing. There was nothing, no reason for the stoppage visually. Unable to process any ideas, she decides to make a call to someone who may know. It rang a few times, but eventually, Johnny Sykes answered.

“Hi, Johnny? Hey, have you seen Lillie anywhere?”

No such luck. The match at Arcadia had gotten to Lillie Saint, even to the point where one of her best friends had no idea where she was going, or what she was doing.

“Okay, if you hear anything..Can you please let me know? I need to contact her brother, but I don’t want him freaking out on everyone. I just want to make sure everyth..”

Something caused her to pause, glancing at one of the pictures. It was strange, a picture of Violet and Lillie posing with someone in the background. A heart was drawn on around the head of the man.

“I think she’s really heartbroken. No.. No, not just about that. How do I put this? She carries her emotions on her sleeve, and when someone so close to her is never there, she tries so hard to contact them. Obviously, Violet won’t take her calls. The other World’s Finest members won’t take her calls, I don’t think. She’s probably talked the ears off of everyone else..but one person. She always talks about him. I don’t want to dive into it, but..I’ll send a picture. Anyways, I feel bad pestering you and will go ahead and just wait for some news.”

Tham sat back for a moment after hanging up with Johnny. She raised the camera up to the picture, taking a snapshot of it before sending it over. The shot began to zoom in. It was nearly impossible to figure out the guy was facially. He looked like nobody she ever saw before.. That mask though.. It looked so familiar.

“Oh..My..God... “

Tham sprung from her seat, scrambling out of the office. She remembered hearing about ‘sacrificing’ and all the other painful things that were mentioned about him. Her first thoughts were the dogs, Bobo and Robo-Bobo. She found Robo-Bobo without any issues, but it was Bobo that she was unable to find. Had the thought of war with Violent taken her this far?? Violent was a different beast than anything Lillie had encountered, and with such personal feelings at stake, she wouldn’t take things to this drastic of a level..

Would she?